CORRESPONDENTS              1908



ALDEN, REV. W. H.,
BOWERS, REV. J. E.,
COOPER, F. R.,
CZERNY, REV. A.,
GILL, W. R.,
GLAISH, REV. WL. L.,
GYLLENHAAL, REV. F. E.,
HICKS, CURTIS (K. W.),
IUNGERISH, E. E.,
KLEIN, REV. D. H.,
PARKER, W. E., (P),
REYNOLDS, B.,
ROSENQVIST, REV. J. E.,
SELLNER, JR., ANTON A.,
SOMERVILLE, BLANCHE,
SYNNESTVEDT, REV. F. E.,
WAELCHLI, REV. F. E.,
WALLENBERG, E. V.,
Title Unspecified 1908

Title Unspecified              1908


NEW CHURCH LIFE.
Vol. XXVIII.

     JANUARY, 1908.

     No. 1.
DREAMS 1908

DREAMS       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1908

     The Writings give three sources, and consequently three kinds of dreams.

     First. From the Lord either immediately through the soul, or mediately through heaven. These are Divine dreams and also prophetic dreams foretelling the future.

     The second kind is by means of angelic spirits by whom heaven with its order is present with man during sleep. These are instructive and representative dreams.

     The third kind is from the spirits who are near man when he sleeps. These are also significative. (A. 1976, D. 3877.)

     A fourth kind is implied in one of the passages giving this enumeration by the words, "But phantastical dreams are from another source." (A. 1976)

     We will take up these kinds of dreams in reverse order, premising, however, that, though dreams come from such different sources, the permission to induce them is given by the Lord alone. (2 Ad.184)

     Concerning the phantastical dreams, which "come from another source," there is no direct teaching given in the Writings, but their origin is somewhat clearly indicated.

     These phantastical dreams undoubtedly form the largest part of the modern dream world. For most dreams of this day, are vague images flitting before the mind's eye, without order or connection, with meaningless changes and transformations, and with mocking elusiveness,--phantasies, ludicrous and also horrible, even to nightmare.

     Swedenborg speaks of dreams he had which are evidently to be classed under this head of phantastical dreams. These dreams were of material and corporeal things without any order, and every time he woke from them he perceived that there were spirits about him who had infested, but whose efforts were averted by angelic choirs sent by the Lord, which he also then perceived and heard. (D. 4026.) From this I infer that phantastical dreams come largely, though not wholly, as we shall see directly, from that great host of evil spirits in the world of spirits, who are ever in the latent effort to infest man, but who are as yet not relegated to their own places. They are filled with phantasies, with shallow empty thoughts and imaginings, loving nothing but merely worldly and external things, thinking nothing but vain pleasure, and such spirits fill the world of spirits with the sphere of their phantasies; and we may realize their nature and their multitude when we reflect on the prevailing characteristics of men at this day-pursuing shadows, not reality, gathering like moths around the flame of the world's pleasures, led by impulse to flock wherever the senses may be gratified and thinking hardly at all above the senses. Such are the spirits who are mostly in the external sphere of the world of spirits, and such are the spheres by which man's spirit is surrounded and which are so often reflected in the vain phantoms of his dreams, and too often find a home in his waking thoughts. As a writer has with great acumen, observed, our dreams are so largely silly, meaningless and ridiculous, because our waiting thoughts are little better. So often they are but vapid wanderings and imaginings fixed on nothing in particular and everything in general. Our minds are well nigh empty so far as real solid thought is concerned and we act largely from impulse. We stump our toe against a chair, he continues, or bump our head against a door, and we are at once seized with senseless rage at the innocent object that has caused our discomfort; so slight and insignificant are the causes that raise our passions, or our passing feelings, and so often are our thoughts nothing but the unrestrained and irrational reflections of purely animal feelings. It is no wonder that our imaginations are like so many chords which readily respond to the vibrations or activities of the phantastical spheres by which we are surrounded.

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Not that the phantoms seen in our dreams are the same as or similar to the phantasies of the spirits who induce them. The images of our dreams are taken from our own sensorium; but because such dreams as we are describing are caused by wild, disordered, confused and inharmonious spheres, therefore the disorder and confusion is faithfully reflected in the confusion of the images which they stir up and by which they are presented. Almost as is the case of a man when he lacks judgment and whose imagination is wild and unfettered, whose productions are for the most part vain and empty fancies and phantasies.

     But within these vain and phantastical spirits from which come these dreams lurks the spirit of evil and hatred. They are nothing but subjects of infernal spirits and were they allowed, could they come to the knowledge that a man is sleeping, they would at once rush in to destroy him; they would implant their own memory into him and his dreams would then be not phantastical but horrible and destructive of all power of freedom of will and thought. It is against this influx that angels guard men in sleep. The phantoms do indeed appear in man's dreams, caught up from the spheres around him, but the evils themselves he feels not. This might be compared to a man whispering evil things in a sleeping man's ears. The words may affect the sensorium and there present images, but the evil itself does not otherwise affect the sleeper.

     In addition to this spiritual cause of phantastical dreams there is a natural cause arising from the state of man's body and of his external thought. Thus we read in the Adversaria, that the dreams of spirits, with some, are mere illusions and contain almost nothing but mockeries and snatch up things suggested by the blood or by past thoughts. (2 Ad 183) These causes make one with the cause alluded to above, and they are in general the state of the body and blood by which the sensorium is variously affected; but more especially they are the state of the cortical glands themselves, formed by our vain memories, our disordered imagination and the disharmony produced by our external thoughts. These too often furnish the needed ultimated which readily catches up and faithfully reflects the phantastical spheres of spirits.

     But the thought arises that these phantastical dreams are some times accompanied with horror even to nightmare when the very body is moved and the voice screams out in the effort to escape from the horrors of our dreams.

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Does not this indicate that evil spirits have been allowed to infest us? and that the protection of good spirits has, for this time, been of no avail? I think not. For horror is not natural to dreams, and so far as it is present in them it is an affection arising rather from the state of the body than from the spiritual surroundings. Thus a dream may be as phantastical as you please and yet have nothing of horror; but the very same dream may suddenly exhibit a horrible phase. This we can see illustrated in a very lively manner when we are disturbed from sleep by extraneous causes. Thus among the flitting scenes of our dreams we may be sailing in a boat--there is certainly no horror or fear, and there may be a feeling of pleasure. Suddenly the heavens open and we are drenched with the most terrible storm, or perhaps the boat upsets and we find ourselves in the horrors of drowning, and we wake,--to find some one is trying to rouse us by sprinkling the face with water; so in other cases which will readily suggest themselves to the reader, all of which go to show that the disturbance and horror of dreams arises from the body. The case I have adduced is one in which something wholly external to the body caused the feeling of fear. But there are more effective causes in the body itself, such as an overloaded stomach, undigested particles in the blood, and diseased bloody then there are various discomforts to the body caused by uncomfortable postures, or by discomforting conditions of the bed on which we are lying, etc. All these cause more or less of unpleasantness in dreams, by producing from without a greater or less modification of the vessels of memory and imagination. Indeed phantastical dreams may arise solely from causes in the body, i. e., from disturbances in the brain, as is the case with the phantasies of delirious fevers, etc., where modifications are produced on the cortical glands which do not correspond to what actually affects the external senses, but which are nevertheless perceived by the mind as implications of things really existing. It is to an inmost bodily cause that I think we must ascribe that supreme horror of the dream world, the nightmare. Here the man is bound hand and foot, is utterly powerless and subject to the extreme of terror as he sees sure destruction descending upon him.

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The dream itself may be induced by spirits, or it may be the result of the surrounding sphere in the spiritual world, but the nightmare feature of it seems due solely to the condition of the brain. On the cause of nightmare Swedenborg says in his work on the Fibre, "The cerebrum labors from lack of arterial blood, which does not penetrate to the cortex, but irritating the surface of the meninx, suddenly glides into the veins and sinuses of the dura mater. Thus the vascular substance which is abundant in the medulla of the cerebrum becomes void of blood and thus, extended and stretched, implicates the fibers. Thus an impotence of acting seizes the brain, yea, of feeling, except obscurely." (Fib. 535) He adds that the cause of this is lying on the back. It is this impotence of the brain to control its body, due to the withholding of arterial blood, that causes in the dream that terrible feeling of utter impotence that is the distinguishing characteristic of nightmare. That nightmare is due to bodily causes and not to the effects of spirits, seems to be a natural conclusion from the teaching that evil spirits are not allowed to infest man during sleep. Moreover, if nightmares were caused by evil spirits we would expect evil men to be specially subject to them, and good men more or less free from them, which is by no means the case.

     Unnatural horror, then, in dreams indicates some disordered state of the brain or body, and, if continued, would point to the need of medicinal treatment, or to the cultivation of that calmness of mind and freedom from worry and anxiety which are so necessary to the preservation of the brain's health.

     We pass now to that class of dreams which are said to be induced by the spirits near man when he sleeps, and which dreams are further said to be significative.

     But before going further with this class of dreams, it may be well to recur to what has already been implied, namely, that the operation or influx of the mind into the memory is the same in sleep as in wakefulness with the exception that in sleep the mind itself raises up images in the memory without the voluntary control of man, while in wakefulness those images are under man's control, and their activity and the manifestation of the mind's operations is them rests ultimately on sensation flowing from without.

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Something similar to the state of the dream world is present with man when he gives himself up to what is called day dreams, when all manner of grotesque, meaningless and transient pictures are raised up in the imagination. In these states the man has temporarily given over the reins of rational control, and he sits or lies with his senses, as it were, closed to outward sensations; his mind has free play to conjure up various images before his gaze. This state of day dreams, while of no great harm if not over-indulged, is yet not an ideal state; for man is intended to be rational, and rationality consists in the control over and voluntary harmonizing of what flows from without with what flows from within. Moreover, day dreams, if much indulged in, as is apt to be the case with those who give too much way to imagination and do not direct their energies to the occupations and uses of the world, becomes absolutely dangerous and the man comes into the state of a visionary with whom the images of the imagination become more powerful than the images of the external senses. Spirits can then play upon him at will, with greatly lessened ability on his part to hold them in check by ordered sensations. Of these visionaries we read that when they see any object in obscure light, as in moonlight, certain spirits, by holding the man's mind and thus his imagination fixedly on any given thing--as an infant, an animal, monster, etc.--can induce the appearance of that thing on the object which appears before his eyes. And so long as his imagination is held by spirits he is persuaded that he really sees such things. (A. C. 1967, S. D. 1752.) That many of the visions of hermits, saints, and other so-called holy men, who have secluded themselves from the world, are due to this cause, is evident. Their waking life is almost like a dream, and in this respect they are like evil spirits, of whom it is frequently said that in dreams and phantasies they think themselves to be most awake. (D. 4534, 3792)

     But to return to the dreams induced by the spirits near man when he sleeps. Dreams thus induced form a very large proportion of the visions of the sleeping world, though not the largest, for at the present day, the greatest number of dreams seem to be purely phantastical.

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In general, however, I should say, that all dreams in which a certain order is maintained, which do not consist of a meaningless jumble of images, are induced by spirits around man and are of the class of which we are about to speak. From the fact that these spirits are distinguished in the Writings from angelic spirits, who protect man during sleep and who also induce dreams, we conclude that the former, i. e., the spirits who are near man when he sleeps, are those in the external sphere of the world of spirits who are in agreement with the man's external loves, i. e., spirits hem, by his tastes, occupation, activities and affections, he has associated about him. They are not to be confused with those spirits of man's real life by whom he is held in connection with his own society in heaven or in hell. These latter sleep when man sleeps, being, with the man, deprived who are in the love of mathematics, that is to say, his mind is responsive to the activities of their loves. And so with the doctor, the theologian, the business man, etc. Every man has spirits associated with him according to the extension of his thoughts and activities--the narrow-minded and ignorant, few; the broad-minded and cultured, many. When man sleeps all these spirits do not necessarily sleep also, or they may be in various degrees of sleep, as was proved to Swedenborg by actual observation on one occasion when he woke from sleep. (D. 2437.) They may also continue their sleep when the man wakes, as was also experienced by Swedenborg, (D. 4284), which explains why men, after waking, do not at once come into the accustomed activities of their mind, and also, perhaps, why we sometimes wake up in an entirely different frame of mind than that which we had when we went to sleep.

     But whether they are waking or sleeping, it is by means of these spirits that most ordered dreams come to man, but with this difference, that when they are awake they induce dreams directly, but when asleep they are the means by which dreams are induced by other and probably more interior spirits. And I should imagine that this difference it is which is manifested in two types of dreams more or less clearly distinguished--the one, in which the dreamer is following the usual actions and thoughts of his daily occupation and life, and the other, in which he is more of a witness of some drama in which he may or may not be a participant, but which is outside his external occupations and seems to be directed by some superior force.

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In the one kind of dream the preacher would preach or teach, the business man would be occupied with the affairs of his business, the mathematician would consider some problem, the politician would be occupied with affairs of state and so forth, and all of them would in their dreams continue the activities of their waking thoughts. But in the other kind of dream, that which comes through man's associate spirits, rather than directly from them, the man sees the representative play of various passions and virtues common to all men, though variously represented according to the state of the man's individual thought and imagination. Certainly, on the basis of such a distinction, we can understand one very curious and remarkable class of dreams. I refer to those dreams in which are solved the unanswered problems of the day. It is recorded of a certain mathematician that, after he had in vain sought the solution of a problem, he found it wrought out for him in a dream. Then it is said that not unfrequently schoolboys going to sleep after a fruitless effort to commit their lessons to memory, have waked up with a more or less perfect lesson. Of cases like this latter I do not feel very certain and I adduce it only on the authority of a writer who was at some pains to ascertain facts relating to the dream world. But of the next example there can be no room for doubt, as there are not a few recorded and well attested cases. I refer to dreams in which the hiding place of lost or forgotten article may he found. For example, a little girl lost a penknife which she highly prized. Greatly worried with this loss she went to sleep, and in her sleep she dreamed her dead brother took her by the hand and led her to the identical spot where the penknife lay. She woke from the dream, and calling her sister, insisted on going to the place at once, where, sure enough, she found the missing knife. This is merely one case, but similar cases could be multiplied. Then it is recorded of various men of genius that they have received inspirations, or even open suggestions, from their dreams. Thus it is on record throughout all dream literature that the Kubla Khan of Coleridge was substantially revealed in a dream, and that Thomas Moore composed Lalla Rookh in a dream.

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The latter had studied long for the production, but the final inspiration is said to have come to him in a dream. As to the accuracy of this I can only repeat that it is recorded in most dream literature and it seems to be generally accepted as a fact that this was Moore's own opinion.

     Such examples as those I have adduced, while not very common, yet are sufficiently frequent to form an important characteristic of dreams. And this characteristic becomes more marked when we reflect that many, if not most, thinking men have had similar dreams, though not with so dramatic a denouement. Probably many of my readers have had at some time a dream in which they have continued some waking thought and in their dream the light of solution has come upon them. But alas, when they wake they can remember nothing except the bare fact that they had had light in their dream. The light itself does not remain with them when they wake, and they fail to remember what was so clear in their dreams. The well known fact of such dreams seems sufficient evidence, without further proof, to justify us in believing that with some men the memory of the dream has so far remained that it has actually assisted them in the solution of some waking problem. There certainly can be not the slightest doubt that hidden and lost articles have been discovered by being located in dreams. Now such dreams as these become explicable if we consider that the spirits whom man has associated with himself by the determination of his thought and activity, and from whom indeed he receives his inspiration, may still be in their activity while the man is asleep, that his mind is affected by the sphere of their activity, and the mind then represents itself in the memory exciting therein in the one case, things which the man knew not that he knew, i. e., the location of mislaid or forgotten articles--and, in the other, displaying therein its own superior insight untrammeled by the gross appearances of the senses, whence comes the superior perception which men sometimes seem to enjoy in dreams. (D. 1086, 1309) Swedenborg indeed speaks of the superior memory exhibited in dreams wherein he says the quality of the internal memory may be seen in that the memory of particulars is not so active as in wakefulness, and, consequently, every smallest particular, of faces, clothes, scenery is presented such as the man himself could never know merely from his memory of particulars. (D., 889a.)

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     Many writers are disposed to be cynical when they hear any one claiming that he was in some superior enlightenment and perception when in a certain dream, and they hint that if he could actually remember the things he had then heard or said he would probably find them the most arrant nonsense. Indeed, an instance is given in which a man in his dream was filled with the loftiest emotion at some poem he heard; but on waking he jotted down what he could remember of it and found it to be mere doggerel without discussing this case we would merely observe that in dreams, when corporeal things are laid aside, the mind may be in a superior light and activity, though without that reflection which is necessary for fixing things in the memory. This is evident from Divine and prophetic visions in which the mouth obediently speaks wisdom unknown to the prophet himself. It is also testified to by Swedenborg in the Adversaria where he states that he heard celestial speech in a dream whereby he seemed to understand universal things, and yet when he woke he knew nothing about it. (3 Ad., 4785)

     He speaks also of another dream about dancing at weddings of which he could remember but the facts; and yet he doubts not that in it was contained something of the arcana of heaven. (D., 2083.)

     We are also given the general teaching that what is seen and represented in dreams is indeed perceived in the dream but is inexpressible in wakefulness. (D. 7172) But upon this feature of dreams we shall touch later on. We would merely add, that we ourselves have a similar experience when, in elevated states, we see interior things in words heard or spoken, and yet in other states the same words seem almost empty.

     Here we might consider what I may call telepathic dreams, i. e., dreams in which a distant or unknown place is seen, or in which the dreamer beholds an action which is really happening in some more or less distant place. Thus a well attested dream is one of a railway accident with all its horrible details, which was proved to have taken place at about the time of the dream.

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So men have dreamt of sick and dying relatives when they had no reason to dream of their being either sick or dying, and their dreams have told the truth. According to the teaching concerning dreams it would seem that such dreams as these are induced by spirits who have put on or are in the memory of some man with whom the scene of the dream is actually before the eyes, or, it may be, in the cases of friends and relatives, that they are sometimes induced by the spirit of the friend or relative himself. For the fact that spirits induce dreams seems to involve the at any rate, possibility of dreams being induced by the spirits of men still on earth. In such a way would we explain the remarkable series of dreams which were recorded by a gentleman of the fact of which there can be no doubt He was engaged to a lady living in a distant place, whom he deeply loved, and he had every reason from letters received and from conversation, etc., to suppose his love was as deeply returned. Yet despite this he was continually troubled by dreams in which the lady showed herself utterly faithless, and this in ways which he was unwilling to divulge. He never gave credence to such dreams, nor would so far insult his lady as even to hint at them. Then while they were still separated in space the lady died. On her deathbed she had given directions that her private diary should be forwarded to him, and in this book he found the full confirmation of his dreams. The lady had been utterly faithless, and yet in the very midst of her deceit her mind had been torn with the pangs of remorse. Here it would certainly seem that the activity of the lady's mind had some effect on the sleeping mind of her lover.

     (To be continued.)

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LEAST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 1908

LEAST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1908

     "Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach, the same shall be called great in the kingdom, of heaven." Matthew, v. 19.

     The Lord had said to His disciples, that He was not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill. He had come to fulfill all things of the law of all things of the Word. He had been charged by the Pharisees with coming to break the law, and thus to destroy it. But He informs His disciples that the law was to be kept in every particular, and that He had come to keep it; and furthermore, that heaven and earth might pass away, but the law or the Word, as to every jot and tittle of it, was not to pass away, but all was to be fulfilled. This He alone was able to accomplish, and He would accomplish it, even if the doing should destroy the false heaven and false earth that had been built up by the cunning imagination of men. This was actually done in what is called the Last Judgment.

     A false or imaginary heaven, and a corresponding church on earth, had been built up by men, on which account it had become well nigh impossible for men to keep the law, even where they were so disposed. The Lord came to keep the law Himself, and what is wonderful the keeping of the law by Him caused the destruction of the imaginary heavens, brought about the last judgment, and thereby made it possible for men to keep the law,--to keep it not from themselves, but from Him; and so by His coming and ever after His coming it was possible for to keep the law, or obey the commandments, and thus be saved. It remains possible also for men to violate the law or the truth of the Word of God; but the Lord told His disciples, that from now henceforth those who did not keep the law, when they are able to keep it, could not be saved. This is what is meant by the opening words of the text, "Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

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     The Lord kept the law indeed, but this did not remove from men the obligation to keep, nor the necessity of keeping the law. The keeping and infilling of the law by the Lord, not only did not remove the obligation and necessity of keeping the law on the part of man, but placed upon him the full responsibility of keeping it, by the new freedom which the Divine work of redemption conferred upon him, and his responsibility was thus even greater than before, for responsibility always increases as freedom increases. Hence the Divine force of the words of the Lord, which are set before us today. After saying that He had come to fulfill the law and the prophets, and that not one jot or one title of the law should pass away till all be fulfilled. He added, "Whosoever, therefore, shall teach one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall he called the least in the kingdom of the heavens." Human responsibility in keeping the commandments could not he placed in clearer or more emphatic words. And yet it is made even stronger by the words that are added, "But whosoever shall do and teach, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

     By "one of these least commandments" is meant the same as all be fulfilled," mentioned in the verse preceding the text. Not the least thing of the Word is to be violated, profaned, or disobeyed, but all must be kept, all must be regarded as holy and Divine; and those who do not regard and love the Word as holy and Divine, and keep it as holy and Divine, will become least in the kingdom of heaven.

     A universal law here comes into view, which is that the Divine is the same in least things as it is in the greatest; the Lord is present in the least things of His Word, as He is in the greatest things of it, and to act against one of these least things is the same as to act against the greatest, the same as to act against the Lord Himself. He who acts,-he who continues to act and confirms himself in such action, will thereby shut himself out of heaven.

     Another universal law appears, which it is important for us to understand, and is expressed in these words, "He shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven."

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He who breaks the law, the least thing of the law or the Word, and confirms himself in it, is thereby shut out of heaven, and yet it is said that he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. How is this paradox to be explained? Let us see whether in the light of doctrine this can be understood.

     It is first necessary to know something of the form of heaven, or, What is the same thing, something of the form of man or the human form. There are three heavens, natural, spiritual, and celestial, and answering to this there are three degrees of the human mind. But there is above the human mind what is called the soul, or inmost or supreme degree. This makes a fourth degree, but it is really the first, and is the universal in the three degrees of the mind which are below. Considering these three degrees as one, and calling them the mind, we behold man as a trine, composed of soul, mind and body. The soul is his esse, the soul and mind together are his essence and the soul, mind, and body together constitute his form, or existere.

     It is similar with the angelic heaven. Above the angelic heaven, or above the three heavens, is that which answers to the soul in man. This makes an inmost or supreme heaven, above the celestial heaven itself and is called in the Writings the heaven of human internals. Below this are the three heavens answering to the mind of man,--and whether we say mind, or will and understanding, or love and wisdom, it is the same thing; for these make the mind, and these make heaven as composed of angels.

     The inmost and supreme degree above the human mind, above the angelic heaven, is never consciously entered by any man or any angel. It is where the Lord dwells with every man and with every angel. It is the Lord's heaven with them; and yet it is a human heaven also, and every man is in it, and can never get out of it. Man can never enter into it to pervert and destroy it; and hence it remains uncorrupted, uncontaminated even with every evil spirit. The Lord is present in the inmost, not only with every inhabitant of heaven, but with every inhabitant of hell. The Lord is thus omnipresent with every man that is born, and no man in this world or the other can ever pass out of this omnipresence, or from under the universal government of the Lord, no man can ever pass out from this most universal heaven of human internals.

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     The Lord is also universally present outside and around all men,--all in the world, all in heaven, and all in hell. Neither can any man ever get away from: this universal presence of the Lord,--the Lord's presence on the outside of him, around him. The Lord is present with the angels of heaven also in the intermediate degree, or the plane of the mind. The Lord is with them in their soul or inmost, He is with them in their mind, and He is with them in all their activities of speech and action,--with them, on the outside of them, round about them. The Lord is thus the all in all with the angels of heaven; the Lord is in them, and they in the Lord in all things and every particular of their life, in all things within and around them.

     The devils in hell, as we have seen, are also with the Lord and the Lord with them in their inmost or soul, and the Lord is with them and they with the Lord in what is round about them; but the Lord is not with them, nor they with the Lord, in what is within them; in their intermediate, or on the plane of their mind. In perverting this plane they have cast out everything" that is of the Lord and from the Lord, and there is thus in them nothing that is really living, all is like a dry and dusty desert beneath a parching sky, with no vegetable and animal life anywhere to be seen. Still they live because the Lord is present in their inmost and around them. They would get away from the Lord if they could they would break the connection with Him in their inmost, and thus annihilate themselves, but this it is utterly impossible for them to do. They strive with all their might to remove the Lord from. His presence around them, and in some degree they succeed in this for a time. This they do when they openly commit evil both in speech and action. By this effort they destroy their internal or intermediate and thus create hell, cast themselves into hell, close the angelic heaven to themselves. They thus remove themselves from consociation with the angels, but they do not get away from the presence of the Lord. By removing themselves from the outer presence of the Lord in the open commission of evil they cast themselves into hell, and are shut up in infernal prison houses.

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But it is necessary that the Lord should restore His outer presence with them; for if this could not be done, the human race on earth and even the angelic heaven would perish. When this was threatened the Lord came into the world and kept the law, even in very word and deed, and thus reduced the hells to order, reestablished His presence around the hells, that they might be forever kept in order for the sake of the salvation of the human race, and the integrity of heaven.

     There comes a time in hell, and with every spirit of hell, when the Lord re-establishes His outer presence with him. But there never comes a time when the Lord re-establishes His presence within him or in his mind or intermediate, in his will and understanding. For the Lord can never enter into the mind of man, except with the full and free consent of the man. The Lord is on the outside knocking at the door, eternally knocking, but the evil man and evil spirit will never admit the Lord into the inner chambers of his mind and heart. He will always strive to prevent the entrance of the Lard, who is knocking at the door; he will never to all eternity unlock his door and bid the visitor to enter in. The Lord on the outside of him will bring him into order, but never within him; for the freedom within, the freedom of will and thought is ever preserved by the Lord as the apple of the eye.

     The teaching of the Heavenly Doctrine is, that the human mind is preserved forever in absolute freedom. Man may think and will as he chooses without let or hindrance. His thought and his affection appear altogether as his own; and it is contrary to order for any one to compel the thought and will of another. The Lord never does this, nor should one man endeavor or wish to do this with another; and it is provided of the Lord that no man shall exercise such control over the inner life of another. If such a control is established, it is not permitted long to continue, for it is contrary to the order of creation. But the actions of men are not in the same freedom, neither in this world nor in the other, save in heaven itself. The angels have full freedom of speech and action, as they have freedom of thought and will; but this is not permitted to spirits in hell, nor to men in the world. For where evil is rampant within, full license of speech and action would destroy order, and make human existence impossible.

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Men are to be free and continually more free since the Last Judgment, to speak what is true and do what is good, but the freedom to speak and do evil, to bring forth and ultimate the evil that is within, is to be put under restrained and the civil law is ordained for this purpose. It is not the purpose and practice of the civil law to restrain or control the evil thought or will of men, or to punish men for internal states of evil, however active those states may be. But it does punish, and proposes to punish men for their evil deeds. It is the same in the spiritual world, and in this way order is restored or preserved in hell. The punishing of men for their evil deeds does not take away their freedom of will and thought; this is still preserved, not only in this world but also in hell.

     The point to which this teaching leads, and which is established by it, is, that when man is in order he is not in hell; that is to say, he is not in hell so far as he is in order. Order is heaven, and heaven is whatever order is, whether in the world, or whether in or around hell.

     When evil spirits are cast into hell, it is done because they have broken the laws of order. They have ultimated in evil deeds the evil that is in their will, and are unwilling to restrain themselves from it, are unwilling to bring themselves, or subject themselves to its laws. They are therefore cast into hell, and there undergo grievous punishment, because they continue to do the evil which they did before, and which brought them there. The punishment continues--and with some it continues for a long time-even until they are willing to desist from the outward commission of evil, until they are willing to come into order. The order into which they are willing to come, is, however, an order that is merely external, the order of speech and action, not an order of internal thought and will. They are not even willing to come into external order, but they are driven to it through fear,--very much as it is in this world with men--their constant desire being to return into an open commission of evil; but as they know by experience that a sure and swift punishment will follow, they restrain themselves. Thus is order brought about in the hells, as it is for the most part in the world among men.

     It is a law that where there is order there is use.

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Order and use are inseparable, and order is for the sake of use. Until there is order no use can be performed. In the natural world unless order is preserved by civil government and law, by the administration of the law, by punishments where the laws of order are violated--unless order is thus preserved, no natural uses can be performed, and misery, despair, devastation, destruction, death, prevail everywhere. No uses are performed, there is no prosperity and no human happiness. History teems with illustrations of this point, and establishes that order is necessary to use, necessary to peace, necessary to happiness. It is so in the state, it is so in the church, it is so in the school, it is so in every department of human activity--and it is so in the spiritual world.

     The order of heaven is the most wonderful thing in the created universe, because it is the most perfect and the most complete; hence the use of heaven, the uses performed in heaven, and by heaven for the human race, are the most wonderful, the most perfect and the most complete; thus there is nothing like the happiness of heaven in all created and infinite existence; and the Revelator assures us that no human tongue or pen can describe it; even his unusual facility in the use of human language fails to bring it down to the comprehension of men in the natural world. It must be seen and known and experienced in order to be understood. There is but little in human knowledge and human experience in the world by which it can be illustrated. Men can not know what they do not experience; for nothing is impressed on the internal man, so as to become a matter of perception, except by experience. We can only know it as a matter of faith, and by faith and the works of faith; we can only know it in preparing ourselves for the order and for the uses of heaven. We can never perceive or experience the happiness of heaven until we are in the order and use of heaven.

     "The Lord wills that all men should come into order that they may perform use, and by use receive happiness; and the Lord provides that every man should come into order, use, and happiness, as far as it is possible to accomplish it; and this will be finally accomplished to some extent with every man. The evil man is no exception to this Divine law and purpose. He must he brought into order that he may perform use, and be made happy in proportion to the order and use into which he can come.

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This is necessary for his own sake, and for the sake of the common good, which he would otherwise injure and destroy. And though the evil man will be the least in the kingdom of heaven, because he has broken the commandments of God, and will's continually to break them; still he is in the kingdom of heaven, or in the universal kingdom of the Lord, when he comes into order and the uses of order, and he then has happiness according to the uses of order which he performs.

     It is not the Divine mercy that the evil in hell should live perpetually in the abject misery, despair, torment, that always accompanies the punishment of evil. In every evil is stored up its own punishment, just as is every good is stored up its own delight or reward; and just as surely as delight follows use, just so surely will undelight or punishment follow the doing of evil which destroys use. The Lord permits this punishment to take place for the sake of restoration and establishment of order and use. When this is accomplished the punishment ceases, and a negative degree of happiness results even with the devils of hell, because then there is a negative degree of peace arising from the cessation of active strife and turmoil, of the active effort to destroy the uses of order.

     We have then set before us the spirit of the words of the Lord, when He said to His disciples, "Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven." He is called least in the kingdom of heaven, because while he is in that kingdom when he is in order and performs use, he is still in it unwillingly, still strives against it within, and would break from it and cast himself out of it if he dared, would destroy it if he were not in abject fear of the terrible punishment he knows by experience will follow the breaking of the laws of that kingdom. Thus is order established in hell, and the world is safe and heaven secure.

     When the evil discover, as they all eventually discover, that a swift and terrible punishment follows the open commission of evil, they promise amendment and are given uses to perform. The promise indeed is not sincere, the promise is hypocritical, and this is well known to the angels who govern them, it is well known that they are driven to it by fear,-the angels are not deceived; still their promise is accepted and uses are given them to perform.

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     When they are in performance of these uses, they are as it were out of hell, they are in a region called the lower earth, and are thus in the kingdom of heaven, and under the universal government of the Lord, both mediately and immediately. They are indeed not in the angelic heaven itself, for only those are there who are in the love and will of the order o heaven; but still they are in the universal sphere of heaven, and under its government and control, just as evil men in the world are under the influx, government, and control of heaven when they live externally in obedience to the civil laws of order, and just so long as the evil in the natural world, and the evil in the spiritual world, are willing to observe the laws of order and are willing to perform uses under those laws, just so long are they given a degree of happiness and peace, and just so long and so far are they in the Lord's kingdom, whose kingdom is over heaven and over hell, and whose kingdom is a kingdom of uses; and just to this extent and no further may it be said that there is such a thing as universal salvation-universal salvation because there is and must be universal order, even though there are many under this universal order who do not will it and love it, and who would destroy it if they could.

     Thus is seen the wonderful operation of the mercy of the Lord, even over the evil in their miseries, which mercy the Lord reveals to us in the words of mercy, which He spoke to His disciples, when He said to them, "Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach man so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Amen.

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BLOOD GLOBULE 1908

BLOOD GLOBULE       FELIX A. BOERICKE       1908

     It is well known that everywhere in the scientific works where Swedenborg treats specifically of the blood, he attributes to the red blood corpuscle a globular form, and describes it as being composed of six smaller globules or "piano-oval spherules," which are fitted into the sides of a central saline particle, and this description is often repeated. It is so described in the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, in the chapter treating of the "Composition and Essence of the Blood." In the small work on The Red Blood he states that "the red blood globule admits of division into six lesser and pellucid globules." These statements are reiterated by him in some of his other scientific works. This description has troubled many who were aware of the fact that it did not at all agree with the description of the red blood corpuscles, (the erythrocytes), given in all of the modern works treating of this subject, in which they are described and illustrated as biconcave, circular discs, biconcave in the center and biconvex at the periphery. When we take into consideration the greater perfection of the microscope in modern times, and the agreement in this description of a great host of scientists, there would seem to be no doubt that Swedenborg was in error in accepting as correct the description given by Leewenhoek in the Philosophical Transactions. It further seems strange that Swedenborg should have made this conglobation so important when writing concerning it, and in the Economy he uses it in connection with an elaboration of the doctrine of degrees.

     Turning to the most recent work on anatomy Piersol's Human Anatomy, (just published), our feeling of confidence and satisfaction in modern experimental science is considerably jarred by the following statement:

     "The long-accepted biconcave discoidal form of the mammalian erythrocytes has been questioned by Dehuyzen and, more recently, by Weidenreich and by F. T. Lewis, who believe that the normal form of the red blood cells is cup shaped, similar to a sphere more or less deeply indented, thus reviving the conception held by Leeuwenhoek nearly two centuries ago.

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Although such cupped corpuscles are familiar, they are generally regarded as changed cells resulting from modification of the density of the plasma. The positive testimony of so careful an observer as Lewis as to the occurrence of the cup-shaped red cells within the circulation during life entitle these views to consideration," (p. 681).

     On the strength of this statement we can hardly fail to lost some of our confidence in the very superior microscopes of the present day, even though the fact remains that they are greatly superior to those used in the eighteenth century. In connection with this it is of interest to note what some of the text books on Microscopy say of the uncertainty of the interpretation of what is actually seen by the high powered lenses:

     "All preconceived notions should be cast aside." Devis "Practical Microscopy," (P. 2).

     "Not only are observations of any kind liable to certain fallacies arising out of the previous notions which the observer may entertain in regard to the constitution of the objects or the nature of the actions to which his attention is directed; but even the most practiced observer is apt to take no note of such phenomena as his mind is not prepared to appreciate again "the suspension of the judgment whenever there seems room for doubt is a lesson inculcated by all those philosophers who have gained the highest repute for practical wisdom; and it is one which the microscopist cannot too soon learn or too constantly practice." Carpenter. "The Microscope and its Revelations," (p. 369.)

     With the low power the details of the object under examination cannot be observed as well as with a higher power, while with the high power lense only certain details can be seen at a time, it being impossible to bring the entire object into focus at the same time.

     It is also a fact that a keen sighted investigator will see much more with a lense of low power, than one who is less skillful will see With the highest powers. Also one born a genius for investigations of this kind will undo the work of thousands of ordinary observers who will do nothing more than confirm previous observations, simply because they are generally accepted.

     It may be added that even in the Spiritual Diary, which is one of the Theological Writings, Swedenborg speaks of the red blood corpuscles as being globular: "The red blood, or its globules, while it is tender, soft, soluble and fluid, seems to act in similar gyres as Spirits do when they are being inaugurated into a Society, with quadruplicate limits. (S. D. 1036)

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DUTY OF PARENTS TO NEW CHURCH SCHOOLS 1908

DUTY OF PARENTS TO NEW CHURCH SCHOOLS       GEORGE A. MCQUEEN       1908

     It is not intention, as might be supposed from the title of this paper, to lay down the law as to what ought to be done by New Church parents in any particular case. Our priests have given teaching in abundance on the subject of New Church education, and they now leave us severely alone as to the application of the same. The responsibility of applying the doctrine is thus placed upon the shoulders of the laymen of the Church; and our assemblies provide a convenient opportunity in which to exchange views and to consider the matter from the layman's point of view. Besides this, our discussions answer the purpose of revealing to the priests the prevailing state of mind as it exists in the general body of the Church.

     First, then, I would remark that the fact of our membership in the General Church of the New Jerusalem involves the acceptance on our part of the principles of education as taught by the Academy, and our individual responsibility to do all we can to promote the growth of those principles. If this statement is correct, why, then, is it necessary for us to discuss the matter at this period of the history of our Church?

     I think there are several reasons for this necessity. One is that our Church is growing, and we have new members constantly being added who have not taken part in the discussions of the past, and who have not yet reached the period when the subject has directly applied to them. Also there is the fact that we all pass through states of indifference and need to be reminded from time to time of the principles upon which our educational movement is founded. When we hear of Bryn Athyn and the work being done there, we are apt to forget that the pioneers of the movement had neither a Bryn Athyn nor a Glenview to encourage them in their efforts to establish genuine New Church schools.

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It was with them a matter of vital principle which enabled them to be content with the day of small things. They had confidence, however, that their feeble efforts would prosper, because the work was founded on true principles.

     If we look over the back volumes of New Church Life, or the Journals of the General Church, we shall the better realize the end sought by our early leaders in the cause. The fundamental truth they had in mind was that man is born into this world to prepare for the world to come. The education of the world does not realize this fact, and never will. Success from the worldly point of view is the ideal of public school teaching and all things are made subservient to this end. The fathers of the Academy, seeing the truth that the Church must be the first in all things, concluded that it must be the first in the education of our children.

     It was seen that infancy was the time in which to sow the seeds of New Church truth if there was to be an increase of New-churchmen. This could not be done unless the children were kept daily and hourly in the sphere of the Church. In the school and in the home the young mind would have to be protected from the general sphere of falsity and evil prevalent in the world at large. Hence New Church schools, the smallest of which is greater than the most highly equipped modern school of the world,--schools from which our children can go forth capable of taking their place in business life on equal terms with other children, but with the important advantage that they possess a rationality which enables them to distinguish between the false and the true, the evil and the good, a faculty which it is apparent is ceasing to exist among the scholars trained in our public schools.

     Granting all this, it is nevertheless sometimes hard for us to resist the temptation to think that we are robbing our children of their chances of success in life by sending them to our modest New Church schools. I suppose we may be excused for admitting such a suggestion, when we consider the pressure which is constantly brought to bear upon us in the course of our daily life, where everything appeals to our own proprium as against the teaching of revealed truth.

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     We must not entertain these suggestions unless we are willing to go back on our professed principles. The earth is the seminary of heaven. The schools are the nurseries of the Church; the Church is the Heart and Lungs of the Gorand Man.

     If we realize this we will make every effort to sustain the work of education within the Church, and will see to it that it is no fault of ours if our children do not receive the blessings of New Church education. We are not expected to do the impossible, but we must be quite certain that we have arrived at the impossible before giving up our efforts.
USES OF NATURAL TRUTH 1908

USES OF NATURAL TRUTH       J. B. S. KING       1908

     The tide of interest in the scientific works of Swedenborg, which has been rising for several years and now seems to have culminated in Miss Beekman's book on Cosmology, makes a consideration of this subject particularly appropriate.

     I begin by remarking that natural truth is a very comprehensive term, and may be made to include not only those things learned by instruction from books, but also that greater and more fundamental mass of facts, often distinguished by the term "sensual," which enter the mind with the first moments of life and continue through the whole period of childhood.

     At birth and with every subsequent hour of infantile life, a flood of natural truth streams in through the awakening sense, to be stored in the invisible granaries of the mind for future use. By these as means, the faculties of attention, comparison, reflection, and perception, are developed, and by these, also, loves, affections and delights are weakened and all this without necessarily learning to read or looking into a book.

     Then comes the period of systematic instruction, during which natural truths in great abundance are learned, as the mind develops and becomes capables of understanding them.

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Now, natural truth is not, as it is considered in the world, an end in itself, but, as the Writings teach us, is a means to an end.

     We read in S. D. 5709-10 that there are two foundations of spiritual truth,--the Word and Nature; and in n. 5607 it is stated that the natural thought of man is a place in which all things of angelic wisdom terminate; into that plane fall all things that the angels think. Natural truths are in the place of a foundation, the plane and ultimate with an intelligent man whether he be awake or asleep; for it is with him constantly.

     In n. 1531 of the same work, we read that celestial and spiritual ideas ought to be inrooted in natural truth, to the end that order may be perfect; for the knowledges and ideas of angels, although indefinitely more profound than the ideas of man, are nevertheless rooted in natural truth. In H. H. n. 356 we learn that the human mind is like ground which acquires a quality according to the pains bestowed upon its cultivation, and that those whose interiors have been much cultivated by knowledges and sciences and who have also, in faith and life, acknowledged the Divine Being, are accepted in heaven more readily than others and are among those who dwell in the center.

     Proceeding to the Arcana Coelestia, we find a vast amount of instruction on the uses of natural truth. We are here taught that man may get fuller and more extensive ideas of things celestial and spiritual by consulting rational, philosophical, and scientific: things, and thereby attain to a fuller belief or faith. (n. 2568.)

     These teachings make clear the extremely important use of natural truth, especially to the regenerating man. By study and reflection upon natural truths we afford a broader plane in which angelic wisdom may terminate, a more adequate containant and reactive for the influx of spiritual truth, a richer and more cultivated soil in which celestial and spiritual ideas may take root. It is evident that in such a state we not only benefit ourselves but we are of use to the heavens and to the angels there.

     The first contact of the new born infant's skin with the external world is the beginning of natural truth with that individual. Something touches the delicate and sensitive skin and makes an impression upon it.

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That impression is conveyed by innumerable fibers to the sensories of the brain, and is there imprinted upon the tender but indestructible substances of the memory as a natural truth,--the fundamental idea of a substance and a form. This root-idea, thus implanted in the earliest moments of life, enlarged, extended, developed, modified and made more adequate by observation, comparison, reflection and instruction, is that which makes it possible for the individual in after years to look upon the Lord as the only Substance and the only Truth.

     Thus does every natural truth, in a mind which acknowledges the Divine, serve as a foundation for spiritual truth, and the more natural truth, and scientifics we have, the broader, stronger and deeper is that foundation for the wisdom of the angelic heavens to pest upon, and the more powerful organs of use do we become in the spiritual world. The angels lamented because, when they looked into the world, they saw nothing but darkness and no knowledge with men of God, of Heaven or of Creation, for their wisdom to rest upon. (D. L. W. 284.)

     Cosmology or the creation of worlds, in the light of this quotation, is seen, to be an important study, and the recent publication of a masterly work upon this subject has brought it prominently before the attention of the Church. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." This first sentence from the Word means much or little or nothing according to the recipient mind.

     To those who believe the Bible with simple faith, without knowledge, it is inevitable that the puerile idea of creation formed in early life should remain with them. This usually involves some variety of the notion of God creating the world, either out of nothing or out of some existent material, working like a man in a vast space.

     It means nothing to those who do not believe it; to such, nothing better is it; than the godless nebular hypothesis of Laplace and Herschel which postulates a vast, globular, cosmic body without beginning, revolving in space without cause. This gigantic nebulous mass contained or enclosed the sun as its somewhat more condensed central portion. It cooled and contracted and after a time burst into fragments to make the planets, one of which happened to be the earth.

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The earth happened to have or acquire an environment, suitable for inhabitants, and then man happened to come upon it.

     The sun keeps up its heat, because it does not happen to get cool; the planets swing around the sun because nothing happens to stop them. They have not happened to collide as yet but they may. There happened to be four seasons on this earth, which happened to be very convenient for growing vegetables, and vegetables happened to be good to eat, everything happened to be very consentaneous to the modes of man except that he would like to know how he happened to get here, and where he is going to happen to go to next. The nebular hypothesis, stated in more sober and grandiose language, is called by R. S. Ball (LL. D., F. R. S., Astronomer-Royal), "a noble speculation, supported by plausible argument," but stripped of high-sounding phrases, and mystifying verbal involvements, it is just as absurd as I have stated it above.

     "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," means ineffable things to one who, in a reverent and affirmative spirit, studies the Principia and the Outlines of the Infinite or the summary of the subject given in Miss Beekman's book. It is now lawful to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith. To one who takes advantage of this divine permission, not only is the simple fact believed, but something of the mode, something of the order, something of the degree in and by which God created the heaven and the earth is understood. Thus celestial and spiritual ideas are better founded, more fully received and more deeply rooted in our minds, and as a consequence we are able better to believe those transcendent Doctrines upon the study and doing of which depends the salvation of mankind.

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     After tell years of existence, Bryn Athyn has at last been discovered by the outer world. An enterprising reporter from the Philadelphia North American one day in November found his way to our quiet little village, and gently but firmly insisted upon writing up a "story" of our "exclusive" and therefore interesting settlement. The results of his investigations appeared in a five-column illustrated article in the Sunday edition of his paper, on November 17th. Under a flaring headline reading "Bringing the Spirit World to Earth," the writer describes "Life and Study at Bryn Athyn, Swedenborgian headquarters in America." While some of the statements are extravagant and by outsiders would probably be regarded as the enthusiastic self-advertisement of an educational institution, the article as a whole is surprisingly correct. Never before, as far as we know, have New Church activities received so friendly and intelligent a notice from the worldly press.



     In an account of a visit to Skara, contributed to the New Church Messenger of November 13th, Dr. Frank Sewall announces the finding, in the public library of Visby (Gothland), of an hitherto unknown copy of Bishop Jesper Swedberg's Autobiography. Previous to this time, so far as we are aware, only two copies of this Autobiography had been located, one at Skara and the other at Linkoping. But it was known that other copies existed; for, in the work itself, Swedberg states that he wrote out a copy for each of his children,--of whom six were living at the time of writing.

     The Skara copy, which is a substantially bound manuscript volume of 1842 pages, examined in 1842 by Dr. Kahl, who found therein but few paragraphs which he thought would be of general interest. These were sent to Dr. Im. Tafel and inserted in his Documents concerning Swedenborg, published in German, and afterwards translated into English.

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They are also incorporated in the Documents edited by Dr. R. L. Tafel, where they fill no more than two pages (Vol. I, pp. 194-196). In these extracts Swedberg objects to the naming of children after their parents, for which custom he finds no warrant in Scripture; he thinks rather that Scripture indicates that their names should be such as to "awaken in and remind them of the fear of God and of everything that is orderly and righteous." He then gives his reasons for naming three of his sons, Emanuel, Eliezer and Jesper.

     The Visby copy of the Autobiography, discovered by Dr. Sewall, consists of only 1002 pages, but, comparing it, from memory, with the Skara copy, Dr Sewall is of opinion that it is of greater value and bears the marks of being an earlier copy. "The writing is more distinct and careful, the inserted documents, hymns, sermons, pictures, including the famous portrait of the bishop himself, preserved from the conflagration, under which Swedenborg writes a Latin verse, are, as I remember them, more numerous, and there are pious prayers at the conclusion, and on the frontispiece a remarkable Runic ring with calendar of antiquarian interest." The Latin verse to which Dr. Sewall here refers is printed, with a somewhat stiff translation, in Documents I, p. 153. It may be more freely translated:

"Unhurt this portrait 'mid the burning ashes lay,
When in dark night, the flames thy house consumed;
So, Father, shall thy name and love of thee survive,
When funeral pyre shall close thy earthly day.



     The acquisition by the Academy Library, as noted in the Journal of Education, of a set of the Acta Eruditorum, extending from 1682 to 1725, together with several volumes of supplements, constitutes one of the most valuable accessions which the Library has received for some time. The books were purchased for the Library by the Rev. D. H. Klein at an auction sale in Chicago.

     The Acta Eruditorum contains reviews, sometimes quite lengthy of some of Swedenborg's scientific works, including his Attempt to find Longitudes by the Moon, Observations on Iron and Fire, Chemistry, Miscellaneous Observations, The Infinite, and the Animal Kingdom.

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The latter work was reviewed in one of the later volumes of the Acta, (1747), which, unfortunately, are not included in the Academy's accession. Most of the reviews are very favorable, though the reviewer of the Infinite hints at the work having a materialistic tendency, (Acta, 1735, p., 559) Swedenborg himself is referred to as "a must distinguished scholar whose writings have been most deservedly commended in another place." (Ib. 1722, p. 267.) The "other place" refers to a review of the Chemistry in a previous issue, wherein the author is credited with "much penetration and no less industry," though the truth of his hypotheses is left by the reviewer to the determination of others.

     Swedenborg, himself, was evidently a careful reader of this learned publication, and made some use of it in his studies. In the composition of his manuscript On Salt, for instance, he several times gives the opinions or experiences of an author by quoting, verbatim et literatim, from the reviewer's citations or summary as given in the Acta Eruditorum.

     But the chief use of these learned journals is the picture they present of the learned world in Swedenborg's time. In their pages we come into the learned environment in which Swedenborg lived. There are passed in review and discussed the various scientific and philosophical opinions of men, many of whom were known to Swedenborg himself, either personally or by repute. And there we may get sundry hints and guides as to Swedenborg's reading and studies, and as to the development of some of his ideas. Reference to those journals is, indeed, indispensable for a thorough study of Swedenborg's scientific career, and even for the proper editing of some of his works.

     But the Acta Eruditorum is not the only one of these journals which will be thus useful to the New Church student. Even more valuable are the Acta Literaria Sueciae, already in the possession of the Academy. There are also the Transactions of the Royal Society, and the rather rare Nova Literaria Maris Balthici. All these journals were used by Swedenborg in his studies, and it is to be hoped that in, time the Library will come into possession of copies of them.

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     The frequent statement in the Writings regarding the Roman Catholic church,-that it has substituted the pope in place of the Lord,--is as manifestly true today as it was in Swedenborg's time, and this despite the tendency of modern latitudinarianism to cover up or obscure all essential distinction under the specious, but altogether too flimsy mantle of "charity." To our "New Church" latitudinarians, we would recommend the perusal of an editorial' wherein a Cleveland paper, The Catholic Universe, speaking with regard to the recent papal encyclical against "modernism," reminds its readers that "Rome has spoken--the matter is closed." The editorial continues: "Some thirty-five years ago, [i. e., when the doctrine of papal infallibility was first formulated], it was predicted that the declaration of papal infallibility would destroy the Roman Catholic Church; but the predictions have gone the way of so many other false prophecies. The Church is built upon a rock, and the gates of hell cannot and shall not prevail against it. The Church, like our Lord, speaks with authority. She has the assurance of Christ, who said: He that hears you hears me. Hence we can question the faith and knowledge of those who appeal a papa male informato ad papam melius informandum (from a pope badly informed to a pope who shall be better informed).

     To some it may appear that the Protestant Church is in better condition, in that it does not put a pope and his interpretations in place of the Lord, and His teachings. But the appearance is merely an appearance. For while the Protestant church gives free access to the Bible, yet that Bible is entirely subordinated to the teachings of Creeds and Confessions. With the orthodox these matters are held as of higher authority than the Word. They may indeed read or hear the Bible, but they do not approach it directly. Their eves are blinded to everything but the dogmas or interpretations of their church,--the traditions of men which have been substituted for the Word of God.

     For the rest, the unorthodox, those who more or less question and reject the creeds of the churches,--and these are the growing majority--there is not even the semblance of acknowledging the Divinity of the Word. It is not a book to teach men, but a book upon which they, already self taught, are to pass judgment.

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And just as the churches have put forward their doctrines as the only guide for the reading of the Word, so now, with the march of modern progress, individual men go up and down the land spreading their darkness as the light wherein the Word is to be viewed, and proclaiming in confident tones where that Word is true, and where false. Truly they have parted His garments, and over His vesture have cast lots. But where is the man who, acknowledging the Lord, puts aside the dogmas of men, and approaches Him directly in His Word?

     The Catholic Church worships the pope in place of the Lord; the Protestant worships human intelligence in place of the Word. Essentially the two churches are one. Both put man in place of God.

     It is true, as the Catholic Universe observes, that Protestantism, with its mutually contradictory interpretations of the Bible, "is going to pieces, because it has no pilot, and no one to speak with authority." But the pilot needed is not a puny pope reigning with mock splendor in a Roman palace.
WHO WAS SWEDENBORG AND WHAT ARE HIS WRITINGS? 1908

WHO WAS SWEDENBORG AND WHAT ARE HIS WRITINGS?              1908

     It is not, we believe, considered to be exactly au fait to appropriate titles already pre-empted, and especially given the appropriation is done by rival houses. But not content with appropriating the title of the American Swedenborg Society's Catalogue, the Rotch Trustees, in this catalogue of their publications, have also appropriated the Society's very excellent Introduction, but with a difference. It may be remembered that the Introduction, which was written by Mr. E. C. Brown, one of the of the directors of the American Society, closed with a quotation from True Christian Religion, n., 779 followed by the statement that the Writings are Divinely revealed and constitute the Second Coming of the Lord. This part of the Introduction the Rotch trustees have considerably omitted, leaving their rivals to its sole enjoyment. Perhaps they thought the Writings were better supported by the six pages of "Opinions Concerning Swedenborg," by Carlyle, Balzac, Beecher, Elbert Hubbard, et al. than by any assertion of mere Divine Revelation.

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     Instead, they conclude their "introduction" with the complacent statement that "the only complete and uniform edition of the Writings" is the 1907 Rotch Edition. The statement smacks more of business enterprise than of truth. If it were true, then one would certainly imagine that the fertility of Swedenborg's theological pen had been much exaggerated. But this "complete" edition omits mention of such works as the Spiritual Diary, Apocalypse Explained, Prophets and Psalms, Athanasian Creed, Canons, Dicta Probantia, Divine Wisdom, and Divine Love,--not to mention several minor treatises.

     In this "complete" catalogue the "Last Judgment" has become the "Final Judgment"--an example of that itching for new terms which is again displayed in the title, "Marriage Love." In this connection there is an amusing feature in the descriptive part of the catalogue. There the title is "MARRIAGE LOVE: The Delights of Wisdom pertaining to Marriage Love," etc.; but the descriptive matter following has evidently been retained from a former catalogue, for here it speaks only of "love truly conjugial," and "conjugial love."
ANOTHER NEW DISCOVERY IN THE ACADEMY LIBRARY 1908

ANOTHER NEW DISCOVERY IN THE ACADEMY LIBRARY              1908

     Last month we announced the discovery of an autograph of Bishop Swedberg's in the library of the Academy of the New Church. This time it is an autograph of Swedenborg himself that we have to announce, nothing very important, it is true, but still of interest, and worthy of being recorded.

     Swedenborg, as is known, throughout his life took a great interest in the "New Method of finding the Longitudes of places on land and sea by means of the moon," which he had discovered as early as 1712, and which he first published in the fourth number of his scientific serial, the Daedalus Hyperboreus, in the year 1716. In the year 1718 he republished this article as a separate tract, in Swedish, at Upsala, and in 1721 he published it in Latin at Amsterdam. This was again reprinted at Amsterdam, in 1727, at Hildburgshausen, in 1754, and finally at Amsterdam, in the year 1766. Thus, in all, there are six editions, two of which he published while in the midst of his theological career.

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     The edition last named, though neither year nor place of publication is printed on the title page, was published at Amsterdam, in the spring of 1766, as is known from Swedenborg's letters to the Academy of Sciences and to Professor Schenmark, with whom he carried on a friendly scientific controversy on this subject. (See Tafel's Documents, vol. I, p. 590.) From Hyde's Bibliography we learn that "Swedenborg's copy of this edition is preserved in the Library of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm." It was published at Amsterdam just before Swedenborg crossed over to England, to claim the enormous reward of L20,000, which the Royal Society had offered for the discovery of a correct method of finding the Longitudes.

     While rummaging, the other day among the literary treasures of Swedenborgiana, preserved in the fire-proof vault of the Academy of the New Church, we opened the copy of this last edition of Methodus Nova, which Mr. Benade had obtained through Dr. R. L. Tafel in 1869. We had seen it often before, but were now surprised to find that the plate, containing the diagrammatic illustrations to the work, was not printed, as we had formerly supposed, but drawn by hand, and this by Swedenborg himself, as the accompanying writing shows without the shadow of a doubt. And turning back to the title page, we found that it was Swedenborg who had written under the title these words in Swedish, "Trycki i London," (Printed in London), which some one had crossed over with his pen, thinking that the words had been written by some ignoramus. Swedenborg's writing is happily still quite legible.

     The discovery is of interest as showing that Swedenborg probably intended to print still another edition of the work, in London, together with the plate found in the older editions, and for this purpose made a new copy of the plate with his own hands, but was discouraged by the cool reception of his claim on the part of Lord Morton, the president of the Royal Society, who, as Swedenborg suggests in a contemporary letter, was unwilling to see the reward given to anyone but an Englishman.

     What the merits of the "New Method" may be, must be left to the judgment of the future, but it is remarkable that Swedenborg, the inspired theologian, should continue to take so great an interest in things purely scientific, and the fact that, while publishing the Divine Writings, he re-published this and some others of the scientific works, should cause us to hesitate before rejecting the earlier works as of doubtful value.

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NEW CHURCH REFUTATION OF "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE." 1908

NEW CHURCH REFUTATION OF "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE."              1908

     THE ILLUSIONS OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. Its Philosophy rationally examined, with an Appendix on Swedenborg and the Mental Healers. By John Whitehead, M. A., Th. B. The Garden Press. 16 Arlington St., Boston, Mass. 1907. Pp. 247.

     A thorough exposure, from a New Church point of view, of the destructive falsities and evils of the so called "Christian Science" has been a long-felt and crying need in the Church, and Mr. Whitehead in this volume makes a praiseworthy effort to fill this gap in our literature. Being a direct perversion of New Church Doctrine, there remains in Christian Science just enough of the appearance of certain truths to seduce unwary minds, and as a matter of fact, hundreds of former members of the New Church have been thus seduced. The purging has been wholesome to the Church, no doubt, but it is, nevertheless, the duty of the priesthood to investigate the danger and to raise the warning voice.

     Mr. Whitehead, in this work, takes up, one by one, the leading principles of Christian Science Philosophy, showing how these principles have been borrowed from Swedenborg, but utterly perverted and misapplied. Mrs. Eddy's fundamental contention that matter is a mere illusion is shown to be a perversion of Swedenborg's teaching that the world of time and space is a world of appearances compared with the greater realities of the spiritual world. This, however, does not make matter nothing, since it is the ultimate appearance of a spiritual reality. So also the Christian Science teaching that disease is a mere illusion to be dispelled by spiritual means only, is a perversion of the New Church doctrine that all evil, including disease, is from the spiritual world. This, however, does not do away with the necessity for natural means in the care of disease, since the ill, whether an illusion or not, exists in the natural.

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So, also, the profane assumption of the divinity of man is a direct perversion of the teaching of the Writings that God is the only Substance, which is balanced, on the other hand, by the teaching that man is only a finite form.

     While Mr. Whitehead quotes from the Writings very effectively in refutation of the fundamental falsities of Christian Science, we feel that he could have availed himself even more freely than he has done in drawing directly from the Writings. And while he reduces one Christian Science principle after another into sheer absurdity and clearly exhibits its innumerable contradictions and inconsistencies, this kind of work has been done just as ably and with a keener sense of humor by many of the worldly writers. The author, for instance, enters into a lengthy and serious refutation of Mrs. Eddy's derivation of the Hebrew name "Adam" from the English words "a dam." His seriousness is almost as funny as the lady's philology. Imagine how nark Twain would have used his opportunity if he had been fortunate enough to happen on this jewel!

     What we miss most, however, in the present work, is not so much the sense of humor as good military sense. The author unmasks his hostile batteries on the first page and thus scares away possible readers among the victims of Christian Science, and he scatters his fire too much all along the line, instead of concentrating it upon the enemy's main position. This chief citadel is not one of false philosophy so much as one of false religion, none other than that most ancient and most deadly of all heresies, the doctrine of salvation by Faith alone. The self-styled "Christian Science" is simply this ancient dragon who has been cast down to "the earth" from this former pinnacles of Theology, now claiming to save the body from its ills, as he has claimed the power to save the soul from damnation. This most fundamental falsity is really the most obvious and the most vulnerable point to attack, and an attack here might appeal to such New Church people as may be in danger of being persuaded by Christian Science. But this opportunity is quite neglected in the present work.

     But though Mr. Whitehead's work leaves much to be still desired,--an historical introduction, for instance, would have been very interesting, with an account of the development of the heresy in the Christian Church, from the early Gnostics and Montanists down to Berkeley, Irving, Coleridge and Tulk,--it nevertheless remains the best, because the only, New Church refutation that we possess, of the most stupendous religious fraud of modern times, the direct out-birth of the "new hell" which was formed at the same time with the New Heaven.

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REVIEW OF THE "COSMOLOGY."* 1908

REVIEW OF THE "COSMOLOGY."*              1908

     * The article is reprinted from the New Church Review of October, 1907, pp. 631-634. See New Church Life, November, 1907, p. 763.

     "OUTLINES OF SWEDENBORG'S COSMOLOGY. Emanuel Swedenborg was proficient and eminent in natural science before he began his especial studies of the divine Word and received the illumination by which to unfold its spiritual meaning as the servant of the Lord in His Second Coming. His studies in natural science have always been regarded by Newchurchmen as a preparation for his studies in spiritual science; but until of late years they have received little attention and have been thought to have no direct relation to his 'illumined' writings. But now a new interest in them is awakening, not only among Newchurchmen but also among students of natural science outside, and some who study them are finding in them, as they believe, the foundations upon which the theological writings rest and without which they could not have been given. A general impression of this has been growing and some attempts have been made in the past to identify isolated principles of the theological writings with corresponding ones in the scientific, as, for instance, the atmospheres and auras of each, and the primitive points of The Principia with the substantiates of 'The True Christian Religion,' but this little book, so far as we know, is the first attempt at a systematic and comprehensive combination and unification of the two sets of writings. And because it is the first comprehensive attempt at this important task, it must be received tentatively, but, nevertheless, welcomed gladly and gratefully, and should be studied carefully and profoundly before a judgment is formed of its accuracy and success.

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     "It is interesting to note at the outset that the writer could not enter fairly upon her work before encountering the Passages which have formerly led many to suppose that Swedenborg himself renounced the cosmology of his scientific writings as 'a fallacy originating from the idea of space.' In writing of the primitives of the spiritual sun, Miss Beekman says:

     This series of finites or substantials originating in the primitives, points, or simples, of The Principia are the same with the substantiates originating from the primitives of the spiritual sun. (p. 13.)

     "As authority for this statement, which is perhaps the pivotal point Upon which the argument turns, 'The Divine Providence,' 6, and 'The True Christian Religion,' 33, are cited. And turning to the former we read:

     It is acknowledged by many that there is one substance which is first and from which all things have come, but the nature of it is not known; it is believed to be so simple that nothing can be more simple, and that it can be likened to a point which has no dimension, and that from such infinites the forms of dimension have arisen; but this is a fallacy springing from the idea of space, for from that idea the least thing appears to be such. But the truth is that the more pure and simple anything is, the more great and full it is....     This is so because the first substance is from the spiritual sun, which is from the Lord and in which is the Lord; thus that sun is the only substance which, because it is not in space, is the all in all, both in the greatests and the leasts of the created universe.
          
"But this old objection is disposed of a little later in treating of the natural point:

     These simples, primitives, or points, are therefore not dead, but are living, life itself, infinite. They are not the fortuitous points "of no predication and therefore not in themselves anything," nor the atoms of Epicurus, nor the monads of Leibnitz, nor the simple substances of Wolf; and so are not what is condemned in 'The True Christian Religion." 20, and "The Divine Providence." 6. They are the infinites of God-Man and the origin of the finites of the universe. (The Divine Love and Wisdom, 17, 155, 169; The Principia, Part III., Chapter I., 1.) (pp. 17, 18.)

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     "Starting with this definition of the natural point, with which Swedenborg's cosmology begins in his scientific writings--the definition found clearly in those writings; he first essential step is taken in harmonizing them with the theological writings.

     "The theological cosmology begins with God as infinite love and wisdom, who must create objects of His love out of His own substance. The scientific cosmology begins with God as infinite substance and force, finiting His infinity without essential infringement of it in order to create.

     "Miss Beekman's task is to combine these two systems, or, rather, to show how the latter is subservient to the former. Of this finiting of His own infinity by the Creator, without impairing His own infinite oneness, she says:

     This problem is perhaps the most central among the problems of creation; and the answer will qualify all our thoughts of God the Creator and of the relation of the universe to Him.

     Swedenborg approaches this problem directly; and the answer he gives impresses its stamp and feature on his whole system of the universe. It underlies as a very foothold the theology of the New Church and is regnant in it from first to last. It conditions alike the heavens and the earths, the organic and the inorganic kingdoms. (p. 4.)

     "Swedenborg's answer is then given from his scientific writings, but always in the light of his theological writings brought to bear upon each particular as far as possible. This must have required great study and patient, pains-taking comparison on the part of the writer of the 'Outlines.' She shows that God the infinite Esse is substance in itself, purely continuous and unbounded, and that creation begins with myriads of minimal leasts finited in the substance of the Infinite. These primal points are afterwards massed, concreted, arranged by God into forms of individuals and held together by Him. (p. 23)

     These primal points exist in all space without space in relation to the Divine; but in relation to derivative creation there is in them the first beginnings and motions of space. (p. 10.)

     "They are thus the nexus between the Creator and His creation, analogous to the Divine Human, by whom all things are made. (John i. 3.)

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     God, the infinite Esse, must needs give of His own substance to frame creation. This is the sacramental gift, as of His flesh, to be the bread and flesh of His creatures. (p. 3.)

     "The going forth of this infinite substance, in myriad points of power to create, forms the spiritual sun-in and by an infinite aura of Divine Omnipotence, which becomes finited in myriad points of energy, first spiritual and ultimately natural. The divine conatus, and, therefore, the ultimate form of this flux into creation, is in spirals or vortex rings.

     "Here we venture a comment, which is a question rather than a criticism, and is held for further study. Miss Beekman makes the spirals in vortex rings like Lord Kelvin's and illustrates her conception with an excellent plate. The continuous spiral ever moving within the ring would delight the scientist of our day who favors that theory of primal matter. But we have always thought of Swedenborg's spirals as at first in the form of a double cone revolving from apex above to circumference and from circumference to apex below; and then still revolving in the same direction returning upward; and thence returning downward and upward forever.

     "Then, in lower forms, by pressure of multitudes of spirals together, the poles are flattened and the double cones become spheres and bullae are produced.

     "But Miss Beekman's illustrations with the vortex rings are interesting and have the advantage of simplicity.

     "However this may be, from this first flowing forth of the Infinite into the finite, through the sun of heaven and the sun of earth, creation is shown to take place. Thus suns and planets are formed, and atmospheres and water, and everywhere creation is double--within the natural is a corresponding spiritual.

     "Valuable chapters are added on Salts and the Crust of Earth; Protoplasm, The First Vegetative Formation and its Living Service in Preparing an Atmosphere for Breathing Creatures, and A Chapter in Geology. There are ten excellent plates and a diagram illustrating the series of finites and auras and their mutual relations. But there is no Index; a full Table of Contents may be thought sufficient, however, since the book claims to be only an outline of what is to be found in particulars in the writings of Swedenborg."

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CHARITY AND ANONYMITY 1908

CHARITY AND ANONYMITY       WILLIAM HYDE ALDEN       1908

     A COMMUNICATION REJECTED BY THE NEW CHURCH MESSENGER.

     In the leading editorial of The Messenger of the 9th October, last, occurs the following paragraph:

     "We strenuously maintain that it is a most direful mistake to work on the principle that our children can be kept in the church by filling their minds with the belief that all except those in the organized church are evil and rejected by the Lord. Those taught in this idea are not brought up in the true church, and further, the time will come, if they think for themselves, or read the doctrines of the church, when they will see that what they have been taught is not of charity, and in rejecting the instruction of youth, they will be likely to leave the church. The truth will at all times serve the church better than prejudice or misrepresentation. The power that holds our young in the church should not be prejudice, hatred and contempt of others, but superior charity and truth in life."

     With the protest as quoted, an Academy man would be in hearty accord, but would say with Hamlet,--who declared that he read slanders in the assertion that "old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled . . . and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams:"--"all of which, sir, though I most potently and powerfully believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down."

     This shaft anonymously let fly at the Academy, is but one of many of like sort. Ostensibly the Convention does not attack the Academy. Its news notes are guiltless of reference to Academy affairs. The name of the Academy rarely appears in Convention periodicals. When any censure is to be visited upon what is supposed to be an Academy position, teaching, or practice, it is done in general terms, the object of the attack being left anonymous.

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With this practice of silence is contrasted the supposed animus of the Academy and its periodicals to be forever criticizing the Convention and all its works. "Why," pleads the Convention, "cannot the Academy let us alone? Why cannot they go peaceably about their business as we go quietly about ours?"

     Without impugning motives let us endeavor to see just what is the question at issue. There can be or should be no question as to the duty of the Church to point out fallacies and falsities, to condemn evils. This must be done that fallacies may not delude, nor falsities lead astray, nor evils persuade under a specious semblance of good. This work must be done by the leaders of the Church, for the Church alone has the truth by which fallacy and falsity is to be known. The work must be done by the leaders of the Church, for this is of their office and of the performance of their use; and the burden is upon them to do it at the peril of their souls. To them is the word of the prophet, "O son of man, I have set thee a watchman.... Thou shalt hear the word at My mouth and want them from Me." (Ezek. xxxiii.) The same duty which rests upon the pastor to warn his people, rests upon the periodical literature of the Church. The field of the New Church watchman is measured only with the bound of those whom his voice can reach. There can be no question here. Our question rather has to do with the manner in which the command to the spiritual watchman shall be carried out. The Academy has elected to do this work openly, in such fashion that all men may see and understand, if they will. No one who chose to do so could fail to know of the aims and methods of the Academy, nor how far those aims and methods were effective. Not only this: the members of the Academy have been kept in touch with affairs, intellectual and actual, of all the bodies of the New Church. The news of Convention happenings have sometimes been more full in the periodicals of the Academy than in the Convention's own papers. The history of the Academy itself has been set down with minuteness,--not alone the history of smooth times, but of crises where the fate of the movement itself seemed to hang in the balance.

     The Convention has chosen a different policy. At an early day, long before the ecclesiastical separation, Convention periodicals adopted the expedient of ignoring the Academy and all its works.

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Open reference to Academy teachings has been avoided. One result of this policy has been the growing up of a perverted notion respecting the Academy among those whose only means of information was through Convention channels. Whisperings in secret, the private word passed from mouth to mouth, gossip which could not be contradicted because it acknowledged no authorship, furnished the material out of which was built up a concept of the Academy fearful and wonderful to behold. The Academy has not been much named, yet there have been in Convention periodicals continual references which seemed intended to point to the Academy, which could hardly fail to bring before the mind of the reader the caricature believed to represent the Academy, the cumulative effect of which would aptly be to confirm the prejudice privately aroused against that body. The fact that the Academy is not named, makes explanation or answer for the most part difficult or impossible. To one familiar with the Academy position, these references are humorous in their mispertinence; to those unfamiliar with the Academy, save through rumors sedulously scattered through Convention circles, these innuendoes together produce the outlines of a monster compact of tyrannical priesthood and servile laity, dubbed "Academy," so direfully iniquitous that it must not be named in print, whose teachings are dangerous, and its doings so evil that its character and work will not bear investigation.

     We ask in earnestness and sincerity: To what purpose this attitude towards the Academy, this anonymity of reference to its supposed dogmas? If we could imagine for a moment a design to malign the Academy, to so attack it as to put it in the worst possible light, and at the same time remove from it the power of defending itself, we might conceive of such means being adopted. Certain it is that these tactics provide admirable cover under which scandal and slander sneak and inject their venom in secure darkness. But some of the leaders of the Convention "do not believe" these slanders, and, we are assured, "do all in their power" to contradict them wherever they come to their attention.

     If the Convention feared the influence of the Academy doctrines upon its own members, feared that they would be lured away from its organization, the endeavor to discourage prevent the truth about the Academy being known would he explicable; but so far is this from being the case that it is believed, by some at least, that all that is necessary to arouse antipathy to the Academy is to present its periodical or other literature to be read This theory, then, is untenable.

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     If we might suppose that the Academy had been thoroughly investigated, and its teachings and practices found to be such that they must be abhorrent to and shunned by all good men, there might be some show of reason for the attitude assumed, although in such case it would seem as if those who had made investigation would be bound for the protection of society to bring to their just punishment the leaders in such offences and to put to an end the conditions. But such charges, so far as they are made, are not the result of any investigation. They are conceived in prejudice and born of rumor. They flourish only in secret, and perish at the first breath of inquiry.

     If we might believe for a moment that the Convention was not willing to accept the teaching of the New Church, and that the repugnance ostensibly felt towards the Academy was internally a repugnance to the doctrine of the New Church, then might this attitude towards the Academy be understood, since in that case it would be opposed to the teaching of New Church doctrine and to the application of it. But this thought is not to be tolerated, since Convention earnestly professes to receive the doctrine in every particular of it.

     There remains, then, the plea, suggested in the paragraph quoted at the beginning of this article--"Charity."

     It is "charity" to say nothing openly of the Academy, to make no investigation of its aims and ends; it is "charity" to refer to it only by anonymous innuendo, or to make no mention of it for good or for evil: to decline association with it; to forbid and discourage so far as possible that intercourse which would enable individuals to know what it really was and is; it is "charity" that no news from Academy circles appears in Convention periodicals. It is not, of course, believed that it is of "charity" that perversions of Academy teaching and life are whispered about and form the staple of information respecting the Academy in Convention circles; nevertheless the policy of silence and anonymity, which is believed to be of charity, is in a sort of mis-shapen harmony with the policy of slander which by all right-minded men is to be deplored as utterly lacking in charity.

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     True charity is not to be found under the cloak of anonymity but in openness. The Academy does not seek to be let alone; does not hold itself above criticism. It has no personal ends to maintain. It respects at all times open criticism, asserted with sense confidence that if the attacks upon and characterizations of the Academy which now form the mind of those without its borders with regard to it, would come out in the open, one of two things would clearly appear, either the notion of the Academy which is attacked, would be found fallacious, or it would clearly appear that the real object of attack was not the Academy, but the doctrine of the New Church itself. WILLIAM HYDE ALDEN.

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SEVENTH CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1908

SEVENTH CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       DAVID H. KLEIN       1908

     The seventh meeting of the Chicago District Assembly was held this year in the Sharon Church, of Chicago, on October 25th, 26th and 27th. There were but few visitors from a distance present, but there was a large attendance from the Sharon Church and from the Immanuel Church, of Glenview, so that the capacity of the cosy little church on Carroll Avenue was taxed to its limit.

     FIRST SESSION.

     The first session was held on Friday evening, October 25th. The meeting opened with appropriate religious exercises, after which the Bishop delivered an address, taking as his theme the teaching that "There are three essentials of the Church, the acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord, the acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word, and the life which is called charity." (D. P. 259.)

     Commenting on this passage, the Bishop said: "We see from this teaching, what are the three essentials of the Church. The first two are of faith, or acknowledgment in respect to the Lord and the Word, and the third is of life. Without these three essentials, no man really belongs to the Church of the Lord, and without the reception of them no man can enter heaven. Now it is necessary, in respect to all things of doctrine, to have, first, a natural idea, and second, a spiritual idea. The natural idea is necessary for the sake of introduction.

     The three essentials must be known and understood in order that the Church may be established. We are constantly taught that the Lord is Love and Wisdom, that these constitute Him a Man; that the Word has an internal sense, which has been revealed and that the Lord appears to the Church in this internal sense.

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But still this remains only a natural idea unless the third essential exists, which is the life of charity. The first and second essentials have been established as matters of faith,--at any rate, as matters of profession in the Church. Now we do not know New Church there is of the Life of charity in the Church. The probability is that as yet there is not very much, but perhaps a beginning has been made. We may fervently hope that this may be the case. I think we have reached that stage in the life of the Church when it is imperative that the third essential be established, and this by means of the other two. Unless this be done, the Church will recede from the individual or from the organization.

     We are taught what charity is,--that it is love to the neighbor. In the work on the New Jerusalem and Is Heavenly Doctrine, we are told of the degrees of ascent of love to the neighbor: First, to the individual; second, to the community; third, to the country; fourth, to the Church; fifth, to the Lord's kingdom, and, finally to the Lord Himself. The first, which is love to a neighbor as an individual is relatively to the others, of least importance, and yet it is the first in the order of time. That which is first in the order of time is the foundation upon which the other degrees rest. Man must come into the love of the neighbor as an individual in order that the other degrees may be firmly fixed and established within him. In order that he may ascend on that basis and foundation into the interior degrees of charity. Until this charity is established the Church has not a real foot-hold on the earth among men. This is established, by keeping the Commandments. Evils are to be shunned as sins against God. Evils in us, however, take the form of evils against the neighbor as an individual. If our evils come forth into act they bring injury to the neighbor as an individual. Shunning evils as sins against the neighbor as an individual, is the basis of all our shunning of evils. We cannot expect to have the Church with us unless this foundation of charity or love to the neighbor as an individual is established. All the worship of the Church looks to the establishment of the three essentials. The Holy Supper is the centre around which all things of Church worship gather themselves.

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The life of repentance which finds expression in partaking of the Holy Supper, opens the way for the establishing of the three essentials of the Church in man,-the acknowledgment of the Lord, the acknowledgment of the holiness of the word and the life of charity.

     Rev. W. B. Caldwell: I was struck with what you said about the fact that there is no perception in the Church until there is charity, which means that man does not see truth in itself except in the life of charity. Charity gives him an affection which lights up his mind. The Church is only in a light which is not its own, until there is charity and perception. The light in the other world comes from the spiritual sun as a center. So it is with every angel; he must have a center from which the Lord can flow and enlighten.

     Rev. D. H. Klein: Acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord and acknowledgment of the Church. We may see how the world is falling from even the external acknowledgment of these essentials. The tendency grows to regard the Lord as a mere man, of supereminent goodness indeed, but not Divine, and the holiness of the Word is being destroyed through its being regarded as mere literature. In the New Church we consistently make profession of these essentials, as matters of faith at least. Yet they are but empty forms unless there is charity. The foolish virgins had their empty lamps but there was no light, because there was no oil in the lamps. It is charity, as was said, which gives light and perception. The same thing is meant by the teaching that the pure in heart shall see God. The pure in heart are they who are in charity.

     Mr. Hugh Burnham: We have been considering for a number of years the truths of the Church, but our talk has not been so much about what we might do, as might be supposed to be the case in a body with such a revelation. We do know that there are certain principles which our body has recognized. We have made certain progress. We have separated in our social life and have married within the Church and are teaching the truths to our children. We cannot expect our children to have a love for the things of the Church unless they observe a strong affection for them on the part of the parents. The children are the neighbors nearest at hand. We hope that we have been instrumental in the establishment of the Church with them, in the establishment of schools; but if the work is not supported there is danger that all will be lost.

     Bishop Pendleton: Mr. Burnham referred to the life of charity in the home. This brings up the question of the conjugial in this connection.

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There is no conjugial without charity. There is no conjunction of souls without charity. We often read that charity is established just in the degree that conjugial love is established, which is just in the degree that two consorts love each other inwardly from love to the Lord. This is established through their shunning evils in their relation to each other. Evils that militate against the life of the conjugial.

     Mr. S. G. Nelson. I was impressed with the view of the neighbor as an individual and can plainly see the force of the doctrine, that on this as a basis and foundation the other forms of charity are given. The love of the neighbor as an individual, without love to the Lord, appears very similar to the love talked of in the world as "the love of the human race." The vital difference is that the latter love does not look upward to any conjunction with the Lord, but looks downward, and ultimately to the worship of self.

     The discussion of the Bishop's address closed at this point, and after the singing of a hymn and the benediction all repaired to the assembly room of the Sharon Church. Here a most delightful reception was held with a pleasing informality which allowed however, for several serious toasts and stirring songs. The flow of genial conversation and good cheer was heightened by a number of topical songs and recitations. Mr. John Forrest struck a responsive chord at once when he reminded the meeting that it was about thirty years since the work in Chicago had been begun by our present beloved Bishop, in gratitude for whose labors he proposed a toast to which the audience rose and sang in response.

     SECOND SESSION.

     The second session was held on Saturday afternoon, October 26th. The Secretary presented a brief report of last year's meeting. The Rev. W. B. Caldwell then read a report of the work of the Sharon Church during the year. Incorporated in the report was a study of the use of Continuity in Church work and life, which proved a valuable consideration of that subject from interior grounds, so that on motion of Mr. John Forrest, the Secretary, was requested to submit it to the New Church Life. As another paper was on the docket for the afternoon the discussion was brief. Bishop Pendleton presenting several teachings on the related subject of Habit.

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     A paper by Dr. J. B. S. King, on the subject of "THE USE OF NATURAL TRUTH," was then called for and read. The paper tended to show the value of natural truth as a basis for spiritual truth, and in this connection dwelt on the great importance of the recent revival of interest in Swedenborg's philosophy, brought about by the publication of Miss Beekman's work on Cosmology.

     Bishop Pendleton: The paper brings up a subject on which there is much discussion in the Church at the present time. There is natural truth and spiritual truth. Natural truth is also two-fold. There is sensual truth, which is truth in the external natural, that is, the truths and facts of nature as they appear to the senses. This is usually called scientific truth. This is the truth which makes up, for the most part, modern science. Natural truth, strictly speaking, however, is interior to those. It is distinguished in the Writings from the sensual truth proper, and is applied to express the operation of laws of an invisible nature. It is important to see this distinction, for there are visible natural laws operating and appealing to the senses, and there are laws operating that are invisible and yet within the sphere of nature. Then it is important to realize that it was into the sphere of invisible nature that Swedenborg entered in the early part of his life. There is little in his early works about the visible things of nature, or sensual truth. The term "Science" applied to them is a misnomer, "Philosophy" is a better term. What is remarkable about these invisible natural laws is, that when we enter interiorly into them we come also into the realm of spiritual truth. The term "natural truth," broadly considered, covers all the truths of the natural, whether visible or invisible, but still, natural truth, specifically considered, is the truth of invisible nature, concerning which Swedenborg has written, and about which scarcely anyone else in the modern world has written. The Greek philosophers knew something about it, but very little is known in the modern world. In the little work, The Intercourse of the Soul and the Body, Swedenborg gives the reason why, from a philosopher he became a theologian; why from being a teacher of natural truth he became a teacher of spiritual truth.

     Mr. Starkey: The Bishop has brought out the grand distinction which exists between Swedenborg's scientific or philosophical thought, or natural truth, and the general body of natural science. I think that we have more than once cast a longing eye to those acute modern observers, thinking we could gain much light from them on the things Miss Beekman has been presenting. But these men have learned to pin their faith to the senses, and their deductions cannot give us the light we want. We have to go on and build up a science of natural truth such as the world has never seen.

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     Mr. Burnham: The work entitled Outlines of Swedenborg's Cosmology has come out and gone to all the Church centers, and people have begun reading it. It has been a perfect revelation to almost everyone,-something which they did not know existed before. It has opened up a broader, more comprehensive, and more intelligent view of the things taught in the Writings. The work teaches that good and truth are not those abstract things we may have thought of before. But most substantial things. The book furnishes a wonderful fund of conversational matter for the members of the Church. I have heard the criticism that these philosophical works might be interesting, but the time might better be devoted to the Writings which we read so little, I find, however, that the time devoted to the Cosmology is generally time taken from that usually devoted to light reading. There seems to be more reading of the Writings since the interest in Swedenborg's Cosmology has developed. A new world has been opened up. I think we can see the Divine Providence in this development. From our theological teaching we have come to realize the existence of God and the other life, and this was necessary before we could enter into a rational consideration of these philosophical works.

     Dr. Farrington: The idea naturally comes to one that we of the New Church may eventually become a body of scientists,-that we are doing something which is unnecessary, and will be in some instances irksome to the ordinary person; but as a previous speaker has remarked, natural truth is of great use to the man of the Church. Take as an illustration the truths concerning the human body, in connection with the teaching of the Writings concerning the Gorand Man of Heaven. It is evident that we cannot understand the relative position and uses of the various societies of Heaven, unless we understand something of the anatomy of the human body, especially the higher forms of it as given in Swedenborg's works. Dr. King shows how we can go further and come into a fuller understanding of the Infinite by the study of the more interior forms of natural truth. No wonder the angels wept when they saw the dearth of knowledge on the earth concerning the work of creation, because of the denial of the Lord.

     Mr. Caldwell: There is a statement in the Writings that there is no spiritual truth in the mind, no matter how arcane it is, that is not associated with some natural or even sensual idea. Now what is the use performed by that natural or sensual idea? It may be, as it is with the Letter of the Word, that it is the basis, continent and firmament of the spiritual sense. It renders the spiritual sense firm. In these three terms you see, in general, the use of natural and even sensual truth. It gives the spiritual thought an ultimate basis. We see that the spiritual idea we have is something like a soul without a body, unless it has a natural basis.

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Take as an illustration what is taught in the Writings about degrees of the atmospheres. We thought we knew exactly what was meant. Yet our later study of the philosophical works show us that our ideas had been more or less vague, abstract and thus evanescent. A real, solid basis was wanting. We find things in the scientific works that are new and sometimes startling, but as we study closely, they begin to give light on passages in the Writings not understood before. Some say this is inverted order. It is taught in the Writings that truths are multiplied in the natural, and that the celestial angels terminate their ideas in the natural. As we open the interior natural planes, we shall open our minds to heavens that before had no basis in us.

     Dr. King: I am reminded of a comparison made by the late Dr. Wilkinson. He compared the old theology to a ladder which hung from the clouds, but did not touch the ground, while the scientists had a ladder which rested on the ground but did not reach to the heavens.

     In reply to a question by Mr. Starkey respecting the ether as described by modern science, the Bishop replied: There is a statement in Divine Love and Wisdom that man knows that love is but does not know what love is. I think we may apply that to many things above the sphere of the senses. I believe it is so with respect to the ether. It is even beginning to be known that there is a still higher atmosphere. What it is, is not known. So it is throughout with things that are invisible. Men have seen certain effects that cannot be accounted for by the operation of ordinary air, and so conclude that there must be an atmosphere still higher.

     Dr. Farrington: I have heard some adverse criticism of Miss Beekman's book, especially in regard to the position it takes as to the first aura. I think it would be useful for someone to bring forward passages from the Writings that have been explained by the new position taken by the book, so that the rest of us can see them. I think those who are making criticisms think the scientific works are placed on too high a plane.

     Bishop Pendleton: I would like to make a remark here to the effect that there is a considerable degree of misunderstanding as to the bearing of these studies and what is involved in them. If it were merely a study of nature as such, then they would not be of such great importance. Man can go to heaven without the study of the interiors of nature. But there is a vital thing in this study, which is not yet generally realized. The most universal doctrine of the theology of the New Church is the doctrine concerning God the Creator. There is no doctrine so universal as this.

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God created the universe; and the laws by which He created the universe continue operating. They did not stop their operation by the creation, but continue operating; and they are the laws by which the Lord preserves the universe, and are the laws by which He forms the angelic heaven from the human race. The coming of the Lord into the world was in order that His laws, as the Creator, might go on and not be obstructed and interfered with. So I say the doctrine of God, the Creator, is the most universal of all the doctrines of the Church. This doctrine has not been understood in the New Church, and it is because it has not been seen that, in the Providence of the Lord, the earlier studies of Swedenborg unfolded certain laws of creation which are taken for granted in the Writings because they are already set forth in the earlier works. Hence the study of these earlier works throws light upon the subject which has not been thrown upon it before. That is the reason of the importance of these studies. Hence it is misleading to speak of them as merely science although on their surface laws of nature come before us, it is necessary to enter into interior nature where God is present and to understand the laws of nature, the laws by which He created nature and by which the universe is preserved in order to understand God, the Creator, Himself. When this universal is more clearly understood we see more clearly all the other doctrines. It is well known, that from universals, particulars are seen. I beseech you not to dismiss this as mere science. The very theology of the New Church is involved in it. The study of creation and of nature in the early works of Swedenborg gives us light on Theology, such as the New Church has never had before. The little work by Miss Beekman points the way to these things.

     At the close of the afternoon session the people again repaired to the assembly room, where a very fine buffet luncheon had been provided by the ladies of the Sharon Church. The ranks were recruited by those who had been kept away from the afternoon session by the demands of business, and the attendance at the evening session was large.

     THIRD SESSION.

     The third session of the Assembly was devoted to the consideration of educational topics. The first subject was introduced by the Rev. David H. Klein, in connection with a report of the work of Immanuel Church and its school. It dealt with the premature advancement of states with children and the tendency in the world to hurry on the progress of the child in every step of its growth; and showed how, in the work of education and in the home, this sphere should be guarded against.

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It indicated the importance of having every state fully developed as a preparation for that which was to follow.

     An hour's discussion followed the presentation of the subject, during which the following ideas, among others, were brought forth: States of life are in series, from birth ever onward to eternity. Every state has its John the Baptist's stage, which is one of preparation, and the tendency to hurry in the world is like the plucking of unripe fruit. Parents need to beware of the habit of meddling too much in the affairs of children, but should seek to remember the all-important part that Providence plays in their growth. Too many petty restrictions should not be placed upon children, and yet, on the other hand, it is highly important to develop the habit of obedience to parents--and that, a prompt obedience. One speaker spoke of the difficulty some parents experience through the well meant but ofttimes unwise efforts of friends in providing entertainment for children, for which, perhaps, the state is not ripe, and advised consultation between parents and others, before children were invited to such forms of entertainment. It was sometimes difficult to refuse a request of a child after it had been spoken to by others, and was looking forward to some expected pleasure, especially when such refusal would tend to make the child peculiar from, its fellows who had been permitted to attend. The danger of meddling too much having been spoken of by several speakers, another was led to remark that there were two sides to the question. Children inclined to the evils of their parents, and needed to be led into the ways of order and of kindness. He thought they needed to be observed closely, both in their actions and in their conversation. Correction in time saves harder correction in the future. Another speaker, while agreeing with this, pointed out that it would be harmful to have children carry the consciousness that they are being watched every moment.

     The subject of the evening was presented in the form of a brief paper by Mr. George McQueen, entitled "THE DUTY OF PARENTS TO NEW CHURCH SCHOOLS." The writer brought forth the reason which led the founders of the Academy to undertake pioneer work in the field of New Church Education, pointing out that our early schools did not have the inspiration of a Bryn Athyn, but were established in the effort to carry out certain principles.

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He showed that instruction had been given as to what these principles were, and that it had been left to the laity to cooperate in the work. In response to a question as to what parents who were obliged to send their children to public schools should do to keep them in the sphere of the Church, Mr. McQueen spoke of family worship and instruction as of great service, and expressed the thought, also, that, especially in the case of isolated families, every effort should be made to keep the children in touch with the work of the Church in established centres, by keeping them informed of the current thought on things spiritual, as well as on social happenings at the various centres. The idea was brought out by Mr. McQueen and other speakers that every possible effort should be made to place the children in New Church schools ere resort is had to the public schools.

     On Sunday, October 27th, worship was held in the Sharon Church. Two infants were baptized and Bishop Pendleton preached a sermon on the text "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens." In the afternoon, the Sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered. This closed the Seventh Chicago District Assembly, but on Wednesday evening following a special Men's Meeting was held, where the Bishop presented the subject of the Conjunction of Conjugial Love with the Love of Children. DAVID H. KLEIN, Secretary.

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Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. In the Friday evening Doctrinal Classes the Bishop is considering the subject of Infants in Heaven. With a clearer knowledge of the relation of the two worlds, much new light is shed upon the subject.

     An "Arbor Day" was celebrated on the Academy grounds the day before Thanksgiving, with the result that five beautiful large shade trees now stand in front of Stuart Hall and the Dining Hall where they were very much needed. The exercises by the various departments which gave the trees were varied and interesting. Especially charming and suggestive of a long future, was that of the Kindergarten, as they sang, and each tot put in his or her little shovelful of earth.

     The Fair this year was in some ways the most successful and enjoyable one yet. The "bargain counter" was as usual cleaned out in a twinkling, and, indeed, in no department was the supply equal to the demand, except the ice cream. The program of "stunts" and songs was particularly successful, Miss Colley's painstaking work being much in evidence. The net proceeds for the building fund amounted to upwards of a hundred and thirty dollars.

     The wedding of Mr. Gilbert Smith and Miss Nora Potts took place in the chapel at eleven o'clock Saturday morning, November seventh. The decorations were unique. The bridal party made a beautiful picture, which, however, was soon forgotten--along with the beautiful music--when the Bishop began the inspiriting words of this most solemn service, only the sphere remaining as a fitting setting to so important an event. There was no reception, but in the evening Mr. Warren Potts, the bride's brother, entertained the Society, and gave us the happiest social evening we have had for some time. There is nothing like the sphere of a wedding to open up the fountains of youth and social pleasure.

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     On Monday evening, December ninth, Mrs. Colley grave the society a musical treat in the shape of a lecture upon the "Music of America," illustrated by artists from the Hyperion School of Music of Philadelphia. A concerto by MacDonald, and some songs by Nevins and others, rendered by Miss Gwladys Hicks, were particularly enjoyed--not to mention the "Humoresque" given as an encore by the violinist. Mrs. Colley is doing great: things for the musical development of this community.               K. S.

     PHILADELPHIA, PA. The Rev. C. Th. Odhner and the Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist on December 13th, by invitation of the Scandinavian Union of Philadelphia, attended a memorial service in honor of King Oscar II., of Sweden, held in the Gustavus Adolphus Swedish Lutheran church. Professor Odhner gave a sketch of the history of Sweden during the reign of the late king, and Pastor Rosenqvist spoke of his personal life and character Both speakers introduced New Church points of view in their remarks. They were followed by a Lutheran preacher from New York, who spoke of King Oscar as a "Christian." His remarks were undiluted and unpermeated Lutheran orthodoxy, so full of tritheism, faith-alone, and sectarian fanaticism, as to awaken a suspicion that the "Old Church," which Swedenborg speaks of, still exists in full fling on the earth.

     BALTIMORE, MD. Our Sunday School harvest festival was held Sunday afternoon, November 10, 1907. The exercises consisted in reading from the Word and the Writings; singing several songs from the Hosanna and an address by the superintendent. The offerings of fruit and flowers were donated to the free ward of the Maryland Homoepathic Hospital. There were in attendance ten adults and twenty-two children. On account of rain, the attendance was not as large as we expected.     B. R.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. The Chicago District Assembly monopolized the greater share of our thought and attention during October and November. The Glenview contingent appeared at all the sessions strong in numbers, and every evening the midnight bus bore home the tired, but enthusiastic members. The Sunday services in Chicago drew nearly all the adults from Glenview, and one sturdy son of the Academy patrolled the Park and guarded the few ladies and the children who remained.

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"Each Assembly is better than the one before," seems to be the prevailing opinion.

     Bishop Pendleton extended his visit for a week in Glenview, giving us the benefit of several meetings. The Sunday sermon and the Doctrinal Class, where the subject of the Holy Spirit was discussed, were especially memorable.

     There has been considerable activity in several lines of work. In the Doctrinal Class the work De Verbo has been taken up. Sermons of late have been on the subject of the church in Thyatira and in Sardis. The Cosmology Class has kept steadily at work and has now struck rock bottom--we should say salt bottom,--in Miss Beekman's book. By the Christmas holidays we hope to finish the first reading of the book.

     Mr. George A. McQueen gave a lecture recently on "Writing by Sound," and, as a result, a class in short-hand, consisting of fifteen or twenty pupils, old and young, has been started, which meets every week at Mr. Maynard's cheerful home. There is a lively interest.

     There have been several enjoyable gatherings in a social way. The Hallowe'en party was a great success, with its autumnal decorations and old-time games. Then there was a card party at the Club House, where there was a genial social sphere.

     An especially interesting social was given at the School recently. "A day in Holland" was the principal feature. The children had been studying this country, and various recitations, poems, sketches, and songs were given descriptive of the history, literature, art, customs and manners of the people. The younger classes had prepared in sand, a large and very interesting model of a country scene. The construction work and drawing of the pupils was evidenced in numerous windmills and sketches in black and white, and in color. At the close the Head Master spoke of the character of the Dutch as described in the Writings, and also told of Swedenborg's interesting experience in Holland.

     The Dancing Class for the children has been resumed and is this year, under the charge of Miss Vivien King. K.

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     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The ILLINOIS ASSOCIATION held its sixty-seventh annual meeting in Springfield, Ill., November 15 to 17. There were present nine ministers and twenty-one delegates. The report of the Presiding Minister mentioned a bequest of one thousand dollars to the Association by Mr. Lewis Ryder, of Jefferson, Wis., the income to be used for the purposes of the Association, but in the event of the building of a house of worship by the Jefferson New Church Society the principal sum is to be turned over to that society. Mr. A. Simons, an Afro-American, reported having done work among his race in Chicago. The Rev. F. A. Gustavson, Head Master of the Urbana University, delivered a stirring address on "Educational Values," dwelling upon the importance of New Church Education which should be religious as well as secular.

     The MARYLAND ASSOCIATION held its forty-seventh annual meeting at the home of the Preston, Md., Society, with the Rev. L. H. Tafel, vice-president, in the chair. There are eight ministers in this Association, and all were present at the meeting except the general pastor, the Rev. Dr. Sewall, who had not then returned from his trip abroad.

     Among the three sermons delivered during the sessions of the Association was one by the Rev. G. H. Dole, setting forth that the Second Coming of the Lord has already taken place "by a new revelation of truth opening the spiritual sense of the Word, which the theological Writings of Swedenborg reveal."

     The BALTIMORE German Society reports the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary. During these years it has been successively served by the Rev. Messrs. Brickman, Carriere, Faber, Roeder, Waelchli, and Tafel.

     News has been received of the sudden death of the Rev. Theodore F. Wright, Ph. D. Dr. and Mrs. Wright sailed October 26th, from Boston, for a year's absence in Egypt and Palestine. A month's careful preparation for the journey caused far more weariness of mind and body than was realized. Some rest was found on the first few days of the journey, but this was followed by great reaction. On reaching Alexandria the longer journey was given up and passage engaged for immediate return home.

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After leaving Alexandria, on the afternoon of November 13th, Dr. Wright rested in his chair on deck and fell into a heavy sleep during which his face became exceedingly flushed, and the veins of the forehead and temples much swollen. Evidently, too his mind was in some degree clouded and confused. On the same evening, as he left the deck with his wife, she turned to speak with him, but he was not there. A thorough search was made but he was not on the ship.

     Dr. Wright was born in Dorchester, Mass., August 3, 1845. He was graduated from Harvard University in 1866, and two years later from the New Church Theological School in Waltham, and was ordained into the ministry in 2869. He had but two pastorates, one of twenty years in Bridgewater, Mass., and that at Cambridge. During the years 1864 and '65 he served as First Lieutenant in the Union Army.

     Dr. Wright was General Secretary for the United States and authorized lecturer for the Palestine Exploration fund, a member of the Archeological Institute of America and of the American Oriental Society. In 1889 he was made Dean of the Cambridge Theological School, and had been Editor of the New Church Review for many years.

     He was also Chairman of the Board of Home and Foreign Missions of the General Convention, and for forty years Secretary of the Massachusetts Association.

     CANADA, The "girls" of the Berlin, Ont., Society, have formed a society to be known as the Daughters of the New Jerusalem, which meets weekly at each other's houses. They bring to the meetings their fancy work, and hope at some future time to have a sale of their work. The pastor, the Rev. Walter E. Brickman, has resigned from membership in the General Church of the New Jerusalem.

     The forty-third annual meeting of the CANADA ASSOCIATION was held with a fair attendance at Berlin on the 4th, 5th and 6th of October.

     Provision for joint action with the Ohio, Illinois and Michigan Associations was made in the hope that by having their several meetings on different dates opportunity may be provided for exchange of visits by the members of the different associations.

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     GREAT BRITAIN. The Rev. W. H. Claxton has felt forced to withdraw from his acceptance of the pastorate of the Kensington (London), Society, and the Rev. James Frederick Buss, recently of Durban, Natal, has been appointed pastor, "by a hearty and unanimous vote."

     On Monday, November 4th, the Rev. W. T. Lardge began a course of lectures on the subject of "The Church's One Foundation," at Preston. The first lecture sets forth trenchantly the state of the present preaching of Christendom, and the sort of preaching which is essential for the founding of the church. "The idea we had of God," said the lecturer, was of all things the most important in the life of man. People often glibly declared that it did not matter what we believed, so long as we lived a good life. But how could people live a good life without they knew and cherished definite and correct thoughts, conceptions, and ideas? It was mere twaddle, superficially, nay humbug, in a day like the present for men to talk otherwise. Our comprehension of God's nature and attributes could determine our attitude towards each other. It would form our conscience and character. These were the subjects men needed to ponder over and study today; but to look around and see how the various communities were ministering to the depraved and perverted tastes of the people, filled him with disgust. He did not wonder at intelligent and thinking men not attending the churches. Better, far better, have an almost empty building than to turn it into a cheap and tawdry display of human talent. Generally speaking, people went to churches today to be amused, tickled, and entertained, not to worship God. Out upon such rubbish! he had no patience with it. It was maudlin, cheap and in some cases silly. He thanked God that as a Christian he had something better to do than to run a Sabbath entertainment or preach politics and other similar subjects. His advice was "Preach the Word," and if preachers could not do that, then let them leave their pulpits like honest men."

     DENMARK. In his Notes on European Travel, Dr. Sewall gives the following description of place of worship of the COPENHAGEN SOCIETY,-a room on the ground floor of the apartment occupied by the pastor, the Rev. Mr. Bronniche: "The room is seated with plain benches, and at the chancel end has a neat altar with altar picture above the Word, and candles on either side, and at, one side, the pulpit, and on the other the small organ for leading the singing.

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The singing is very and universal. During the Gospel lesson the people devoutly stand."

     AUSTRIA. On October 8th, Rev. A. L. Goerwitz terminated a stay of a week with the New Church Society of TRIESTE in the Italian-speaking section of Austria. 'This society, numbering about thirty, had its beginning through the efforts of three earnest Newchurchmen, Messrs. Cuppo, Mitis, and Risegari, who like Mr. Gnocchi in Rome, had become somewhat interested in spiritism before they had had the opportunity of receiving the Writings of the New Church. Mr. Goerwitz was the guest of Mr. Mitis while Mr. Gnocchi and the Misses Eden and Loreta Gnocchi, who had come from Rome, were the guests of Mr. Risegari.

     On October 6th the sacrament of baptism was administered to the children, Germane Christiano Risegari, and Romeo Manasseh Cuppo, and twenty persons partook of the Holy Supper. The society met daily during Mr. Goerwitz's visit in a special hall in the home of Mr. Risegari, which has been dedicated and reserved for the uses of the New Church. This hall has been patterned after a memorable relation in the True Christian Religion. The windows face the east and the curtains have a gold embroidered monogram N. G. (Nuova Gerusalernme), above which is a crown to signify that the New Jerusalem is the crown of all the churches.

     During one of these meetings the question of lay administration of sacraments in the case of children or adults at the point of death, was generally discussed. The conclusion reached was that according to the doctrines these duties belonged exclusively to the priesthood. Other questions were treated in the same way, that is, by reference to the doctrines. "This is a very useful practice," declares Mr. Goerwitz, "as it brings light to the mind and makes it easy to take a firm and sure position on many questions, and we recommend this practice for general observation.

     MAURITUS. On Sunday, October 13th, the new stone church at Curepipe was dedicated to the uses of the New Church by the Rev. Dr. Fercken in a simple and fervent manner.

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According to the Monatblatter for November, the New Church in Mauritius is on the eve of persecution by the Catholics--on account of a work from Dr. Fercken's pen, entitled "Le Culte de la Vierge," (The Worship of the Virgin), in which he lays bare the true inwardness of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin. It is said that under the advice of his friends, who fear a personal attack on their pastor, Dr. Fercken never goes about unattended.
ORIGIN OF THE ELEMENTARY KINGDOM 1908

ORIGIN OF THE ELEMENTARY KINGDOM       LILLIAN G. BEEKMAN       1908


     Announcements.



     


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NEW CHURCH LIFE.
VOL. XXVIII. FEBRUARY, 1908.          No. 2.
     Swedenborg's Doctrine of the Elementary Kingdom opens with a discussion of one of the prime questions confronting rational minds. This is the question as to the origin of the finited, with the beginning and source of that substance itself, that materia prima out of which all things in the universe are framed, from the primal ether to the last particles of inert and ponderable matter.

     Two hypotheses are possible as to the origin of the present universe:

     First. It had no origin or beginning. It was always in existence; or infinite in time.

     Second. It did not always exist. It had a distinct inception or beginning, prior to which it was not in existence, not even in some simple form. Under this latter hypothesis there are but two possible suppositions as to the mode in which the universe originated. Either it was self-agent of its own beginning, thus bringing itself into existence. Or it was brought into existence by some agency other than its own, objective to itself, and existing prior to its own inception.

     Swedenborg, from grounds of common experience, concludes that the universe is finited. Each individual integrated body of matter in it, even the most diverse, has been found to be definitely finited or bounded as to space, time, self-origination, and also as to what may be called its ownership of its own substance. Each is definitely bounded as to extense, presenting a characteristic configuration of boundary planes, within the limits of which its forces play, and substances circulate, and according to the lines of which the action of its forces is varied.

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A crystal is a concrete example of this; a muscular fibre is an example of this; a molecule is an example. Moreover each integral entity or body originated at some definite time and place; and each owes its beginning and existence not to itself, but to the activity of some previously existent entity or entities. The very substances of which it is composed, moreover, are never new created with the beginning of each form, but are frankly an accommodation, adaptation, and loan from some previously existent store of substances, which are now newly arranged and compounded together according to the lines of new forms and combinations of use, and transferred, as it were, to it, to be its basis of influx and reception, and the plane of its exertion of power. A muscle-fibre is such an entity. A molecule of water is such an entity. An atom of hydrogen is such an entity. Moreover, the prior substances composing such an entity may be recovered. If recovered suddenly and entirely, the entity or form which they compounded as suddenly ceases to exist, is destroyed, annihilated.

     For instance, a muscle-fibre considered as an integral entity or body is a certain very complex systemic form framed from carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, molecules of water, and a volume of elementaries. All these substances were severally in existence before the muscle was born. They are entities perfectly distinct as to form, powers of motion and every property, both from each other and from the muscle fibre. Upon the destruction and annihilation of the muscle they are all completely recoverable, ready for the creation of new compound forms from them. Evidently the muscle fibre exists as a constantiate entity only by means of the loan, accommodation, and rearrangement of substances already existing prior to its inception: substances recoverable by means of its destruction, substances non-destructible by any accident, dissociation or annihilation which can affect it. A molecule of water is such a compound form presenting a certain inner structure sufficient as a peculiar basis and receptacle of influx. It is framed from hydrogen and oxygen built together according to a special system. Both the hydrogen and the oxygen existed before the water molecule was framed from them.

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They were not new create when it was formed. When the given molecule of water is destroyed so that it entirely ceases to exist and disappears from the universe totally, then the oxygen and hydrogen from which that molecule was created are recoverable again. They continue to exist although it has been destroyed. Its annihilation only sets them free again to be molded into new compound forms; and this cycle may be repeated a million times over; and is so repeated. The sculptor molds the same handful of plastic clay into one image, now into another; now into a vessel of one form, now into a vessel of a different form. Out of the same clay many successive forms have been created and may be endlessly. A water molecule is an integral body, discretely bounded, the component substances of which are arranged within it according to a special plan. As an entity it possesses certain specialized or finited powers. But the molecule's ownership of the very substances from which it is framed, is a limited,--an as-it-were,--ownership. In this respect also the molecule: presents itself as an entity which is finited or specialized. To be specialized is to be bounded, limited, finited. It is evident, therefore, that for all its specialized properties the only thing which that molecule can call its own is the form or system according to which its component substances are arranged in it, or the sort of pattern, for a basis or plane of influx, which it presents. The identical substances, if arranged after some other pattern or idea, will not constitute a molecule of water or anything exhibiting the properties of water. They will constitute, then, some entirely different chemical body possessing other powers and habits.

     This dissociative analysis can be carried a step further in actual experimental work. Take hydrogen, one of the two substances of which a molecule of water is framed. Under the ordinary conditions and pressures existent near the earth's surface, the molecules or atoms of hydrogen are stable, integral entities which give no token that they also, like water molecules, are structural compounds. And yet they are. Each atom of hydrogen is a compound form which owes its existence, specific properties and motor powers, to a certain systemic arrangement of finer units, existent before it was brought into existence and recoverable in full when it is destroyed out of existence. Under conditions of high vacua the few molecules of hydrogen which remain can be completely torn asunder and destroyed out of existence by the action of an electric current passed through the vacuum tube.

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Then hydrogen no longer exists there at all; but the substances from which it was molded, the Thomson corpuscles or cathode rays, fly loose and free in impetuous streams which bombard the surrounding glass of the vacuum tube with sufficient force to melt and bend it. Thus we learn, experimentally, that the hydrogen atom, also, is a specialized compound form of use, created by means of the loan, accommodation and new arrangement of a volume of finer substantial entities, which were in existence before it was framed and are recoverable in full upon its full destruction. We learn also that the finer substances of which the hydrogen atom was compounded are more active substances as well, for they possess an intrinsic motion of their own, the velocity of which is sufficient to cause their stream to melt and bent a sheet of glass, although the individual units or corpuscles of the flying stream are individually of such almost inconceivable minuteness that although the experimental apparatus were run night and day for a couple of years, the amount produced would not amount to even that intangible pinch of substance requisite for other forms of experimental analysis.

     In short, the summary statement may be made that every concrete entity of the Universe which we have been able to bring to adequate experimental analysis, has been formed, definitely finited or bounded as to space, time, self-origination, and also as to what may be termed its ownership or possession of the very finer substances or entities of which it is framed or concreted.

     There exist, however, entities which we have not been able to bring under conditions of direct experimental analysis; notably and as by great type, the ether itself. Yet even this may be brought under rational analysis and conclusion as follows:

     All the separate entities or concrete bodies of the universe, brought under rigid and sufficient analysis as above, and found to be finited or limited as above, invariably are found to exhibit powers which are specialized, definitely bounded and finited forces, modes of motion, properties and functions.

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Specialized function and modes of function are found associated with specialized form. Every interior and exterior power, property and activity of special concrete finited entities, is itself specialized and finited; or characteristically limited, and defined as to habitual modes of action, invariable orbit and velocity of motion, manner of reception and transmission of force, and curves of action and reaction.

     A water molecule is a concrete instance of this; hydrogen and oxygen are instances; and so also are cathode rays. The specialized powers and properties of water molecules as individual concrete bodies we are fairly conversant with. The peculiar finitization or specialization of property and power belonging to a hydrogen molecule as a distinct finited entity or compound integral entity, we know of. The altogether different properties and powers and habits of an oxygen molecule we know of also. We even know definitely the velocity specialization of finitedness,--the speed limit,--belonging to the two gases respectively. For instance, we know the free individual molecule of oxygen to be an intrinsically motile body which travels at the specific velocity of one-fourth mile per second. All free molecules of oxygen travel at that pace. One may say it is their characteristic or family speed. And all molecules of oxygen, set in such an environment that they are physically prevented from moving, are yet unceasingly in that full conatus and effort to do so,--and that with the exertion of a steady push and force equivalent to their native velocity of motion. The specialized velocity of molecules of hydrogen, however, is higher than that of oxygen molecules. The native speed of the hydrogen molecule is a mile a second.

     We are experimentally able to carry this analysis of concrete substance and motion one step farther. An integral hydrogen molecule is a compound systemic arrangement of Thomson corpuscles or cathode rays. The number of the latter which it takes to form one concrete particle of hydrogen is somewhere about a thousand million millions. Upon complete dissociative destruction of the hydrogen, all the finer corpuscles of which it was constructed are recoverable in their native form and power.

     Concerning the prior substance and form, the Thomson corpuscles, we possess fuller data in some respects than about hydrogen itself.

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We know the path of their orbit as well as their velocity. They are specialized or finited to a cycloid orbit, and a velocity one-third that of light, or some sixty odd thousand miles a second. In each and every instance coming within purview of experience or experiment, a manifestation or property, force, motion, velocity, action or reaction in any manner bounded, defined, specialized, as to compass determination of curve, velocity and the like, is invariably found to belong to and be directly, inseparably, due to a concrete entity itself bounded, finited, specialized.

     So although the ether, as a substantial entity, does not lend itself to conditions of successful direct investigation and dissociative analysis, the ether manifests properties, forces, motions, and velocities with which we are every day experimentally dealing. Now every one of these properties, forces and modes of motion of the other, are themselves formed to be definitely specialized or finited as to manner, curve, speed of transmission, and the like. Light is a radiant undulatory motion in the ether volume, the curve of which is transverse to the direction in which it is traveling, the speed of which is accurately known, and the actual physical pressure of which is being measured. Heat is some mode of either curvilinear-oscillating, or rotary motion, and its transmission follows definite laws. Magnetism and electricity are specialized forms of force, referable to the ether as their ground and agent, and governed in all their play by set and characteristic laws. In case of all these general forces, light, heat, magnetism and electricity, the direction of the several forces, their action and reaction, their modes of transmission and communication, and their velocities, are distinct, determinate, strictly specialized. They operate invariably according to their own exact curves, lines, boundary planes, axes and centers of motion, and, other things being equal, at invariable velocities for each.

     There is an old rule, the rule that "like causes produce like effects." If the converse of this rule hold good, if "like effects argue like causal agents," then the mere fact that finited or definitely determined properties, forces, function, modes of motion and velocities have invariably been found associated with distinctly finited agents or entities, would lead us to infer that since the daily forces and modes of motion of the ether are finited or specialized, the agent entity itself must be specialized or finited in all the given modes,--and this even though so large a conclusion must stand firm in reason only, not in experimental touch and surety.

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     Hence, we may conclude that all the entities of which the universe in its sum and complex is composed, are themselves bounded or finited as to beginning, extense, configuration, self-origination and ownership of the substance out of which they are framed,--this substance being always only a temporary and "as it were" possession, in reality but a loan, gift, and adaptation of some different and finer substance, in existence before they were constructed. Thus the only thing which is really their own, their peculiar possession, is the special pattern in which these finer, previously existent substances were arranged and combined when they themselves were first brought into existence as individual integral compound forms possessing individual integral powers.     

     But that general which is found in all the particulars must be a universal characterizing the whole. Therefore, the Universe as a whole must be bounded or finited as to beginning, extense, form, force, motor powers and properties, action and reaction, and self-ownership or possession of the very substance from which it first was framed.

     The grounds of this argument taken as a basis of thought, sufficiently negative the hypothesis that the universe was without beginning, or existed from eternity. They equally negative any supposition of its self-origination.

     The one conclusion remaining, therefore, is that the finited universe was not in existence from, eternity. It had a distinct definite inception or beginning, prior to which it was not in existence, not even in simple form. It was brought into existence by some agency other than its own, objective to itself, and in existence prior to its inception. (Infinite, Chap. I, Sec. viii, par. 2. 3.)

     But the only objective there can be to the finited, is the non-finited, or Infinite. This non-finited, therefore, or Infinite, must have been in existence before the inception of the finited; and must have been the Agent which brought the latter into existence.

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Therefore, the finited universe had a beginning. It was not self-originated. It was brought into existence by the Non-finited, the Infinite, the Eternal God. (Principia, Part I, Chap. I, Sec. 21, Chap. II, I to 6; Inf. Chap. I, Sec. iv.)

     In addition, two hypotheses are possible as to the mode in which the finited universe attained its present complexity, variety and fullness.

     First, It was brought forth as it were instantaneously, complete in all its planes, compounds, and ultimations, as Minerva is fabled to have sprung into existence at one bound, adult and full armed, from the head of Jove.

     Second, It attained its present status as to complexity, degrees of substance, fullness of series, harmonic inter-relation and correlated dependences in almost an infinity of varied ultimation, by means of a succession of ministrant steps, stages, and changes, extended through periods of time, as its substances and parts, simple or compound, are extended in space.

     The first of these hypotheses Swedenborg decisively negatives on ground of primary principle,--giving to the second all the surety of his affirmation. The Infinite and the Infinite only is at once, or as it were instantaneously and in simultaneousness, all it is capable of becoming. "Hence nothing is at once what it is capable of becoming, except the Infinite. All finite things must necessarily undergo different states successively; but not so the Infinite." (Pr. Part I, Chap. II, 3.)

     It is therefore the very mark of that which is finited that it cannot attain to that which it is capable of becoming, and that which it was intended it should become, save by a succession of states and stages extended in time, as its substances are in space. Hence the universe, being finited as to the whole and as to every particular, cannot have been brought into existence at once, with that complexity and fullness of gradient substances, forces and compounded forms it was capable of finally presenting, and does now present. Since, therefore, that which is compounded is produced only from the simple, and arises subsequently and by means of many ministrant contingent causes, the final variety of compound substances, forces and forms manifestly existent in the finited universe, could only have been produced gradually from some most simple primitive substance, the first of finitings and the sole substance in all finited things,--their production from such a primary most simple substance involving a long connected series of changes, produced by means of motion and extending through epochs of time.

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"Nothing is capable either of existence or change, except by means of motion." (Pr. Part I, Chap. II, 4.)

     That if the simple substance is to produce anything there must be real actual motion; and this as a very property, potency, and actuality, intrinsic in the substance itself. (Pr. Part I. Chap. II, 20.)

     That the successive series of entities proceeding from the most simple and primitive substance, are produced by means of motion; for without motion nothing can be conceived to originate from it. It is by means of motion that aggregates originate. It is motion which finites or terminates, and motion is thus the only bond of connection, the only means of composition. (Pr. Part I, Chap. III, 1, 2.)

     That upon the harmony of motions, existing in the substances of which composites are composed, depends the equilibrium and thus natural permanence of those compounds and composites. (Pr. Part I, Chap. VI. 5.)

     The point Swedenborg makes, that the Infinite alone is able to be at once all that it is capable of becoming, but that the finited requires always a cycle of successive changes and events to attain that of which it is capable, and for which indeed it was intended and empowered, is borne out by all the instances of chemistry, physiology and astronomy.

     The swiftest chemical reaction has its nascent period. A nine-months cycle of formative steps and changes,--continual rapid, defined, wonderful,--is involved in the embryonic shaping of a living microcosmic body, from that first beginning of complementary action and reaction between living seed and egg apparent as the doubling of the first cell, to that final ultimate complexity of infoldment, organization, and inter-relation, which is ready to be born into the life and world of human action and growth.

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It requires, also, a cycle aeons long to bring to conclusion all the subordinate formative substances, entities, parts and powers, with inter-linked and mutually dependent relation of force and motion, belonging to a fully developed Solar System with Elementary Kingdom full and complete, ready to serve, and conserve, the conatus and uses of Life. For it is a cycle aeons long indeed, reckoning by our seventy-year span,--from the inception of a solar vortex and system as a simple gyring whirl in the primal Ether, set up about some small active Solar space, opened and held open in its expanse,--to its final attainment of that complexity of compound-ether structure, equilibrated play of forces, and variety of principal and satellite bodies, which a solar system presents by the time the planets and their moons have been formed and whirled outward from their birth-place around the active Solar space to their final orbits, and the great terraqueous globes at last revolve in quiet, with sea and soil complete and fitted for the first ingraftings of life, and the bringing to birth of the simplest organic forms of the vegetative Kingdom.

     Thus the Universal law which Swedenborg gives,--that all finite things must undergo different states successively in order to attain that which they are capable of becoming,--is seen ruling throughout the subordinate provinces of physical chemistry, physiological organization, and the world-building epochs of astronomy.

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GREAT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 1908

GREAT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1908

     "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the lest in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach, the same shall be called great, in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew, v. 19.

     The Scribes and Pharisees were they who hall broken the commandments of the law, and had taught men so; and hall thus made the Word of God of none effect through their tradition. The traditions of the elders were certain external observances that hall gradually crept in from without, and had to a large extent taken the place of the Mosaic law, hall taken the place of the keeping of the commandments, and were considered of more importance than the moral law itself. The Lord was speaking therefore to His disciples concerning the Scribes and Pharisees, when He said that whosoever should break the least thing of the law, and teach men so, should be called the least in the kingdom of the heavens. They had broken the law, and had taught men to break it by teaching them things which were contrary both to the spirit and the letter of the law.

     The Scribes and Pharisees were themselves but representative of the Jewish Church as a whole. It was an external form, but had in it no internal or spiritual principle of life; and there was therefore no internal or spiritual church left on the earth; and since this was the case it was hardly possible for any man to live an internal or spiritual life. For this reason the Lord Himself came into the world to keep the law, by which He would establish an internal church in the world, and the Christian Church was to become such an internal church.

     In order that there may be an internal or spiritual church, the life of heaven must be in the mind of the man of the church, in his will and understanding, in his affection and thought, and not merely in his outward observances, not merely in his speech and actions.

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For all hypocrites can act well and speak well, can do what is good and speak what is good, and yet not think and will what is good. With such as these there can be no internal church, and when there is no internal church the salvation of men is placed in jeopardy; and this will even cease to be possible when the externals of the church also become corrupt, as it was with the Pharisees,--with whom something else is substituted for obedience to the law, for the simple requirements of the ten commandments, and men begin openly to do what is evil and teach what is false. When this state is reached, it is the consummation of the church, and it is necessary for the Lord to come, it is necessary for Him to fulfill the law, and in this manner inaugurate an internal church, in this manner render it possible for men to be saved by doing and teaching the truth of the Word.

     The Lord by His coming, and fulfilling the law, established order in both worlds; and even the evil, although they have broken the law and taught men so, must eventually be brought into order. They cannot be brought to love the order which the Lord has established, but they can be brought to obey it through punishment, and through the impulse of fear they can be led to perform uses. So far as they are in order, and perform the uses which flow from order, they are said to be in the Lord's kingdom but since they are in that kingdom as to externals, and not in its internals, they are called the least in the kingdom of heaven.

     Those who break the commandments, and teach men so, are finally through punishment brought into order, and are called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but those who do the commandments, and teach men to do the same, who voluntarily keep the least things of the law, who love the order which the law establishes, who are delighted in their hearts with the uses that flow from order, these are called great in the kingdom of heaven. There are thus in the Lord's universal kingdom those who are called least, and those who are called great; the least are the evil when brought into order, and the great are the good who are not only in order but who love the laws of order. These good, or these great, are the angels of heaven, especially the highest angels there, and are the real arch-angels of the Lord's kingdom.

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Let us examine a little more fully what is meant by being great in the kingdom of heaven.

     The Lord came to keep the law, because men were no longer able to keep it. Order could not be restored by means of men in the world, not even by means of the angels of heaven, not even by means of the angels of the highest heaven; it could only be done by Divine Power, by means of a human assumed by the Lord, by which He could place Himself in the world among men, and among men keep the law and thus restore the order which had been overturned. He it was ill the Human which He assumed, who by doing and teaching the law became great in the kingdom of heaven, who became Omnipotent in His kingdom. It was necessary for the Lord, in order that the law might be kept or fulfilled, to be actually in the world, and in the world do and teach the law, or ultimate good and truth by speech and action in the outer world, among men who are in the outer world, or in the world of ultimate nature.

     An essential law of Divine order here comes before our mental vision, namely, the necessity of doing and teaching--the necessity that the Lord should do and teach--the law in the ultimates of order, in the ultimates of the world of nature, before order can be restored or established, before heaven and hell, and the human race on earth, can be brought into order.

     Creation terminates in the ultimates of order, which are the ultimates of the mineral kingdom of nature, and there becomes hard, unyielding, fixed, and constant; it is necessary that man should be born in this ultimate of order; it is necessary that he should have a body formed from these ultimates of order, from the hard and unyielding substances of the mineral kingdom; it is necessary that he should live in this body so formed, live in it for many years, that the life of his spirit may by means of the body become fixed and permanent, upon the basis of the ultimates of nature; and upon this basis, formed and fixed by life in the natural world, become prepared to live a permanent and immortal life in a world above the world of nature. This is the reason why it is necessary that every angel in heaven, and every devil in hell, should have been born a man in the world, and after life in the world should pass into the spiritual world and there live forever.

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This could never be accomplished without a period of life passed in the ultimates of nature, in the material or ultimate world of nature, by which the life of the spirit becomes fixed and permanent.

     The fixity and permanence of life in the spiritual world, and the quality of it, depends upon the quality of the life lived while on the plane of the ultimates of nature, depends upon and rests upon the form fixed in the ultimates of man while in nature, that is in his body while he is in the world. If his life while in the world has been according to the laws of Divine order, as revealed in the Word, the forms of his holy, both exterior and interior, become fixed forms of Divine order; and when he dies he retains the interiors of the body, constructed of the purest substances of nature, to remain forever the ultimate basis and foundation of Divine order in him; and his life ever after in heaven will rest upon the foundation so laid in him while in the world, and which foundation he retains; and it will be impossible after death for him to go off into any other life than that which is in full agreement and correspondence with the foundation laid while living on the plane of the ultimates of nature, which foundation he carries with him, and which ever remains with him as the cutaneous envelope of his spirit. The life of his spirit in the spiritual world will ever be according to the reaction of this cutaneous envelope formed from the purest substances of nature. If his life while ill the body has been according to the laws of order, these laws will become a fixed plane of reaction in him, and he will live as all angel in heaven forever; but if his life while in the world has been contrary to the laws of order, the plane fixed in him from the purest substances of nature will be a plane of reactive disorder, and it will on this account be impossible for him to be introduced into a life of order after death, except in mere external through fear; and even this can he done then only because a plane of fear, the fear of punishment, has also been established in his ultimate by life in the world. On this basis of fear, impressed upon his ultimates in the world, he can be brought into some external order in the spiritual world; but his order will be the order of hell, and not of heaven, and his place will be with the devils of hell, not with the angels of heaven.

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The supreme necessity will thus be seen of doing and teaching the commandments of the law while man still lives in the natural world, and the necessity, when man was no longer able to do this, that the Lord should come into the world, and do and teach the commandments of the law among men, making it possible for finite men to do the same.

     Thus comes into view the essential reason why we are born in the world of nature, and the supreme importance of actually doing and spending the truth in the outer world while we are here, a doing and a teaching so ultimate that it may be seen and heard by others, a doing and a teaching that will cause the very air and ether to vibrate even to the heart of nature, and there reechoing and returning, penetrate to the interiors of the body, laying there a plane for our immortal life hereafter. It is by this ultimate doing and teaching, and according to it, that man becomes great in the kingdom of heaven.

     It is plain, and needs no demonstration here to show that by doing is meant obedience to the law in the ultimate acts of life; and it is only necessary to call attention to the fact that in this doing or obedience to the commandments of the law is fulfilled the doctrine which teaches that all power is in the ultimates of the Word, or in its literal sense. There is no power in the ultimates of the Word, or in its literal sense, considered as a written book; but there is power in the letter of the Word, in the letter of the commandments, which are a summary of the Word--all power--when this literal Word is with man in ultimate acts of obedience. The Lord is present, and the angelic heaven is present, with power when the ultimates of the Word are in the life of man, when they become the ultimates of his own life, a foundation laid in him for his house eternal in the heavens. It is most important to see this as the application of the doctrine that all power resides in the ultimates of the Word-a power that transforms man, and makes of him an angel of heaven.

     It is necessary then that the laws of Divine order should be ultimated by man, in his outer world, by acts of obedience; and on the other hand it is necessary that the laws of disorder, if they may be called so, should not be ultimated by man in his outer world, neither in action nor in speech; for by this, as we have seen, the foundation is laid in the interiors of his body for the kingdom and reign of hell.

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It is necessary therefore that man should compel himself to refrain from speaking and acting contrary to the laws of order, so that he may learn to speak and act according to those laws, as given in the literal sense of the Word, that all power may be with him to transform him from a demon of darkness to an angel of light.

     Two things are given in the text as necessary to be done, in order that man may become great in the kingdom of heaven; he must not only do the commandments of the law, but he must teach them. For there is never one thing in all finite creation that is without another thing, its companion and counterpart. There is no good without its truth, nor any truth without its good; and so there is no doing without teaching, nor any teaching without doing. The two are inseparable, and without the one the other perishes.

     It is plain what is meant, when it is said that man must do or obey the law; but what is it that is meant when it is said that he must teach the law?

     It is necessary to take a broad view of teaching. It is necessary to see it as a special function among men, and at the same time as a universal fact of human lie; and in this broad view to see that there is no man of sound mind who is not always teaching, teaching, teaching,--and he cannot help it; and so in this broad view teaching is simply speaking the truth. Every word that is spoken teaches, even though the man who speaks the word intends it not. Every word that is spoken carries with it an idea to the mind of another; this is teaching, even though it be not so consciously and professedly. A man speaks because he desires to give information on a given subject, or because he wishes to ask it. Parents are thus always teaching their children, and the children listen with eager ears. The art of conversation is nothing else than the art of conveying,--the art of mutual giving and receiving,--information and instruction. It is for the most part the insinuation of truth, rather than formal instruction; still it is teaching. It is a mode of confessing one's faith before men, of bearing witness to the truth; and this teaches. Every word that is spoken teaches truth or falsity; and teaching thus becomes, as was said, a universal fact of human life.

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     It is especially so in heaven. In every heavenly society love to the neighbor from love to the Lord reigns, and every one desires to give of his own to another, to share with others his mental possessions, and there is thus a communication of the thoughts of all to each and of each to all. There is nothing held back or kept secret and hidden. Every angel is willing and glad that all that he has and all that he knows should be imparted to another. This is the cause and origin of all human and angelic language; for language is nothing else, and is given for nothing else, than to become the mode of communicating one's thought to another. It is the mode used by God Himself to communicate His truth, and for this reason His revelation is called the Word--that which is spoken, that which God speaks to man, and that which men speak one to another. For indeed God not only speaks the Word to man, but we are commanded to speak it one to another--to do it first, then to speak it, and he who so does and so speaks is called great in the kingdom of heaven. "Whosoever shall do and teach, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

     We note, as we have noted before, that doing and teaching go together. In this we see in the letter itself a representative of the marriage of good and truth. Doing is of the will, and teaching is of the understanding. It is the will that does, and it is the understanding that teaches; and hence by doing the truth is meant to will it, and by teaching the truth is meant to think it in the understanding; and the meaning of the words of the text in their spiritual sense is that he who wills the truth of the law, and at the same time thinks it in his understanding, conjoining the understanding and will in a perfect harmony, he it is that is, called great in the kingdom of heaven.

     There is not an even balance of the will and understanding with all the angels. Some do more than they teach, these are called celestial; some teach more than they do, these are called spiritual; some do both in all equal degree, these are the inmost, the highest, the real archangels of heaven; these are in the heaven nearest the Lord, these are most like the Lord, these are they who both do and teach, and these are they that are called great in the kingdom of heaven.

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     This height of human greatness is often noted in the world from a general perception of its excellence, and it is dimly recognized as the highest type of human perfection; for we often hear it said that such a man has a remarkable balance of character, and education is thought to achieve its greatest success when there can be brought about an even balance of all the mental faculties. A man in whom this is exhibited is regarded as the highest type of man; and it is the constant aim of educators to bring this about. All even conjunction of the will and understanding is what is meant, and those in whom this is are the giants of the world, the great men, the leaders and rulers of mankind. So it is in the spiritual world. The angels of the inmost heaven are such; and they are meant in the words of the text, "Whosoever shall do and teach, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

     An angel of the highest heaven, or a man who is like him on earth, will be a man of great power because of the conjunction of the will and understanding in a like degree; he will have great power of will, and at the same time great power of understanding; he will have a quick, keen, and wonderful perception, and at the same time a wonderful expression of it in thought and speech. We is not only able to do, but he is able to teach, in a distinguished and remarkable manner, in a manner that is unusual among men. The days in which such men lived were the days of giants, but such are rarely seen in our day; it may be if we saw such a man we should not know him; it may that we should pass him by as a man to be shunned and avoided, or hand him over to crucifixion.

     There are indeed men who appear from time to time, having great intellectual power; and this great power of intellect or understanding may be from a genuine origin or it may not. Men may have great power of intellect, and great power in the expression of it, great power as teachers and leaders in the world, and this power may come from a will of good or a will of evil, and we may not know the difference--not in this world, but in the other world we shall know, even as we are known. It is important at any rate that we do not pass premature judgments; for we may attribute to good that which springs from evil, or to evil that which springs from good.

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Great power of thought and speech may come from the perception of good in the will, or it may arise from what is called in the Writings mere ingenuity, which is thought from truth in the memory. In either case the appearance may be the same, and the origin and source we cannot as yet know. Hence we are commanded to judge not, for a final judgment is not made upon any one till after death. Let us therefore avoid the endeavor to pass final judgments in this world,--before the time of judgment is come. We can only judge of men in this world by the uses they are able to perform, and it behooves us to quietly await a judgment on the ends of life until the time when ends are revealed in the life after death; in which life we shall be able to see,--as we cannot see here,--not only the doing and teaching, but the will that is in the doing, and the thought that is in the teaching, of all who appear; and when the will that is in our own doing, and the thought that is in our own teaching, will also become manifest to others; when we shall not only know, but we shall be known, and when every man will be allotted his place according to the will in his doing and the thought in his speaking; and when only those who will as they do, and do as they will, who think as they speak, and speak as they think, under the Lord and from the Lord, will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.
Title Unspecified 1908

Title Unspecified              1908

     Opinion as to spiritual matters is of value as it is formed from the revealed doctrine of the church as over against the deductions drawn from experience. Experience is made up of appearances and to judge of spiritual things from appearances, of spiritual values from the appearances of the natural world, is to be led by fallacies. Not that experience is without use. Its use, however; is not to reveal spiritual truth, but to confirm. It is a useful handmaid to religion, but a blind guide.

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"OUT OF THE SHADOWS." 1908

"OUT OF THE SHADOWS."       Rev. WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1908

     I.

     It was whilst fulfilling the pastoral activities of a home mission circuit of the Methodist Church of Canada,--being at the time stationed at Dorset, Muskoka,--that I chanced to meet and converse with several members of the New Church, who were spending some time ill that region. As a result, I was prompted by curiosity to receive from a settler the loan of an old book which had been quoted with some cogency in the course of our various conversations.

     The volume appeared to be a quaint, massive digest of the theological doctrines advocated in the 18th century by the great Swedish thinker, Emanuel Swedenborg,--concerning whom I then knew rather worse than nothing; because, of course, I had read the famous Emersonian essay, and the occasional scrappy references and biographical sketches which no reading man could conceivably miss. The net impression left on my mind was that of a philosophic sage who, in the world of letters, was a half-forgotten mastodon of learning, and the author of certain Dante-like visions of a scheme of life wherein mysticism was blended with the strange, pedantic type of learning peculiar to his time.

     Though coming with the authority of an impressive name, the book certainly appeared unlikely to provoke any cataclysm of spiritual concepts, or illumine, in any vast way, those dark places of religious dogma which constitute the test of many ministers other than "Robert Elsmere." Still, having learned to be willing enough to seek with open-minded patience for that content of Truth seemingly so far removed from us all, I soon fell to an examination of this old volume.

     Opening the book at random. I immediately learned that the English nation had cities in hell! This was certainly a startling and forcible idea; and a dryly cynical thought said that it might not be an altogether unlikely proposition.

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The book was evidently far from dull. A swift perusal of its opening chapters revealed so many striking and peculiar things,--things which struck the mind with all the force of iron rods,--that more than a mere general scrutiny was plainly demanded.

     Before long, a private copy of the book was in my possession; and I began to read seriously. That I was delighted, repelled, astonished and attracted in turns will be quite intelligible to those who have accepted its teachings, as well as to many others. For these new doctrines agitated me very much. And I felt that, having read them, I could never rest until I had taken the modern theologic knowledges, and laid them side by side with Swedenborg's announcements. So, in ignorance of the great treasure that had come into my hands, I began to do this deliberately and in logical fashion, much as some poor little silversmith living in his dark lane, might apply tests to a great pearl which comes unwittingly into his possession. And, as I did this, the conviction grew on me that this strange work had considered us all in the beginning,-had weighed us and mirrored us,-generations ago. And that, in every important item where it conflicted with our modern theology, we were found wanting.

     I felt illogically angry that nobody had ever given me the book before. Why were not its teachings scattered in popular fashion everywhere? And so on. More than once I was tempted to fling it aside, as past generations appeared to have done, and forget all about it. But it followed me about, clung to my memory, startled and distressed me. Its admixture of wonderful relations and noble principles constituted a daily problem.

     The title of the book was "The True Christian Religion; containing the Universal Theology of the New Church.

     II.

     It may here be in place to hint at certain doctrinal positions to which I had at length come in the course of my readings. For, curiously enough, at this time I had just completed a series of essays for the press, in which I had suggested an experimental and candid attitude towards the modern theologic standpoints--then, as now, in a state of admitted chaos and flux.

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     The pith of these essays was, that human authority in the religious world had failed to measure up to its claims. The dogmas of ecclesiasticism had proved, in the light of progressive knowledge, to be a spectral collection of unrealities, a maze of ingenious illusions. For, as often as natural science discarded and changed its errors of past speculation, so often was dogmatic theology put to hopeless straits in seeking to accommodate its 4th and 16th century creeds to the new expressions thrust upon it by the current fashions. The alleged correlation about spiritual religion was singularly untrue, both to the phenomena of the universe, and the deepest necessities of the individual man.

     True, many strong and noble minds had bravely attempted to meet the new conditions by uneasy attempts at theologic reconstruction. And of these, Cardinal Newman's "Apologia," the essays in "Lux Mundi," and Fairbairn's "Philosophy of the Christian Religion,"* were, perhaps, amongst the most worthy. But the hope of a rational and spiritual philosophy that should voice some universal affirmatives giving to the soul and mind a state of peace born of daily hannony with the living Force lying behind all things, seemed as likely of realization as the expectations of that critical school which sought to uncover the spiritual import of the first and last books of the Scriptures by an elaborate study of historical bases, comparative methods, and textual criticism. Whether we contemplated the "Immanence" movement in England, or studied the more general "Back to our Lord" cry sent out in genuine distress by those who perceived that the Incarnation and not the Atonement was the real center of theologic gravity, we could not but be deliberately convinced that the drift of modern thought was essentially, though by no means confessedly, towards the Unitarian strongholds. The study of the sequence and development of histories was super-sending belief in the reality of the spiritual world. The cramped circle of our earthly life, and the increase of comfort, were the universal themes. Happiness was not a vision, but a beefsteak.

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The blind materialists were hunting for God, as if He had never made, and could not make, a Revelation of Himself. All of which suggested the ludicrous advice given to Alice in Wonderland: "You are sure to get somewhere if you only go far enough."
     * See also "Contentio Veritatis" (1902).

     It was striking how the scribes and books of common theologic law could be at once so technically righteous and yet so spiritually wrong,--so scholarly and sane, and yet so barren of justice to that Infinite Being before whom their souls were ever present. The old theology had plainly become a thing that could only claim our sufferance by muttering a continual apology for its existence. Already it was fast becoming a poor relative of science, by whose fireside it would, perhaps, in the future be grudgingly permitted to live.

     As a natural consequence, the churches were ignored and even hated by the great bulk of the people. The clergy hopelessly wasted their lives over pinpricks, and sentiment-societies, and gospel-fads, and popular limelight religion, and all the rest of the clerical apparatus. At best, the current ecclesiasticism had but a relative value to life: for it voiced no objective realities in which the soul could find satisfaction. And as for religiously influencing the corporate life of a nation, or forming a center of gravity for schemes of social reformation, the churches seemed as likely to play a part in those matters as a mummy of the tombs. Even grossly economic Socialism was ethically ahead of us in this respect.

     The summary of my yearnings at this time was that wanted a religion that was not unmoral,--a morality that was not unreligious. A true catholic religion would predicate such a theology,--free from superstition, more than a vague statement of instincts, and predicating spiritual laws which would be seen to be as absolute in the realm of the soul as the laws of nature were in the natural realm.

     Perhaps our ignorance of the ultimate authority in Religion was chiefly to blame. For the attempts to analyze the divine essence had resulted mainly in concepts, (1) Of a Being whose attributes comprehended clumsiness and passion, or (2) of a force so transcendental and unknown as to bear practically no relative in the divine human. It was the old Pilate-question in a modern dress.

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Was the God of James Martineau and Channing the only God of whom we could ever aspire to a revelation. I shrank from the very thought. In the meantime, I preferred to work patiently in that church in which all my life had been spent, and which gave certain restricted scope for the urging of principles of social and industrial betterment.

     Surely, religion would one day find expression in some cohesive system of truth. The universe must be a sensible system, steady, persisting, carrying an interpretation true and absolute. Every fibre of my being said it must be so. And I observed that even the men who investigated the natural sciences,--and who were often spiritually ignorant, or antagonistic to religious faith,--had to start with the assumption that it was so.

     To all this dark tangle of problems, I could, at the time, only oppose a vague reply that "the conception of Christ stands related to history as the idea of God is related to nature, i. e., each is, in its own sphere, the factor of order, or the constitutive condition of a rational system."* Truth was the love of God at work. Reason, in some undefined way, was correlated to revelation; but the nature of the bond did not year appear. Frankly, the word "theology" could hardly today be used except in mildly ironical way; because by no stretch of imagination could it be called a system of truth by which men regulated their lives. Indeed, I grimly noted that the majority of men showed their excellent sense by leaving it severely alone. Of course, to arrange and systematize things which tomorrow were proved illusions was one way of Setting experience, but it was a poor use of experience.
     * See Fairbairn's "Philosophy of Christian Religion" (1902.)

     On the whole, it seemed best to talk to the people about the foolishness of wrong doing, to be patient and kindly when they were in trouble, to preach about the life of our Lord and His teachings, and to do one's known duty to God and man in a forceful, simple way. All else seemed a waste of time. That was what my own people at home hall believed in, with excellent results in their lives. And though it was--as my learned friends have argued and will continue to argue,--a quite sentimental and altogether unscholarly conclusion; yet, in the last analysis, when a man had finished with the stumblings and mistakes of the day, it appeared to be the only strong and helpful thing left in the whole matter.

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And even that, I was sadly aware, was pitifully inadequate to the needs of the growing mind and soul.

     Such, then, were a few of the more practical features of my theologic outlook when I providentially stumbled across that book which has since changed the whole course of my life. As may readily be discerned, it was an outlook encircled with dimness and mystery; full of perplexing enigmas; ever obscured by doubts and temptations; and well pictured by the old poet:

"Our creeds are not less vain; our sleeping life still dreams;
     The present, like the past,
Passes in joy and sorrow, love and shame;
Truth dwells as deep; wisdom is yet a name;
     Life still to death flies fast;
And the same shrouded light from the dark future gleams."

     III.

     Keeping these lines in mind, therefore, it will be perceived how the Writings given through Swedenborg came to me like real food, compared with which the current theologies--orthodox and heterodox,--appeared presently as the merest husks. For, by them, the Higher Critical movement was disarmed as to its spiritual denials. Agnostic nihilism was utterly confuted. Philosophy was given its rightful place in the realm of religion; and man and his surroundings being interpreted in the only rational and satisfactory way, all religion was seen to be related to life, and all life was perceived to have complete relation to religion.

     Though as to what my discoveries comprehended, I here prefer to be silent; knowing well how little a new believer may see of that wealth of Infinite Truth into which the receivers of New
Church doctrines are ushered.

     The strange force, however, which characterized the influence that the Writings had upon me may be indicated by the brief note which I finally wrote on the fly-sheet of the "True Christian Religion," after much struggle and doubt:

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     "If the Christian Religion be not a Beautiful Fable and an Unreal Dream, then this, and this only, can be its True Account."

     IV.

     As to the detailed history of my fights and difficulties in the acceptance of the Writings as the Word of our Lord in His Second Coming and His New Church;--how I found Swedenborg accused of theologic narrowness, extravagant anthropomorphism, wild allegorizing, mysticism, an entire absence of historical knowledge, wild communications with the unseen world, and a mechanical materialism offensive to philosophic minds;--how these difficulties when examined in the light of reason, and pitted against each other, proved to be mutually destructive;--or as to how the personal temptations to shrink from all that was painfully involved in severance from the Church of a life's energies, and all on behalf of a Church obscure and unknown to the eye of the world:--as to all these things, each man is called upon to fight them out for himself, and the details of them need not here be flourished about, especially seeing that they are but a collection of evidences of spiritual blindness. It is enough to know that "belief overmasters doubt, and I know that I know."

     V.

     Doubtless, all who frankly conjoin themselves to the New Church will at least be deemed to have gone over to that school of dreamers which, in revolt against a world of sensualities, has hopelessly erected its philosophic abstractions as so many altars to the Unknown. The prevailing unspiritual logics and weavings of thought-fantasies make this worldly judgment an inevitable thing. Nevertheless, he who has seen and heard the Truth may do no other than patiently and quietly follow in its footsteps, unless it be that he desires to lose his own soul.

     As for those who would hastily speak of our acceptance of the Writings regarding the consummation of the Christian Church as an act of ill-considered quixotism; and those who are wise enough to be silent about it all until they have made due and proper search for themselves; we would simply ask all such to soberly reflect which is the truest course?-

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to openly cut the bond of assent which binds so many Christians to dogmas and practices in which they find they can to longer believe?--or to clutch, with much mental reserve, at the growing sentiment that religion is merely a subjective process, the church simply an artificial religio-sociological structure, and "divine" doctrine but the transient expression of what human men believe and feel about sacred things?

     But, in the last analysis, these solemn questions as to the choice of the soul do not depend on what is self-pleasing or conventionally prudent.

     And has it not been said: "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God. But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God."
Title Unspecified 1908

Title Unspecified              1908

     It is not the unwillingness of men to listen to Swedenborg that accounts for the prejudice against his Writings. Men are willing enough to listen to Swedenborg's opinion; it is the claim that he is the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Second Coming, and has a Divine Revelation from Him for the salvation of men that is rejected. Men will receive the doctrines of the New Church as human opinion; this has been again and again proven I but they will not receive them as the Word of Divine Truth revealed by the Lord out of heaven. "I am come in My Father's name, and ye receive me not; another shall come in his own name; him will ye receive."

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     It is with great pleasure we learn that the Rev. Louis H. Tafel has been commissioned by the American Swedenborg Society to prepare a new edition of the work on Conjugial Love. It is to be a revision of the recently published Rotch edition, with the terms "conjugial" and "conjugial love" everywhere restored, in place of "marriage desire" and "marriage love."



     The Massachusetts New Church Union, 16 Arlington street, Boston, will send copies of New Church leaflets in Esperanto to any address on receipt of a two cent stamp. The leaflets are entitled, "Kin estis Emanuel Swedenborg?" (Who was Emanuel Swedenborg?), and "La Triajo en la Sinjoro Jesus Kristo" (The Trinity in the Lord Jesus Christ).



     Owing to his removal from the London field to become the minister of the Keighley Society, the Rev. J. T. Freeth has resigned as editor of Morning Light, a position he has held for the past three years. The Rev. H. Gordon Drummond now fills the editorial chair.



     The following is from a "Pulpit Sketch" written by a reporter of the Manchester (England) City News, of October 5th: "It was in the expectation of seeing and hearing something different from what is found in the ordinary run of Nonconformist places of worship that I journeyed on Sunday to the New Jerusalem church. In my ignorance, I imagined that the proceedings at a Swedenborgian church-for such is this New Jerusalem church-must be of a novel character. But I was mistaken.

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The service was on simple lines, and though I felt a little disappointed at bearing nothing about Swedenborg, I rejoiced in being able, without difficulty, to take part in a form: of worship perfectly intelligible." And thus do our "missionary" friends spread their doctrines to the world. "Nothing about Swedenborg."



     We have received a copy of The Olive Leaf, a little manual published every Sunday by the Los Angeles Society, whose brief, but bright paragraphs are characteristic of the editor, the Rev. T. E Collom. The manual gives the Order of Services for the day of publication. This Order, we note, includes rising at the opening of the Word, the recitation of the Faith of the New Church, and a lesson from the Writings. There is also a Department of Announcements and one of Church News.



     Our German-American contemporary, the Neukirchenblatt, during the summer published a rather sarcastic and unfavorable review of the Outlines of Swedenborg's Cosmology, based, however, only upon a reading of the prospectus to the work. Having received a copy of the book itself, the editor in the December issue, makes amends by publishing a decidedly favorable review, without any reference to his former criticisms. The same journal, in the December and January issues, prints a translation of our November editorial on "Our Relation to 'Other' Churches,"--buttressed fore and aft with the usual remarks about the "condemnatory" attitude of the Life. In spite of this, the German version reads as if it had been translated "con amore."



     At the recent meeting of the International Convention of the Y. M. C. A., held in Washington, D. C., a committee was appointed to decide on the definition of the word "Evangelical." Only members of "evangelical" churches are entitled to membership in this organization, and this fact prompts the Messenger to remark, "The New Church has heretofore been wrongly debarred from such privileges, and the report of the committee after three years ought to serve to call attention to our position." Evangelical, like the Y. M. C. A.? It would seem so, for in a later editorial that institution is identified with "genuine Christianity," having the "sinew of Divine Truth," working "in the name of Christ Jesus" [!] believing in His Divinity and in the holiness of the Word; and it is counseled never "to haul down its all-glorious flag," for otherwise it cannot "remain Christian."

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Has the Messenger's ideal of Christianity descended to the Y. M. C. A.'s? or has the Y. M. C. A. become actually a New Church organization?



     The Rev. J. E. Spiers gives an interesting account of the effect of the Doctrines upon a colored man, "Uncle" Benj. White. Uncle Ben is one of the most respected and popular colored men in Wacissa, Florida, and his reception of the Doctrines was, therefore, quite an event. He imagined, like most new-comers, that they had only to be heard to be accepted; and so filled with zeal was he that he would talk doctrine all day,--to a listener, if possible, and if not, then to himself. He would gather a crowd about him in the village and preach to them. He would even get up in the night and preach to his sleeping family, or go to some neighbor's house and rouse them up by standing outside and preaching in vigorous tones "that the Lord had made His Second Coming in a wonderful new revelation." After a while, experience convinced him that it is but few who are willing to see and hear, and now he confines his activities to the distribution of literature and to private conversations.



     The Messenger has opened the New Year in a fine optimistic vein. In its first editorial of the year it refers to the stream of New Church literature that is flowing from the printing press, and continues, "Already such an effect has been produced that the discerning of other churches are compelled to conclude that our doctrines have done the 'liberating work of the last century,' are 'filtering into philosophy and theology, spiritualizing both,' and 'revolutionizing theology.' Indeed, so tremendous has been the power of the church through its doctrines and so evident its achievements that leaders of those in other faiths have declared that before the century closes, the teachings of Swedenborg will be the prevailing theology of Christendom"!! Why does the Church grow so slowly? and why is the membership of its largest bodies stationary or decreasing?

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     In an article on The Divinity of Christ, contributed by a Methodist Episcopal minister to the December number of The Bible Student and Teacher, we find the following remarkable passage, which is penned to illustrate the logical necessity that should impel those who accept the Lord's teachings to also acknowledge His Divinity to which He Himself so frequently testifies:

     "Hear the following parable: Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772, was the founder of Swedenborgianism. He bases his claim as a religious teacher upon the fact that he frequently held personal converse with good and evil spirits. And that he had personally visited both heaven and hell. He gives a vivid description of the glory of the one and the horrors of the other. He tells us of the scenes, the occupations, and mentions by name certain men in heaven and others whom he saw in hell. Now, imagine a man saying: 'I am a Swedenborgian. I believe all of Swedenborg's description of heaven and hell, all his explanations of Scripture, and so forth. I accept everything he says as true, except one thing: I do not believe his testimony concerning himself, that he has conversed with spirits and has visited heaven and hell. I know Swedenborg declares his consciousness of so doing. But such declarations are too absurd. I simply cannot believe any such thing.'

     Consider where such logic would place a man. His position forces him to believe one of three things: either to believe that Swedenborg lied, or was insane, or was mistaken. In either case, this is fatal to the whole scheme of Swedenborgianism; for the whole thing hangs upon the pivot of Swedenborg's claims to have conversed with spirits, and to have visited other worlds than ours, accept his testimony on that point, and the rest follows naturally. Deny that, and the whole structure falls to the ground."



     In his Notes on European Travel, Mr. Sewall writes that the site of Swedenborg's house in Stockholm is indicated by a tablet on the building erected thereon, on which are engraved his name, date of his birth and death, and the quotation, "Tempus venturum est quando illustratio" (The time will come when there will be illustration).

     In the same Notes, Dr. Sewall contributes some interesting news respecting a proposal to set aside an entire room of the great "Northern Museum" in Stockholm, for the sole display of Swedenborgiana.

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"The plans are being perfected between the director of the museum and Mr. Stroh, to whom, if it is carried through, the Church will be indebted for this further illustrious service in the awakening of a wider public appreciation of Swedenborg." Dr Sewall understands that the authorities have already given their consent to the project, and that its carrying out now depends very largely on the willingness of individuals to part with portraits of Swedenborg, personal relies, furniture, books, etc.
SWEDENBORG'S LIBRARY 1908

SWEDENBORG'S LIBRARY              1908

     The auction catalogue of Swedenborg's library has recently been reprinted in Stockholm, in facsimile of the original edition, at the expense of the Swedenborg Scientific Association. It makes a pamphlet of sixteen pages and is furnished with a new Latin title, reading: "Catalogus Bibliothecae Emanuelis Swedenborgii, juxta editonem primam. Denuo edidit Alfred H. Stroh. Holimae, ex officina Aftonbladet. 1907."

     The list comprises nearly five hundred volumes, in many languages and on all kinds of subjects, mostly scientific and historical. Very few of them are of later date than 1750. It is known that Swedenborg, during his later years, gave away a great many of his books, and the Catalogue, therefore, cannot be regarded as indicating the limits of Swedenborg's reading. Such as it is, however, it is of use as showing the versatility of his genius and the universality of his literary interests. It will be of special use, also, in determining the dates of and editions of the various works from which he quotes in his writings. Future biographers will have to make a close study of this catalogue. Copies may be obtained from the Academy Book Room at the price of twenty-five cents.
DANISH MISSIONARY WORK 1908

DANISH MISSIONARY WORK       F. T. HANSEN       1908

     DEN NYE KIRKE. (The New Church. A brief account of the chief points in the Christian Doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg). By ALFRED SCHROEDER, Copenhagen, 1907. Pp. 203.

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     It is not often that the collateral literature of the New Church is increased by an original work in the Danish tongue, and the appearance of this philosophical synopsis of the leading principles of the Heavenly Doctrine is therefore an event of unusual interest to our brethren in Denmark. The author is quite unknown to us, but he is evidently a man of considerable learning and ability, and well acquainted with modern tendencies and currents of thought. A Danish friend writes to us as follows:

     "I have read this book and it is a genuine delight to me to say, that, in my humble opinion, it will prove to fill 'a long-felt want' among those of my countrymen who are unable to swallow the Old Church theology and yet have not lost all belief in a God and a life hereafter, but whose souls are starving for want of spiritual food. The author sets forth in clear and convincing language where such spiritual nourishment may be found, by giving a brief view of the principal doctrines of the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. I sincerely hope that this book may be widely read by Danes and Norwegians alike, as it cannot fail to convince those who earnestly seek for the truth, that the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are indeed the Word of God and the Lord in His Second Coming.
     F. T. HANSEN."
          Bryn Athyn, Pa., January, 1908."
CHILDREN IN HEAVEN 1908

CHILDREN IN HEAVEN              1908

     Mr. Earnest Rabone offers some speculations upon this head in the Morning Light of November 16. After indulging in some curious calculations to prove the obvious fact that the number of children in heaven must be very small in proportion to the number of angels,--since heaven consists of all who have been saved since the creation, while the number of children at the present time must be confined to those who have died as children, who have not yet grown to the full stature of angelhood,--he sets up the problem of determining how there can be children in each of the families of heaven, which he supposes to be essential there as it is essential on earth. Indeed, he regards a childless angel home as unthinkable.

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     After suggesting sundry solutions of his difficulty, he offers the original theory "that heaven is full, not of earth-born, but of what we may call spirit children,--children who are correspondential embodiments in external forms of the innocence of the angels, just as the garments and houses and animals of heaven are external embodiments of their internal states,--children who have never been born and who will never grow up, yet who are, for the time being, real children,--children who lack nothing that earth-born children have, except the plane of earthly life, which gives the latter a permanent and independent existence.

     The writer finds in this nothing inconsistent with the teaching of Swedenborg respecting the spiritual world. But he does not seem to appreciate the fact that such children, "who were never born, and who will never up," would be a monstrosity which would by no means satisfy the desires of parental affection. For the delight in children is not so much in what they are as in the anticipation of what they will be. No more distressing thing could be conceived of than a child who "never grew up," but who always remained a child.

     But, aside from this, Mr. Rabone suggests a problem which is no problem. Children are indeed needed on the earth by reason of the hardness of men's hearts, which requires child-life in order that there may be some avenue of influx for that heavenly innocence which humanity destroys by its selfishness and worldliness. But the childlike innocence which on earth can be supplied only in association with ignorance and weakness, is in the heavens the innocence of wisdom: the innocence which springs from victory over evil, not that which is due to lack of experience of evil. In heaven all are the Lord's children, but wise children. There is, therefore, in this respect, no essential need for other children than the spiritual children which are the goods and truths born to heavenly pairs, which are continually added to their own lives and make them more and more childlike.

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PERSUASION OF THE DRAGON 1908

PERSUASION OF THE DRAGON              1908

     There is some reason to believe that the spirit of the Dragon is still abroad, insidiously endeavoring to undermine the foundations of the New Church. For, let it be remembered, the Dragon is the symbol, not of those who deny religion, or who are openly in evil life. The Dragon goes to church regularly, claims to be the church on earth, and in the spiritual world builds up a heaven,--an imaginary heaven it is true, but still a kind of a heaven;--in which the simple find a haven of rest, the simple who see the external professions of piety and the external benevolence of those who make the professions, and do not penetrate beneath this fair exterior to the internal state within. The Dragon, in his approach to the New Church today, is no longer engaged in open persecution, but is diligently employed in inducing simple New Church people to believe that the Old Church is not so bad as it is painted in the Writings of Swedenborg; that, while it might have been so in Swedenborg's own day, it is not so any longer. He argues, "See, the old abhorrent dogmas are no longer insisted upon: we no longer hear preached the fires of a brimstone hell, nor the wrath of an offended God, neither the nonsense of a vicarious atonement." "Indeed," he insinuatingly points out, "doctrine is not preached any more. Good life is alone insisted upon; and why may not New Church people join with all the good of the Christian world to do with them the good works of charity and to fight against the evil of the world." Soothing and persuasive this doctrine is (for it is doctrine, though it deny the title), and while men's minds are being lulled into a false security by such means, the Divinity of the Lord is denied, the Word of God is cast down from its primacy as the Divine utterance to men, disbelief in the future life proceeds apace, and graft in the business world, and impurity in social life increase and multiply.

     There is need for the New Church today, not as something a little better than what others have, but yet which they can very well do without; not as something which is conceived of as a subtle influence descending into the hearts of those who deny the Lord,--something that unconsciously to themselves makes them members of the New Jerusalem; but as something which men may consciously know and hold to as the veritable ark of salvation for fallen humanity.

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It matters not that but few so look upon and so go to and hold by the doctrines of the New Church. There must be some, else humanity itself would perish.

     In order for one to be of the New Church he must receive the Lord in His Second Coming by the specific way of receiving the revelation given in that coming, which, in fact, is that coming. To believe that men or any man can become of the specific New Church without conscious knowledge of those doctrines, or that he may receive the Doctrines of the New Church without knowledge of their source, is to exalt human reason above Divine Revelation; it is to assert that man by searching can find out God; it is to eat of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The world is full of opinionizing about spiritual things, and in some instances the opinionizing appears wondrous like to the truth revealed by the Lord out of heaven. But, however like, it never is that truth, nor can it take the place of the truth revealed in effecting salvation. The Lord says, "I am come a light into the world." "He that doeth the truth cometh to the light." Why is it that we are so slow to realize that the world will not come to the Lord in His Second Coming that they may have life, simply because their deeds are evil. As at the First coming so is it at the Second. Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. We cannot believe that men are not able to see the Lord in His Second Coming; this would mean that the Lord was not able to make Himself known. Nor can we accept the comforting unction that while men may profess their unwillingness to receive the Lord and even deny Him with their lips, they nevertheless unconsciously receive Him in their hearts, for this would be to make the natural goodness of the human heart superior to the good derived from the truth revealed by the Lord. Neither may we believe that regeneration may be accomplished with no conscious co-operation on the part of men, which would run perilously near to the doctrine of predestination. Nay, the reason is simply and solely the evil of the human heart. "He that doeth evil hateth the light; neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."

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WRITINGS AND THE WORD 1908

WRITINGS AND THE WORD              1908

     A correspondent to the Messenger, "R. W.," draws a gloomy picture of some New Church men and New Church writers, who, to use their "exact expression," hold that "They who have not the Lord in His Second Coming have not genuine truth." As a result of this heinous doctrine, he points to them as going "so far as to almost ignore the Letter of the Word . . . they treat lightly literal reading even of the commandments, showing that, in their opinion, the cultivation of knowledge of the spiritual, without consideration for external life, is, possibly, admissible, and will possibly be acceptable to the Lord; that lapses in morality are condoned in those who are absorbed with consideration of a love for that which is spiritual." For the benefit of these benighted persons, whoever they may be, he quotes at great length from the work on the Sacred Scripture, showing that the doctrine of genuine truth is to be drawn from the Letter of the Word. "Thus (he continues), we believe that our Bible is the Word of God; that it is God on earth." And, finally, as a last appeal to the erring ones to depart from their evil ways, he pictures the grief they are even now bringing to Swedenborg,--"a celestial angel, and occupying a very exalted position." "Think (he says) of the sorrow and pain that he must experience on being told by spirits newly arrived from earth that some people place his writings on a level with the Word, God on earth!"

     The quotations made from the work on the Sacred Scripture do indeed teach that doctrine is to be drawn from the letter of the Word, but the same work also teaches, what was not quoted, that "the spiritual sense of the Word is at this day disclosed by the Lord, because the doctrine of genuine truth is now revealed. . . . This sense is also signified by the appearance of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with glory and power." (S. S. 25.). It is this heavenly doctrine which is revealed in the Writings, not one thing whereof was "from any spirit or angel, but from the Lord alone." And yet the Writings are not the Word! or the Divine Truth! That is to say, the doctrine which is contained in the Letter of the Word and makes it Divine, when drawn forth and revealed by the Lord, ceases to be the Word!

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With equal reasoning we might conclude, with the vastate church which also puts life merely in externals, that the soul drawn from the body of man ceases to be the man. But the Writings, which speak in interior light, teach otherwise. "Unless the Lord come again into the world in the Divine Truth which is the Word, neither can any one be saved. (T. C. R. 3.) With the knowledge and acknowledgment of this Divine Truth which is the Word there comes also a spiritual perception of the holiness of the Word in the letter, a devout reading of that letter, and a greater veneration for it. But without the acknowledgment of the Divine Truth as the Word itself, even the letter cannot be seen as holy from any genuine spiritual light; and if it is cherished and piously read, this is done either from traditionary and persuasive faith, or, with the good, from states more or less obscured by fallacies. It is the acknowledgment of the Writings as the Word that truly exalts the Letter.

     The correspondent, whom we have quoted above, is excellently answered in a later number of the Messenger, by "F. A. F." He refers to "R. W.'s" statement as to the revelation of the internal sense being a corollary to the Word in the letter, and adds, that, whatever may be meant by this, "I do understand that the Lord, through Swedenborg, has revealed the internal sense of the Word as it is in each of the heavens." He then concludes: "That the several volumes we call the Writings of the Church are the Word in its several senses.

     This championship of the "Writings of the Church" has not been allowed to go unchallenged; for in a still later number of the Messenger, another correspondent, "F. M. F.," feels compelled to take up the cudgels against the Writings. He is reminded of a so-called New Church meeting," at which "the most holy act of worship" was the reading of two chapters from the Canons of the New Church. After the service he asked each member, except the leader, whether he had understood the reading, and all acknowledged they had not, ergo, it is useless to read the Writings in church. Then follows a reference to Arcana Coelestia, 7270 and 8443, teaching of the six degrees of Divine Truth, the last of which "exists in the world as the letter of the Word."

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There is no comment, for the writer is quite confident that these "plain statements" are quite sufficient to warn his brethren "against such insanities as are expressed" in the statement that the Writings are the Word!

     There is something painfully tragic in this constant attempt to undermine and destroy that Foundation on which the New Church is established, and without which she would not be.
"COSMOLOGY" MISUNDERSTOOD 1908

"COSMOLOGY" MISUNDERSTOOD              1908

     Morning Light for December 28 contains a long review of Miss Beekman's Cosmology, written by "D. G." (David Goyder, M. D.) which, while in many respects very appreciative of the work, indicates that the reviewer has either failed to grasp its essential purpose, or else totally differs from the fundamental principles sought to be established in that work. For while the Cosmology is commended in flattering terms as an excellent exposition of the theories of the Principia, yet the reviewer for the most part totally ignores the correlations with the Writings; and, in the one or two cases where he notices them he has evidently failed to understand them. Many an intelligent student could give a summary and comprehensible presentation of the Principia theory, and if this was all that is accomplished in the Cosmology the work might be stamped as being essentially a failure. But the Cosmology aims at higher ends. Its purpose is to show that the teachings of the Principia are one with the teachings of the Writings; and that both are the necessary factors of a Science, a Philosophy, and a Theology, which shall reveal the operations of Divine Wisdom in the creation and sustentation of the universe.

     The reviewer begins by differing from the aim of the work,--to confirm Swedenborg's "scientific deductions" from his subsequent "theological and religious writings." He does this on the ground that the former were written from the plane of nature, or are reasoned from circumference to centre, while the reverse is the case in the latter. "We would deprecate, (he says), attempts to harmonise Swedenborg's science with his writings for the New Church. . . . They are essentially distinct and each should be judged from the evidences to be derived from its own proper sphere."

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He also freely admits the truth of the Principia teachings. For instance, notwithstanding that he sees a discrepancy between the teachings regarding the Spiritual Sun and the doctrine of the Principia, he yet, strange to say, "cannot see that this in any degree invalidates Swedenborg's theory of finites and their vortical motion or their ultimations in the matter of suns and worlds." Truly a strange conclusion. For if there is a discrepancy between Revelation and the fundamental postulates of the Principia, surely, the whole of the conclusions of the latter would be invalidated, even if they did not entirely collapse. Stranger still, as coming from a student of the doctrines which teach the unity of science, philosophy and religion, is the recommendation that the scientific works and the Writings be judged from different planes. It is almost as though he had said that religion has no relation to life; that religion must be judged from one plane, and actions from another; that the spiritual and the natural had only a most vague connection with each other. If Swedenborg's science is true it must be shown to be true from the Writings; and if false, its errors must be demonstrated from the same unfailing source. Truth is the same whether it be seen on the theological plane or on the plane of science; it is still Divine Truth "like unto itself in greatest and least." But the fact is that Swedenborg's so-called science is essentially not science. For it deals not with facts, but with the principles which underlie and actuate facts. And if those principles are one with Revelation, then they become the means, the vessels, the mirrors, by which and in which the operation and the wisdom of God become manifested.

     The reviewer regrets that Swedenborg's cosmology was not given alone "as a purely scientific production,"' that is to say, he wishes that Miss Beekman's work had omitted that vital quality which makes its excellence,--that correlation and unification which no one in the Church has hitherto been able to supply. Had the work thus stultified itself, had it confined itself to the scientific works, the reviewer adds, Swedenborg's theories would have been "more likely to have commended themselves to astronomical scientists as being divested of the necessarily dogmatic element of his theological works."

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Perhaps so, though even this is doubtful, for, different from "astronomical scientists," Swedenborg was ever dogmatic in his belief in God. But the work was not written for astronomical scientists.

     Turning the correlations themselves, we find that, almost at the beginning of his article, the reviewer totally misunderstands the teaching of the book. He objects to the identification of the Point with the Only-begotten. But in sustaining this objection he confounds the Point with the Finite. He quotes from The Infinite: "By the only-begotten Son, who is infitnite, the first finites are connected with the last, and both with God;" and comments: "which plainly means that the first and last finites are connected with God, but they are not God in the true theological sense of the only-begotten." No! we might add, nor in any other sense. Nor does the Cosmology maintain that they are. The Point is not the First Finite,--the one is infinite, the other finite.

     An equal, though less obvious, misunderstanding enters into his criticism respecting the relations between the Spiritual and the natural sun; for it is not maintained that the former is a limited spatial center of the latter. But it would be too lengthy to enter into this subject in the present article.

     The reviewer must be commended for his generous appreciation of the "painstaking research" and "self-denying devotion" of the authoress; and, above all, for his hearty commendation of the work to the attention of the New Church public. For after all, the book must be judged from a reading of it and not from a review.

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LITERARY PHENOMENON 1908

LITERARY PHENOMENON              1908

     The name of August Strindberg may not be very familiar to the American public, but in Sweden he is known as the foremost living man of letters,--a poet, dramatist and author, combining the genius and many of the characteristics of Emile Zola and Bernhard Shaw.

     For many years he has been the standard-bearer of the school of decadent realism in Swedish literature, and his genius, brilliant, passionate, skeptical and libidinous, has hall on the whole an unfortunate influence on good morals and conservative principles. We have known for some years that this "enfant terrible" has been in a repentant mood, but we were scarcely prepared for the news which Mr. Manby publishes in the December issue of Nya Kyrkans Tidning:--that Strindberg has become a convert to Christianity as interpreted by Emanuel Swedenborg.

     His most recent work, entitled En Bla Bok, (h Blue Book), is dedicated to Swedenborg, in the following words:

     "To Emanuel Swedenborg, the teacher and leader, this book is dedicated by the disciple. A wreath on his grave upon the arrival home after century-long rest in foreign soil. Resurget!"

     This, of course, refers to the proposed removal of Swedenborg's bones from London to Stockholm. The book itself, according to Mr. Manby, is teeming with favorable and devout references to Swedenborg and his doctrines, and is a powerful onslaught upon atheism, materialism, and naturalistic science, by one who certainly can speak from personal experience. A few quotations may be of interest.

     Speaking of the "perverse science," he says: "Swedenborg never found any contradiction between science and religion, for he perceived the harmony of the whole, the correspondence of the inferior with the superior, the unity in the contrasts, and like Pythagoras he beheld the lawgiver in the laws, the author in the work, God in nature, history, and human life. But the modern decadent science, though possessing microscope and telescope, beholds nothing but bubbles and particles, spots and streaks, and when it ventures to draw conclusions, they are ever stupid or false."

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     In a chapter on "The kennel-club" he observes: "When anthropology became zoology, the zoologists began to treat animals as human beings. Dog-societies were formed to ennoble the canine race by the introduction of monogamy and conjugal fidelity in the dog-world. But at the same time they preached obligatory infidelity in the human marriage. Men celebrated dog-weddings and the dogs solemnized monogamy; the dogs must have clean family-trees, but human beings need no such things. Thus the beasts were to be humanized while men were bestialized. This was 'evolution' and the triumph of veterinary science." . . . "The disciple asked: Is this true? Then it is hell! Why, of course it is, said the teacher."

     "Newton, Leibnitz, Kepler, Swedenborg, Linnaeus,--these the greatest ones,-were pious, God-fearing men. Newton himself once wrote an explanation of the Apocalypse, and Kepler was a mystic in the truest sense of the term. His mysticism led him to discover the laws of motion of the planets. Humble and pure-hearted they were permitted to behold God, while our modern decadents were permitted only to behold an ape surrounded with a court of microscopic vermin. That our science has developed into disharmony with God, is because it is perverse and inspired by the lord of the dunghill." (Beelzebub).

     And in this style the author keeps slashing his way through the cobwebs of modern science, philosophy and dogma, an iconoclast sparing his former self least of all. His confessions and tardy repentance certainly seem sincere, and his acknowledgment of the axiomatic existence of God, and of Christ as "God with us," is couched in the language of genuine conviction. He has a great deal to say about Swedenborg's science of correspondences, and describes modern biblical criticism as "utterly worthless to a religious life, without application, and springing not from the love of truth, but from wickedness, malicious glee, and hatred of Christ." He quotes Swedenborg on the grief of the angels on account of the spiritual darkness in the world, and depicts the present state of the Christian world in most somber colors.

     Mr. Manby grieves that he cannot quote all the remarkable things in this remarkable book, for to do so would be to quote the book as a whole.

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And we grieve that we cannot find space to render all of Mr. Manby's quotations. One more, however, we must adduce:

     "Swedenborg says that the free will is never abrogated, and it is on this account that the damned choose their own hell. For when they come into a purer atmosphere they are tortured, and when they come into association with the good they are ill at ease, and then cast themselves headlong down into the regions of the lord of the dunghill, where they find an element in which they can breathe. Therefore, if you would shun evil society, you need not close the door. Only adopt decent habits, and your boon companions will shun you as the pest."

     It is not to be inferred from all this that Strindberg is as yet a Newchurchman, for he has still much to learn. But the appearance of such a book by such an author is certainly the most remarkable phenomenon in modern literature that we have ever observed. What the effect may be, we cannot tell, but it will surely create a sensation, not only in Sweden, but all over the Continent, for all of Strindberg's works are translated into German and French.

     By a curious coincidence, after we had written the above, we noticed in the Messenger for January 8, two references to Strindberg,--one by Mr. Sewall, who refers to him as "the Bernhard Shaw of Sweden, whose one-time appreciation of Swedenborg has been of doubtful value in rousing a true interest in him, although, strangely enough, he is classed abroad with those whole Swedenborg has influenced." This, probably, was penned before Mr. Sewall had heard of the "Blue Book." The other reference is a brief account of the book itself, signed by Olof C. Nordenskiold.
VOICE FROM MAURITUS 1908

VOICE FROM MAURITUS       E. E. IUNGERICH       1908

     LE CREDO NOVI JERUSALEMITE, by Rev. G. J. Fercken, Mauritius, 1907. Twenty-four chapters, 294 pages. Paper, pocket edition, large print, wide margins.

     This is not primarily a treatise on theology, says the author, but a condensed and concise presentation of the general doctrines of the New Church.

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Its object is to adapt these to the comprehension of the general public.

     The work is an admirable arraignment of the heresies of the Old Church, specific and to the point, showing a mastery of comparative theology, church history, and great familiarity with the collateral literature of the New Church. An Oldchurchman who reads the book can scarcely fail to become conscious of the defects of the old theology.

     But will he find anything in the book to encourage him to leave the Old Church and cast in his lot with the New? We think it more likely he will find in Dr. Fercken's promise of the permeation of the new doctrines and the consequent and inevitable renovation of the Old Church by them--so much to cause him to look with charity and patience upon the Old Church that he will be encouraged to remain in patient expectation in its midst.

     "Already," says the writer, quoting from Blanchet's L'Humanite et la Redemption, "already many propositions of the new doctrine, which at first seemed strange, have nevertheless succeeded in winning their place in the world. It is not known whence or how they have come, but yet they are accepted. It will be the same with the rest. Some day predestination will be rejected on one side, love of dominion on another; some day it will be the turn of faith alone and the entire irrational system of Redemption. Later on the sole and absolute Divinity of the Lord will be acknowledged. IT IS THEN THAT THE LORD WILL ACCOMPLISH HIS PROMISED SECOND ADVENT. . . . Then, and at the same stroke, all Christians will be brothers, whatever their denominations.... What happiness to love and honor the Christians of other religions as brothers!" Pp. 262-6.

     Therefore, according to Blanchet and Dr. Fercken, the Old Church is gradually being made new without knowing it. But what is yet more surprising is to find that the Second Coming is still a future event. This will undoubtedly be news to many people in the New Church who still hold the old fashioned belief that the Second Coming, which is to be not in person but in the Word, took place in the Writings of one Emanuel Swedenborg, whose Writings are therefore the Word in which the Lord has made His Second Coming.

     But let us examine Dr. Fercken's ideas concerning the New Church and the Writings of Swedenborg.

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"The distinctive character of the New Christian Church," he says, "is its appeal to human reason. . . . Swedenborg makes no claim to impose his doctrines in an authoritative manner," pp. 120, 121. This undoubtedly explains why Doctor Fercken conscientiously refrains from supporting his ideas on these subjects with quotations from the Writings, but contents himself with making unqualified assertions. As it would not be logical to suppose a desire to substitute his own authority for that of the Writings, we must assume he considers these ideas so self-evident that the mere statement of them is sufficient to establish their truth.

     "Swedenborg," he asserts, "had no ambition to be the founder of a new sect. He often considered that the Lord's choice had fallen on him to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word. He never applies its predictions to his own person. He always entitles himself servant of the Lord Jesus Christ." P. 119. We would suggest a reading of the Invitation to the New Church, the chapter on the Consummation of the Age in the True Christian Religion, and the article "Swedenborg" in Potts' Concordance, to anyone who wishes to examine into the merits of the above unqualified assertion.

     "The New Revelation is to Christianity what Christianity was to the Mosaic Revelation. The religion of Christ came not to destroy the ancient law but to fulfil it. So the revelation of which Swedenborg was the instrument consists solely of a body of doctrines which are the best commentary of the sacred books, and will cause all their obscurities and contradictions to disappear. Swedenborg does not place his works on the same level with the sacred books, as is erroneously asserted." P. 111. Does not the writer see that if all these propositions be true, then there is no escaping the logical conclusion that the books of the New Testament must in like manner be not sacred books, but solely commentaries to show how all things in the Old Testament are to be understood in order that we may know how the Lord fulfilled them? Evidently not, for this logical deduction is at once hidden by the following sentence: "According to him, (Swedenborg), the canon of the sacred books ends with the four Gospels and the Apocalypse. The revelation of which he is the instrument is to disclose the internal sense contained in the literal sense of the Divine Word.

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The Second Coming of the Lord consists in the giving of the internal sense of the sacred books."

     In order that there may be no doubt as to the relative inferiority of Swedenborg's Writings, these assertions are reiterated in several other places: "Swedenborg does not place his Writings on a level with the Sacred Scripture. . . . Reducing, therefore, the mission of Swedenborg to that of a simple messenger commissioned to transmit to us new truths, the errors he may have committed no more detract from the inspired character of his teaching than an error in a geometrical treatise would destroy the truth of its propositions." P. 120. "If the Word has an internal sense, we need a key to open it, that is, a system of interpretation based on a uniform principle leaving no more scope to the imagination than a problem in mathematics." P. 88. "The internal or spiritual sense of the Word of God was revealed by the Lord to His servant Emanuel Swedenborg, who expounded it in his commentaries, (numbering about thirty volumes), on Genesis, Exodus, and the Apocalypse." P. 85.

     Dr. Fercken admits the Writings to be from the Lord, to be a Divine Revelation, and in other places he states they are Divine Truth. Yet, he says, they are not the Word, but inferior to the Word. We would like to know where, except from these self-same Writings, he was enabled to get the knowledge of all the glorious things these Writings are able to effect? Does not all our authority for what we say or believe rest on them as basis? Can he cite one passage from the Writings where it is stated that what immediately proceeds from the Lord is not the Word? Is there any Divine Truth, which is not the Word? Is there any Divine Revelation which is not the Word? In the Apocalypse Explained, n. 963, we read, "There is no religion without revelation, and revelation is with us the Word."

     But the writer considers the Writings an imperfect and only partial revelation. The full revelation is yet to come. The Second Coming of the Lord is still future. Thus we read: "We believe that a special illustration from the Divine Good--placed Swedenborg in a position to give us the internal and spiritual sense of the Word and a higher conception of Religion. Several centuries hence, when man will have become celestial, perhaps there will arise a man greater than Swedenborg to give humanity the third sense, the inmost or celestial sense, hidden in the spiritual sense!"

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     Perhaps the time when such a claim will be made is less remote than the writer realizes. Having reduced the Writings to a valuation dependent on what they say concerning the science of correspondence,--the next step will be to desert them for a "dictionary of correspondences," and to make the life and development of the church dependent on the application of that dictionary to the letter of the Word. Now as the letter of the Word has not lost its ancient property of leading men astray who do not approach it with a proper perception of the Doctrine of genuine Truth, it will not be a far cry before such dictionary adepts fall into many strange delusions. Curious, too; their eagerness to ferret out this internal sense which, when at last found, turns out to be nothing else than--the plain rational doctrines we read everywhere in the Writings; doctrines the writer considers so inferior to the self-same doctrines when clothed in the obscure and venerable language of the letter! Is it because the letter is obscure and appeals to the sense of awe and wonder at the mysterious, that it is preferred to the Writings? Is the truth clothed in somewhat incomprehensible garments to be preferred to the same truth standing forth in clear light! Is the Bible to be called the Word and the Writings to be denied this appellation, although both are immediately given by the Lord' Then the sole conclusion is that it is the letter of Word or its very most external, which must give to the Bible the Divinity which is denied the Writings. To what absurdity will we come next!

     As a result of abandoning the Writings, which cease to be prized in proportion as their authority and Divinity are denied, we may hear more claims of celestial perceptions and revelations from interior illumination, heresies that have in former times infested the New Church; in order to buttress with individual celestial "truths" contrary to the teachings of the Writings. Perhaps among them there will arise a man who will claim he is superior to Swedenborg.
     E. E. IUNGERICH.

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CHURCHES WITHIN THE CHURCH 1908

CHURCHES WITHIN THE CHURCH       L. G. LANDENBERGER       1908

Editor New Church Life.

     Dear Brother in the New Church:--After reading your article in the November Life on "Our Relation to 'other' Churches," it seems to me it would be useful to offer an explanation of the views of your brethren, which you sought to present in that article, for I do not think you have correctly stated them.

     I do not even wish to appear controversial in this article, but simply to point out why it is that you do not seem to understand the position your brethren take in regard to the New Church. And the main difficulty, it appears to me, is that you fail to recognize that while we believe in the distinctiveness of the New Church, we hold that the real New Church is organized by the Lord into the human form and, consequently, when we speak of the relation of other churches to the New Church, or vice versa, we have in mind the functions which the various organizations in the world perform. In this sense the church is one in its broadest sense, as heaven is one. But within the one church there are many churches, viz., many functions, the exact use performed by each being, of course, known to the Lord alone.

     Now, take the first paragraph of your article. You represent the Messenger as teaching that at the end of a dispensation the "thoroughly corrupt," "perverted church"--"the dead heart and lungs"--becomes "the healthy body-general of the new heart and lungs."

     The teaching set forth in the Messenger, as I understand it, is, not that the "perverted church" becomes a part of the general body, or human form into which the Lord organizes the Church, but those in the denominations in Christendom, who are in the good of life.

     You do not distinguish, therefore, as it seems to me, between the "church," which is in a dead and damned state, and those in the churches who are not in such a state, of which mention is made many times in the Writings.

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See the two kinds of Reformed Christians mentioned in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith, 42 and 43.

     It follows, therefore, that the "principle" which you have deduced from your conception of the Messenger editorial, and which you apply in your second paragraph to the former dispensations, falls to the ground. For from the Messenger point of view, the "general body" of a new dispensation is not formed from those in evils of life, but of those who had some good of life and could be kept in connection with the church specific, represented by those who became "hewers of wood and drawers of water" and others that became subjects and paid tribute to Israel.

     On page 752, first paragraph, you take unkindly to the suggestion that the New Church should have respect for the religion of the Methodist, Episcopalian, Catholic, or Unitarian, and the further suggestion that one should encourage them to look to the Lord. Do not the angels have respect for every man's belief? Do they not encourage those who come into the other life to look to the Lord? Even though a Unitarian denies the Lord, as you think, should it not be our mission to lead him to look to the Lord?

     But it seems to me that your readers would have had a much better idea of what the Messenger meant, if you had reprinted the editorial as a whole. Let me quote the closing words of the editorial which suggest "the wisest way to help a Methodist, Episcopalian, Catholic, or Unitarian who will not accept the pure truth:" It is "to encourage them to look to the Lord and live up to the highest good of their religion; and this, if they will do it, is the best preparation for them to receive, if not here, yet in the world to come, the truths of heaven. To have no respect for their religion and utterly to condemn them argues the absence of genuine religion in ourselves, retards the growth of the kingdom of the Lord for which we are working, and is as if the heart and lungs, because of superior organization, should shut themselves off from the body in which they are. The time is come for us as a church to ultimate the truth that there is but one fold and one Shepherd."

     At the bottom of page 752 you express surprise, because the editorial made use of the term "we" in speaking of the New Church.

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Your characterization of this as "wegotism" would, no doubt, be correct, if the language of the editorial meant what you understood it to mean. But the term "New Church," as used in the editorial, must be interpreted in the light of the teaching that those are meant who receive the spiritual sense of the Word into their understandings and hearts. This does not confine the heart and lungs to the "organizations of the New Church," as you seem to think, nor is it claiming to know who constitute the New Church. It is simply stating a doctrine, viz., that the Lord's specific church is where the Word is and where it is understood and loved.

     In closing, let me answer from the Writings a question that you raise. "Not having even the letter of the Word, how can the gentiles of the church universal be said to be of the universal New Church?" you ask. This question is answered in Arcana Coelestia, 7975, which you refer to but do not quote. The subject treated in this number is about "the much mixed crowd" that journeyed with the Israelites. After stating that they signify "the goods and truths not genuine," the Writings say: "In like manner by that crowd are signified, they who are of the church but not within it, as is the case with the Gentiles who live in obedience and charity amongst themselves, neither have they genuine truths, because they have not the Word; these likewise, and also the truths themselves not genuine, are signified by the much crowd in the Revelation VII, 4, 9."

     Of this "crowd," or "multitude." we are taught in the Apocalypse Revealed, 363, that it "signifies all the rest who are not enumerated of those above ("the sealed," or "higher heavens and internal church") and yet are in the Lord's New Heaven and New Church."

     It seems to me these two quotations teach very plainly and emphatically that there is such an organization as a Universal New Church. As the crowd that journeyed with the Israelites signified those "who are of the church, but not within it?" so the "multitude which no man could number," are of the New Church even though they have not received its specific doctrines--they are of the New Church, as to their hearts, if not as to their heads.

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     It seems to me that much misunderstanding would be avoided, if it were borne in mind that the Writings speak of the church from two points of view; one is from the point of view of doctrine, the other from the point of view of life. Doctrinal differences make the church many, and as such, are distinguished by men, but before the Lord the church is one and organized by Him into the human form. It is the church, as constituted of those who are in the good of life of which we can rightly claim that there are churches within the Church, and those who understand the Word and live according to it are the heart and lungs, not of a corrupt body, but of the good in all churches and outside of all churches.

     That there are churches within the Church is taught in Heaven and Hell, 57; "There are many churches, yet each is called a church in proportion as the good of love and faith reigns there; therein the Lord makes one thing out of many, thus one church out of many. . . All churches make one Church before the Lord from good."

     And that we ought to consider people who are leading Christian lives as brethren is evident from the ancient custom, when men were in charity: "In the ancient churches they acknowledged all as men of the Church who had lived in the good of charity and called themselves brethren, however they might differ in the truths of faith." (A. C. No. 6628.)

     "The angels consider man as a brother." (A. C. No. 2890.)
     Yours fraternally,
          L. G. LANDENBERGER.
               3741 Windsor Place, St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 10, 1907
CHURCH AND STATE 1908

CHURCH AND STATE       FREDERICK W. ELPHICK       1908

EDITORS "New Church Life":--

     For some time I have been interested in the subject of Church and State, and in consideration of the questions which associate themselves with that topic, I feel constrained to write you a few lines.

     With the information the Writings give concerning the spiritual, the moral and civil plane, it is now possible for all civil duties to be entered into with a spiritual motive.

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Newchurchmen, then,--those "trying to believe in and trying to live according to the Doctrines of the New Church,"--will assuredly endeavor to carry out in their lives a right spirit in the duties which are incumbent upon them as citizens. To so act is the means by which the true conjunction of Church and State is developed in the individual. It is, however, the consideration of what may be termed the extended duties of citizenship, which admits of a wider range of view, and to which I wish to call special attention.

     By "extended" duties I mean those which are considered useful in promoting the good of one's country, as differentiated from those which every man is bound to fulfill by reason of his being a member of the State community. Under this heading I include the study of economics, the reading of books which relate to industrial and social problems, and conversation with those interested in such matters. No one is forced to take such duties in hand, but it can hardly be denied that interest in them leads to a fuller conception of love of country.

     Turning to the Writings for guidance there is an abundance of teaching bearing upon this subject. In A. C. 6821 it is said that the country is our neighbor and that it is to be "benefitted from love according to its necessities." Also in C. L. 163: that jurisprudence, politics, ethics and history, among other sciences, are doors through which entrance is made into rational things. Again in D. P. 317: "In the civil and economical affairs of a kingdom and a republic, what is useful and good cannot be seen without a knowledge of many statutes and ordinances there. But in things purely rational, moral and spiritual truths appear from their very light."

     With these and similar other passages it may be concluded that interest should be taken in all matters relative to the good of the country; and that the "extended" duties of citizenship may be entered into by a Newchurchman.

     Remembering, however, the decisive teaching the Doctrines give concerning the state of the Christian world, coupled with the whole structure of reasons for New Church distinctness, a verdict may readily be given that these "extended" duties ate not duties for the New Church citizen to feel responsible for.

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Much better that he attend to the up-building of the New Church, and leave the world, and worldly institutions, to follow their own way.

     It is the consideration of these two apparently conflicting attitudes, which has induced me to write this letter.

     It appears to me that there must be an attitude, based upon the authority of the Writings, which includes unswerving loyalty to New Church principles, and also a full conception of all the duties of citizenship. Certainly due consideration must be given to the truths relating to the vastated state of the Christian world and the reasons for New Church distinctiveness. By all means is the up-building of the Church to be attended to. Care must also be taken that the influences of the scientific world do not diminish loyalty to its principles. But the fact that the "Egypt" of today is so occupied in the worship of self and the world, does not signify that holders of New Church truth should refrain from entering the land of scientifics. Exclusive consideration of the vastation of the Old Church will tend not only to limit power hi ultimates, but even to limit the accommodation of the teaching that the Divine Providence acts through and by means of men. Loyalty to the Church, loyalty to our Alma Mater, does not necessarily mean the exclusion of interest and action in questions which pertain to the good of the country. Though civil and social reforms possess leaders and followers who may have selfish ends, it is not on this account for the Newchurch citizen to withhold his interest or support of a policy which may bring about a better state in externals--a policy which may tend to promote the general good of the community. Justice for the sake of justice,--this is the standard.

     I was very much taker with the discussion which took place at Pittsburgh in June, 1905, which dealt with the question:--"Is the progress of the New Church keeping pace in inverse ratio with the devastation of the Christian World?

     In innumerating some of the disquieting signs of modern times, Mr. Synnestvedt said: "External appearances deceive the world, and would deceive us, if it were not for Revelation.

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High ideals are in danger of breaking down, because of the prevalence of selfishness. This is evident in the business world, especially in the actions of trusts and combines. Nevertheless there is a remnant who are in good. The Lord does not permit a civilization to rush to destruction without seeking to check it. He holds it back constantly from destruction; and therefore we see repeated revivals, bringing about a better state in externals When selfish men in the other world combine and become too powerful in influence, they are caused to fall apart, and thus their power is broken. The same takes place in this world. And the Lord, in effecting this makes use of men having a strong sense of honesty and justice, who are willing to follow their conscience even though they themselves suffer. The New Church should provide such men. It is by them that the Church will do its part in preserving the civilization of the race." (N. C. Life, Vol. xxv, p. 544)

     These words speak for themselves. There is a responsibility upon all Newchurch citizens; a responsibility which cannot be fully understood unless there be full interest in those matters which concern the good of the community.

     Following these trains of thought it is with great pleasure that I have read in the news columns of New Church Life the reports of the Bryn Athyn Civic and Social Club. But at present I cannot claim any definite idea of its principles or aims, hence I would gladly appreciate more detailed information concerning this institution. From its title I presume that attention is given to civil matters, and trusting it is not too great a favor, I venture to ask two questions. First: With full consideration of the principles of New Church distinctiveness, are the "extended" duties of citizenship considered necessary for the fuller development of love of country? and second: What is the attitude held toward the civil and economic reforms prevalent in the world today?
     Yours sincerely,
          FREDERICK W. ELPHICK.
               Carshalton, England, December, 1907.

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Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. Christmas this year was celebrated as usual by a Festival on Christmas Eve, in which all the schools took part, reciting the verses and singing the songs appropriate to each scene as it was projected upon the screen by a stereopticon. The usual representation of the Wise Men, the Shepherds, the Angels and the Stable was arranged around and in front of the screen. It was an imposing sight when all the pupils, beginning with the kindergarten, marched in singing, "From the Eastern Mountains," and carrying lighted tapers. The service in the chapel, which for several years has preceded the exercises downstairs, was omitted this year.

     On Christmas morning the Sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered.

     On Friday, evening, December twenty-seventh, a delightful dance was given for the young folks at Cairnwood.

     New Year's evening was observed in much the usual manner. There was dancing until after eleven and then all returned to the chapel, where simple and impressive services were conducted by Rev. Chas. E. Doering. This was followed by refreshments and mutual felicitations.

     The Friday Suppers were resumed on January tenth.

     The quarterly meeting of the Society, followed by an inspiring account of the Ontario Assembly, given by Mr. Acton, took the place of the usual Doctrinal Class.

     Mr. Harvey Lechner, of Pittsburgh, spent his holidays with us. Mr. S. G. Nelson, of Glenview, on his way to England, stopped here long enough to be charged with New Year's greeting to the English brethren.

     But apart from the particular doings of the month, the thing which is most in our minds just now is the new place of worship for which we have been longing, and which has now been made possible through the munificent gift of $30,000.00 from our chief patron.

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Every one is on the qui vive as to where it should be located--what uses it should undertake to house, how large it should be, etc., etc. There is pretty substantial agreement, however, that it should be dedicated, if possible, to worship only, and that it should have a reserve capacity sufficient to accommodate assemblies--500 at least.

     The Academy's active workers (of the masculine persuasion) were again gathered on January fourteenth around the festive Cairnwood oval, to celebrate Founders' Day. The theme of the various speeches was the benefits expected from the new developments in Swedenborg's Philosophy, and our need of some adequate indexes, or, if possible, a Concordance of all the works of Swedenborg not included in the Potts' Concordance.     O. S.

     PITTSBURGH, PA. Since my last letter, our pastor has by request of the ladies of the society taken up the subject of Swedenborg's Philosophy, and is at present reading Miss Beekman's lectures to them. The "Theta Alphas" have been meeting fortnightly, and improve each shining hour they spend together by reading Dickens, I believe.

     Many of our congregations attended Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay's silver wedding anniversary reception at Hotel Schenley on the evening of November 22d. It was grand affair and much enjoyed by all those who had the good fortune to be present. Among the many beautiful presents received by our popular host and hostess was a silver loving cup from a number of their New Church friends.

     Under the direction of Mr. Walter Faulkner an operetta composed by him was given at Mr. Jacob Schoenberger's residence early in December. Nearly all the young people of the society took part in this very clever performance. Incidentally it brought in liberal returns to the mortgage fund.

     On Christmas morning a service intended especially for the children was held at the church. The assembly room was attractively decorated with laurel and an abundance of scarlet poinsettia. The services were similar to those of last year, including the reading from the letter of the Word, songs by the children, and gifts to each child at the chancel.

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     The Holy Supper was administered to the congregation on the Sunday following Christmas.

     On the evening of December 30th a dance for the society was held at the Bellefield Club. Among our guests was Miss Venita Pendleton, a ci-devant Pittsburger, who spent the holidays hereabouts. There were a goodly number present, and, I say, we had a "jolly fine" time.

     The several classes conducted by Mr. Pendleton, which were suspended during the holidays, have been resumed. The "Spiritual Sun" is the new subject for consideration at the Sunday evening doctrinal classes.     K. W.

     CHICAGO, ILL. On Thanksgiving eve a social was held in the club room of Sharon church. Dancing was the main amusement, but this graceful exercise was varied by entertainment of a more intellectual kind. Mr. C. F. Browne gave an interesting little talk on the exhibit of American water-colors at the Art Institute; and a recent fire at Glenview gave Mr. Alec. Lindsay an opportunity to put forth a clever little poem on that subject.

The Christmas services and festival were held on Christmas eve. The services and music were impressive and appropriate. After the gifts to the church were received we all adjourned to the club room where a beautiful tree with its "strange sweet fruits" delighted the children.

     Illness prevented a number of the little ones from attending. E. V. W.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. The crowning feature of our church life during the last month was our Christmas celebration. No one ever misses this occasion, who can possibly help it, and young and old alike, find it, perhaps, the most treasured of all our gatherings. The place of worship is decorated with greens and lighted by the soft glow of candles. There is something quite affecting in hearing the story, old, but ever new, from the lips of the children, as given in the Word. There were several new songs this time and the children repeated verses from the Word, as they came forward in groups with their offerings.

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The representations were set up on each side of the chancel, and not in a separate room as formerly, and proved the most tasteful and beautiful of any we have yet had.

     It is the custom here to assemble on New Year's eve to see the old year out and to welcome the new. This year the guests were seated in groups around small tables. There were recitations and musical selections, followed by refreshments and speeches. Mr. Seymour Nelson, who has left us for a visit to Europe, was entrusted with a message of good will to our friends in England. Mr. W. H. Junge made an address on "New Year Resolutions," which, beginning in a humorous strain, ended in earnest words of encouragement for the work of the Immanuel church. Dr. King spoke to the toast "The Old Year, dwelling in particular on events taking place in the world at large. The pastor spoke of those things in the life of the church during the past year, for which we had reason to be thankful. He then read the last chapter of the Apocalypse and at the stroke of twelve all united in repeating the Lord's Prayer. Then followed greetings for the New Year, and after that, dancing.

     In connection with the social life we must not forget to mention a "Hard Times Party," which took place early in December--to celebrate the recent financial stringency,--only the merriment of the occasion quite belied the title of the gathering.

     Sermons during the past month have been on the subject of the Church in Sardis. In the Doctrinal Class the reading of De Verbo has nearly been finished. Just before Christmas the Cosmology Class finished the reading of Miss Beekman's book. The last lessons were especially interesting, as illustrated by Dr. King, who brought forth numerous illustrations from the field of chemistry and modern science in general.

     An interesting development in the life of our young children has been a class which meets twice a week under the direction of Miss Vida Gyllenhaal--the beginning of a kindergarten. There are more than a dozen children, and, from what we hear and see, they are very happy in their work and have already delighted their fond parents with interesting specimens of their workmanship.

     On the list of our recent visitors are Miss Hilda Hagar, of Denver; Miss Korene Pendleton, of Bryn Athyn, and Mr. Wallace Faulkner, of Pittsburgh. K.

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     TORONTO, CANADA. The third District Assembly in Toronto is now a thing of the past and we are once more settling down to our regular routine, invigorated and filled with new thoughts and ideals for the coming year.

     In a sense this was more like a general Assembly than a local one, owing to the number of visitors who came from centers outside of Ontario; for not only Bryn Athyn, but also Pittsburgh and Chicago were represented, and the sphere was certainly proportionately stronger.

     All united in preparing for the welcome of our guests on New Year's eve. The ladies had prepared a bountiful banquet to which some 125 persons sat down, while, in their replies to the toasts, our speakers gave us rich food for thought. Afterwards dancing was enjoyed, varied by a musical program of two choruses, two orchestral numbers and a comic quartette, all under the direction of Dr. Richardson.

     Shortly before 12 o'clock our pastor conducted a brief but impressive midnight service, during which we heard the bells "ring out the old, ring in the New" year.

     Our Christmas decorations, arranged by the Messrs. Frank Longstaff, Theodore Rothaermel and Lewis Rothaermel, called forth many admiring comments.

     A pleasant feature of the evening was a Gorand March to the stirring strains of "Academia, queenly, peerless," Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brown leading, Mr. Brown carrying a new, silk "Church flag" made by five of the younger girls of the Society for the occasion. We commenced with "Academia" but we finished with "Our Own Academy."

     Although the school room had been opened into the Church room by the wall between being cut and changed into swinging-doors, our capacity was taxed to the utmost.

     Such a gathering is indeed encouraging when we consider what our Society was when Mr. Hyatt took charge nearly eighteen years ago, and the earnest work of our present pastor, Mr. Cronlund, is reflected in the active spirit in our Society today.

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     Of the meetings which followed on the 1st and 2d of January too much cannot be said. From the address of our beloved Bishop to the last of the series of papers, we received new life and enthusiasm in our faith in the Heavenly Doctrines and incentives to try to live them.

     The presence of so many of our ministers from Bryn Athyn brought us into touch with all the vital topics of study which our people are enjoying in our Church center, while the papers opened up new trains of thought along doctrinal and educational lines.

     From all accounts the men had a very interesting meeting; the ladies, too, enjoyed a pleasant evening at the home of Mrs. Somerville, in spite of the late hours of the night before and two Assembly Sessions during the day. The evening had a charming ending when Mrs. Caldwell sang several of the favorite sons of those present. By that time many of the gentlemen were able to conduct their fair partners to their homes.

     As our pastor said, "Assemblies in the New Church are in the nature of revivals." Such may this one prove to each and all of us! B. S.

     THE MISSIONARY FIELD. A summary report,-My last missionary tour occupied the time from August 27th till September 24th. My itinerary extended through several counties in Ontario, and to parts of eight of the States. New Church people were visited in fifty-eight cities, towns, and country places. The number of calls and visits with families and individuals, was ninety-four. Including the children who have been baptized, two hundred and thirty-six New Church persons were seen. On this tour three adults and six children were baptized. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered six times, the whole number of communicants being eighty-one. At the services held, the largest attendance was forty-eight, and thirty-three communicants. This was in Erie, Pa., at the home of Dr. Edward Cranch and family, November 24rth; and on that occasion there were also five persons baptized. In several places, however, sermons were read with as few as only two or three hearers present. The aggregate distance traveled on this trip of four months, was 3,245 miles.

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     To mention only one of several interesting incidents: On my last evening in Erie, November 26th, I was at the home of a gentleman and his wife, whom, on request of a friend of theirs, a New Churchman, I had also visited last May. The conversation we had at the time of our former visit, on matters of religion, had caused, I found, a mutual desire to meet again. The young man is the son of an Old Church minister. But, like many others, on coming to manhood, he became skeptical, and, as his natural rationality was formed, he rejected the false dogmas of the old church. He was married to a niece of a member of the New Church in Erie. Then he began to find out that there is a new religion in the world. Whether or not he will receive its principles, will be known later. At our visit, as said above, in November last, we hall a long and an earnest talk on the Doctrines of the New Church, and a few days after that I received a letter from him, the tone of which is affirmative and encouraging. Enclosed was a check for ten dollars, a voluntary contribution for the support of New Church work. J. E. BOWERS.

     PARIS, FRANCE. After quite a long interval of inactivity the temple at Rue Thouin will again be used for worship. At a meeting held on December 15th, an offering of thirty francs a month was guaranteed to enable M. Hussenet to conduct services twice a month. The difficulty with this congregation has been its cosmopolitan and transient character, most of the members being foreigners temporarily residing in Paris Comparatively little progress has been made in interesting the Parisians themselves.

     Among those present at this meeting at the home of Mme. Humann were three ladies, members of the General Church, who are at present travelling in Europe and contemplate visiting the various groups of New Church people on the Continent, with the hope of awakening interest in the Writings of Swedenborg as the Word of the Lord. Two young artists now studying painting in Paris were present. One is a young lady from Chicago, a member of the Convention. The other is a young Englishman, member of a Conference Society. Another is a young Swede, member of prominent New Church family in Sweden, who is in Paris with the view of publishing two novels he has written.

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Another gentleman is from a colony of New Church people in India. He is the author of a book on Buddha.

     M. Hussenet and his wife have many warm friends at Bryn Athyn. They have a growing family whom they are carefully educating, realizing fully the danger of Old Church association, and influences. Both received the New Church at the same time, a copy of Heaven and Hell, lent by a friend, completely answering the questions which the Catholic Church skirts around by enveloping in mystery. They were convinced at their first reading.     H.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. At the close of the last meeting of the General Convention in Philadelphia, a "few earnest souls," members of the "WOMEN'S COUNCIL," "agreed, for the love of the Church, to offer a prayer at high-noon each day for the 'peace of Jerusalem?'"

     Mr. George E. Morgan, who has been ministering to the TOLEDO, O., Society, was ordained last December into the ministry of the New Church, by the Rev. S. S. Seward.

     The Rev. Hiram Vrooman, who has been preaching to the Society at PROVIDENCE, R. I., for two or three months, has been elected as the regular pastor of the Society.

     The chapel of the SAN DIEGO, CAL., Society was dedicated on December 8th by the pastor, the Rev. I. S. David, assisted by the Rev. Joseph E. Collom, of Los Angeles, and the Rev. Berry Edmiston, of Riverside, the latter of whom delivered the Dedicatory Address. The audience numbered sixty-five persons, only half of whom, however, were members of the New Church. The chapel has a library and reading room open daily to visitors, who are invited to stay and read, or to borrow the library's books. It is reported that this library plan has resulted in several new readers who previously knew nothing of the doctrines. There is also a considerable increase in the attendance of the Sunday morning services since the opening of the new chapel on October 6th.

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     GREAT BRITAIN. The Rev. J. T. Freeth, late missionary minister stationed in London, has become the pastor of the Keighley Society.

     Last November the ministers and leaders of the SCOTTISH ASSOCIATION inaugurated a Meeting of the New Church Preachers, to be held every two months for the consideration of subjects connected with their calling.

     MAURITUS. An evidence, doubtless, of the activity of the Rev. Dr. Fercken is the building at CUREFIPE, a few miles from Port Louis, of a chapel for New Church worship. The new building was dedicated last October, in the presence of a large audience, including members of the Port Louis Society, and also a number of Old Church persons. Dr. Fercken preaches at both Port Louis and Curepipe.
Errata 1908

Errata              1908


     Announcements.



     In New Church Life for December, 1907, page 820, line 9 from bottom, for "presenting," read "prosecuting." Page 886, line 12, for "eight children," read "eight, four adults and four children."*
* These have been corrected in the 1907 text. However, the correction for "eight children" seems to be on page 836, not 886.

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Title Unspecified 1908

Title Unspecified              1908


NEW CHURCH LIFE.
MARCH, 1908.          Vol. 3.
DOCTRINE OF THE WORD AS TAUGHT IN THE ADVERSARIA 1908

DOCTRINE OF THE WORD AS TAUGHT IN THE ADVERSARIA       Rev. FREDERICK E. GYLLENHAAL       1908

     HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WORK.

     The title Adversaria, meaning "Common Place Book," was given, by Dr. Immanuel Tafel, to the volumes edited by him containing several various treatises written by Swedenborg during the years 1745-1747. The work was published by Dr. Tafel in Latin, and has never been translated and published in English. It is an explanation of the Historic Word, explaining the books of Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the books of Samuel, the books of the Kings, Chronicles, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and also the two prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.

     In order to get the setting of the work, especially its relation to the Scientific and Philosophical Works on the one hand, and the Theological Works on the other, it is necessary to review briefly the events of the years 1743-1737 in Swedenborg's life.

     In the years 1743, and again in 1744, the Lord manifested Himself to Swedenborg. In 1745 Swedenborg was in London looking after the publication of his works, the Worship and Love of God, and the third part of the Animal Kingdom. This was a memorable year. In the Adversaria he states, "from the middle of April, 1745. I have been in Heaven, while I was at the same time with my friends on earth." (I:1003.) During the same month occurred the vision in the inn, and soon afterwards the Lord again revealed Himself in person to Swedenborg, and "then said that He was the Lord God, the Creator of the world and the Redeemer, and that He had chosen me to explain to men the spiritual sense of the Scripture, and that He Himself would explain to me what I should write on this subject.

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That same night there were opened to me, so that I became thoroughly convinced of their reality, the world of spirits, heaven and hell, and I recognized there many acquaintances of every condition in life. From that day gave up the study of all worldly science, and labored in spiritual things, according as the Lord had commanded me to write. Afterwards the Lord opened daily my bodily eyes, so that in the middle of the day I could see into the other world, and in a state of perfect wakefulness converse with angels and spirits." (Robsahm's Memoirs) Soon afterwards, about the end of August, Swedenborg began the interior study of the Word, the results of which are noted in the Adversaria, and the closing of which is dated Feb. 9th, 1737 This same year, namely, 1747, he began his Spiritual Diary, and finished the Index Biblicus; and in January, 1748, he was in Amsterdam working on the Arcana Coelestia.

     It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss whether or not the Adversaria is to be placed along with the other Theological Works, as of Divine Authority. In what has preceded, the aim has been merely to make clear that the work was begun by Swedenborg after he had seen the Lord in person, had been admitted into the spiritual world, and had received the Divine commission. The consideration of the merits of the work as a: whole is left to others. The aim of this paper is to present, in part, the teachings contained in the Adversaria concerning the Sacred Scriptures or the Word, a subject commonly entitled The Doctrine of the Word. No comparison with the teachings of the Writings on this subject shall be made, presuming that a general knowledge of the doctrine, as taught in the Writings, prevails.

     There are five points which shall he considered in the following order: 1) that God is the Word; 2) the names of the Word; 3) the necessity for the Word; 4) the style of the Word; 5) the senses of the Word.

     THAT GOD IS THE WORD.

     Throughout the Adversaria it is over and over again stated that God Messiah is the Word. Messiah is most frequently used as the name of the Lord, although we find many other Divine names.

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     The idea is prevalent that Swedenborg, in the Adversaria, teaches three persons in the God-head, but if any one will carefully examine the work, collect all the references to God, and compare them, he will be forced to the conclusion that Swedenborg throughout, had no other idea than that of one God, and he will find many numbers in which it is distinctly stated that God is one. That the appearance of three persons can be found there is not to be denied, but it is merely an appearance, and is not a teaching of Swedenborg.

     The various Divine names are evidently used according to the subject and the series, and when these are properly understood, the significant use of the names will appear with great force. This is especially illustrated in the statement so oft recurring. "Messiah is the Word," for by Messiah is particularly meant the Divine Human. But let certain of the passages speak for themselves:

     Messiah, the Saviour of the world, because He is the Word, is the very fountain of living waters. (I:382.)

     Messiah Himself is the Divine Word which is the fountain of all cognitions of spiritual things. (I:903)

     The Word is God alone, who is the Word by which all things were created, and which was spoken with Moses, the Prophets, and David; hence the Word signifies truth, for every word spoken from the mouth of Messiah is eternal truth.

     The Word, God Messiah Himself, who is in Divine, supra celestial, and celestial things, thus in spiritual things; therefore nothing comes from His mouth which is not in those things, in which is Himself. (II:263)

     In these passages we have the unmistakable teaching that God or Messiah is the Word, and that by Messiah is particularly meant the Divine Human, agreeing altogether with the words in John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

     THE NAMES OF THE WORD.

     As there are so many names of the Lord, and as He is the Word, it is not surprising that Swedenborg should use many names for the Word.

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In the Adversaria the titles most frequently employed are: The Word of Messiah, and The Word of God Messiah. But besides these we also find: The Divine Word, The Letter of the Divine Word, The Word of God, The Divine Word of the Old Testament, The Word of Jehovah, The Word of Jehovah God, and simply The Word. We also find mention made of the Law, of the Testimony, and of the Old and New Testaments.

     The use of such titles as have been cited would seem to indicate that Swedenborg fully acknowledged at that time the Divinity and Authority of the Sacred Scriptures. As to whether or not he as yet knew which books contained a spiritual sense in a continuous series, such as distinguishes them from the others of the Christian Canon, and which books are called the New Church Canon, is questionable. The writer has found no statements to that effect, and the evidence seems to point rather the other way.*

     * This condition must be modified in view of a statement in the Adversaria, (Vol. III, n. 5398), which plainly indicates that Swedenborg more than suspected that the books of Chronicles were not a part of the Divine Word. The statement referred to is as follows: "That the book of Chronicles differs in many respects from the books of Samuel and Kings, and, indeed, so much and in such important matters that it may be rightly and deservedly doubted whether those books [i. e., Chronicles] are Divinely inspired, may be evident from Nathan's words to David and from David's answer, II Sam. vii, and Chron. xvil; and also clearly from verse 12 of this chapter, [xxi], where we read, "a famine for three years," while in II Sam. xxiv. 13 it is a seven years' famine. Other instances may be seen, as in the history of David that he was elected king by Israel direct, when yet he was elected only by Judah."--EDITOR'S NOTE.

     Word does contain interior meanings or senses. Of this more shall be said further along in this article.

     THE NECESSITY FOR THE WORD.

     The importance of the Word, what it is, why it was given, in other words, what uses it performs, is fully recognized and set forth in the Adversaria.

     In one number Swedenborg states positively that without the Divine Word there could be no knowledge whatever of spiritual or celestial things; nor any knowledge of the state of souls after the death of the body.

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For, he says, whence is that knowledge except from revelation? Man, after the fall could have no knowledge of such things from himself; for he knows and understands only those things which are before the eyes, or before the senses, nor can he ever elevate himself higher. Even when the Divine Word is preached before him daily, he doubts and denies. What then would be his state if there were no Divine Word in the world would he not then be in most dense ignorance of these things, of every thing spiritual and celestial? For after the fall of man, and the closing of the heavenly way in his mind, when there was only open the way from the world through the senses into the rational mind of man, then man could never be instructed concerning divine things from himself, or from those things which are in the world, for then there were only the loves of the world and of self, and a man cannot be elevated above himself from himself. Wherefore knowledges of such things could come from no other source than from messiah, who is in heaven, who is heaven itself, and the very Word of God. (I:904-905.)

     And he further states that the only approach to God, Messiah is through His Word, which, therefore, was so written that it may be understood by one person differently than by another. (III:692).

     This may be sufficient to show that even in his earliest studies of the letter of the Word, during the period of his immediate preparation for the office of revelator, Swedenborg was given the perception of the truth as to why a written Word, a written and thus fixed revelation from God for mankind, was necessary. He does not, indeed, give all the reasons for its need, but that was not the Divine purpose then and in those treatises to be fulfilled. A complete doctrine is not to be found confined in any one book of the Writings, but is drawn from every part of them; and when this is clearly seen to be so, then will there be a better understanding of how the Word and the Writings can contain infinite truths, both as a whole and in every part. Swedenborg knew this at the time of writing the Adversaria, as will appear when considering what he has to say in regard to the senses of the Word.

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     THE STYLE OF THE WORD.

     But passing on to what is said about the style of the Word, we find that Swedenborg knew that the Word is written according to correspondences and representatives. For he writes that the whole Word consists of representatives in their order; that all terrestrial things are only representations of heavenly things; that the letter of the Word is the general, and thus the containant of particulars which are to be drawn forth and taught; that in the Old Testament there are only types which follow in continuous series, and refer themselves to their effigies; that there is nothing in the Word which does not involve spiritual things and those things corresponding to them in natural things; that every little jot has in it truth, and every little word signifies truth; that no name whether of a person or of a place is written in the Divine Word, which does not involve such things which look to faith, or to God Messiah and His Kingdom, etc., etc. Such being the character of the Word in general, anyone altogether unacquainted with it would reasonably expect a strange but wonderful style, which should fulfil so numerous and so exacting conditions. And truly the style of the Sacred Scriptures is most wonderful!

     In the third volume of the Adversaria we read:

     The style of the Ancient Church was such that the letter or literal sense did not particularly fall into the understanding, but the spirit or the spiritual sense did howsoever the words sounded. But at this day, in order that they may perceive the spiritual sense of the words of God, Messiah, especially in the Old Testament, the literal sense must by all means be explained, and it must be shown what the spiritual sense is, which is the verimost sense of God, Messiah, and is the life which is present in the words. This is a manifest indication that men in ancient times were more spiritual, or, what is the same thing, they did not stick fast in the literal sense, but in it saw spiritual things. It is otherwise today. For now only that which continually coheres in the literal sense is loved and received with applause; an indication that men at this time are natural, for if only the letter is placed in decent order, and sounds beautiful it is favored. (III: p. 1)

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     And Swedenborg then goes on to say that the letter or literal sense, of the words of the old Testament, sounds as if it were disconnected, as appears everywhere in the prophets, and he also refers to the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis, and the thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy as examples of this disconnected style; and he gives as a reason for this, that men then could only observe an internal sense in some things; but it was otherwise when God, messiah Himself spoke by His own mouth.

     Of the prophetic style we read that sometimes the words do not cohere with what precedes, but do cohere with what follows, and this because there is something present (or involved) which is not expressed. This is more fully stated in another number in these words:

     The prophetic style is such that very many things which do not appear from the words are meant; wherefore, also the style is so broken up that unless the things understood were supplied, the sense could not be drawn thence. I can testify that many things were meant whenever the angles of God, Messiah spoke through man, for very many things were then present in the mind, which things did not come into words; hence the broken style, especially when some things involving a double sense should be inserted. (IV: 7704, 7705.)

     And in other places Swedenborg states that other books are written in more elegant style than the Word, and are, therefore, preferred by those who do not go within the external or historical sense. These men reject and condemn the Word, for they have no perception of the internal senses, and so the prophecy is fulfilled in them, that the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth. (2 Cor., 3:6.)

     As a summary and conclusion of what is said about the style of the Word, I would say that Swedenborg plainly teaches, in the Adversaria, that although the Word is written in such language and style as to affect the simple and children especially, nevertheless the Divine purpose was that it should be a fitting continent of Divine and spiritual things, and an ultimate for them, that thereby they might have power on earth to lead men to heaven and the Lord.

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     THE SENSES OF THE WORD.

     But of chief interest is that which concerns the senses of the Word. As early as in the first volume, number twenty-three, we find this statement, namely:

     That in the Mosaic account of creation there is everywhere a double meaning of the words, viz., a spiritual as well as a natural, appears clearly to the apprehension of every man from the tree of life and the tree of knowledge in the midst of the garden; for life and knowledge are spiritual, and yet are attributed to a tree, for this reason, that whatever originates in the ultimates of nature, on account of deriving its origin from heaven, involves something celestial in what is terrestrial, or something spiritual in what is natural; and it does so on this ground, that everything that is represented in the Divine mind cannot but be carried out in reality in the ultimate parts of nature, and be formed there according to the idea of heaven. There results correspondence of all things, which with the Divine permission, we shall follow out in its proper series.

     A little further along, in the same volume, we read:

     Believe ye, Readers! for I speak truth, that in single words, yea, in every jot of words which proceed from the mouth of Jehovah God are most arcane things, and things of a nature all embracing which contain an infinite series from eternity to eternity, even in the present the things which are and which will be from the beginning of heaven and earth, even to the end. For whatever Jehovah speaks by His Word and holy spirit contains Himself and infinite things, i. e., it contains infinite things which never come forth into light before human minds. There are only very few and hardly very few things which are revealed. Nor would these ever be manifest except from the rising sun, that is, from Jehovah God, who is the Sun of Wisdom, and who illuminates by some of His rays, minds bound in densest shade. (I:210).

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     And then from various parts of the work we learn that in each letter of the Divine Word there is involved a spiritual sense; that human minds which only regard present, inferior and external things do not see interior and superior, still less future things unless their eyes are opened, and even in this case they see very few of those things which are present in the letter, and these only obscurely; that because the words are Divine there is a spiritual present in each of them, which spiritual is the life itself in the Word, just as the soul is in the body; that historical things in the Divine Word are coverings and fascia which, if rolled back, interior things are seen, and if these are rolled back still more interior and finally inmost things are arrived at; that every least word contains the whole series reaching even to the end of the world; that the letter of the Word is just like a created thing in which is a soul, for however that thing appears exteriorly, still through it shines that something within, which is perceived by the mind although it is not seen by the eyes; that exteriors without interiors are not words of Jehovah, but are words of man; that the Word of Jehovah does not say or teach anything which does not have regard inmostly to something holy and thus to what is most holy; that many things in the Old Testament are never fully understood according to the literal sense, but are according to the inmost sense of the Letter, in which is the life of the word; that in the single words there are many senses, of which that is called external which concerns persons in a historical sense, that interior in which persons signify people, and that more interior in which by person is meant Messiah Himself further, that all and single things which are in the Divine Word and which concern the Church are just exactly like created things, both in general and in particular: namely, that inmosts are firsts which form and cover themselves over in order, and finally unfold themselves and return to their firsts which are inmosts, forming in what intervenes a wonderful gyre, which process is then compared to a tree whose first and last is its seed, and also to man; moreover, that love is the inmost in all the words of the Divine Word, which love is no other than the Messiah; and, finally, that all and single things throughout the Word, everywhere and always, in their inmost sense, treat of God, Messiah alone, especially looking towards both events. This latter statement is most positively but in these words.

     The inmost things which lie most deeply hidden everywhere have respect to Messiah Himself, for He is the Word and the Word is He, and because He is the all in all. He is the only one in the Divine Word, and because He is life itself, He is the only one in the words of His Word who lives; hence the life of His scriptures. (I:356)

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     Now in the Adversaria Swedenborg does not expound the spiritual sense, except ill certain places, but he there gives the internal historical sense; and the work will prove of very great value to the church because it supplies the internal historical sense, which is absolutely necessary for a true and perfect understanding of the spiritual sense, as it is the connecting link between the literal and spiritual senses. To appreciate this fact the work itself should be read, but it can be shown in a limited way, by what is said in regard to the senses of the Word, for special reference is made to the internal historical sense, that is, what is said is particularly applicable to the internal historical sense, although, of course, not limited to it. Thus in the first volume we read:

     It was stated and shown above, that everywhere in the Divine Word there are many senses. First, indisputably, according to the letter, called the external, the historical, or the literal sense, for it regards only persons, of whom it treats in the present. The second, the general sense, concerns the immediate posterity, and such things as happen to the posterity. For in this sense, by persons in the present is meant all that people or all that nation who are called his sons or posterity, who thus in their parent or parents, and in his seed, Jewish and Israelitish people, which also may be called superior and universal. The third sense is still more general, and signifies not only man's immediate posterity, but also all that which is united to it in any society, thus not merely the peoples called Jacob and Israel, but also all nations called to the Church of Christ, thus sometimes the whole world. Furthermore all who approach to the only true Christian Church. Besides many things which are more universal proclaimed to them in that sense and at the same time spiritual things. This sense, therefore, is to be called the more interior, also the more universal, also the heavenly and spiritual sense. But the fourth sense holds in its embrace those things which are most universal, and involves only that which regards the Messiah, His Kingdom and Church, that is only the Messiah, for the Messiah is the all in all of His Kingdom and of His Church. Besides this it involves that other kingdom opposite to it, which is called the kingdom of the devil. . . .

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For both can be comprehended as opposites. Thus persons and things which are brought forth in the sense according to the letter involve the Messiah Himself, and at same time infinite things which will exist even to the end of the world,. . . and other things which do not exist in time but are eternal, and which are also at the same time in those words, but do not appear to us. This sense from these things is called the inmost, and because it regards those things which are in time even to the end of the world, it is called the most which are not in time and space, it is likewise called the Divine, His truth, or simply truth itself. All the other senses look to this sense as their inmost, their first and last, their end, and their all. And because in it is truth itself, and Messiah Himself is that itself which is the life, the soul, and the spiritual light of all other senses, therefore it is the heaven of heavens. (1:505.)

     What is stated in the second volume agrees with what has been quoted except that five senses are mentioned. There is no contradiction, however, as the fourth of the first series is, in the latter one, divided into two, and so the fourth and fifth of the latter division are included in the fourth of the former one.

     This is in brief what Swedenborg teaches in the Adversaria about the senses of the Word. Were there space to give illustrations, taking passages which he unfolds according to these various senses, a clearer and fuller apprehension might be had. But perhaps sufficient has been given to present an idea of what is taught in that work. As was before said, a full consideration of the doctrine of the Word is not given, but only scraps scattered here and there throughout the work. This holds true in regard to other subjects or doctrines contained in the work. Some are more fully treated than others, and many are the summing up of former philosophical subjects.

     The work is as yet a sealed book to most men, being untranslated, but in due time a translation will appear, and then any may go to it and seek Cor the truth everywhere contained within it.

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"AS THE LIGHT OF SEVEN DAYS." 1908

"AS THE LIGHT OF SEVEN DAYS."       Rev. C. TH. ODHNER       1908

     "And the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people and healeth the stroke of their wound. (Isaiah 30:26).

     Our text, in its internal sense, reveals Divine arcana concerning the appearance of the Lord to the angels of Heaven, and the change in that appearance effected by the Glorification of His Human. It describes, also, the progressive states of the Glorification itself, and the order of the regeneration of man and the Church as made possible through the Glorification.

     The general subject of our text is Light, and the Sun as the fountain of Light,-not natural light, however, or the natural Sun, but the Light of the whole world, the Sun of Life, the Sun of Righteousness, which shall arise unto those that love His Name, with healing in His wings, to bind up the breach of His people and to heal the stroke of their wound.

     The text manifestly refers to the Coming of the Lord, the day when the Light of the world became flesh and dwelt among us, the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men.

     Light is a mode of motion. Light is an activity. Light is life. As there is one only Life, so there is only one Light. There are degrees of light, indeed, but the light of a lower degree is but an effect and a re-presentation of the light of the higher degree, and this again of the highest and inmost degree, the light of Life itself. What we call solar light, or electric light, or magnetic light, is but a vibration, a motion and modification in the particles of the ether and the solar aura, an activity proceeding from the fire of the sun. This sun, however, is a natural, finite, and created substance, and cannot as such be the prime fountain of light, for light, being an activity, is uncreatable and infinite.

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     The Scriptures tell of a light higher than the light of our one little solar ball of fire, and all sane philosophy and science bear testimony to the same fact. Our sun is but one of the countless suns that flame and pulsate far from each other in the starry heavens, and this indefinite multitude of finite and similar effects of necessity bespeak a common and infinite cause and origin. We know that truth is a real and actual light, independent of all the suns of the natural universe; in the darkest night we can see its light in the solution of enigmas that do other light could penetrate, and the fact that this intellectual light can be communicated, proves the existence of a medium, an atmosphere, for the communication of rational thought and spiritual perception. It could not be communicated through a vacuum, for a nothing produces nothing and communicates nothing. Truth, therefore, being an actual higher light, must be an activity proceeding from an actual higher Sun; and the atmosphere of truth, as a medium of the communication of thought, must be an actual atmosphere proceeding from that higher Sun. This higher Sun, therefore, must be the one common origin and substance of all the countless suns of the natural universe; and this higher atmosphere must be the life and soul of all inferior auras and ethers; while this higher light, or activity and motion, must be the very light that causes all mundane lights to shine.

     But, why multiply proofs of a fact which has remained as a perception of common sense in the racial memory of mankind,-- whatever be the doubt of a blind science and the denial of a false theology,--a perception which with every receiver of the Heavenly Doctrines sprang up with a shout of joyous recognition as soon as presented in the Revelation to the New Jerusalem. No proofs were needed when we first read these words of Swedenborg's: "That in the spiritual world there is a Sun different from the sun in the natural world, I am able to testify, because I have seen it." (Influx 4.) "It has been granted me to see the Lord in this way as a Sun. I see Him before my face, and for many years I so see Him, to whatsoever quarter of the world I have turned." (D. L. W. 131.)

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     High above the inmost heaven, and girded with circles of radiant light, there is the appearance of a Sun so effulgent with splendor that the noon-day light of our natural sun is, beside it, like unto the darkness of night. But to the eyes of the angels, adapted and accustomed to its supernal glory, this heavenly Sun appears much like the sun of their former existence, about the same in size, and of the same fiery hue, though far more sparkling and ruddy, as from flaming rubies rather than shining gold, and as distant from them as our sun is from us. (D. L. W. 85; A. E. 401, H. H. 188; Influx 4.)

     This Sun appears constantly before the faces of the angels, in whatever direction they may turn, midway between the horizon and the zenith. It neither rises nor sets, but stands fixed at an altitude of forty-five degrees. To Swedenborg this heavenly Sun appeared differently before his two eyes:--to the right eye it appeared as a Sun, but to the left eye as a Moon, surrounded with many smaller moons,--the angle of distance between the two visions being about thirty degrees. (A. C. 4321; H. H. 118, Influx 4.)

     There are profound reasons for these wonderful phenomena, all of which be it remembered, are only appearances, real appearances, indeed, yet not naked truths.

     The radiant circles which appear round about the heavenly Sun, are finite accommodations of the proceeding Divine, by which the consuming fire of Divine Love and the blinding light of Divine Wisdom are shaded and tempered for the reception of the inhabitants of the spiritual world. These radiant circles or bells consist of actual spiritual substance, the first substance of creation, the first and second finites or substantials, and constitute the created part of the spiritual Sun.

     The distance between the heavenly Sun and the angelic world, though not a distance of space, is still a real distance as far as the angels are concerned-representing the infinite difference of state that distinguishes the Divine from the merely human. By the appearance of this immeasurable distance, the angels are constantly impressed with the realization of their own finiteness and smallness, and are constantly reminded of the omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence of the Lord, who, from His radiant throne above the heavens, governs all things, foresees all things, and provides all things, and by His proceeding heat and light is present in all things of the created universe.

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     But, since there is no actual space in that world, and since distance is a predicate of space, this appearance of distance is after all only an appearance. For the Divine is omnipresent, not only in space but beyond all space. "The truth is that there is no distance, but the distance is an appearance according to the reception of the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom by the angels." (D. L. W. 109) Being omnipresent, the Lord is as much present within the angels as He is present without, and it is this internal presence that is reflected outwardly by the appearance of Himself in and as a spiritual Sun, supremely far above the angelic heaven as He is present supremely far within the inmost of each angelic soul.

     This subjective presence of the spiritual Sun within the angel explains the remarkable phenomena of its constant appearance before his face. In whatever direction he may turn, there is that glorious apparition before his eyes. He simply cannot turn away from it, any more than he can turn away from his own brain and soul, or from the faith and love that make the very light and life of his inmost being. And whatever exists within the angel, in his will and understanding, the same appears objectively without, in complete correspondence with his internal state.

     But let us beware of thinking that on this account the Sun of the spiritual world is a mere illusory mirage, purely subjective, existing only within the angelic soul. Such an idea is nothing but Idealism, "a heresy so abominable that in the spiritual world it stinks like carrion." For God is omnipresent, and so also, within the finited universe, is that spiritual Sun which is His first encompassing sphere. "Thus God is both within and without an angel, consequently an angel can see God, that is, the Lord, both within himself and without himself;--within himself when he thinks from love and wisdom; but without himself when he thinks about love and wisdom." (D. L. W. 130.) In other words, when the angel thinks about the internal things that exist subjectively within him,--when these become the objects of his thought,--he then recognizes these same things that exist also outside of him.

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For the soul of man is an actual substance, formed out of the very stuff that constitutes the universal and super-celestial atmosphere. And this atmosphere proceeds immediately from the Sun of the spiritual world and contains that Sun within its every least component spherule. Thus we may gain some faint conception of the reason why the heavenly Sun, which shines inmostly within every angel, shines also outwardly, wherever he may turn.

     Again, we are not to think that the angels are constantly gazing at their Sun, for they could not then perform their daily uses any store than we if we were constantly looking up to our natural sun. They are, indeed, constantly subconscious of the internal presence of their Sun, even as every regenerated man is constantly subconscious of the presence of the Lord. But the heavenly Sun does not actually appear before their eyes, as a Sun, except "when they are in spiritual meditation." (T. C. R. 767) And as the wiser ones among them are constantly thinking and meditating from the love and wisdom within them, the Sun of Heaven is constantly shedding its light and heat within. But when, more occasionally, they are meditating about their heavenly Doctrine, which is the light and life of the air they breathe, they at the same time become aware of its external and substantial presence as the real Sun of their life.

     This Sun, in its external manifestation, does not appear to rise and set, like our natural sun, but remains constantly in the East, at a middle altitude of forty-five degrees between the eastern horizon rod the zenith. Thus there is in Heaven a medium intensity or constant equation of heat and light. If the spiritual Sun were to rise above this middle altitude, or more towards the zenith, there would at once result more heat than light, while if it were to sink below, there would be more light than heat. In the former case there would be more love than wisdom, thus an unwise love; in the latter case more wisdom than love, thus an unloving wisdom, which is not wisdom. The Sun being thus stationary, even in its appearance, there is no actual time in Heaven, but the angels, in their interior state, are in a constant morning and in a constant spring, their love and their faith being ever balanced and conjoined in equal measure.

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The conjugial of good and truth, therefore, constitutes the unchanging climate in which they live; this conjugial reigns in the very air they breathe and in the blood that pulsates through their arteries and veins,--the same conjugial that joins their will and understanding into one human faculty, and which draws each angelic husband and wife forever and ever nearer into one angel, and thus the whole of Heaven to eternity nearer and nearer to its Divine Bridegroom Lord. It is this constant rising of the Heavenly Sun that is signified in the Word by the "Day-spring from on high," the tranquility and peace of a morning without clouds, the everlasting spring that shall arise when the wintry storms of earthly life are over.

     The angle of forty-five degrees, how precise and coldly scientific this sounds at first hearing, but what blessings are unfolded at deeper reflection upon this fact! Everyone is touched by the genuine poetry of the lines:

     "As the sunflower turns to her god, when he sets,

     "The same look which she turned when he rose:"--

     But how much more poetical is the real truth of which this natural phenomenon is the beautiful correspondent! For in Heaven there is no need of following the journey of an inconstant sun, for there the Sun appears constantly in the East, and the East follows with the angel wherever he turns, and the quarters there are determined entirely by the attitude of angels and spirits towards the Lord. Thus the idea of space, like the idea of time, vanishes in the idea of spiritual sate.

     A middle altitude of forty-five degrees, the middle of a right angle! The Creator has habituated us to this degree by the human stature He has bestowed upon us,-the stature of the upright man who gazes equally forward and upward,-the natural gaze of the rational man whose prudence is ennobled by his adoration,-the look which is the spontaneous, untutored gaze of the little child in prayer, who looks to his Heavenly Father not high above his head nor straight before his eyes on his own low plane but to that middle altitude of conjunction where his angels see their Lord. Truly, this is what is involved in the Lord's words to His disciples: "Beware, therefore, lest ye despise one of these little ones, for I say unto you that even thus do their angels in the heavens throughout all things look upon the face of my Father who is in the heavens." (Matth. 18:10.)

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     Since the outward realization or sight of the spiritual Sun results from the subjective presence of that Sun within the angels, it follows that the form of its manifestation varies according to the ever changing and varying states of thought and affection among the angels. This difference or variety is universal, so that it may be said that the spiritual Sun appears differently not only in the two kingdoms of Heaven, and in the three successive heavens, but differently also to each society, and to each individual angel, according to his own alternating states.

     In general we are taught that the Lord as a Sun "appears constantly to the right, at a middle altitude there, a little above the plane of the right eye." (A. C. 4321.) "But before the left eye He does not appear as a Sun, but as a Moon." (H. H. 118.) This phenomena, like some other comparative appearances, means, undoubtedly, that it so appeared before the eyes of Swedenborg, who was enabled to be alternately in the celestial and in the spiritual kingdom and therefore in the absolutely unique position of being able to compare the two states. To his right eye the Lord thus appeared as a Sun, because the right eye corresponds to the affection of good, or to the intellectual faculty when illuminated by the fire of love; while to his left eye the Lord appeared as a Moon, because the left eye corresponds to the affection of truth, that is, the intellectual faculty illuminated by the borrowed and reflected light of truth apparently distinct from good.

     It is in accordance with this same spiritual law that those in the Celestial Kingdom as a whole behold the Lord as a Sun, while those in the Spiritual Kingdom as a whole behold Him as a Moon. And again, to the angels of the supreme heaven He appears as a Sun, to those of the middle heaven as a Moon, while to the good spirits in the lowest heaven and in the world of spirits He appears only as Light. (H. H. 118, 123; A. C. 6832; A. E. 412; S. D. 4219.) This in general, but it is to be observed that these comparisons are--comparative.

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It does not mean that the angels of the lower heavens never see the spiritual Sun, or that it never appears to them as a Sun, for we are taught that "the Universal Heaven is under that Sun; and the angels of the third heaven see it constantly; those of the second heaven quite frequently, and those of the first heaven sometimes." (D. L. W. 85) Bearing with them from the natural world the memory image of a Sun, the angels of the lower heavens also at times behold the Lord as a Sun, but in paler glory, like that of the Moon, or like that of a general diffusion of heavenly light.

     The appearance of a Moon in Heaven is thus described by Swedenborg:

     "In order that night be confirmed in this, that the Lord appeared to the celestial angels as a Sun, but to the spiritual angels as a Moon, the internal sight was opened even unto this, by the Divine mercy of the Lord, and I manifestly saw the Moon shining. It was girded about with a number of lesser little moons, the light of which was almost solar, according to the words in Isaiah: 'the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun,' but it was not then granted to see the Sun." (A. C. 1531; H. H. 118, 146. Read especially H. H. 159.)

     The Heavenly Doctrines not only reveal the fact of these wonderful phenomena of the Sun of the spiritual world, but they also explain the internal reasons for these appearances, the reasons why the Sun to some appears in the fulness of solar splendor, to others relatively in the tempered beauty of lunar light, while to others again it appears merely as light.

     In general, we know that "the Lord appears as a Sun to those who are in the good of love to Him, from Him; and as a Moon to those who are in the good and truth of faith," (A. E. 525);--the light of love being original, immediate, and direct, while the light of faith is but the reflection of that original light when falling upon the external knowledge in the memory. We may illustrate the difference by the difference between perception and conscience. There are but few who possess the gift of perception, the ability to recognize and grasp at once and without doubt or argument universal principles of truth; but there are such men, and it is in the light of their wisdom that the rest in a human society are able to see light and to form a conscience from it,-a secondary perception, as it were.

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Or we may illustrate it by the gradual progress of a man coming into the light and life of the Church. At first, in childhood or in his first attempts to enter into the Doctrine, the Writings appear very obscure to him, but here and there, as he reads on, he begins to recognize a star of light, and, after a while, constellations and galaxies without number. But these are as yet but scattered knowledges, without apparent connection, until, perhaps after years of study, he comes into the light of the general leading Doctrines, and into a state of faith in them, a conviction that they are true as a whole, because his reason tells him so. The scattered rays of star-light then melt into the more general light of the risen Moon, and he is charmed with the incomparable beauty of the Heavenly Doctrine, its cogency, coherence and order, which sheds its gentle light upon every thing and every subject in the dark, mysterious world above and below the sun. But if he advances, he comes to a realization that these Doctrines are not meant for intellectual enjoyment only, but for life and use; that they are not to be measured by his own reason or the reason of any man, but that they are Divine and from the Lord alone. And as soon as the idea of the Lord alone is admitted, the light of the moon becomes as the light of the Sun; all possible doubts fade away with the shades of night, and he now not only sees the wisdom but also feels the love of the Lord in these Heavenly Doctrines which have become the sun of his life, and which shine within him and before him whithersoever he may turn.

     This gradual dawning, however, does not depend upon intellectual study only, but chiefly upon the commensurate purification of his love through the actual shunning of evil, for it is love alone that can open his eyes. And thus we learn that

     "Those heavens regard the Lord as a Sun who are in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, who love truth because it is true; this is spiritual, and therefore the light from the Lord is spiritual. But those heavens regards the Lord as a Moon, who are in the natural affection of truth, that is, who love truth in order that they may be learned and may instruct others; these love it because it is useful to self, and not on account of the truth itself, and therefore they are in the light which proceeds from the Lord as a Moon." (A. E. 527.)

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     It may seem surprising that the latter class should be able to see the Lord even as a Moon, or be admitted even into the second heaven, but such is the Mercy of the Lord. Not even the angels of the highest heaven were pure and perfect in the sight of the Lord. Something of the love of self remains to all eternity, and in the Father's House of many mansions there is room for all and for any who are in any degree of affection and obedience of truth. Even those who are the least in the kingdom of Heaven,--those who are not properly angels but simple good spirits, possessing but a few knowledges from the Word together with an obedient affection for these knowledges,-even these are able to bear witness that "the entrance of Thy Word giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple."

     How far greater, then, the light with those angelic spirits of the inner Court, whose scattered cognitions have been gathered into one great luminous body of faith--those who, through a life of self-enforced obedience to the truth, have gained something of a spiritual conscience. Though the ruddy luster of the heavenly Sun is obscured and paled by a remaining thought of self, yet the Word of God written upon their conscience is forever a lamp to their feet and a light upon their path. And though this light is but as the light of the moon, when compared to the sunlight of the celestial angels, yet to them their moonlight is as the light of the sun, for within their faith burns the sacred fire of charity to the neighbor.

     But those happiest spirits who worship in the Holy Place, those who by a life of charity in this world have reached the highest degree of charity,---charity to the Truth, which is the sane as love to the Lord,-what light is theirs, what joy, what usefulness! To them the life of truth is no longer a matter of obedience to the Lord's commandments, nor of duty to the dictates of conscience, but far beyond these, it is a joyous and instantaneous recognition of the truth, and love of the truth, for the sake of the truth alone.

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For in the Truth they hear the voice of their God and Creator, the voice of their Lord and Redeemer, the voice of the Spirit of Holiness and Usefulness, their trustworthy guide and loving friend,--a friend so clear that for Him they have given up their own life, the life of the self-intelligence and self-will, in order to follow the Truth alone whithersoever it may lead. To them the Light of Truth is the Sun of Life, and the light of this Sun has become as the light of seven days, for it is Holiness itself to them, the whole and the all of life, the Lord Himself within His Sun, the God Man ever present in His Second Coming.

     For what is the glory even of the heavenly Sun itself, which, after all, is only a created and finite form--compared with the Glory of the living, infinite God? That Sun is not God. "Let everyone beware of thinking that the Sun of the spiritual world is God Himself. God Himself is a Man. The first proceeding from His Love and Wisdom is that spiritual fire which appears to the angels as the Sun." (D. L. W. 97; Inf. 5.) "As the Lord cannot be received by any one as He is in Himself, He appears as He is in Himself, as a Sun above the angelic heavens, the proceeding from which, as Light, is Himself as to Wisdom; and, as heat, is Himself as to Love. He Himself is not a Sun, but the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom proximately going forth from Him, appear before the angels as a Sun. He Himself is in the Sun as a Man." (A. R. 961.)

     Though that Sun is not the Lord Himself, yet the Lord Himself appears in it such as He is in Himself, with His whole Divine Nature,-not as to one Divine Essential alone, but as to His whole Divine Essence, or Trinity of Essentials. For there, in that heavenly Sun. "He is in His Divine from eternity, and at the same time in His Divine Human, which are one as soul and body." (A. R. 465) And again, "the Divine called 'the Father' and the Divine called 'the Son,' appear before the angels as a Sun; and the Divine which proceeds thence, appears as light united with heat." (A. E. 1111.) And, inasmuch as in the Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily, it is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that appears as the God-Man in the midst of the Sun of the spiritual world.

     In order that even the first Christian Church should have some knowledge and perception of this truth, the Lord revealed Himself in His glory, in the Transfiguration on the Mountain, when His face shone as the Sun, and His garment became white as light. (Matth. 17:2.)

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John the Revelator similarly beheld His face, shining as the Sun in its strength, (Rev. 1:16; 10:1), and he beheld Him also as an angel standing in the Sun, (Rev. 19:17), and in that Sun He now appears to all eternity, and this so fully and really that those who saw Him when He wandered among men in the land of Canaan, are able to recognize His very features and thus to testify unto all coming ages, and before the spirits from every planet in the universe, that this Divine Man in the heavenly Sun is the very man who assumed finite manhood on our earth. (See A. C. 7173; S. D. 3292.)

     It was the actual appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in the Sun of Heaven, that produced the wonderful change in that Sun, which is described in the prophetic words of our text: "And the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." (T. C. R. 631)

     This prophecy itself before its fulfillment, may be compared to the light of the Moon, preceding the rising of the Sun and holding out the hope of the coming Day. But when the fulfillment came, when the Light of the world Himself appeared, then this Light added itself to the light of the Moon, and its light now became as the light of the Sun, its Divine fulfillment clearly seen. And the sun-light of this prophecy, and of the whole Word, has become sevenfold, as the light of seven days, now that the internal Divine sense has been revealed by the Lord in His Second Coming, so that, wherever we may look in the Word, the Lord in His glorified Human now stands forth, even as He stands forth to the angels in His Sun, to whatever direction they may turn.

     Before the Glorification the Lord did not stand forth in this same manner is His Sun. For the Ancient Churches, and the heavens of those Churches, in a certain sense worshiped the invisible God, inasmuch as the Lord had not yet made Himself Man in ultimates also, as from eternity He had been Man in primes. They worshiped the Divine Human, indeed, or, rather, the Human Divine, but this human was the human of an angel, borrowed on special occasions for the sake of a special revelation.

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The Divine which had revealed itself to the prophets and seers of old was thus ever veiled by the human of an angel,--a human not Divine,--and, since all vision on the spiritual plane is by reflexion from the sense-images in the natural memory, the Divine Man in the Sun was also thus veiled over by the memory-impression of this angelic human. But after the glorification, and after the Lord in His whole Human had ascended into Heaven and returned into His Divine Esse and Existere,--after this event had taken place, the angels of the ancient heavens could now behold and worship, the visible God Himself, in whom is the invisible. The veil that had hidden the Holy of Holies was now rent in twain: the light of the borrowed human,--the light of the Moon,-now gave place to the light of the Sun of life itself. And when, in the fulness of time, the Lord in this His glorified Human again descended through the heavens in His Second Coming, and in the world of spirits effected a Last Judgment and a second Redemption, and on earth raised up His New and crowning Church,--the everlasting Sabbath, the eternal Marriage Covenant of the Lord with Heaven and the Church,--then the light of the Sun became sevenfold, as the light of seven days.

     For now the redeemed of the Lord are able to enjoy to the full the complete fruition of the complete and victories of their Redeemer, Six days He labored and did all His work, and He rested on the seventh day.

     In order to glorify His human and thereby redeem mankind, He first made this human the Divine Truth, itself, represented in our test by "the light of the Moon." And, as, from this Divine Truth, He vanquished the forces of evil, in His own human and in hell itself, this human become the Divine Good itself, and its light now became as "the light of the Sun." And after the last temptation, when on the cross He exclaimed "It is finished,"--when the Human was fully united to the Divine Itself,--then the light of this Glorified Human became sevenfold, as the light of seven days, for now He hall bound up the breach of His people and had healed the stroke of their wound.

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     And now He has arisen and has come again unto His people remain with them forever, as the Light of the World, as the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings, unto all that fear His Name. His "Name, is the Divine Truth, and His "wings" are the Heavenly Doctrines by which He has descended to His Church. Within the protection of those wings His people dwell secure. For them also the light of the Moon shall become as the light of the Sun, as they rise from faith and by means of faith into a state of living charity. And the light of the Sun shall become sevenfold, as the light of seven days, as their charity becomes filled with the love of the Lord. Amen.
Academy regards the Theological Writings of Swedenborg's the Word of the Lord to the New Church 1908

Academy regards the Theological Writings of Swedenborg's the Word of the Lord to the New Church              1908

     The Academy regards the Theological Writings of Swedenborg's the Word of the Lord to the New Church. This does not mean the same as to assert that they are the same as the Word of the Old and the New Testaments, but simply that they are equally from the Lord and of equal authority. They are not the Word in the same sense or manner with the Old and the New Testament. The New Testament is not the Word in the same way in which the Old Testament is the Word, nor was or is the Old Testament the Word in the same way as the Ancient Word was. But the title over the cross, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Now in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and in the Writings of the New Church the name of the Lord is written, that is, His quality revealed, in these three languages. These, then, are expressed or signified in the threefold title. The three stand together. There can be no conflict between them. We may never appeal to the one as against another of them. We do indeed appeal continually from the Word in the letter to the Word in the spiritual sense as revealed to the New Church, and we must do so for the understanding of the letter; but there can be no conflict, no predominance of the one over the other. The Lord's Word is not an house divided against itself.

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DREAMS 1908

DREAMS       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1908

     The dreams induced by spirits, that is, those induced by wakeful spirits which we have been considering, are, in general, good and even instructive, but they are also comparatively very rare.

     For the general state of spirits about man when he sleeps, i. e., of the external spirits whom he has associated with himself, is that they also are in the state of sleep. By this means man is cut off from those interior evil spirits with whom he hall associated himself during the day by his loves and affections. In this state they also have dreams like men (D. 319), in Which they have no sight except of what is being excited in the dream; they also move and talk in their sleep, and this without knowing it--as was actually shown to Swedenborg. (D. 664.) But in addition to ordinary dreams they also have a peculiar kind of dream called a waking dream, (D. 319), in which they appear to themselves, to be altogether awake, (D. 88-89), and yet they are merely passive subjects in whom are reflected the activities of interior spirits--good or evil,--but without the excitation of the subject's own thought and affection. This appears to be what is meant in the Diary by the "representative state," like man's sleep, into which spirits come when removed from man. (D. 165.) Swedenborg records having witnessed this state several times, Thus he once heard a spirit speaking, and he perceived from the sound of the voice that the spirit was asleep; but only from the sound, for the spirit spoke with prudence just as if awake. Swedenborg then perceived that interior angels spoke through him, and that in the state of sleep he perceived and produced the things spoken. The spirit himself described this state as a most peaceful one. (D. 3878, A. 4048, A. 7744). It is in such living or wakeful dreams as these that external spirits are sometimes permitted to see and experience the beauty and joy of heaven, (A. 1982, D. 546, A. 542) Evil spirits, however, produce a very different kind of wakeful dream in the passive subjects into whom they inflow, the dreams they bring being either distressing phantasies or scenes in which hatred is the moving theme.

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And it is doubtless such dreams that are referred to, when it is stated that spirits are sometimes vastated and deprived of their phantasies by means of dreams, (D. 427); but this kind of evil dreams is not possible with truly good spirits. (A. 5988.)
     Now when man is in the company of spirits in this state he dreams with them, (D. 2436)1 for the dreams are formed from his memory. That is to say, he dreams with them when the Lord permits; for spirits may be in these dreams without men's sharing them, they may also be continuing them when the man awakes. (D. 664, 2436, 4284) Man dreams only when the interior sight is opened, and this is done by the Lord alone. It is from and with these dreams of spirits that most of our ordinary connected dreams come. Swedenborg describes several dreams of his own which clearly illustrate the nature of these dreams and their origin. Thus he once dreamed that he had escaped from a prison--then he heard some spirits pursuing a certain man as if it were Swedenborg, and every now and again crying out that they had caught him. The man then came to Swedenborg showing him a black and bloody face. But when Swedenborg woke from this dream and saw into the spiritual world he saw no such scene; and hence he concludes that it was a dream which certain spirits were continuing, and he adds that it signifies the interior state of the evil with respect to the letter of the Word. (D. 1460 seq.)

     On another occasion some spirits were dreaming the same as Swedenborg, namely, that they would attack a certain castle and after having taken it would attack Swedenborg. After the dream Swedenborg spoke with those who were still attacking and who thought themselves fully awake, and he had difficulty in convincing them that they had been dreaming. (D. 3792.) These were evidently the passive subjects of interior evil ones, subjects who thought they themselves were attempting this crime, when as a fact they were but dreaming it.

     Again Swedenborg dreamed that from some rising ground he saw a ship deliberately wrecked by its captain with the object of drowning the three passengers, a man, woman and child.

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He saw these three drowned in the water, one of them slightly emerging in his efforts to escape. Then, while he was pitying them for their sad condition, he suddenly awoke, and found the spirits about him lamenting that they had been drowned, and, indeed, they actually seemed to themselves as if with dripping hair and clothes. This was a representation by evil spirits and which was communicated by them to Swedenborg in his dream. (D. 224 seq.)

     By this indirect means, i. e., by means of dreams or representations induced on the spirits about man, interior evil spirits, and also good spirits, can induce dreams on man, (D. 778-9); and this without the evil spirits at the same time infesting him to his hurt. That is to say, their evil loves can be represented in the imaginations of a sleeper, without infesting his mind. Were evil spirits allowed directly to infest Man, or were their subjects, active instead of passive, then they would pour themselves into his interior thoughts and affections, (D. 1953), from which he would experience interior suffering and torment together with loss of freedom and with consequent despair of salvation. (D. 1953; see also D. 75, 90, 2744, 2797) But man is protected from this, for he does not come into such states in dreams. It is true that there is sometimes terror even to nightmare in dreams; but these fearful terrors are more the effect of bodily or cerebral conditions than of the dream proper, and, moreover, they are the accompaniments of fantastical dreams rather than of the consecutive dream. To the dream proper, terror does not belong except that mild sort of fear which is the result of the habitual traits of the mind. Thus a man in his dream commits murder or theft or some other heinous crime which he would never dream of coming awake, and yet feels little or nothing of terror or dread; certainly the little fear he may feel is as nothing compared to the fear and dread he would really experience had he actually committed such a crime. He looks on with the most surprising equanimity at the body which he has slain, or the riches he has stolen. He feels absolutely no horror at the crime itself and only a comparatively mild sort of fear lest he be detected,--a fear which is the result of the habitual exercise of his waking thoughts, it is as though he were a passive subject on which hidden forces played, forces which his mind beholds but to which it gives neither assent nor disapproval.

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That evil forces find easy and apt vessels in our imagination wherein they can be represented without our abhorrence, is an index, not to the quality of our internal thought, but rather to the native perversion of our nature. Thus in the Diary Swedenborg says that it was shown him by living experience in himself that horror at hence that such horror is not in his natural voluntary but only in his intellectual part. Thus horror for adultery is not spontaneous but must be acquired from the understanding and from conscience. And Swedenborg goes on to illustrate this in the same manner as it was illustrated to him, namely, by dreams, i. e., that in dreams man has no horror for such things. It was different with the most Ancient Church where men had a natural and instinctive horror for evil, and therefore could not be led to do evil even in their dreams. (D. 4368.) The same thing is vividly illustrated in the world of spirits where, when spirits are deprived of reflection and understanding, they act merely from natural instinct, and blindly and unthinkingly act against heaven and against order. They are in somewhat the state of an hypnotic subject, and we are told that when reason or reflection is restored to them, they know no other than that they have been in a sleep and dream. (D. 372.) Dreams of this kind illustrate an important principle, namely, that nothing that inflows into man, none of the influences by which he is surrounded and which affect his natural or stir up his imagination-none of these things are imputed to him, except so far as he confirms them from without, that is, by conscious thought. Therefore it is said that no man is to suffer any blame for evils committed in dreams, but that those evils are imputed to him if he confirms them in his waking thoughts. (D. 498.) These dreams may, however, be of use to him, as is indeed pointed out by most writers on dreams, in revealing to him the evils that lie within him, and thus in leading him to self examination-which is probably one of the reasons why they are permitted.

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     Swedenborg refers to this use, when, in answer to the question as to whether we should pay any attention to our dreams, he says, as reported by Robsahm, that one who understands correspondences may derive advantage from his dreams, just as a person awake may examine his own state by comparing his will with God's commands. (I Doc. 42.) Indeed, in the spiritual world the evil are sometimes examined, and their past life explored, by means of their dreams, which are openly represented to other spirits while they are dreaming them. (D. 3383)

     Another important thing which these and also other kinds of dreams illustrate is the state of evil spirits after death, in that they then act not from reflection, or from the things stored up in their external memory, but are led along by various persuasions that inflow from others. (D. 4398) Hence again it can appear why the evil in the World of Spirits are said to be in sleep. (D. 4549) This was also shown to Swedenborg in a dream,--but a special kind of dream in which the mind was in wakefulness of observation and conclusion. (D. 4398)

     There are two general means by which the Lord protects the sleeping man from infestation by evil spirits. One is by the presence of Angelic spirits through whom the sphere of heaven becomes operative, the order and peace and protection of which is externally manifested in the rule of the cerebellum during sleep. The sphere of these spirits is such that it wards off and holds at a distance all evil, disorderly, tumultuous, and disturbing spheres, just as the cerebellum wards off and subdues all external influences from the sleeping man.

     The other means is by the veil of ignorance which is drawn by the Lord between spirits and men. Evil Spirits do not know they are with man, and therefore, cannot bring him injury, torment or distress.

     But in this respect Swedenborg's state was different from that of the ordinary man in that the spirits with him did know that they were with a separate man. (D. 164) and therefore acted more independently of him than is the case with other men. (D. 4437) In consequence the evil among them not only were filled with hatred of good in all spirits, but burned with specific hatred of Swedenborg and sought in many ways to destroy him.

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During sleep he was ordinarily protected from them just like other men, but sometimes they were permitted to infest him, to remain in their wakeful activity while he was in slumber. This was done for several reasons. One was in order that he might learn the nature of evil, even to its very ultimation, without himself suffering any real injury. Thus he had a dream wherein he was excited to furious anger against some men merely because they had entered into his room; and he even wanted to kill them. He was then led into the thought that this was wrong, and with this he awoke. This dream showed him in a living way power of the sphere of certain spirits to dull every force of right thinking and willing. (D. 4834) On another occasion he had a fearful dream wherein a spirit cast aside two angels who were somewhat near Swedenborg, and immediately began to infest him in a most horrible and unspeakable way--whereby he experienced the intense though concealed hatred of some who were in external piety. (D. 4740.) Again he dreamed of a friend standing by his bed,--a friend whom he trusted; but the friend tried to kill him with a knife and failing this, sprang upon him like a tiger in the effort to tear him and suck his blood; by which Swedenborg learned in a very realistic way the nature of certain very wicked spirits. (D. 2974; See also D. 6008.) Another instance is a dream in which appeared a precipice near which a dog had hidden. Swedenborg was pursuing this dog in order to regain possession of some stolen article. And while he was in this pursuit he was filled with the utmost horror of the precipice and hence had sensible experience of the horror deceitful spirits have at the thought of heaven; for he learned that it was by such spirits the dream had been induced. (D. 3406.) Again in a dream he was permitted to suffer the horrible and revolting torments inflicted by devils in the hells,--the cutting and the tearing and the twisting too terrible to dwell upon. (D. M. 4698.) It was in a dream also that certain antediluvian spirits were permitted to inflow into him with their cupidities, and, indeed, as he says, so grossly that had he been in wakefulness he could not have resisted them. In this dream he felt their influx as a suffocative breath like a dreadful and immovable incubus above him from which he was in terrible labor. (A. 1270, D. 3364.)

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But, being in a dream, he was not injured; for nothing is imputed to man in sleep.

     Another use served by the infestations suffered by Swedenborg was, that he thereby learned how the Lord protects man in sleep, and how spirits are restrained from infesting. Thus one night, after hearing spirits about him who were plotting to infest him, he fell asleep and had a sad dream. He then learned that it had been induced by certain sirens who were most dreadfully punished, and he adds that the punishment was so severe because it is an enormous crime to infest a sleeping man; for men ought to sleep safely, otherwise the human race would perish. I perceived, he continues, that a similar thing takes place with other men whom spirits strive to invade during sleep, although the men know it not, for those with whom it is not given to speak and be with spirits cannot hear any such things, still less see them, and yet similar things are about others. (A. 959, D. 4236-4240.) In other passages also speaks of the punishment of spirits who sought to infest his slumbers. (D. 3006, 4633.) He also speaks of a dream induced by such infestors in which two men sought to kill him; in this dream nevertheless, he felt absolutely no fear. (D. 4633); thus illustrating the protective power of the angelic guardians of sleep. One method of this protection he on one occasion vividly experienced. Evil spirit tried to infest him, but were themselves seized with a heavy sleep despite their desire to keep awake, (D. 3231), and one was himself vexed and troubled the whole night while Swedenborg slept soundly. (D. 2913.) From which, Swedenborg comments, it was given him to know that evil spirits are forced to sleep with man that man may sleep well even though girt with the evil. (D. 3232.)

     He also describes another way in which evil spirits are kept from man in sleep, namely, by a vehement wind which Swedenborg noticed after he had waked from an infested dream, and by which the infesters were dispersed in a moment and miserably punished, (D. 3680), because, as he adds, it is forbidden to harm man in the least degree while he sleeps. This wind is the influx from man's Angelic guardians.

     That his open communication with the other world made Swedenborg subject to these dream infestations is evident from the following teaching in the Diary: "Spirits do not know where men are.

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They seek but are unable to find. It was thus provided that they may not know, for if they knew they would destroy the human race. They would enter into them and cause them to be possessed as of old. When, by chance, they happen upon them while they are asleep, then there seems to be, as it were, a sound of shouting outside them, and it appears as if some one falls down near his bed and there remains. Man then supposes that it is something or other, some illusion or vision, but it is from this cause. This has happened to me several times while I was asleep, and then I woke and was instructed that this was the cause. (D. M. 4693)

     It would be interesting in this connection to know something of the dreams of those who have forced themselves into open communication with spirits, to see whether and in what respects they differ from the dreams of other men.

     That dreams are induced by spirits is not in itself a new doctrine, though little, if indeed anything, more than the fact has been known since the establishment of the Christian Church,--a fact the belief in which is the last remnant of the knowledge concerning dreams which obtained in the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches. Nowadays it is the custom to style this belief in the spiritual origin of dreams as a poetic fancy; and yet, without it, men are absolutely at sea as to the simplest dream problem, as, indeed, most of them candidly admit. And yet it is so hard for natural man to believe that dreams come from spirits, whom he does not see, and whom he thinks he does not feel. It is this difficulty which is met in the Divine Mercy of the Lord by the oft repeated testimony of Swedenborg's actual experiences. It is no longer a theory, it is a fact testified to by an eyewitness and even the simplest man can rest upon the proof of this testimony. Even as early as the Adversaria, Swedenborg frequently refers to having waked from a dream and then having spoken with those who introduced the dream. (2 Ad. 184, 4418), telling them the dream and finding it exactly the same as what they had introduced. (D. 4200, 6319.) He was also let into a state as if in sleep and yet at the same time of full wakefulness as to the mind, so that he could actually witness the introduction of dreams by angelic spirits, with whom he also spoke of the matter. (A. 1977)

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He was even granted to himself induce dreams on spirits. On this occasion he was in the state of a spirit among spirits; he was thee in the Society of Angelic Spirits whose special delight it is to introduce dreams. The sleeping spirit to whom he then introduced dreams woke three or four times, and, when Swedenborg mentioned the dreams he had introduced, he recognized then at once. They were delightful dreams. (D. 3181.) He also heard angelic spirits on whom they had introduced dreams, and always found that what had been introduced and what had been dreamed coincided. (D. 3381)

     But as how dreams are introduced he is not specific. Yet we can gather from the multitude of teaching concerning dreams that they are not induced with the special intention of inducing dreams, but are, at any rate for the most part, rather the result of the activities of spirits with each other. Thus we frequently read of dreams which, on comparison, were found to be nothing but representations of what those who induced them had been talking about among themselves. With angels and good spirits, in all that goes forth from them there is the desire that it shall give joy to others; and, consequently, wherever their sphere is received it produces, in wakefulness, good thoughts, and, in sleep, beautiful dreams. Their spheres, as also the spheres of evil spirits, of which we shall speak presently, are so many active forces proceeding from them and seeking entrance wherever they may find it. And when the memory of man is in such a state that they can enter, then, in wakefulness, they bring to him elevating thoughts, and, in sleep, when the Lord permits, they represent themselves in the images of the dream world, varied according to the things in the man's memory. The memory is thus like an instrument of strings which, variously attuned, catches up the activities of the atmosphere and sets them forth in tones of harmony or discord. It is from this cause that when angels of superior heavens are in the activity of spiritual thought and speech their thought is beautifully represented among good spirits in the ultimate heavens; and also in their dreams, and in man's dreams. (D. 778-9)

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     But evil spirits are in constant desire to rule and thus to lead spirits. Whenever they see the opportunity they actually induce dreams, that is to say, they bring their subject into a state in which he sees only the things which represent their own loves. Thus evil spirits are not unlike hypnotists who induce phantasies by the direct determination of their will;-from which it can be seen what would be the state of man in sleep, if he were not guarded by the Lord. With Swedenborg, evil spirits did discover that they could induce dreams, and they boasted they could do it whenever they wished, but answer was made them that it was only when the Lord permitted. (2 Ad. 184)

     It is said that the dreams induced by the spirits near man are significative and the word is used advisedly; for they are not correspondential. What flows in from spirits excites whatever, in the man's memory, (and hence also in the memory of subject spirits), is suitable, and its suitability depends on the idea with which it is connected in that man's mind. Swedenborg illustrates this by relating that he hall an idea of a certain man, merely from external observation, that he was in natural truth, and when certain angels were speaking about natural truth, this man was represented, and all that he did in the dream simply represented the orderly progression of the angels' speech. (A. 1981, D. 4404.) The same is the case with the spirits, from whom dreams directly flow. After a dream about a fall, Swedenborg spoke with the spirits who had introduced it and afterwards with angelic spirits. The latter told him that the things in the dream coincided with what they had been talking about, and still they were not the same, but only representative of them, and they added that the same speech can be turned into other representations both like and unlike, according to the states of the spirits around man and according to the man's own state. (A. 1980, D. 4033.) Thus it is, that an infinite number of dreams may result from one origin according to the recipient vessels in different memories and affections. (A. 1980, D. 1453)

     Not only are persons excited in dreams, but the spirits by whom the dream is excited actually think themselves to be those persons, (D. 180), a fact which was proved to Swedenborg by experience. (D. 1880-2, 3877, 3 Ad 5021, 7572 (cf. n. 2752, 509, 2 Ad. 2632), A. 1983, D. 75, 89, 2744, 2797.)

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     Sometimes, however, when the Lord permits the person who appears in the dream is actually the same person. Thus Swedenborg saw and spoke with his father in a dream, (A. 6492; D. 2821); so likewise, he dreamt of Peter of Russia, and when he woke he spoke with him. (D. 5649.) Again he saw Louis XIV, in the same manner, and immediately afterwards he was informed by the King that he himself had appeared to his grandson, Louis XV., in a dream or obscure vision. (D. 5980, J. p. 104.) In such cases as these, spirits are permitted to come into more ultimate and determined thought concerning those in the world, and sometimes, also, as was the case with Louis XIV., into their external memory. Thus they could appear and speak in dreams-as likewise in vision-in a manner comprehensible by man. (See A. 10751.) The facts concerning the persons I have mentioned, give us reason to believe that there is at this day sometimes an actual appearance of those who have been dearly beloved. But all is at the Lord's disposal.

     That a dream is somewhat sad does not necessarily indicate that it is induced by evil spirits, for it may be significative of the truth. Thus Swedenborg dreamt of his father falling in the water and being rescued by him; and he learned that angelic spirits had been conversing about the things Swedenborg had written concerning the Word. (D. 4191.) We may note, in passing, the evidence of the high estimation in which Swedenborg held his father's memory, as evidenced by the fact that the idea of the Word could find representation by that father.

     Again he dreamt of being at a great banquet where he was ashamed of his unsuitable clothing, which was shiny white hair cloth, which he was anxious to change. Some men of the later Most Ancient Church told him that they supposed this dream meant that he should not confirm the doctrine so much by abundant quotations from the Word. He informed them, however, that such a procedure was necessary at this day, and that without the passages it would be like white hair cloth the insufficiency whereof had been experienced in the dream. (D. 4133.) He dreams of a ruined temple with only some remnants of the altar left sunk in a hole into which he began to sink, whereat he was smitten with fear lest he fall into the depth.

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But the dream was a representation, presumably from good spirits, of the quality at this day of the magnificent temple of the Lord and His Word. (D. 4179.) The same may be said of a dream in which he saw several priests, none of whom knew anything of the internals of the Word. (D. 4841.) Even in what he calls an "ordinary or common dream" he found on walling that it exactly agreed with what angelic spirits had been conversing about, not that it was the same, but it represented it. So he dreamt of an acquaintance who stole his bolster and counterpane, and furlined cloak, whereat he was naturally very angry; and he found that this dream absolutely corresponded with the speech of certain spirits who were above him. (D. 4151.)

     (To be continued.)
It is not the names, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregationalist, Episcopalian, or even Catholic, which condemn 1908

It is not the names, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregationalist, Episcopalian, or even Catholic, which condemn              1908

     It is not the names, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregationalist, Episcopalian, or even Catholic, which condemn. These names, which for the most part in themselves indicate external differences of government or ritual of the church, might endure even in the acceptance of the New Church. There will be many varieties in the one church which shall be the crown of all. But, so far as these churches or any of them stand for faith alone, for tripersonality in the Godhead, for vicarious atonement, or for the domination of man over man in spiritual things, so far they are of the Old Church which is condemned in the doctrines of the New Church. Let us beware of thinking them to be of the church, even of the church universal, by reason of their external good of life, for there is nothing more clearly taught in the Writings than that we cannot judge of the spiritual states of men. Here are the tests: Do they receive the Lord Jesus Christ as God alone, as God in His Divine Human? Do they teach that one must shun evils as sins in order to enter heaven? Do they believe in the Word of the Old and the New Testament as Divine Revelation?

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.
     The report of the German Swedenborg Society, of Stuttgart, shows the publication during the past year of new editions, in German, of Divine Love and Wisdom, and Divine Providence.



     In continuation of the discussion, as to the Writings being the Word, "F. A. F." concludes his latest communication to the Messenger by expressing the hope that the readers of that journal will use their own rationality in answering the important (and simple) question, "Does the Lord reveal Himself in His revelations?"



     A correspondent to Morning Light, "M. C. L.," traces the notion that the New Church is simply a Sect, to a practice "now common in the Church," of referring to the Writings in such phrases as "Swedenborg says," "In the writings of Swedenborg we read," etc.; and he asks, "How can we blame others for taking us at our own valuation?" If we wish to be considered a Church, possessing a Divine Revelation, as we profess to, (he continues), all references to the Writings should be in terms which would indicate them as the Writings of the New Church. "Swedenborg's name need never appear, except, indeed, as the Lord's servant."

     While we sympathize with the spirit of "M. C. L.'s" letter, it is to be feared that he sees only an external imperfection in the practice "now common in the Church." He assumes, as a matter of course, that the English Conference acknowledges the Writings as a Divine Revelation, and that it errs only in a verbal expression. But is this the fact?

     In curious contrast to the letter noted above, are two quotations inserted by the editor in this identical issue of Morning Light.

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The first is marked "Emerson," and the second, immediately following it, is marked "Swedenborg"!



     As an example of something indicating a similar attitude to the Writings in this country there comes to hand one of the editorials in the last number of the New Church Review. In this editorial a comparison is made between the Memorable Relation in Apocalypse Revealed, n. 675, and the parallel relation in True Christian Religion, n. 389, and it is noted that, while in the former, a society of spirits which refused to acknowledge the Lord and therefore same down to the lower earth, is spoken of as being composed of Englishmen; in the latter all mention of their being Englishmen is omitted and they are referred to simply as "a Society." On this the editorial comments, "Is it not probable that Swedenborg, who had come to know Hartley and others, [when he wrote the True Christian Religion] deemed it best to print nothing which reflected upon their nation?" Divine Revelation and--human prudence, or flattery!



     There have recently come to our attention two striking and most unfortunate errors, or, more strictly speaking, omissions, in the Boston (two-column) edition of the True Christian Religion. This translation was made by Mr. Taylor Gilman Worcester, who completed it in 1833, after it had been revised by the Rev. T. E. Hayward. It has been twelve times reprinted, but without any change: and we regard it as the best translation of True Christian Religion which has yet been made. It is considerably marred, however, by the omissions to which we refer.

     The first, which is at the very beginning of the work, consists in the dropping of the words "which is the Word," in the following passage: "Unless the Lord should come again into the World in the Divine Truth which is the Word, neither can anyone be saved." (n. 3)

     The second omission, which is equally unfortunate, occurs at the end of the work, in the title of the chapter commencing with paragraph 779: "That this Second Advent of the Lord is effected by a man before whom He manifested Himself in Person, and whom He filled with His spirit to teach the Doctrines of the New Church, by the Word from Him."

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Here the translation omits the words "in Person."

     It is remarkable that both these omissions in an otherwise excellent translation, should be omissions of words having a most important bearing on the Divine Authority of the Writings. That the mistakes were unintentional, we have not the slightest doubt; but the thought arises as to the work of spirits in producing them without the conscious co-operation of men. And in this connection it may be noted that at the time of the translation, many in New England shared the belief of Dr. Thomas Worcester, that the Lord appeared to Swedenborg, not "in person," but by means of an angel whom He infilled with His presence. Whether T. G. Worcester was of this opinion, or not, we do not know.

     We would suggest to those of our readers who own copies of the translation, that they enter therein the two corrections noted above.



     WHAT THE NEW JERUSALEM TEACHES, IN A NUT SHELL. By Joseph E. Collom. pp. 105.

     In this little work the pastor of the Los Angeles Society endeavors to present a summary of the doctrines of the New Church in the form of a number of dialogues, the Answers being simply quotations from the writings of Swedenborg. There is, probably, no more difficult way of presenting a serious subject than by the dialogue. Yet with skillful treatment it can be used with considerable effect. But in the present work the questioner is little more than a dummy, and it: is painfully obvious that he is asking "leading" questions solely for the benefit of some innocent bystander. There is in human nature a deep-seated objection to such benevolent questioners, and even when they are purely imaginary persons, one does not wholly rid oneself of the objection. Instead of the questions, we would much prefer a simple heading indicating what is to follow.

     The work, apparently, is written for the benefit of beginners. But, whether this is the case or not, it fails to carry out the promise of the title, to give "What the New Jerusalem Teaches in a Nut Shell."

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After some introductory quotations on the three "Essentials" of the New Church, it enters forthwith into a consideration of the necessity of "nature study," and of various doctrines laid down by Swedenborg in his "scientific works,"-the necessity of geometry, mechanism and reason; the doctrines of form, order, degrees, series, influx, correspondence, modifications and motion; and the necessity of a universal science or Mathesis. Then follows the doctrine of revelation (quoted from the Writings),-its nature, method, purpose, theme and language. And last comes a description of the "spiritual geography" of the Holy Land, being in the nature of a dictionary of geographical correspondences.

     The various quotations are excellently chosen, and in reading them, one cannot but admire the industry of the author. But, for the student, they are far too few, while, for the beginner there is obvious an entire lack of setting. He is introduced at once into a mass of teachings before he knows where to place them;-before he has learned what the New Church is and what its leading doctrines. Even in the part of the work specially devoted to the subject of revelation, not a single word is said to even faintly indicate that a new revelation has been made and a New Church established. The great fundamental doctrine of the Lord is hardly referred to; and the same may be said of the doctrines of the resurrection, the life after death, and the Last Judgment.

     But despite this defect, there is one feature in this work which should warmly commend it to the attention of members of the New Church. We refer to the presentation of the great doctrines of the "scientific works." In his quotations the author shows considerable familiarity with these works, keen appreciation of them, and good judgment in the choice of selections. They clearly show, what is beginning to be more and more recognized in the Church, that many of the great doctrines of the Writings are foreshadowed, and far more than foreshadowed, in the Scientific works. Indeed it can hardly be doubted that the New Church reader of this part of Mr. Collom's book, if he is ignorant in these scientific works, will be inspired with a curiosity and desire to examine them to know further concerning their wonderful doctrines, so like the Writings. And to give rise to such a desire is no mean use.

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MARK TWAIN ON HEAVEN 1908

MARK TWAIN ON HEAVEN              1908

     Mark Twain's story in Harper's Magazine for December and January, entitled "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven," is a very amusing and very surprising adaptation of certain features of Swedenborg's Memorable Relations. The captain, a tough old salt, after extraordinary adventures tending to show the immensity of heaven, at length arrives at the gate of his own section, and is promptly furnished with "a harp and a hymn-book, cloud-bank, the captain says: "Now, this is according to the promises; I've been having my doubts, but now I am in heaven, sure enough! I gave my palm-branch a wave or two, for luck, and then I tautened up harp-strings and struck in....." "By and by I quit performing, and judged I'd take a rest...." After about sixteen or seventeen hours, during which I played and sung a little, now and then,-always the same time, because I didn't know any other,-I laid down my harp and began to fan myself with my palm-branch."

     Finally, "dog-tired," he concluded to "knock off and calling it half a day," got some enthusiastic newcomers to hold all his things, and met an old friend from the earth who tells him that "people take the figurative language of the Bible and the allegories for literal, and the first thing they ask for when they get here is a halo and a harp, and so on. Nothing that is harmless and reasonable is refused a body here, if he asks it in the right spirit. So they are outfitted with these things without a word. They go and sing and play just about one day, and that's the last you'll ever see them in the choir. They don't need anybody to tell them that that sort of thing wouldn't make a heaven-at least not a heaven that a sane man could stand a week and remain sane. That cloud-bank is placed where the noise can't disturb the old inhabitants, and so there ain't any harm in letting everybody get up there and cure himself as soon as he comes."

     "Now, you just remember this-heaven is as blissful and lovely as it can be; but it is just he busiest place you ever heard of.

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There ain't any idle people here after the first day. Singing hymns and waving palm-branches through all eternity is pretty when you hear about it in the pulpit, but it's as poor a way to put in valuable time as a body could contrive. It would just make a heaven of warbling ignoramuses, don't you see? Eternal Rest sounds comforting in the pulpit, too. Well, try it once, and see how heavy time will hang on your hands."

     The love is a sample of the style and the ideas, which, no doubt, will be new and startling to a good many people. In the whole story there is nothing of the writer's usual touches of irreverence (unless the reference to "an old bald-headed angle by the name of Sandy McWilliams" be regarded as such); on the contrary, there are many passages suggestive of a tender and reverent faith. All his ideas, indeed, are not equally in harmony with New Church truths, but the story, as a whole, suggests a wide field of useful missionary work for someone who is a real Newchurchman and at the same time a real humorist.
NEW WORK ON DEGREES 1908

NEW WORK ON DEGREES              1908

     DEGREES OF LIFE IN MAN. Being Doctrine from the Word of God as set forth in the Writings of Swedenborg. By O. L. Barler. Pp. 330.

     The doctrine of degrees, as is truly observed by the venerable author in his Preface, is the key to all knowledges. Without an understanding of it we cannot hope to enter far into the many arcana revealed in the Writings. The doctrine of the Lord, of creation, of the relation of the spiritual world to the natural, of regeneration,-to mention only a few-will be interiorly seen and interiorly understood only so far as there is an interior comprehension of degrees. Any work, therefore, on this all-important doctrine, will naturally be welcomed by the Church.

     Previous to the appearance of the present book, the only work specifically devoted to the study of degrees was that written by Dr. N. C. Burnham, and published by the Academy, some twenty years ago; though mention might also be made of the anonymous publication, "Tubs With Bottoms and Tubs Without,"-a controversial work issued in 1890, which deals quite fully with this subject.

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     We can hardly institute a comparison between Dr. Burnham's work and the present publication. The purposes of the two works are different. The former is addressed specifically to the students of the Church. It endeavors to give all the varied statements concerning degrees to be found in the Writings, and to show their relation, harmony and unity. But the work under review confines itself to the subject of "Degrees in Man." Moreover, its purpose does not include a study of the more particular teachings, e. g., intermediate degrees, the celestial of the spiritual, etc.-with which the Writings abound, and which, though well-known to students, are, as yet, but little understood. In one respect, however, Mr. Barler's book is similar to Dr. Burnham's, in that neither of them take up the subject of the formation and organic existence of degrees,-a most important branch of the subject, which is little comprehended.

     Beginning with the simple doctrine that man consists of soul, mind and body, the author proceeds to show that the mind is two-fold, internal and external, each consisting of three degrees. This leads to a general, but lucid presentation of the teaching respecting the two Kingdoms and the three Heavens. There are also chapters on continuous and discrete degrees, influx, correspondences, and ultimates. What might be called the second part of the work, then takes up the development of man, showing the opening of degrees in infancy, childhood and youth, and afterwards, by regeneration, to old age. And, finally, the work closes with a chapter on The Value of Doctrinal Things, and another on Swedenborg the Revelator. In this last chapter, special emphasis is laid on Swedenborg's preparation, and on the Divinity of the Writings, and the last words of the chapter (and also of the book) is Swedenborg's memorable affirmation. "Now I know for certain that what I write is the living truth of God." (2 Doc. P. 405.)

     The work abounds with quotations from almost every book of the Writings. Indeed, its wealth of quotations constitute by no means its least value to the reader. With one exception, the whole of the text is explanatory of these quotations, and faithful to them.

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The whole effort is simply to clearly present and join together in a whole what the Writings teach. The one exception is the wholly unexpected introduction, in chapter xxii, of three degrees in the limbus (or border between the spirit and the body), and the subsequent statements respecting their successive opening. The existence of these three degrees seems to be simply assumed; for, though the previous chapter contains all abundance of quotations respecting the limbus, no hint is there given of its being of three degrees.

     In connection with the quotations from the Writings, we note that a great number of them, although printed as verbatim citations, are frequently elliptical, amounting in many cases to paraphrase, and, in one or two cases we have noticed they are not wholly correct. In justice to the author, however, we must add, that the sense of the quotation is rarely, if ever, distorted. The looseness of citations is rather an unfortunate, than a serious blemish.

     The work is a plain, clear, and complete setting forth of the general doctrine respecting degrees in man. It is a useful compendium on the doctrine rather than a philosophical treatise, and it can hardly be said to mark a distinct advance in the Church's knowledge. But in his own field the author has so well succeeded, that his book, and especially the latter half of it, can be heartily recommended to all who would obtain some systematic knowledge of this sublime doctrine of degrees.

     It remains only to add our appreciation of what is a unique, and certainly a most delightful feature of the work, namely, the addition, at the end of each chapter, of a Memorable Relation from the Writings. The Relations are remarkably well selected; and, adding to the power of truth the charm of living representation, we doubt not they will prove to the reader to be a marked help to his comprehension of the subject. The author is to be congratulated on his plan, a plan which has never before been used in the collateral literature of the Church. The Relations are given without explanation or apology, and their appearance is, as it were, an embodiment of the admirable, but all too rare spirit displayed throughout the book, which everywhere utters the thought: These things are true because they are revealed.

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OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD THE "REMNANT." 1908

OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD THE "REMNANT."       G. E. MORGAN       1908

EDITOR New Church Life.

     May I ask as to the attitude of the Life or of the General Church toward such remnants of truth and goodness as exist outside of those who have heard of the Second Coming, i. e., the people who are not consciously of the New Church. I am led to ask this question on account of the statement in the third proposition on the inside cover of the Life, and the implied policy of conduct, viz., "Third: That this revelation was given because the state of the First Christian Church and of the whole civilized world thence, was become one of spiritual vastation and night, in which no truth of doctrine and no good of life remain. Whence it follows that from all doctrine and from all life not drawn from and inspired by that Revelation, the New Church must avert itself."

     I have known of the General Church as maintaining its identify by building up its life in its own way, "averted" from all distracting influences so far as possible, but I would like to know whether it recognizes any good anywhere else, and of what nature that good is supposed to be; also, whether the General Church recognizes any duty toward it save to keep averted from the bad environment of that good remnant. Or, to state it otherwise, What is the correct attitude and duty toward the life in the world, which may be right in the eyes of the Lord, but which knows nothing of the external New Church, or of its teachings, as being of the Second Coming?
     Very sincerely.
          G. E. MORGAN.

     ANSWER

     The statement from our declaration of principles, quoted by our correspondent, is a general proposition referring to the general state of the Christian world, as disclosed in the Writings of the New Church.

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The existence of a "remnant" in the Old Church, but not of it, is a fact known to every reader of the Doctrines.

     This remnant, described in the Writings as the "Simple good," are not a remnant of the New Church, either consciously or unconsciously; they are not of the New Church consciously since they know nothing whatever about it. Nor are they unconsciously of the New Church, since the New Church means the rational and thus conscious reception of the Lord in His Second Coming.

     On the other hand, they are not a remnant of the dead Church, as such, since they are the ones who are to be called out of that Church, lest their become partakers of her iniquities. What, then, are they the remnant of? Why, their very designation involves than they are the remnant of the early Christian Church, such as it was before it was overwhelmed by the abomination of desolation. Thus, they are not of the New Church, except potentially, nor of the Old Church, except nominally. Actually, they are simple, good Christians of the primitive type.

     Who this remnant of the simple good are, is known to the Lord alone, as is clearly taught in the Writings of the New Church:

     "The reason the interior things of the Word are now being opened, is that at this day the Church is vastated so greatly, that is, is so devoid of faith and love,--that although men know and understand, still they do not acknowledge and still less believe, except a few who are in the life of good and are called 'the elect,' who can now be instructed, and with whom a New Church is to be established. But where these are, the Lord alone knows; there will be few within the Church; it was the Gentiles with whom New Churches were established before." (A. C. 3898.)

     And n. 3489 of the same work thus concludes a lengthy and fearful description: "Such are Christians at this day as to their interiors, except a few whom they do not know. Hence the quality of the Church is evident."

     Since, therefore, this remnant is known to the Lord alone, it is manifest that the attitude of the New Church towards the simple good can differ in no respect from the attitude which we must observe toward all human beings, without distinction.

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The Lord alone can judge the interiors of men. This being the case, the law of charity requires of us no special duty to the remnant other than that of holding out toward all men alike the means of salvation provided by the Lord in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem.--EDITORS.
QUESTION OF LITERARY ETHICS 1908

QUESTION OF LITERARY ETHICS       J. E. Y       1908

EDITORS New Church Life.

     As one of the Rotch Trustees, I read with a good deal of interest the criticism by "z" in your January number of the work, entitled, "Who was Swedenborg and What are His Writings." His claiming the title as original with the American Swedenborg Publication Society is particularly refreshing. The first time the title. "Who was Swedenborg?" was printed, was, at least, forty years ago, when Mr. Horace P. Chandler, one of the Rotch Trustees, published a Brochure with that title. It has been used so many times since, that it has long since become common property, if indeed it was not common property before that time. Mr. Chandler never remembers his permission to use the title being requested by the American Swedenborg Society, or by anyone else, and, indeed, he never expected it.

     In regard to the appropriation of other parts of the American Society's most excellent catalogue, "z" is somewhat more correct. The Convention appointed a Committee to help the Rotch Trustees complete their edition. It was a most efficient committee and did its work to the entire satisfaction of all whose names have so far openly appeared, except apparently this critic whose name is so appropriately taken to be represented by the last letter of the alphabet. Among other things done by this Committee was the advertising of the Rotch 1907 Edition, and part of the advertising was this pamphlet, which it got out independent of the Rotch Trustees and without consulting them. It mailed about twenty-five thousand of them throughout the country.

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If the use of this requires any apology, the Rotch Trustees are prepared to apologize as well as they can for the Committee without implying, however, that the Committee is not fully competent to take care of itself in the matter.

     The Rotch Trustee; do not consider that they are a rival house to anybody, or that there are any rival houses in the sense that "z" evidently intends. We are all working according to the light given us for one common aim, and that is to spread the doctrines of Swedenborg. If someone, through Providence of the Lord, has hit upon a concise and clear method of saying something good about Swedenborg, the Rotch Trustees supposed, as a matter of course, that the author or authors would be only too glad to have it spread broadcast. Any objection to this seems to the trustees to be only another example of the proprium with which all of the work of men upon this earth is so permeated. The desire to see one's name in print is a very itching one with most Americans, and I am very sorry to see that it reaches only down through the whole alphabet. I would like to refer "z" to Swedenborg's own example in this regard.

     As to the omission of the quotation from "The True Christian Religion," No. 779, which was spoken of in "z's" article. I have this to say, earnestly trusting that the Convention Committee will not think me too zealous in their defense, and surmising only as to the real reasons of the Committee: their space was limited; the first pages contained a statement of the subject matter, which was sufficient apparently in the eyes of the Committee and, inasmuch as the Committee intended the pamphlet for use among the sick, and not among the well, the Committee doubtless thought that an array of opinions showing the value given to Swedenborg by persons who might be considered worthy judges of such things in the eyes of people who are not Swedenborgians would be of more value than an assertion made by Swedenborg himself. This, of course, is simply a matter of judgment, and while the Committee probably do not consider themselves infallible, still they have an idea that those quotations were, under the circumstances, better than the one that was left out. The Committee did think, probably, that the purpose of the pamphlet was better fulfilled by the six pages of "Opinions Concerning Swedenborg" than by the extract from Swedenborg himself. It is hoped that "z" will not consider this heresy.

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     The statement that the 1907 Rotch Edition is "the only complete and uniform edition of the Writings" is perhaps misleading. That error, however, is corrected on the last page of the pamphlet, which contains the definite statement which appears in all the other advertisements of the edition as far as I know, that the 1907 Rotch Edition of Swedenborg's Theological Works is the only complete and uniform edition of the theological writings published by Swedenborg now on the market.

     In regard to the use of the title, "Marriage Love," the trustees would only say that this is a question for the scholars of the Church and for the scholars who art are to take fully into consideration the growth of the English language, and also the growth of the public mind. It seems to the trustees that a word, originating through a mistake of the printer, should be no longer perpetuated in such an important work as the title. The term "Conjugial" which has been foisted upon the English language, is, however, a thoroughly good term, and there is no reason why it should not be used wherever the peculiar meaning which has been given to it is required by those who do not care to use the simpler term. J. E. Y.

     [It seems hardly necessary to call attention to the all-too-obvious fact that the "z," over which "J. E. Y." waxes so merry, was introduced for some mystic reason known to our printer alone. Our correspondent's caustic wit, therefore, glides smoothly away from us, and as we speed its departing form, we cherish the hope it may make so scorching an impression on our printer's brain that he will never again undertake to sign articles issued from the editorial sanctum.

     As to "J. E. Y.'s" apologia, the reader can judge for himself. For our own part we still look with favor on the custom of acknowledging the source of reprinted articles.-EDITORS.]

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UNANGELIC ANGELS 1908

UNANGELIC ANGELS       E. E. IUNGERICH       1908

EDITORS NEW CHURCH LIFE.

     In the February issue of the Life there is a communication on "the Church within the Churches," in which the writer, Rev. L. G. Landenberger, administers a gentle reproof to the Life because of an editorial on "Our Relation to Other Churches," in which the Messenger was criticized for advocating the notion that the New Church is the heart and lungs of the various Christian denominations. Mr. Landenberger's rejoinder, summed up briefly, may be stated in the following three lemmas:

     First. THE MESSENGER MAY NOT HAVE MEANT WHAT IT SAID. Therefore, the editors of Life should look behind what it did say to find some favorable construction to put on it; failing which, they should cherish the charitable hope that there might still be something good there, appearances to the contrary.

     Second. WE ALL, AS BRETHREN IN THE NEW CHURCH SHOULD ACT ACCORDING TO THE ANGEL'S CODE. The angels never condemn or notice faults, but always interpret everything into good. They have respect for every man's belief.

     Third. THE MESSENGER, AFTER ALL, WAS ALTOGETHER RIGHT IN WHAT IT DID SAY. The writer then quotes approvingly the statements censured by the Life, and commends even their most extravagant effusion, viz., that a Newchurchman should respect the religion of a Unitarian, and at the same time encourage him to look to the Lord. For further confirmation he calls attention to the proposition that the various church on earth is the total of the separate churches. These separate churches are the various Christian denominations, if not as to organization, nevertheless as to the "functions they perform in the world," and also as to their members who are of the New Church, "as to their hearts, if not as to their heads."

     As regards the first lemma we would say that if a paper is not competent to say what it means then there is no reason for its existence.

     In respect to the third lemma, we may assume that it is meant to convey the real truth, viz., that all those who are in the good of life from religion, be they New Church, Old Church, Mohammedan, or Heathen, and who are known to the Lord alone, constitute the Lord's Universal Church on earth.

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But to claim that any of the Christian sects as such are parts of a universal New Church is to betray an unfamiliarity or else open disregard of the plain teachings in the Writings concealing the infernal character, past, present, and future, of the Christian sects. To claim that any specified Old Church individuals, who to us seems to be good, are of the universal New Church--is to assert that we can know what is known to the Lord alone. If our hearts move us to tell them that they are of the Lord's New Church, either as a means to win their favor, which is questionable, or else to clear away any doubts they may have as to our kind disposition towards them, our honesty should move us, at the same time, to make the frank admission that we really known nothing about their states. We cannot even know which of our New Church acquaintances, let alone ourselves, really belong to the Lord's New Church. Fortunately, we are given the power to know and discover in ourselves things which are unmistakably opposed to the Lord's New Church, and this is the means to amendment. These things which we recognize as wrong in ourselves, are wrong also outside of ourselves. We have the power of recognizing thee things, from the doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

     We should, therefore, welcome kindly any suggestion that may look to the amendment of ourselves and the Church. If, as the writer advances in the second lemma, it is unangelic to venture any unfavorable criticisms, then this is a most needed lesson, not only for the editors of the Life, who found fault with a heresy, but also for our writer who has implied that these editors are unangelic. Let us examine this in the light of the Doctrines.

     In A. C. 1079 we find the statement of the universal principle that governs the angels in their relations to man:

     "By Ham who observed the nakedness of his father, that is, his errors and perversities, is perversities, is described those who are in faith separated from charity. They who are such see nothing else in man. But those who are in faith of charity observe good things, and if they see things which are evil and false, they excuse those things, and if possible, here related of Shem and Japheth. Where there is no there is love of self, and consequently hatred toward all who do not show favor.

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Hence such see nothing in the neighbor but his evil, and if they see any good they either regard it as nothing or else interpret it into evil. In the other life their animus to hatred shines out in all least actions. They wish to examine everyone, yea, to judge every one, and desire nothing more earnestly than to discover what is evil, continually purposing in their minds to condemn, to punish, and to torment. But those who are in charity scarcely see the evil of another, but observe all his good and true things; and those which are evil and false, they interpret into good. Such are all the Angels, deriving this from the Lord who turns all evil into good."

     This is the general principle that guides all their actions. If all the Writings and the memory of them were obliterated, and only a fragment containing this passage were left to us, we could have no instances or illustrations of how this principle enters into all the actions of the angels. In like manner if nearly all the words of the Lord from whom they have this principle, were lost, and the only fragments left contained the commands "Judge not, that ye be not judged; love your enemies; do good to them that hate you; pray for them which despitefully use you"-- we would not have as a guide to the proper application of these precepts-the example set by the Lord in cases that deserved rebuke.

     But we have the good fortune not to be in such straits. We have a rich store of information as to how the angels and the Lord do act. There is no necessity for us to impose on the angels or the Lord any straight-laced line of conduct whose chief condition is harmony with what seems good to us. Having access to the Word, we should not act as if we only had access to a few fragments which required us to supply what was missing.

     The New Testament shows that the Lord Himself criticized, reprimanded, rebuked, and censured. In doing this He made use of terms that could not have been either flattering or soothing to those He denounced. "Stiff-necked uncircumcised in heart, hypocrites, whited sepulchers, sons of the devil, generation of vipers, liars," are some of the expressions applied with discrimination to the various wrongdoers He confronted. Will any one say that this bearing was incompatible with the Divine nature? Or will it be urged that His love for the human race and for the very ones He rebuked, was not in these expressions? was it, perhaps, say--temporarily suspended?

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     As regards the angels mentioned in the Word we find that they, too, enjoy an amazing facility of denunciation which they made use of without reluctance whenever the occasion requires it. They are not afraid of being thought unangelic. "Dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Apoc. 22:15), are the angelic expressions applied to the various Old Church affiliations which the Messenger, and, perhaps our writer, would lovingly welcome as organic constituents of the New Jerusalem. The only instance we recall of one who was so loving that he could not find fault or chide-is that of a father who surrounded himself in the world of spirits with all his sons, evil as well as good, and would not admit that any of them could be evil,-because they were his sons. (C. L. 406.)

     In Conjugial Love, no. 10 we are given particulars regarding the angelic way in which the angels receive those who wish to penetrate into heaven either by their own power or before they are prepared. At the sight of one of these the angels took to their heels, exclaiming. "What is this monstrosity? How did this bird of night get here'" The pretensions of another were so absurd that it is said the angels actually laughed. One of these angels thereupon uttered the angelic command. "Strip him naked, throw him out, and throw his clothing after him." The spirit who is narrating this angelic treatment which he received, then adds tersely: "And so I was thrown out."

     If the detection of what is evil and false is uncharitable and unangelic, then the angels are uncharitable and unangelic, or else have temporary moments of aberration.

     As to unfavorable criticism, it his a value on earth as well as among the angels. It may he prompted by a zeal for the truth and the consequent desire to dispel falsities as well from those who are prone to favor them as from the simple who would blindly accede to whatever is propounded in print by anyone reputed wise. It may be prompted by "an endeavor to correct them, as is related of Shem and Japheth."
     E. E. IUNGERICH.

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Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. Persistent efforts are being put forth to raise the necessary funds for the Society to subscribe for the forthcoming new Liturgy, in time to take advantage of the subscribers' price. From present indications the book will be here sooner than expected. Many of our members have ordered copies for themselves, in order to secure the same rate.

     Ms. Colley continues to delight us with good things musically. She gave a pupils' recital recently, which was well attended, and showed again the remarkable methods,--or is it her energy? Seldom does a Sunday pass without some new piece from the choir, and each week the congregation sings a new Psalm. In this way we are going through the entire Psalmody consecutively. We never realized so fully what a powerful piece of music the twenty-first Psalm is.

     On the evening of January twentieth we had an organ recital, in which a prominent organist from the city played the organ, and Mrs. Colley played several duets with him on the piano. Miss Gwladys Hicks also sang. The music was all of a devotional character.

     A complete chronicle of all the social doings of the past month, in this quiet rural retreat, would crowd these columns and, perhaps, shock; our serious minded brethren elsewhere. But cheer up! It is an epidemic which comes over us occasionally, but is not of endless duration; besides, all are not included, by any means, in each of these suppers, banquets, dances, at homes, and parties, concerts, recitals, lectures, sleighing parties, skating parties, moonlight coasting parties, classes, philosophy circles, basket ball contests, school entertainments, celebrations of Swedenborg's Birthday, or Lincoln's Birthday, or Miss So and So's coming of age, Valentine parties, theater parties, not to mention council meetings, Board meetings, editorial meetings, Committee meetings, etc.

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You can amuse all of the people some of the time, and some (a very few) all of the time--but you cannot amuse all of the people all of the time. The strangest thing, in the midst of all this activity, is to hear some complain that they have had very little social life! There seems at present to be no orderly way of co-ordinating or economically and wisely expending all this social energy. The school authorities hold the pupils, so far as their authority extends, within certain bounds; and the Pastor, with his council, with the co-operation of the Civic and Social Club, cut down the number of Society entertainments from three to one. That is, they decided to leave the celebration of Swedenborg's birthday to the children, and have a banquet, with papers upon purely spiritual subjects, on February 6th, the anniversary of the institution of the General Church. This was to displace also any formal or elaborate celebration by the Society of Washington's birthday. Swedenborg's birthday being thus vacated by the older folks, this is what happened: 1. A formal banquet by the young people, speeches, on the new developments in Swedenborg's Science; 2. a banquet for the children of the Local School, with speeches about Swedenborg; 3. a dance for some of the college and seminary pupils; and 4. a party for the Intermediate set. The usefulness of each of these affairs was undoubted, and the spirit of loyalty to the church and its teachings was brimming over, but this kind of social abstemiousness reminds one of Rip Van Winkle's good resolutions. It does not seem fitting that the Pastor or the school should undertake to control private affairs, nor discourage private initiative in respect to more general activities. Since monopoly is not in favor, how would a "Social Trust" do?

     It is at such times as these that one turns with longing to thoughts of the "Simple Life"--at Longport, Covert, or Honey Harbor,-with opportunities for quiet breathing, study, and meditation. O. S.

     PHILADELPHIA, PA. The Annual Meeting of the Society was held on January 5th, after the morning services. The treasurer reported a small balance on hand, but the financial outlook for the coming year was not encouraging.

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     On January 26th, Dr. Eldred Iungerich filled the pulpit and his excellent sermon was much appreciated by the audience

     On January 18th, the Ladies' Aid gave a very enjoyable entertainment in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leander Good to the children of the Advent Church.

     Swedenborg's birthday was celebrated by a General Social on January 29th, in the Hall of Worship.

     The Young Folks' Social Club has been reorganized and gave a successful entertainment for the young folks in the studio of Frau Muller, on February 14th.

     The interest in Mr. Charles Pendleton's Class on Creation in the light of Swedenborg's Philosophy is keeping up. Mr. Pendleton also takes an active interest in the social life of the Society, especially among the young folk.

     The members of the Advent Church are now making an effort to collect the necessary means for the purchase of the new Liturgy.     R.

     MIDDLEPORT, O. Our celebration of Christmas began with a service for the children on Christmas eve, after which they represented in tableaux, the Annunciation, the shepherds, the Nativity, and the Wise Men. Christmas morning there was a short service at the church, but the Holy Supper was not celebrated because some of our members could not be present. On the following Sunday the Lord's Supper was administered to twenty-four communicants.

     Our holidays were saddened by the loss of Mr. Carl Semple, who passed into the other life on Christmas day, after a sickness of nine weeks. Yet we were enabled to remember that our loss is his gain; and indeed, that his gain is also our gain; for every loved one passing into the spiritual world draws us nearer to our eternal home and strengthens the Church on earth.

     His passing away brought his sisters, Miss Maud and Miss Ida and Mrs. Laughead, and his nephews, Mr. Carl Laughead and Mr. Leo Williams, who remained for various lengths of time and added to the sphere of the Church with us.

     We enjoyed a pleasant social on New Year's eve at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Barrows, which is the same as going to "Aunt Esther" Grant's.

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Just before midnight there was a short devotional service, after which we wished each other a happy new year and dispersed.

     Swedenborg's birthday was celebrated by a banquet at the home of Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Allen. Papers were presented on "Reading the Writings," by Dr. W. A. Hanlin; "Sweden," by F. G. Davis, "Bishop Swedberg," by Dr. W. A. Hanlin; and "Doctrines Peculiar to the New Church in Swedenborg's Science by Rev. W. L. Gladish.

     Additional toasts were to "Conjugial Level" "America, the Home of the Academy and the General Church," and "To the Loved Ones Gone Before."

     On Sunday, February 2d, we had the pleasure of a visit from Mr. Louis Cole, of Glenview, who traveled far and endured some hardships to worship with us on that day. He gives cheering accounts of the Glen's growth and prosperity. W. L. G.

     CHICAGO, ILL. Sharon Church held its celebration of Swedenborg's birthday on Tuesday evening, January 28th; and so was favored with visitors from Glenview who were willing to celebrate again at home the following evening. Our Pastor was toastmaster. Mr. Charles F. Browne read an account of Swedenborg's Journey to Italy in 1738, as described in the Diary of Travels. Mr. Browne having himself traveled over the same ground more recently, was able to add many interesting comments to Swedenborg's impressions. Mr. Junge followed with a laudatory account of the Glenview Cosmology Class under Dr. King. He thought they had the most gifted teacher of the most receptive and intelligent class of the most beautiful and desirable suburb this title of Bryn Athyn. Dr. Marelius read Swedenborg's comments on a book he read when traveling from Berlin to Dresden, the subject being a species of "Worms that perforate and consume ships and dikes,"--a rather gruesome subject, but one which revealed the catholic interests, minute observation, and untiring energy of the writer when traveling.

     After returning a few of the "bouquets" which Mr. Junge had thrown at him, Dr. King spoke on Swedenborg's illuminating way of treating anatomical subjects, vivifying the dry facts by the charm of his treatment, which the speaker illustrated by a description of the pneumogastric nerve.

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Mr. Forrest next spoke of the spiritual blessings of our Church, a subject, which, as our toastmaster said, was always in order. After these formal speeches, the gathering assumed a comfortable attitude, some lit cigars, and all prepared to be entertained. Mr. Junge recited two of his humorous poems, which were enthusiastically received. He also gave an account of an epistle in his life, when, Micawber-like, he had found it "cheaper to move than to pay rent," and also that "five moves were about equal to two fires." Dr. King told of an imaginary episode in his life, which he wisely placed in darkest South America, among the Andes and sportive llamas. As we all knew little, and have seen less, of that far-away continent, and as the Ilama with its peculiarities is virgin soil for romance, we listened with unprejudiced minds and childlike credulity. After these pleasantries, which added not a little to the festivity of the occasion, we listened to a number of good speeches by the younger men present, which concluded the program. E. V. W.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. The chilling breezes from Lake Michigan and the midwinter blasts from Medicine Hat had surprisingly little effect on the various activities that engage our population. An epidemic of chicken-pox among the children, however, has played havoc with the attendance at school, and has isolated a number of people.

     The Swedenborg birthday celebration and dinner was one of the best we have had of late years. For three hours the members and friends of the Immanuel Church listened to addresses and speeches and sang the well loved songs of the Church and home. There was much of solid worth in what was said, leading our thoughts to the noble mission which Swedenborg fulfilled and inspiring our affections for the Church and Conjugial Love--all of which, somehow seemed to merge into the song, "Our Own Academy," sung at the close of the banquet.

     Fourteen of the youth and young men, imitating the example of their elders, recently held a "Men's Meeting," the pastor presiding. There were speeches from everyone, and songs without number, not to mention the college yell of the Academy.

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The spirit of the meeting was one of loyalty to the Church, the School and the Home.

     There remains to record that the Cosmology Class has taken up the study of the Economy of the Animal Kingdom; that Mr. Ralph Hicks, of Bryn Athyn has visited us and that about a dozen of the young people meet every week for the study of subjects connected with art, literature and music. K.

     DENVER, COLO. We are so few in numbers here, and so scattered about the city, that we have little in the way of social doings to report. We have a social about once a month and always thoroughly enjoy ourselves, few as we are, but the reporter does not find much at these affairs that would be of general interest, The last social was at Mr. and Mrs. Lindrooth's hospitable home, and took the form of an informal celebration of Thanksgiving.

     Despite the fact that this State has an ideal climate, there is sickness here, and the attendance at services and classes has fallen off on that account. But interest is not lagging, and the sick ones only stay home because they have to. F.

     BERLIN, ONTARIO. Our Christmas celebration could not be held this year on the day itself, as is our custom, owing to the illness of the pastor, but took place on the following Sunday. In the morning there was the service of the congregation, and in the evening the school celebration, with the bringing of offerings, The decorations of the chapel were very beautiful.

     About thirty of our members and young people attended the Ontario Assembly held in Toronto, and much enjoyed the meetings. These Assemblies are, indeed, revivals of the life of the Church, and their influence for good is always strongly felt, Several of the visitors to the Assembly from the States favored us with their presence afterwards, namely, Mr. and Mrs. Schoenberger, of Pittsburgh, and Mrs. Henry Stroh, of Bryn Athyn, who is still with us.

     Our Young People's Class has concluded the reading of Heaven and Hell, and with the new year began the study of The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine. The attendance at the class is about thirty.

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     On Sunday, January 12th, two of the young ladies of our congregation had the rite of Confession of Faith performed. This was followed by the Holy Supper.

     On the 19th of January, Mrs. George Kuhl, Sr., passed into the other world at the age of eighty-eight years. She and her husband, who passed away some twenty years ago, were among the pioneers of the New Church in Berlin. Her love of the Church and faithfulness to it are evident from the fact that six of her children are in the Church, five of these being members of the General Church; while five of her grandchildren are also members of our body, and quite a number more are among our young people and children.

     Our school celebrated Swedenborg's birthday with a social and supper, the latter being prepared by the older girls of the school. The Society's celebration of the day took place in the evening of the 31st. The pastor delivered an address on Swedenborg's Philosophy, which was followed by a number of toasts and speeches along the same lines. W.

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND. Our fortnightly socials are, this session, devoted to the subject of Anatomy, under the guidance of Mr. Potter. Their have proved very interesting and instructive, and it is hoped by this means to obtain a clearer and more rational grasp of the doctrines. In addition to this, a class is held fortnightly for reading "The Conflict of the Ages," in "Words for the New Church."

     Our Christmas services were held on December 22, when the Holy Supper was administered to fourteen communicants. In place of the usual Sunday School, a cantata entitled "The Night of Glory," was rendered by the singing class under Mr. Potter; it was very much appreciated.

     On December 31st, by invitation of Mr. and Mrs. Gill, we met at the studio where so many good times have been spent in the past. Supper was provided about 8:30, preceding which several carols were sung. Among the toasts which were proposed during the course of the evening was one to our host and hostess. In proposing this toast, Mr. Potter said he could not let the occasion pass without alluding to the recent gift of the vestry or robing room.

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This had been a long felt want and we were thankful that by the kind thought of Mr. and Mrs. Gill this want had now been supplied. Mr. Gill had provided a series of lantern pictures, to be shown during the evening, but, owing to the failure of the electric light, the idea hall to be given up. This proved, however, very satisfactory to the young people, who had a record dance. Towards midnight the young people sang the ever-cheering Church songs, and, as the New Year dawned the well primed loving cup went round, and joining hands, "The Parting Song" and "Auld Lang Syne" brought another most enjoyable occasion to a close.

     On January 2d the Children's New Year's Social was held at the Priory St. Room, with an attendance of fifty-four, including our pastor. Meanwhile the chief item of the evening was being prepared. This was an operetta, by Mrs. Gill, in which thirteen of the younger children took part. It was entitled "A Dream of Nursery Rhymes." The dresses, scenes, and music were very pretty, and our best thanks go to Mrs. Gill and the children for this delightful trip to fairy land.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES

     UNITED STATES. The GENERAL CONVENTION Will hold its next annual meeting in Cleveland, beginning June 13th. The Convention proper will he held in Lakewood, and the Council of Ministers in Cleveland.

     The Class on The Soul, conducted by the Rev. Julian K. Smyth, pastor of the NEW YORK Society, which has already been noticed in these pages, appears to command considerable interest. It is held every Wednesday morning and has an attendance of from twenty to thirty persons. While Swedenborg's work, The Soul, is the text book, "his other scientific and philosophical works are drawn from freely; and passages from some of the modern psychologists are frequently brought into comparison."

     The Rev. Paul Sperry, of the Bath (Me.) Society, has accepted a call to the pastorate of the Society in BROCKTON, Mass.

     The Women's Council, of the Illinois Association, during its evening session recently held in CHICAGO, listened to a paper by Dr. J. B. S. King, on the subject of "Growth."

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The subject was considered from a physical, as well as a spiritual point of view, and the paper was followed by a lively discussion in which both men and women took part. An excellent summary of Dr. King's address was published in the Messenger of February 5th.

     The celebration of Swedenborg's birthday by the Englewood perish this year, took the form of a supper, provided under the auspices of the Young People's Society. The program included addresses, musical selections, and singing. The address on "The Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ," which was given by the guest of the evening, the Rev. J. W. Stockwell, was followed by Miss Plummer's Ode to Swedenborg, "which was most heartily sung by all present."

     The Rev. Samuel M. Warren, of Brookline, Mass., died suddenly in an electric car in Boston on February 6th, from heart disease. He was within a few days of the eighty-sixth anniversary of his birth. Mr. Warren left his home in Brookline in seemingly excellent health, to dine with his son, Professor Herbert L. Warren, of Harvard University. He took an Ipswich street car and asked for a transfer. The conductor thought he was sleeping, when he passed Massachusetts avenue, and went to arouse him. A physician who was a passenger, and saw he was unconscious, advised his removal to the Back Bay Station, where it was found that Mr. Warren was dead. (Messenger, Feb. 12.)

     GERMANY. Last year the London Swedenborg Society, following out the policy inaugurated by its publication, through Frederick Warne and Co., of popular editions of the Writings, offered to furnish a large popular edition of Heaven and Hell in German, provided some prominent German publishing house would undertake the sale of the books in Germany. The annual report of the German Swedenborg Society shows that two publishing houses of Stuttgart have been approached with the offer, but have refused to undertake the work.

     During the Fall visit, made by the Rev. Adolph Goerwitz to the BERLIN Society, the congregation numbered forty persons, of whom thirty-four partook of the Communion.

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     A New Church Circle has been organized in LEIPZIG, and on the occasion of Mr. Goerwitz's visit, nine persons partook of the Holy Supper.

     SWITZERLAND. For the benefit of the number of English-speaking New Church people at present located in Zurich, the Rev. Adolph L. Goerwitz has started an English Sunday evening service, which will be held from time to time as occasion may demand.

     The Rev. Fedor Goerwitz, Pastor of the Munich Society, editor of the Monatblatter, and General Pastor or the New Church Societies in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Hungary, passed into the spiritual world on January 8th. In our next issue we hope to publish a biographical account of this faithful laborer and watchman.
Engagements 1908

Engagements              1908



     Announcements.




     Mrs. Mary A. Waelchli, announces the engagement of her daughter, Miss Fannie Edna Waelchli, to William Richardson Coffee, of New York City.
CONJUNCTION OF CONJUGIAL LOVE AND THE LOVE OF OFFSPRING 1908

CONJUNCTION OF CONJUGIAL LOVE AND THE LOVE OF OFFSPRING       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1908



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NEW CHURCH LIFE.
VOL. XXVIII. MARCH, 1908.          No. 3.
     We read in the Heavenly Doctrine that the Church, with its truths and goods, can by no means be given but with those who live in love truly conjugial; that the human conjugial and religion go together at the same pace, and that every step and movement from religion and to religion is also a step and movement from and to the conjugial; that the origin of the Church and the origin of conjugial love are in one seat; and that this love is the fundamental of all celestial, spiritual, and thence natural loves. (C. L. 76, 80, 65.) The object of this address is to show that conjugial love is the fundamental love of all loves when it is conjoined with the love of offspring, and thus that the conjunction of these two loves is vital to the existence of the Church.

     Now since conjugial love and the love of offspring are from the Lord, and all Divine operation is by spheres, let us first consider the teaching concerning that Divine sphere which is the origin, source and life of conjugial love and the love of offspring.

     We read that there is a Divine sphere which proceeds from the Lord, which is universal and fills the whole heaven, and constitutes the all of life there. (A. C. 9407, 2551.)

     This Divine sphere encompasses and includes or encloses heaven. It is as a sphere from the sun, which by degrees is extended to a distance from the sun, decreasing in ardor and splendor and is at length so tempered, as to be accommodated to the reception of the angels.

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Within that sphere, but far from the sun, on account of its ardor and splendor, is the angelic heaven. This sphere also extends itself out of heaven even into hell. (A. C. 9498, 9534, 10190.)

     The Divine sphere encompasses heaven in ultimates, terminating, concluding, and containing, comparatively as the atmosphere in the world around the body, preventing its dissolution. (A. C. 9499.)

     By this Divine sphere, heaven existed and was created, and by the same it subsists and is preserved. (A. C. 9502)

     This Divine sphere was likened by the ancients to radiant circles, in the midst of which was God, and round about were the angels. That there is a sphere of Divine Good proceeding from the Lord, is because the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, is Divine Love itself; for this so appears. (10188.)

     The Divine sphere encompassing the Lord, when it is represented in the heavens, appears in the celestial kingdom red like a ruby, in the spiritual kingdom blue like the lapis lazuli, and in the natural kingdom green like the emerald; everywhere with ineffable splendor and radiance. (R. 232.)

     There is a Divine sphere around the Lord. Near Him this sphere appears as a sun. From that sun His sphere proceeds into the universal heaven and fills it. This sphere is the Divine Proceeding of the Lord, which in its essence is the Divine Truth. (A. E. 392, 946)

     The sphere of the Lord extends itself into the universe, embracing, cherishing, vivifying, and thus arranging all and singular things. (S. D. 1847; T. C. R. 56.)

     There is an extension of the sphere from the Divine into the universe, like that of the sun. (Ath. 154)

     The Divine Proceeding is what is extended into the universe. It is formed successively into spheres, the last of which is the atmosphere of the natural world. (Ath. 191.)

     The sphere of the Lord's love has infinite extension and creates the heavens themselves. (A. E. 1074)

     The evil have this sphere around them, but the angels have it also within them. (S. D. 4918.)

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     The Lord made all things finite by means of His sun in the midst of which He is. This sun proceeds as a sphere from Him, and its progression extends even to the ultimates of nature. (T. 29.)

     From the sphere encompassing the Lord, by continuation from the sun of the spiritual world, by means of the atmospheres, have arisen the substances and matters of the earth. (D. L. W. 305.)

     The sphere of the Divine Love pervades the universe, and affects every one according to his state, especially parents, from which it is that they tenderly love their children. This sphere affects not only the good, but also the evil; and not only men but also beasts and birds of every kind, from which they love their young. This sphere affects in a special manner those who receive the love of God in themselves, who are such as believe in God and love their neighbor. This same Divine sphere operates also into inanimate things, as into trees and plants, causing them to bud, blossom and bear fruit. (T. C. R. 44)

     There continually proceeds from the Lord a Divine sphere of celestial love towards all who embrace the doctrine of His Church, and who obey Him, as little children in the world obey their father and mother. From this celestial sphere arises a natural sphere, which is a sphere of love towards infants and children, which is most universal, and not only affects men, but also birds and beasts, and not only animals but also inanimate things. From the influx of that celestial sphere into the natural world exist those wonderful progressions of vegetation from seed to fruit and to new seeds. (T. 305)

     There is actually a sphere elevating all to heaven, which continually proceeds from the Lord, and fills all the spiritual world and all the natural world, like the strong current in the ocean which secretly draws a ship. All who believe in the Lord, and live according to His commandments, enter that sphere or current and are elevated; but those who do not so believe and so live, are not willing to enter that sphere and so are carried away by a stream that leads to hell. (T. C. R. 652.)

     A universal conjugial sphere proceeds from the Lord, and pervades the universe from its first to its ultimates.

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It is a sphere of propagation, that is, of prolification and fructification; and this is the same with the Divine Providence for the preservation of the universe by successive generations. This universal sphere flows into subjects according to the form of each; into the male according to his form, which is the understanding; and into the female according to her form, which is the will. (C. L. 92.)

     From this sphere is the love of the sex and conjugial love, which is the love of one of the sex. (C. L. 92, 93)

     There is a conjugial sphere, which flows in from the Lord through heaven into every thing of the universe even to its ultimates. (C. L. 222.)

     This conjugial sphere flowing into the universe is in its origin Divine. This sphere is varied in each subject receiving it according to its form; hence that sphere, which is holy in its origin, may be turned into one not holy, yea, may be inverted even into its opposite. (C. L. 225.)

     There is a universal sphere of generation and propagation, which proceeds from the Lord, and fills the entire heaven and the entire world. It fills the souls of men, descending through their minds into the body even to its ultimates, giving the power of generation. (C. L. 355.)

     Two universal spheres proceed from the Lord for preserving the universe in the state created; a sphere of procreating, and a sphere of protecting the things procreated. (C. L. 386.)

     The Divine proceeding from the Lord is called a sphere, because it goes forth from Him, fills each world, the spiritual and the natural, and operates all effects in them. (C. L. 386.)

     These two universal spheres are from the Lord around Him, and proceed from the sun of the spiritual world in the midst of which He is. But that Divine sphere is distinguished by various names according to uses. Besides these two there are many other Divine spheres, which are named according to uses. The operations of uses by means of those spheres are the Divine
Providence. (C. L. 386.)

     These two universal spheres make one with the sphere of conjugial love, and with the sphere of the love of infants. (C. L. 387.)

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     These two spheres universally and singly flow into all things of heaven, and into all things of the world, from firsts to ultimates. (C. L. 388)

     That the sphere of procreating, and the sphere of protecting the things procreated, make one in a continuous series, is because the love of procreating is continued into the love of the thing procreated. (C. L. 390.)

     This sphere affects the female sex chiefly, thus mothers, and the male sex or fathers from them. (C. L. 393.)

This sphere is a sphere of innocence and peace. (C. L. 394.)

     In all this teaching we have clearly presented before our minds the fact that there is a Divine sphere proceeding from the Lord, which fills the universe, which is the life of the universe, which is the universe itself, and is that by which the Lord is omnipresent in all things of His creation. We learn that this sphere in its beginnings is the sun of the spiritual world, but that it extends from that sun into the universe even to the ultimates of nature; that this sphere encompasses heaven and also hell, that it is around the angels and also in them, that it is around the evil but not within them; that this sphere created the universe and all things of it, and continually preserves it, and that this sphere is not only the Divine proceeding of the Lord, but that it is also His Divine Providence; that this sphere, pervading the universe, affects every one according to his state, especially parents causing them to tenderly love their children, and that it affects all created things both animate and inanimate; that it affects in an especial manlier those who receive in themselves the love of God, who are such as believe in God and love the neighbor; that it is a sphere actually elevating all to heaven, and that it does so elevate all who keep the Lord's commandments; that this universal sphere is a conjugial sphere or sphere of conjugial love, and at the same time a sphere of the love of infants, by which two it is provided that the end of creation be carried into effect, the perpetuation of the human race and the formation of an angelic heaven; that while numerous spheres are spoken of as proceeding from the Lord, still it is one Divine sphere, various in its application to its works--as for example, the sphere of the love of infants is nothing but the conjugial sphere in its extension into uses; finally, that this Divine sphere is primarily a sphere of the marriage of good and truth, and from this a conjugial sphere, universal in creation.

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     Let us have this truth then placed clearly before our minds, that the Divine sphere of the Lord, flowing forth into the universe, creating and sustaining it, is the immediate source, origin and life of conjugial love and the love of offspring, and the cause of their conjunction. The importance of this subject, the importance of the thing itself in the life of the Church, is therefore most manifest. These two loves conjoined are under the auspices of the Lord immediately from Himself by His own Divine sphere in the universe, and also mediately through the celestial heaven; for this heaven flows directly into these two loves, and they in whom these two loves are conjoined, are under the care and guardianship, are recipients of the love and life of the angels of the supreme heaven, who are themselves immediate recipients of the Divine sphere of the Lord flowing forth from the spiritual sun. These two loves and their conjunction are under such immediate and celestial care because of their direct instrumentality in the provision of a heaven from the human race.

     It is not strange therefore that so much is said in the Writings on the subject of conjugial love, and also on the subject of the love of infants, it is not strange that an entire work should be devoted to conjugial love, and that a chapter of this work filling many pages should treat throughout of the conjunction of conjugial love and the love of infants. The importance of the subject therefore is beyond question. The Church should know and understand it, and it should exist as an active condition in its life.

     The conjunction of conjugial love and the love of offspring is like the conjunction of love to the Lord and love to the neighbor. These two, love to the Lord and love to the neighbor, are the two universal loves of heaven and the Church; and they are conjoined in every man who is saved, in every angel in heaven. The one love cannot live without the other. If they are separated both perish together.

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What love to the Lord and love to the neighbor are on the spiritual plane, conjugial love and the love of infants are in the natural. Conjugial love as it exists in the natural is in its origin love to the Lord, and the love of infants in the natural is in its origin love to the neighbor--the universal spiritual love of the neighbor. Thus the conjunction of love to the Lord and love to the neighbor is the origin of the conjunction of conjugial love and the love of offspring. From these two conjunctions, which is one conjunction, flow forth all human loves in the spiritual world and in the natural world. This conjunction is the fountain of life, the source of wisdom, and the origin of all happiness in heaven and on earth.

     As love to the Lord and love to the neighbor cannot exist separately, must be conjoined in order to live, so it is with conjugial love and the love of offspring. Conjugial love without its companion love, its consort love, cannot grow and flourish, cannot live; it is a vain and empty delusion: it becomes like that love in animals or worse; for we read that as the love of adultery increases, the love of offspring grows less and finally disappears. So the love of offspring without conjugial love becomes a merely natural thing, becomes a mere animal love, a love which man has in common with the beasts of the field--nothing in it to elevate it and make it spiritual. When they are separated both loves perish together; for all the angelic and human duality disappears from them.

     It is interesting to note in this connection that in the decline of the Most Ancient Church, the men of that time began to love their children and not their consorts. The greatest delight of their lives was not any longer the delight and happiness of conjugial love, but it was the delight of the procreation of offspring. For the decline of the church is the decline of conjugial love. The love of offspring may remain, as it remained with the ancients, and as it remains with the Jews to the present day; but it is then no longer a spiritually human love; for it is conjugial love that humanizes man, and lifts him above the level of the beasts. It is conjugial love that opens the spiritual mind and makes a human being into a man,--conjugial love together with the love of offspring.

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     In the Christian Church the degeneration of mankind has gone farther than with the ancients, for even the love of offspring has ceased with many. So great, so overpowering has the love of the world become, that even the love of offspring, such as animals have, is in a rapid decline; and it may be said that there is now a multitude of men and women who have no desire for children--one of the signs of the death of the conjugial, the death of the church.

     There is no hope for mankind, no hope for the future of the human race on earth, no hope for the restoration of the church, for the upbuilding of the New Church, except in the restoration of these two loves and their conjunction. The one cannot be restored without the other. As the two have perished together, are perishing together with a large part of mankind, so are the two to be restored together; nor can the one, let us repeat, be built up without the other. Let us clearly see this truth, that the church is to be rebuilt with men, a New Church to be established in the world, by the upbuilding of these two loves together; that the New Church is not established by conjugial love alone nor by the love of offspring alone, but by the two together, by the two in conjunction with each other, by these two loves co-operating together, as active factors in the life of the Church.

     The Divine sphere of the Lord, the sphere of the spiritual sun, operating in the universe, is what is called in the Writings the stream of Providence. The man who ceases to resist this Divine sphere, who co-operates with it, will be introduced into it and will be led by it, carried with it, to the Lord in heaven; and as this sphere is pre-eminently a conjugial sphere, the man who does not resist it, but receives its operation into himself and reacts with it, will be introduced into all the delight and happiness of conjugial love, and will receive at the same time as an active condition in his life the spiritual love of offspring and there will be nothing he will so much desire in addition to that union of souls which is heaven, as the having and the rearing of offspring for the Church and for the kingdom of the Lord.

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     How is it with those who resist and continue permanently to resist the Divine sphere of the Lord? It becomes to them a consuming fire. The fires of adultery will be kindled, which will destroy all things of the conjugial and with it all angelic and human loves. The love of offspring will share the common fate, for it is vain for men to imagine that they can be in conjugial love, and not at the same time in the active love of offspring. For as we have seen, the Divine sphere of the Lord generates these two loves together; it does not and cannot generate the one without the other. To resist the one is to resist the other, and to resist either is to resist the Divine sphere of the Lord, and to make of it a fire that will destroy all things of a truly human life; for man is then resisting the Divine end in the creation, the Divine end actively operating by the atmosphere of the spiritual sun to form a heaven for the eternal abode of men.

     When it is said, that to resist the Divine sphere of the Lord operating the end of creation, is to make of it a consuming fire, let us understand what is meant. That Divine sphere itself is not a consuming fire. The consuming fire is the fire of hell, is created by the active resistance of man to the Divine sphere of the Lord. This is the fire, the fire of human lust, that actively destroys everything good and true, everything of the church and of heaven.

     The Divine sphere of the Lord is a sphere of fire indeed, but it is the fire of the spiritual sun, which is the fire of the Divine love. This fire cannot consume or destroy, but it always creates and recreates, always builds and rebuilds, it vivifies and revivifies, it establishes and restores, and forever preserves that which it has created. Destruction is by resistance to it and by that alone.

     The fire of the Divine Love produces from itself a sphere that fills the universe; and, as it is a sphere for the upbuilding of a heaven from mankind, in order that it may operate to fulfill its end it becomes a universal conjugial sphere carrying with it at the same time a universal sphere of love of offspring. It is thus not a consuming, but a creating, restoring and preserving fire. This Divine sphere is thus a sphere of love, a sphere of delight, a sphere of freedom, and a sphere of mercy,--a sphere of freedom, that men may be led to heaven in freedom according to reason, and a sphere of mercy because of the miseries of men.

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     We have seen that there are many spheres arising out of the one Divine sphere of the Lord, that it takes on various names or various qualities according to created conditions; and we would now call your attention to this sphere of freedom.

     Let us consider the Divine sphere as a sphere of freedom in application to the subject which we have in hand, the conjunction of conjugial love and the love of offspring. The very statement of it will doubtless carry conviction to every one, namely, that conjugial love, spiritual in its origin, cannot be established with men unless this Divine sphere he at the same time a sphere of freedom. Without freedom these heavenly virtues cannot possibly exist with men. The Divine sphere of the Lord therefore imparts this freedom to all its human creatures, and if it be taken away it is not taken away by the Lord, but by man in his resistance to this very sphere of freedom for there is nothing the natural man so much resists as the sphere of freedom imparted by His Divine sphere operating in the universe. The natural man separated from the spiritual will not have this freedom, and the church is in constant danger from this source.

     One of those remarkable paradoxes of the Divine operation with men makes its appearance here. The Divine sphere of the Lord is a sphere of freedom and it is at the same time a sphere of compulsion. The nature of this Divine paradox is not understood by man in his natural thought; and because there is a Divine sphere of compulsion flowing forth from the Lord, together with the sphere of freedom, man is disposed to believe that he is to co-operate with this sphere of the Lord, not only in the direction of restraining the wicked who break the civil law, and of restraining children who are prone to break the laws established for their government, but also that it is his duty to join in compelling men to good, or to the things of a religious life, not knowing or not understanding clearly that the Divine sphere of compulsion operates essentially within man, impelling to self restraint, inciting to self compulsion, and thus that the Divine sphere of compulsion is itself pre-eminently a sphere of freedom; and that this Divine sphere of compulsion operating within man is hurt, injured, materially retarded, by anything of compulsion from without.

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     The duty of the Church as an organized form, the duty of the priesthood of the Church, is to teach the truth as it is given in revelation, in the light of illustration from the Lord, and in application to needs and conditions as they exist; but it is not the duty of the Church, nor of the priesthood, to say or do anything that would involve the compulsion of men to live according to the truth. The compulsion to live the truth must come from within and not from without, that is, from the Lord by the as of itself of man. In this way alone is the truth implanted in the human heart. No truth can ever enter by compulsion into the heart or internal will of man, and have a place in his affections; for while the external may shape itself to compliance, through fear or interested motives, the will itself, the real essential will of man, resists all compulsion in the things of religion as in all things of life.

     Instead of using compulsion, or anything that involves compulsion, the Church must maintain the freedom of the individual to apply the truth according to his own light, and in his own free will, that he may live according to the truth from within or from the Lord, and not from without or from man, that he may not only obey the truth but that he may love it and thus live it. No man loves anything except in a full state of freedom and freedom is not freedom unless there be at the same time freedom to disobey the truth, freedom to reject it freedom to abuse it. Unless freedom goes as far as this, it is not freedom, and in no other way is explained the problem of the permission of evil, namely, that human freedom may be preserved, which is not preserved unless men are free to think and will, and even to act contrary to order.

     Since we are speaking of conjugial love in this paper, let us take as an example the doctrine that a marriage of one principled in a true religion with one in a false religion is heinous in the light of heaven; and only those in the truth and in similar truth can be united in heart and soul; only with them can the conjugial spring and grow.

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The Church must teach this as a truth of revelation in such a manner that every member of the Church will have it before him as one of the fundamental laws given for the establishment of the conjugial on earth; but no steps must be taken of any kind to compel people to live according to it, and the utmost freedom in its acceptance must be cultivated so that men may come to see it in interior light, and love it from interior spiritual love. For let us never forget that no truth of heaven is seen in spiritual light, or loved from spiritual heat, except in the fullest degree of freedom.

     Let us further take as an example the very teaching we have been here endeavoring to set forth, that there should be a conjunction of conjugial love and the love of offspring, that this conjunction is vital to the existence of the Church, that both loves must be joined together in the life of the Church, in the marriage of the Church; that it is contrary to order for the husband and wife to resist the Divine sphere of the Lord and the Divine end in marriage as the seminary of heaven, and thus weaken the love of offspring, or interfere with the operation of its law, thus jeopardizing the existence of the conjugial itself. This is a truth the Church should teach in language clear and plain, language that may not be misunderstood. But when we have done this, when the Church has done this, when the ministers have done this, our duty as human instruments of the truth has been performed, and the Church as an organized system, as an external body, the priesthood in its work of teaching, must go no farther, but must leave it now to the individual and to the Lord operating from within from heaven on the individual. To endeavor in any way to enforce this truth, or any truth of the Church, is to make it a hard natural thing of persuasion and not of spiritual faith, a thing of blind obedience and not of spiritual love; and a church where such enforcing is the rule, where compulsion from without to live according to the truth is the common practice, such a church will become a hard natural church, where persuasive faith will be the principle of action, into which no spiritual light from heaven can enter; for spiritual light can enter only when the individual is in full freedom of life, whose freedom is protected, cultivated and maintained by the Church, by the priesthood of the Church, and by all the members of the Church.

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     We have said that freedom is not preserved unless men are free to think and act contrary to order. This is especially true in a church that is a spiritual church, that is to be a spiritual church on earth; the members of such a church must be free to act contrary to the teaching and order of the church, otherwise they are not free, and it cannot be said that spiritual freedom as yet exists; for we must always remember that spiritual freedom is established and thus all the blessings of spiritual life brought to man, by the permission of evil; and the church is not yet free until there is an actual recognition of this law.

     As we well know, however, in the civil state men must not carry their acting contrary to the law and order of the country so far that their action disturbs the public security. So in the Church, the members thereof must not exercise their freedom to act contrary to the teaching and order of the Church so far that their action threatens the safety of the Church. But inside of this there is a large field of action, in which there is and must be freedom to the individual, and in this field he must be allowed to suspend for himself the operation of the laws of the Church, and this that the church may have the precious jewel of freedom, in the sphere of which only can a spiritual church he established in the world. But let us keep in mind that the permission of evil or disorder, does not involve the love of that disorder, but a love of the freedom of him who is in it. This is the attitude of mercy, and is the face of the Lord towards every human being He has created.

     We now therefore commend this subject to our consideration; first, that the conjunction of conjugial love and the love of offspring in the active life of the Church is vital to its existence; second, that this vital thing cannot be established except in a full atmosphere of freedom and that there is no freedom in the Church unless there is permission to act contrary to the laws of its order; not a formal permission given, but a tacit permission born of the love of human freedom, which is the love of human salvation.

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REVELATION OF GOD 1908

REVELATION OF GOD       Rev. EMIL R. CRONLUND       1908

     "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto Hi servant John; who bore witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw." (Rev. i:1,2).

     Divine revelation is always addressed to those who will receive it. It is never addressed to those who will not receive it. None but those who are in the affection of good and of truth are able to receive that which the Divine reveals. It is therefore said of "the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him," that it was given "to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass." Consequently the Lord reveals Himself and His truth for the sake of His own servants, for the sake of those who have faith in Him and live according to His precepts. They who are not the Lord's servants are unwilling to receive and believe His words, for with them the seed of truth falls either by the way-side, or upon stony places, or among thorns. The good ground, into which the seed can be received and grow and bear fruit unto eternal life, can be found only in the heart of the servants of the Lord. When the Lord was in the world He therefore told His disciples that He would manifest Himself unto them, but not unto the world. Judas therefore saith unto Him, not Iscariot, "Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" (John xiv:22.) In response to this question the Lord showed His disciples that those that love Him will keep His commandments, and that He will make His abode with them, but that those that do not love Him do not keep His commandments. From this it follows that when the Lord has His abode with any one then He manifests Himself to him, but that He cannot manifest Himself to any one with whom He does not abide. Therefore He cannot manifest Himself to the world, to those who are in evil, for with them He has no abode.

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The Lord also taught elsewhere that He will manifest Himself to him that keeps His commandments, which involves that He will not be made manifest to one who does not keep them. The shunning of evils as sills opens Heaven to man, and when Heaven is open to him then the Lord is manifested to him, for the Lord is seen in Heaven only and not anywhere else, and therefore in order that man may see the Lord he must be in Heaven as to his spirit. The Lord is indeed present everywhere, but He is seen in Heaven only, and thus by those only who are of a heavenly character.

     The Lord, when He was on earth, could not manifest Himself to the world because "the world knew Him not," (John 1:10), nor does the world desire to know Him. By the world are meant those who love the world, those who live for the world alone, and give no serious thought to the life after death. To such the Lord cannot manifest Himself, for there is no place in their heart for what is of a heavenly nature.

     To manifest or reveal Himself, when said of the Lord, is to illustrate in the truths of the Word, for "revelation is illustration when the Word is read." The world cannot receive illustration in the things of the Word, for the Lord said to His disciples that the world cannot receive the spirit of truth, "because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you." (John xiv:17.) The world cannot receive the Spirit of truth, for when the love of the world rules in man he is indifferent to spiritual things. That man may receive truth and so be in a state of illustration, he must shun the love of the world, and cultivate a love of the truth. The ignorance of spiritual things prevailing at the present time in the world, is a consequence of the absence of the love of truth. It is said in the Doctrines of the Church that "man has no knowledge of the things which exist in the other life except from revelation, and whereas man is little solicitous to explore the truths and goods which are of faith from the Word, being in no affection of truth for the sake of truth, therefore such things are not revealed to him; nevertheless they are extant in the world and as to every series and process in its internal sense. Because, therefore, the man of the church is in no affection of knowing truth from the Word, but only in the affection of confirming the doctrinals of his own church, whether they be true or false, for worldly reasons, therefore he knows nothing at all concerning the state after death, nothing concerning Heaven, and nothing concerning hell; he does not even know what makes Heaven and what makes hell with man." (A. C. 7502.)

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     The world does not desire to know the truth because the truth condemns its evil love, for the Lord said of the Comforter, by whom is represented the Divine truth, that "when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." (John xvi:8.) The world does not desire to know the truth for it does not desire to be reprove, "'For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." (John iii:20.) But he who desires to know, and to follow on to know the Lord, is willing to be reproved by the truth, for he is anxious to discover his evils in order that he may repent of them, and the thoughts of his heart are thus expressed in the Psalms: "Let the righteous smite it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove man it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head." (Ps. cxli:5.) The Lord alone is righteous, and if His truth smite and reprove man it will also heal him and comfort him for when the truth makes known to man his transgressions, and when he is thus brought into a state of sorrow and anguish, the healing remedy will also he found in the truth.

     The Lord did not manifest Himself to the world, but He spoke to the world in parables, and on this account "His disciples came and said unto Him, why speakest Thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given. Therefore, speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not, and hearing them hear not, neither do they understand." (Matt. xii:10, 11, 13) And in another place it is said that "without a parable spake He not unto them: and when they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples. (Mark iv:33) The Lord speaks to every man, to each one according to his state. He speaks to the world, and He speaks to His disciples, but to the world He speaks in parables, while to His disciples He expounds the things spoken in parables.

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By the disciples are represented the Lord's Church, which consists of those who love truth for its own sake. When these are alone with the Lord all things are expounded to them. And they are alone with the Lord when the world, with its loves and allurements, has been left, when the love of the world has been removed, so that the love of truth can enter in its place. It is then that the Lord manifests Himself to man, it is then that He can teach man and inflow into his mind with the Spirit of truth which leadeth unto all truth.

     The things that the Lord taught His disciples when they were alone, were all contained and stored up within the parables that He spoke to those who were of the world. These, however, were not able to enter into the spirit of His words. They could indeed hear His words, but they could not feel the affection within them, for His words did not reach their heart. But the disciples were able to receive and see the interior things that were veiled over in His parables, because they were in the love of truth, they were not of the world, for the Lord said: "I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thy gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy Word." (John xvii:6.) It is only when man comes out of the world, when he is alone with the Lord, that the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, the internal sense of the Word, can be made known to him. When man shuns the love of the world he is then in Heaven as to his spirit, and it is then only that the internal sense of the Word can be seen, for "the internal sense of the Word is not seen but in Heaven, and by those to whom Heaven is open, that is, who are in love to the Lord and in faith thence." (A. C. 2760.) When man is in Heaven as to his spirit he is then in fellowship with the angels who are there, and they perceive the Word according to its internal sense; this is communicated to the man who is in good, and reads the Word, and desires truth from affection, whence he has illustration and perception. (A. C. 8604.)

     It is not possible for any one to see the internal sense whose internal has not been opened. The teaching of the Writings is that "the internal things of the Word, of the Church, and of worship are revealed to no others but those who receive." (A. C. 10577.) They only receive whose internal is open. Therefore, even if a man who is not in the affection of truth should read the internal sense of the Word as it has been revealed in the Writings for the New Church, still he will not see the internal sense.

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     The internal sense of the Word is for the angels and also for men of angelic minds. Man must, therefore, be of an angelic mind. He must be like the angels in order that he may see the internal sense of the Word.

     They are of an angelic mind who love the Lord and consequently also love truth for its own sake. These are the Lord's disciples and servants to whom He shows the "things that must shortly come to pass." The things that must shortly come to pass are the things contained in the Apocalypse. This book of the Word describes, in its internal sense, the judgment on the former Church and the establishment of the New Church. By that these: things will "shortly" come to pass, is meant that they will certainly be done. The Last Judgment has already taken place, and the New Church has begun to be established. It is most certain also that the Lord will cause this Church to grow and that thus He will establish it more and more firmly, for this He has promised in His Word to do. "The Lord of Hosts hath purposed and who shall disannul it? and His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" (Isa. xiv:27.)

     The things that must shortly come to pass, that is, the things contained in the internal sense of the Word, can be made manifest only to the disciples and servants of the Lord, which is furthermore evident from this, that revelation was made to John; for the Lord "sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: who bare witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he said." By John are represented and signified those who are in the good of love, that is, those who love the Lord, and from love to Him keep His commandments. It is said in the Apocalypse Explained that "because John represented this good, therefore revelation was made to him, for revelation out of Heaven, such as this, can be made only to those who are in the good of charity or of love. Others, indeed, can hear the things that are from Heaven, but they cannot perceive them. Only those who are in the good of love have spiritual perception. This is because they receive heavenly things not only with the hearing, but also with the love; and to receive with the love is to receive fully, since the things so received are loved; moreover, those who thus receive, see these things in their understanding, where the sensation of their internal sight is." (10.)

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     Thus he who is in the good of love can perceive that which the Lord reveals, that is, the truth. In other words, he whose will is filled with the good of love is able to perceive truth, and no one else. The understanding is indeed the receptacle of truth and the eye of the spirit. Nevertheless, the understanding by itself, or separate from the will, is unable to see truth. He who apprehends the truth intellectually only, does not really understand it, does not really see it. Even an evil man may see and acknowledge truth with the understanding, for his understanding may be elevated above his corrupt will, but it can remain in its elevated state only for a short time, for when the love of evil again becomes active in him, his understanding becomes clouded and darkened, and then he returns to his former denial of the truth. Thus the understanding cannot see truth except from the love of the will. The Writings teach that "man has two kinds of sight, one from cogitative faith, the other from love." (A. E. 76.) Truth may, therefore, be seen from a state of faith alone, or by the understanding alone, and it may be seen from love. He who sees truth from a state of faith alone does not see the truth interiorly, he does not see it in its own light, whereas he who sees truth from love sees it clearly, he sees it by the light of Heaven, for the Doctrines teach that when man's sight is from love, he is then turned to the Lord, for love turns man to Him; but cogitative faith apart from love does not. (A. E. 76) Love turns man to the Lord and conjoins man with Him, and when man is turned to the Lord and conjoined with Him he is then in illustration, for his will is then in the heat of Heaven, and when the will is in that heat it sends forth light into the understanding, thus enabling man to see truth from love. Hence it is that they who are in the good of charity are in light, or if not, that they love light. (D. C. 67) But sight from cogitative faith alone does not turn man to the Lord nor conjoin man with Him. He who is in faith alone turns himself away from the Lord, and so he receives no illustration from Him, and consequently he sees all things by the light of natural lumen only.

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     To love the Lord is to love to live according to His Divine precepts and commandments and therefore those only who do this are able to have a true knowledge of heavenly goods and truths. It is taught in the Arcana Coelestia that "So one knows what good is, unless he lives in good according to the Word; for when he lives in good according to the Word, then the Lord insinuates good into his life, hence man apperceives it, and is sensible of it, consequently grasps it as to its quality; otherwise it does not appear, because it is not apperceived. (9780.)

     The Lord manifests Himself to him who loves Him, for he who shuns evils as sins against Him is daily taught by the Lord what he must do and what he must saw, also what he must preach and what he must write; for when evils are removed he is continually under the Lord's guidance and is enlightened. Yet he is not led and taught immediately by any dictate, or by any perceptible inspiration, but by an influx into his spiritual delight, from which he has perception according to the truths of which his understanding consists. (A. E. 825)

     It is said of John that he "bare witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw." To bear witness is to acknowledge in heart. Thus to hear witness to the Word of God is to acknowledge the truths of the Word in heart: and to bear witness to the testimony of Jesus Christ is to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ in heart, which is to acknowledge the Divine in His Human; for he that acknowledges the Lord, and does not at the same time acknowledge the Divine in His Human, does not acknowledge the Lord, since His Divine is in His Human, and not out of it; for the Divine is in its Human as the soul is in the body.

     That to bear witness is to acknowledge in heart is because spiritual things are treated of; and no one can bear witness respecting spiritual things, except from the heart, because from no other source can one have perception that they are so. To bear witness of things that have existence in the world is to bear witness from knowledge, that is, from memory and thought, because the man has so seen or heard; but it is otherwise with things spiritual, for these fill the whole life and constitute it. The spirit of man, in which his life primarily resides, is nothing else than his will or his level and his understanding and faith therefrom, and heart in the Word signifies the will and love, and the understanding and faith therefrom. (A. E. 10.)

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     As to bear witness to the truth is to acknowledge it in heart, thus to see from love, therefore, it is said that John "bare witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw," for by John, as has been stated is represented the good of love, thus also those who are in the good of love, and these alone can bear witness to the truth.

     As John has this representation, therefore, also it is said in the Gospel bearing the name that he bare record of the Lord's crucifixion and of the things that took place up to the time of His burial. For the beloved disciple stood by the cross of Jesus and was a witness to the things that transpired while the Human of the Lord was on the cross." And he that saw bare record, and his record is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe." (Xix:35) John also testified of many things that Jesus said and did after His resurrection, and so in the last chapter of the Gospel of John, John says of himself: "This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true."

     And all those who are represented by John testify of the Lord and bear witness of Him. These bear witness, that is, see, acknowledge, and receive from the heart in the light, and confess, the truths of the word; especially that truth therein, that the Lord's Human is Divine. As all who are in the good of love bear witness of the Lord, therefore it is said of these in Isaiah: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servants whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am He: before me there was no god found, neither shall there be after me." (xliii:10.) And the Lord said to His disciples: "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of Me; And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." (John xv:26, 27.) Thus all the servants and disciples of the Lord bear witness of Him, or rather, the Lord testifies concerning Himself in them, for it is taught in the Doctrines that "the Lord testifies concerning Himself in every one who is in a life of love and charity; for the Lord flows into the heart and life of such and teaches them, especially concerning His Divine Human; for He gives to those who are in a life of love to think of God under a human form, and God under a human form is the Lord. (A. E. 392.)

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     The appearance is that man bears witness concerning the Lord from himself, but the real truth is that it is the Lord Himself that bears witness concerning Himself in man. The Lord's good and truth are His witnesses. They who are in these likewise bear witness concerning the Lord, that is, acknowledge and confess Him. Nevertheless it is the Divine that bears witness concerning the Divine, and not man from himself; consequently the Lord is in the good of love, and in the truth of doctrine therefrom, that are in man, and it is these that bear witness.

     Thus the Lord testifies concerning Himself: His truth is its own testimony and therefore also He said: "I receive not testimony from man." (John v:34) On this account the Lord calls Himself "the faithful and true witness." (Rev. iii:14. ) And when Pilate said unto Him, "Art Thou a king, then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice." (John xviii:37) "Witness," in reference to the Lord, signifies the Divine truth that is from Him. Divine truth is called a "witness," for it bears witness concerning the Lord's Divine Human, and manifests it to all who receive Divine truth from Him.

     As the Lord testifies concerning Himself, therefore by "testimony," in the highest sense, is signified the Lord, for the Lord testifies concerning Himself with all who accept His testimony, and these are such as live a life of love to the Lord, and a life of charity towards the neighbor. (A. E. 392.)

     Thus the Lord manifests Himself to His servants, to those that love Him. To these He makes known His truth, and so guides them and leads them even unto eternity. They love the Lord who are purified from evil loves, and to such the Lord manifests Himself, for "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." Amen.

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DREAMS 1908

DREAMS       Rev. Alfred Acton       1908

     And now we come to the dreams introduced directly by the angelic spirits who perform the office of guarding men during sleep. These spirits are such as in the word have special delight in giving delight to others. They dwell in general in paradisiacal places. (A. 1976.) The dreams that are caused directly by such spirits are not only significative, but also more nearly correspondential. With dreams from spirits near man the objects in man's memory are simply taken and applied according to the man's ideas, but in the dreams we are now speaking of those objects are reduced so far as possible into order and beauty that they may serve for manifest representations of heavenly things. (D. 3671.) Hence these dreams are beautiful, full of delight and instructive. (D. 8.)

     Such dreams rarely come to man at this day, for he is so far immersed in material and corporeal things that he is more closely associated with external spirits, than with these spirits of heaven. But in the Most Ancient Church they were the rule; and it was in this way, and also by visions, when the spiritual eyes were opened to the other world, that the men of that Church had revealed to them the arcana of heaven. They lived in the order of heaven, there was nothing evil or false in their memory, and when they slept, the activities of angelic spirits could at once be represented to them in the most delightful dreams, dreams which made sleep not only a refreshing of the body but also a recreation of the mind.

     These dreams did not reveal truths to them, but were solely representative of goods and truths. Revelation and instruction were given by speech with angels who were filled with the Divine Spirit, but the essential revelation was immediately from God into their perception, by which they perceived and confirmed what they had heard, and also perceived the meanings of their dreams and visions. (A. 125, 597, 1122.)

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Hence arose among them the knowledge of correspondences, a knowledge,-from perception of the things which appeared to them in dreams, (A. 2179),-by which their wisdom was daily increased. (A. 597.) The men of the Most Ancient Church were the first interpreters of dreams, from whom all later interpreters took their love-from whose interpretations, indeed, arose the science of correspondences by which in the Ancient Church the written Word, which was in the imagery of angelic dreams, was interpreted.

     But when men fell and external or evil spirits became their associates; as their memory, imagination and though were patterned more after the image of the world than of heaven, as their minds became more closely bound to lower spirits and less responsive to the touch of heaven, so angelic dreams grew more rare, and dreams by means of the spirits about man and in externals like him took their place. With all this, dreams, from being lovely and elevating foretastes of heaven, became filled with merely worldly images, indicating little if anything of their heavenly origin; or they were the representations of evil things, or the phantasms of disordered imaginations. Thus it was that in the Ancient Church began that usage of the word "dream" as a synonym for all that is vain, unreal and meaningless, a usage that has continued unchanged to our day. In this way does Job use it when he says of the evil man that he shall fly away as a dream and be chased away as a vision of the night. (Job 20:8) The world is used in the same sense in the Psalms and Isaiah, and also in the Apocrypha where we read, "Dreams lift up fools; whose regardeth dreams is like him that catcheth at a shadow and followeth after the wind." (Eccles. 34, 1 seq.) With this change the heavenly meaning of the dream became more involved in worldly images which were merely significative and but distantly representative of heavenly things. At the same time came the gradual loss of the knowledge of correspondences.

     Yet the knowledge that dreams were significative, that they had been instructive, was never lost; but alas, the right key to interpretation was gradually replaced by confused, obscure and frivolous conjectures of ignorance,-conjectures which were used to discover the things of the world and not of heaven, conjectures which, more and more obscured, have finally descended to our day, where the modern dream-book in the hand of the child and the simpleton is the last wretched remnant of that mighty and noble science of interpretation which was born from heaven in the perceptions of our first fathers and was prized and cultivated by their children.

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     Still it cannot be doubted that angelic dreams have occurred in all ages, and I doubt not that some of the beautiful dreams recorded in history are of this origin. But it must be noted that dreams are not to be judged as being angelic merely from their external beauty, but rather from the intense and spiritual perception of heavenly delight with which they are accompanied; and it is surely impossible that any but the good can ever enjoy such dreams. Such a dream seems to have been that of a lady who seemed to see into the spiritual world where in her dream she beheld vista upon vista of beauty and loveliness which was literally inexpressible; and with it all, her mind was filled with a sense of the infinity of God which would never leave her. Such dreams, perhaps, are also beautiful visions of heavenly abodes of which we sometimes read. But if they have been truly angelic dreams, how far removed have been the dreamers from the wisdom of the ancients. Instead of interpreting them in the light of perception, they have too often applied to them the obscurity of ignorance or even of false doctrine.

     With Swedenborg these angelic dreams were truly entrances into heaven and its joys, and he lacked not that perception by which their heavenly lessons were confirmed. One specific instance of such a dream is familiar to all. It was a dream in which four trees were seen representing husband, wife and children. Commonplace enough in appearance, but what words can express the delight with which they filled the dreamer's mind as the blessedness and peace of conjugial love were communicated to him? (A. 5051, D. C. 75, 76, D. 2611-4.) Such are angelic dreams, that the dream itself is little, but the delight insinuated in it is everything. Such a dream also must have been that in which Swedenborg saw the Lord in the face and form which He had in the world. He was such that He was interiorly complete so that He could interiorly rule the whole heaven. (D. M. 4831.)

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     And now lastly as to Divine or prophetic dreams. These are said to come from the Lord through heaven, either mediately or immediately. (D. 3877, A. 1976.) There is this difference between Divine dreams and angelic dreams, that while in the latter the states of angels were represented, in the former it was the Lord Himself, the Divine truth itself that was represented. It was the very soul of heaven laying at rest all the thoughts and affections of angels and men, and descending into the body and there appearing in the imagination of man, either as an angel speaking or as a representative. And because Divine truth is omniscient, therefore, these dreams were prophetic, even in ultimate form. This may be seen in the words of the Lord on earth, for all those words were prophetic, even of earthly events, when it pleased Him to clothe his truth with such representatives.

     In the Most Ancient Church Divine revelation by open speech and by dreams were effected by means of angels who were filled with the Divine. They were, indeed, prophetical, but prophetical of Spiritual things, of the future state of the Church and the closer presence of God, for these are involved in all Divine Revelation.

     In the Ancient Church revelations and dreams were continued by means of angels, but they were also effected by means of lower spirits who were infilled with the Divine. Hence the dreams became more involved in worldly images. Yet, as was said, the Divine Dream in whatsoever form it appears is prophetic, and, therefore, such dreams became prophetical also of worldly events. Towards the decline of that Church such prophecies became of more concern than the revealed truth which was contained within. Hence arose the habit of seeing in all dreams, or, at any rate, in all remarkable dreams, a prediction concerning one's worldly fortunes; and hence it was the established custom for kings to keep diviners and interpreters who should read their dreams. Such were the wise men whom Pharaoh called, and also those assembled by Nebuchadnezzar. The dreams that these two kings had were undoubtedly Divine or prophetic dreams, but so low had become the art of interpretation that they defied all effort to read them. True, Joseph and Daniel were inspired to give their meaning, but the inspiration itself was but another revelation, as is indeed openly stated of Daniel, to whom the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream came in a night vision. (Dan. 2:17.)

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And even then the interpretation was understood only in its verbal covering and not as to its Spiritual and Divine meaning. So likewise did Joseph interpret his own dreams and those of the butler and the baker; and so also were interpreted the dreams of Abimelech, of Jacob, and of Solomon. As confessed by Joseph, the interpretation came indeed from God, but it was perceived only as to worldly applications. Such was the nature of Divine revelation in the Jewish Church. They heard a voice, they saw a vision and dreamed a dream; but they had no spiritual thought or perception, and the revelation was merely verbal and visual in which they saw little but images in which it was clothed. (A. 5121.)

     Divinely prophetic dreams still continued even to the end of the Jewish Church and likewise verbal revelations, (Num. 12:6), but the prophets and the dreamers by whom they came were ignorant and evil men, by whom the Divine but dark dream was often used for the perversion of the people to idolatry. That this was not uncommon seems evidenced by the laying down of the Mosaic statute that such prophets should be put to death. Later, both before and after the captivity, arose numberless false prophets and dreamers who deceived the people by lying dreams, and of whom Jeremiah especially speaks in denunciation.

     The dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel are the last of the Divine and Prophetic dreams recorded in the Old Testament. Revelations by word of mouth to the prophets still continued-dark sayings scarcely understood even in the letter,-but prophetic dreams ceased. They appear again, and for the last time during the period of the Lord's birth; first to Joseph, to whom an angel appeared and announced the conception, (Matt. 1:20); then to the wise men, last remnants of the Ancient Church, who were warned in a dream to depart to their country by another way, (Matt. 2;12); and three times again to Joseph when he was commanded to go to Egypt, (Matt. 2:13), to return from Egypt, (Matt. 2:19), and to go by way of Galilee, (Matt. 2:22). These were the last of the prophetic dreams inspired by the Lord Himself through angels and spirits whom He infilled,-prophetic dreams which in themselves represented the future states of the Church established by the Lord, but which were understood merely as warnings of earthly events.

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Thus had dreams fallen from their height, in which they were seen as representatives of Spiritual and Divine things, to the depths of purely earthly affairs. And Revelations which, in the Most Ancient Church, were speech with angels in which perception beheld wisdom, had descended to the obscurity of dark sayings. But in the depth came the rise. For with the cessation of prophetic dreams the Lord Himself appeared as the prophet. He reveals Himself as the Divine Truth not by dreams nor by dark sayings but in open sight to the eyes of men, and in spoken word to their ears. Prophetic dreams and prophetic revelations ceased for the prophet Himself had come.

     But the question here arises, have prophetic dreams really ceased? Interpreting the term prophetic literally I should have to answer no; for it is an undoubted fact that, though extremely rare, yet men do sometimes have dreams that foretell the future. In regard to such dreams of this character as have come before my notice I have observed this remarkable fact that the revelation of the dream occurred very shortly after, very often within a few hours of the dream. This suggests a possible explanation of such dreams on the principle expressed by the common saying, "Coming events cast their shadow before them." For when we reflect that, even in our waking thoughts, we can foretell that if a man continues in such and such a state, then a certain definite end or fate will await him; and when we further reflect that the causes that influence our actions are from spirits with whom we voluntarily associate; then it does not seem unlikely that the dreams such spirits share with us, may, at times, represent the ultimate outcome of their influence. Another possible explanation that would apply to some dreams of this character, is, that the mind of the man, of whose future fate--in most cases death--we dream, may be in active thought or even anxiety concerning the possibility of that fate, and this thought may be represented in our dreams is the same manner as is the case in telepathic dreams.

     These "prophetic" dreams are not of the nature of Divine dreams such as were experienced of old. This is clear, not only by reason of their comparatively trivial nature, but also, as we have already noted, because with the coming of the Lord on earth Divine Dreams or direct revelation by dreams ceased.

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     Revelation had descended to the valley of dark sayings and meaningless dreams. Then Revelation became ultimate in the person of the Lord Himself, and from this it rose again to its first height in the revelation through Emanuel Swedenborg. And it rose as it descended. It had become mere dreams without perception. And so Swedenborg's intromission into the spiritual world was effected by dreams. First he had obscure dreams in which, as he informs us, he partly learned the significations of the things seen, (2 Ad. 182); then came visions in wakefulness, but with closed eyes; then visions in which, though awake, the internal senses seemed to be separated from the external; and lastly came the full opening of his spiritual eyes. (I Ad 1351) Thus by dreams he, as it were, ascended again to the heights where men had beheld the things of heaven but from which they had was not only like the first man, in the wakefulness of the spirit, but also and at the same time in wakefulness of the body. With this intromission into the spiritual world came immediate illustration from the Lord by which Swedenborg perceived the Divine truth in the things seen, and by which a new revelation was given to man. The opening of Swedenborg's eyes was the culmination and crown of the revelation of the arcana of heaven which most ancient man had enjoyed in dreams; and the revelation of the doctrine of the New Church was the culmination and crown of that revelation from perception by which most ancient man had interpreted his dreams. These revelations are now together in glorious revelation, internal and external, for the establishment of the Crown of Churches; a revelation in which is contained all the wisdom of ancient perception and all the arcana of ancient dreams.

     Shall we then say that dreams are of no use now? The question was asked of Swedenborg, and his answer, as reported by Robsahm, was, "The Lord no longer makes revelations by dreams; still it may be that one who understands correspondences may derive advantage from his dreams, just as a person awake may examine his own state by comparing his will with God's commandments." (I. Doc. 42.) In the light of the revealed doctrines we are justified, however, in expanding this reported answer.

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For in the light of those doctrines dreams may serve many uses. They serve to show us in ultimate form something of the nature of the spiritual world--where men are in the appearances of time and space, and yet are not in time and space themselves. They are means by which we may ultimately see the nature of the life of spirits. They are means by which we may more ultimately see the evils that lurk within us. They bring to us thoughts and images of those who are dearly beloved. And I doubt not that, as we grow in spiritual thought, dreams will bring us other uses as regards our own state, and that they will again become of that angelic quality by which we may be wholly refreshed and enlivened in sleep. But these uses are not directly served by dreams. For, as the dreams of old were interpreted by perception, so must the lessons of our dreams be drawn solely in the light of that perception which comes from approaching the Lord alone in his crowning Revelation.

     (The End.)
FIRST FINITES 1908

FIRST FINITES       C. TH. ODHNER       1908

     That there are such things as first finites,--first and most simple things of creation,--has been recognized by human reason in all ages. In philosophy these primitive forms have been variously imagined and described. Some of the Greek philosophers termed them "atoms" or final and indivisible particles of matter. Leibnitz describes them as "monads" or elementary and indestructible units endowed with power of absolute self-determination. Wolff considered them as "simple substances," arising out of nothing and reducible to nothing. In the opinion of all, these first things were finite, indeed, and yet without constituent parts.

     In the Writings of the New Church all these atoms, monads and simple substances are swept away as by a whirlwind from Heaven, and in their place there is given us the knowledge of a spiritual Sun as the first of creation, a Sun consisting of actual substance, finite and corpuscular though spiritual and living.

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But beyond this general idea, which is satisfactory and sufficient on its own plane, we do not at first gain from the theological writings any definite information as to the nature of this first substance of finition, because, as Swedenborg himself declares, those Writings are not the place for a particular description of such scientific and philosophical subjects, and he, therefore, simply refers the reader to his own previous works concerning Creation.

     This reference will naturally cause us to take up Swedenborg's Principia which is the chief of all his works on the subject of creation, and in which we find a whole chapter devoted to the "first finite" or "first simple" alone. But here the New Church student is apt to fall into confusion of thought. In the Writings Swedenborg teaches that these first substances of creation constitute the Sun of the spiritual world, while in the Principia he does not say one word about such a Sun, but teaches that the first finites originated from motion among points--and first natural points, at that! The confusion, into which the unwary student then falls, is characteristically expressed by a writer in the New Church Life for the year 1895, in a series of very valuable papers on the Spiritual Sun. Having described the primitives of that Sun as being, according to the Writings, the first finite substance of creation, he feels impelled to utter these warning words:

     "Note well, that the first finite substance spoken of above, must not be confounded with the "first finite" and "first simple" of the Principia. The latter is the primary material substance of the natural world. The philosophical student may refer to that work, and also to the little treatise On the Infinite, for a clear and interesting discussion of the nature and origin of the medium which must exist between the Infinite and the finite, bearing in mind, of course, that when these books were written, Swedenborg knew nothing about the spiritual world and its Sun." (p. 7.)

     Here we find the root of the trouble! Swedenborg at that time is supposed to have known "nothing" about the spiritual world,--had never heard of the existence of heaven and hell, did not know the first elements of the Christian Religion! It is taken for granted that in his cosmological system he completely ignores the whole spiritual world, and makes the material primitives of the natural sun the only medium between the Infinite itself and the finite!

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Poor Swedenborg! Never was there a "philosopher" as stupid and ignorant as he, in those days of special preparation, if we are to believe his own friends in the New Church. According to some, he believed in an Infinite God who possessed no substance, and who sent forth "natural points" of "pure motion" in a non-moveable vacuum. And then, out of these points of nothing He created the first something! But in spite of all this, Swedenborg's discussions of these subjects are described as "clear and interesting, and New Church people are recommended to read them, chiefly, it seems, to make sure that Swedenborg did not know what he was talking about!

     In these very scientific works Swedenborg, indeed, speaks abundantly and in tones of fervid conviction, of the spiritual world and its inhabitants, nay very frequently and clearly about the Lord as the Sun of Life and of Love and Wisdom, but these statements we have been used to regard as mere metaphors of a pious mind. He even speaks of the first "element" of his Principia, as a spiritual atmosphere formed by a combination of the first and second finites. But still these "first finites" are only the primary material substance of the natural world!"

     But neither in the Principia, nor anywhere else, does Swedenborg teach that the "first finites" are the primary material substance out of which the natural world was created. The philosophers of the New Church have fallen into that notion from a misunderstanding of the term "natural points," out of which these first finites are said to be composed. But, as has been proved elsewhere, this term "natural" is employed only to indicate the relation of the Infinite to nature, to the created world which was nascent,--about to be born. But, past misunderstandings aside, if we compare, point by point, the qualities of the first finites predicated by Swedenborg in the Principia, with those predicated in the Writings of the first substances of creation,--the created substances of the spiritual Sun, we shall find that these predicates are identical in every respect.

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     ORIGIN OF THE FIRST FINITES.

     Reviewing the chapter on the "First and Simple Finite" in the Principia, we learn that it originated by means of associative motion among the Points. Geometrically, we can form but a poor and inadequate idea of the spiritual and super-celestial form of this first finite, which is higher above the heavens than our Sun is above the earth. The nearest conception possible to the natural mind is that of a vortex-ring, in which an indefinite number of points are moving on the line of a perpetual spiral. This, however, is but the merest shadow of a shadow of its actual form, and does not mean anything to us unless we regard it in a spiritual idea. A "Point," as has been shown, is nothing but a Conatus or effort of the Divine Love, pointing towards a definite end. These efforts, or these ends of Divine Love, are infinite in number,--the infinite things which in God-man are distinctly one; but, each being distinct from the other, they are capable, also, of forming distinct groups. And, being capable of producing finite effects,--all of which are not only distinct but separate from each other,--it is evident that the origin of this separate existence lies in the distinctive existence of its associative causes. Every effort is the compound of innumerable and indefinite causes, and each cause is the effect of still more innumerable, in fact, infinite ends, and yet the ends that produced one effect cannot he the same or identical with those that produced another effect, or the result would not have been dissimilar.

     A particle of gold, for instance, is an effect of certain causes in the spiritual world, and of certain ends in the Infinite itself, but these causes and these ends are not the same with those which have resulted in a particle of silver. Nor is one end, or one use, alone involved in the creation of a particle of gold, but all the ends and all the uses to which that particle may he put to all eternity; and all this means a separate association of spiritual causes, and a distinct association of infinite ends, for the production of each particle of spiritual substance and of natural matter.

     Thus we may perhaps gain some faint perception of the creation of the first things of finition in the world of causes,--the first finites in the spiritual world,--by the association of infinite but distinct ends or efforts or points of the creative Divine Love.

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As each end or conatus or point presents one limit, one purpose or determination, so the association of groups of such ends, results in the configuration of a form which presents many purposes, many determinations, or many limits,--a form which is determined, limited, or finited all about. And what was it that caused the association of these ends, but the internal force of Divine Love in each end, or the internal motion and state of each point thus associated? This motion, then, is the Divine Proceeding, which "went forth from the Lord as a sphere," "the essence of which is love." It was this motion that caused the first finite substances to be "emitted" out of the Infinite, and by these God "first finited His Infinity;" these are the "primitives of which the Sun of the angelic heaven consists," and which are the first receptacles of the Infinite. (T. C. R. 29, 33.)

     PREDICATES OF THE FIRST FINITES.

     The Principia further teaches that "of all finite figures, the figure of the first finite is the most perfect." (Pr. vol. I, p. 75, 76), and in the work On the Infinite we read: "Ii the primitive, as it arose immediately out of the Infinite, were superlatively perfect, and the other derivative existences were less and less so, it is a plain proof that the latter had their origin from finites successively and immediately, which would account for a successive and graduated series of imperfections." (Inf. p. 41.) Compare with this the teaching in the Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 203.

     Things simple, out of which things composite are formed, are the more perfect, because more naked and less covered over with substances and matters devoid of life; and they are thus as it

were more Divine, and therefore nearer to the spiritual Sun where the Lord is. For perfection itself is in the Lord, and thence in the Sun which is the first proceeding of His Divine Love and Wisdom; and thence perfection is in those things which proximately succeed; and thus in order even to the lowest things, which are as it were more distant, things are more imperfect.

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     The teaching of the Principia that this first finite is the "first substantial" does not mean, as has been foolishly objected, that Swedenborg thus denies substantiality to the Point and to the Infinite itself, for he distinctly qualifies his teaching by the repeated statement that "we speak here, however, of the first substantial or boundary of finites," (Pr. p. 75), and that it is "in regard to its substance, the first boundary of all other finites being among finites [inter finita] the first and least substantial," (p. 81),--showing that it is finite substance that he is talking about, and that by the term "substantial" he means the bounded or finited form of the infinite substance or medium, in which alone the first point moves and has its being.

     "This first finite," he says further, "is not only the first substantial but also the least or smallest," and "in the whole world there is no other substantial than this finite." (Pr. p. 74) "Excepting the first and smallest substantial, there is nothing in reality substantial in any finite subject; for whatever exists is composed of the smallest substantials. Or we may go further, and declare that there is nothing in finites but the purely simple, inasmuch as all things have had their origin from the pure simples," (Inf. p. 138),--showing that if the first finites are substantial, they derive all their substance from the purely simple, or the Point.

     Compare with these statements the following teachings of the Writings:

     The reason there are degrees of both kinds also in the leasts of all things, is that the spiritual Sun is the one only substance, from which all things are. (D. L. W. 304)

     This Sun, or the Divine Love, cannot through its heat and light create anyone immediately out of itself, for one so created would be love in its essence. But it can create from substances and matters so formed as to be capable of receiving the very heat and the very light. (D. L. W. 5.)

     Those things which constitute the Sun of the spiritual world, are from the Lord, but are not the Lord, and therefore are not life in se, but are deprived of life in se. (D. L. W. 294.)

     God the Creator has produced from Himself the Sun of the spiritual world, and through that Sun all things of the universe. Consequently that Sun, which is from the Lord and which is where the Lord is, is not only the first substance, but is also the only one, from which all things are; and as it is the one only substance, it follows that it is in every created thing, but with infinite variety according to uses. (D. P. 5.)

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     Since that Sun is the first and only substance from (ex) which all things are, it follows that in it there are infinitely more things than can appear in the substances thence originating, which are called things substantiated, and finally matters. (D. P. 6.)

     There is one only substance from which all things are, and the Sun of the spiritual world is that substance. (D. L. W. 300; D. P. 157.)

     There are innumerable things in the first created substances of all things, which are the minima and simplicissima. (D. L. W. 229.)

     There are infinite things in God-man, and thence indefinite things in the Sun which is the first proceeding from Him, and these indefinite things stand forth as it were in an image in the created universe. (D. L. W. 155.)

     MOTION OF THE FIRST FINITES.

     The identity of the first finites with the created substance of the spiritual Sun is further manifest from a consideration of the form or degree of motion which is the same in both.

     We are taught that "there is in general a cardiac and pulmonic motion in the whole Heaven, and thence in particular in every angel; and the general cardiac and pulmonic motion is from the Lord alone, because from Him alone is love and wisdom. For in the Sun where the Lord is and which is from the Lord, there are these two motions, and thence in the angelic heaven and the universe." (D. L. W. 381.) And again, "These two motions, the cardiac and the pulmonic, exist and persist, because the universal heaven as well in general as in particular, are in these two motions of life, ... because the Lord pours them forth from the Sun where He is and which is from Him; for that Sun maintains [or keeps up--agit] these two motions from the Lord." (Ibid. 392)

     This systole and diastole,--this heart-and-lungs motion which the Sun of Heaven derives from the beating of the Divine Heart and the breathing of the Divine Lungs of the God-man within its encompassing sphere,--is the very same kind of motion as that which Swedenborg throughout his philosophical works describes under the name of "animatory motion," or the alternately expanding and contracting motion, which is the highest form of all actual motion.

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It is a purely spiritual motion, superior to the perpetually vortical motion of the celestial aura, and is derived immediately from the pure cowatus, or tendency and effort towards motion, which is predicable of the infinite Point alone. (E. A. K. vol. I, p. 278.) And in the Principia Swedenborg ascribes to the First Finite this animatory motion which in the theological Writings he ascribes to the Sun of the spiritual world. Of the motion which forms the first finite out of its component points he says that it is "in a certain respect similar to the motion which is in the point itself," and continues as follows:

     The similarity consists in this, that, in the point, motion or state is from a centre to a certain given circumference, and from this circumference [back] to the centre, and so on continually and reciprocally; so that, in the point, the animation, as it were, or the reciprocation of motion, is into a figure similar to that which is in this [first] finite." (Pr. vol. I, p. 78.) And further on in the same number he describes this motion in the first finite as a reciprocal anhelation from the center to the circumference, and from the circumference to the center.

     Looking up the term "anhelation," we find that it is derived from "halitus," breathing, and means a quick breathing or panting motion, and thus the mind is at once brought back to the idea of something living,--the Divinely Human systole and diastole of Love and Wisdom in God-man. Endeavoring to express this idea by geometrical terms, Swedenborg in the Principia describes this motion as a reciprocal spiral motion,"--the motion of a "perpetual helix," that is, the motion of a perpetual vortex ring,--a description which is no less human for being mechanical and geometrical, for the circulation of the blood and of the nervous fluid flows in this very kind and form of motion.

     Imagine, then, the motion of these first finites which are the same with the primitive created substances of the spiritual Sun,--each of them a vortex-ring, and all together forming a greatest vortex-ring as a sphere round about its infinite Center! Proceeding from this centre the Sun of Heaven pours forth its life-giving or animatory energy towards every point of the universe, and then, by its returning motion, it draws the entire universe back again towards the infinite heart of Divine activity.

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Here, in this marvelous form of the vortex-ring, we can perceive the origin of the two greatest forces of the universe,--the centrifugal force and the centripetal force, by which the universe was created and by which it is perpetually sustained,--the very image of the Divine Love itself, which pours forth the whole of its Life towards every living creature, and then, completing its Divine circle, endeavors to draw every living creature back towards Heaven and the Heart of the Heavenly Father.

     THE IDENTITY COMPLETE.

     Finally, in order to complete the identification of the First Finites with the finite substance of the spiritual Sun, let us compare with each other the following two passages:

     This finite possesses in itself the same active force as the Point, so that it is able to finite and produce the subsequent and more compound finites: that is to say, it receives from the Point the power of finiting the sequents. (Pr. vol. I, p. 79.)

     From those things which have been delivered in MY WORKS concerning creation, it is manifest that God first finited His Infinity by means of substances emitted out of Himself, from which there came forth His proximate compasses which makes the Sun of the spiritual world; and that afterwards by means of that Sun He perfected the other compasses even to the last which consists of things at rest; and that thus by degrees He finited the world more and more. (T. C. R. 33)

     To sum up the argument: it has been shown that the created or finite substances of the spiritual Sun are identical with the First Finites of the Principia as to the following points:

     1) Both are the first thing of creation and finition.

     2) Both are created immediately out of the Infinite by means of motion.

     3) Both are described as the most perfect of all things finite.

     4) Both are the minima and most simple things of creation.

     5) Both possess the animatory or heart-and-lungs motion.

     6) Both are in the form of a vortex-ring; and

     7) Roth possess the power of finiting all other things in the universe. Consequently, the two are one and the same thing.

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     As to the "Second Finite," of the Principia, but little need be said in the present paper. They are formed by the composition of the First Finites, as these are formed by the association of the First Points. Being a further composition they are larger, grosser, more finited than the first substantials, move in wider orbits, and possess an inferior force and velocity of movement.
Nevertheless, they are similar to the First Finites as to inherent form, not only as to figure but also as to form of motion, and are anterior and superior to the "First Element" or the universal or celestial aura.

     THE "RADIANT BELTS."

     The volumes of these first and second finites must, therefore, be identical with the two "successives" which appear as radiant belts above the atmosphere or heaven, round about the spiritual Sun. Concerning these we have the following teaching in the Writings:

     Inasmuch as the Divine Truth which proceeds immediately from the Lord, is from (ex) the Infinite Divine itself, it can by no means be received by any living substance which is finite, thus neither by any angel. On this account the Lord created successives, by which, as media, there could be communicated the Divine Truth immediately proceeding. But the first successive from this was too full of the Divine to be as yet received by any living substance which is finite, thus by any angel, and therefore the Lord created yet another successive by which the Divine Truth, immediately proceeding, was as to some part receptible. This successive is the Divine Truth which is in Heaven. The first two are above the heavens, and are as it were circles radiant from flame, which surround the Sun which is the Lord. (A. C. 7270.)

     The final words of this important Passage show that by the Sun, here, is meant the Lord Himself, and not the created substance of the spiritual Sun. Consequently, the radiant circles surrounding that Sun, are, themselves, this created or finite part of the spiritual Sun,--the first two created and finite successives--the first and second finites; while the Divine Truth immediately proceeding out of the Infinite Divine itself is the First Natural Point, or the Divine Conatus of Love which constitutes the internal of the spiritual Sun.

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     The American Swedenborg Society is rapidly completing its "Library Edition" of Swedenborg's Writings. The eighth volume of the Arcana Coelestia, (revised, and virtually re-translated by the Rev. J. F. Potts), has just been issued, and the Divine Love and Wisdom and the Divine Providence, (both translated by the Rev. J. C. Ager), have also appeared among the volumes of this elegant and convenient edition.



     The total amount of the subscriptions to the Royal Swedish Academy's edition of Swedenborg's Scientific works thus far received, by the treasurer of the Swedenborg Scientific Association, is $588--being for ninety-eight sets of volumes I-III, and one copy of volume I. Of these subscriptions, all but $36 of which have been already paid in, fifty-five have come from members of the General Church, and forty-three from other sources.

     The number of subscribers to this beginning of an important work is gratifying, and will doubtless encourage the Royal Academy in carrying out the plan now contemplated of publishing seven volumes, including The Brain and The Animal Kingdom. Volume I is already in the hands of subscribers, and volume II will be issued very soon, if it is not already on its way to this country.
REV. FEDOR GOERWITZ 1908

REV. FEDOR GOERWITZ              1908

     The excellent biographical accounts of the Rev. Fedor Goerwitz, which have appeared in the Monatblatter and the New Church Messenger, render it unnecessary for us to duplicate this work. The Life has consistently reported Mr. Goerwitz's wide and useful activities. Through his early association with some of the founders of the Academy of the New Church, while resident in Philadelphia between the years 1859-1870, he became imbued with sound principles of New Church Theology; and though he was unable to accept the Writings as the very Word of the Lord, he was ever a firm believer in the general doctrine of their Divine Authority.

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Planted on this Rock, he remained throughout his career a solid bulwark for the Church on the Continent during many a violent storm of infestation and heresy. His persistent teaching of the distinctive Baptism of the New Church at first caused him to be the object of much ill-will and abuse, but his steadfastness won the day. Of special value was his subsequent combat against the spiritistic heresies of Albert Artope, which at one time threatened to overwhelm the whole Church in Central Europe. The society in Berlin went to pieces; the one in Vienna was split up; the little circles in Switzerland were invaded; but Mr. Goerwitz's uncompromising attitude saved the situation. Equally firm, more recently, was the stand he took against the notions of the so-called "New Theology," supported as this movement was, like that of Artope, by the leaders of the "German Synod" in America. Like a faithful pastor he not only fed but also shielded his many and scattered little flocks, and before his death he had the joy of seeing the work transferred to a son whom he had brought up in his own principles. The New Church in Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Austria, and Italy, may well cherish his memory and remain steadfast to his teachings.
REMOVAL OF SWEDENBORG'S BODY 1908

REMOVAL OF SWEDENBORG'S BODY              1908

     The Swedish papers bring the news that King Gustaf has ordered the warship Fylgia, (the finest ship in the Swedish navy, to bring Swedenborg's coffin and earthly remains back to his native land. The coffin is to be transported from London to Dartmouth, whence it will be taken by the man-of-war to Carlskrona, the Swedish naval station. The Academy of Sciences will then see to its transportation to Stockholm.

     In the meantime, the public is quite excited as to the proper burial ground for the distinguished relies. It appears that Prof. Retzius and the Academy of Sciences have made arrangements for burial in Solna cemetery, near Stockholm, where many other prominent men are buried.

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Others are objecting to this, as not sufficiently distinguished, and propose instead that the remains be buried at Skansen, the national park-museum where Swedenborg's summer house now stands. The Church of St. Mary was also proposed, on the ground that Swedenborg belonged to that parish, but to this there is the objection that he rarely if ever attended services there. There is a growing sentiment, finally, in favor of depositing the coffin in the Ridderholm's Church, the Swedish Pantheon or Westminster Abbey, where most of the Swedish kings are buried, at least until steps have been taken to erect a special splendid mausoleum for Swedenborg, as was done for John Ericson.

     This whole movement, which, we understand, was first suggested by Mr. Stroh, is certainly interesting and gratifying to the members of the New Church, as it may serve to draw the attention of some to the Doctrines revealed through Swedenborg. On the other hand, all this external eclat may prove to be a source of new danger and infestation to the New Church. We are, of course, glad to see Swedenborg honored at last in his own country, but it is quite certain that the honor is not meant for Swedenborg--the prophet.
SCIENTIFIC APPRECIATION OF SWEDENBORG 1908

SCIENTIFIC APPRECIATION OF SWEDENBORG              1908

     In New Church Life for February, 1907, (p. 100), we presented an account of Swedenborg's little work, entitled "New Ways of Discovering Mines." We have now received from Sweden a brochure by Professor Hjalmar Sjogren, (reprinted from the Transactions of the Geological Society for December, 1907), in which the writer, a prominent Swedish mineralogist, calls attention to this little-known work by Swedenborg, and especially to his statements therein about the "lode-lights" or columns of flitting light, which, he says, have often been seen at night above hidden mineral deposits.

     Prof. Sjogren refers to a great number of eighteenth century authorities who mention these lode-lights, which by later scientists have been relegated to the region of the improbable. The writer, however, does not doubt their existence, but calls attention to the fact that Karl von Zenger, in 1875, by means of especially prepared plates, was able to photograph such lights at night-time, though these particular lights were otherwise quite invisible to the human eye.

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The phenomenon is explained as an "electric eradiation" from the earth's surface, and we learn that Professor Barvir, of Prague, in 1906, demonstrated the possibility of utilizing this photographic method for the discovery of mineral deposits. Prof. Sjogren also regards this as quite feasible, and refers to Swedenborg's remarkable anticipations in this field as an illustration of the great author's faculty of generalizing,--bringing widely separated phenomena under the same point of view and exhibiting them as varied effects arising from one and the same cause.

     In connection with this subject, we notice with interest the following recent American tribute to Swedenborg as a mining engineer, reported in the Messenger for March 4th:

     "The ninety-fourth meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers began in New York on February 18. In its report of the meeting the New York Sun says that the feature of the opening session was the paper by Dr. R. W. Raymond, secretary of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, on 'Humboldt and Swedenborg, Mining Engineers.' Speaking of Swedenborg, Dr. Raymond said:

     "Emanuel Swedenborg was one of the foremost if not the very foremost of all milling engineers and metallurgists who have ever lived. In his versatility, his eager questioning of all natural phenomena, his combination of practical knowledge and skill with theoretical speculations and his perennial flow of spontaneous suggestions for the benefit of his own fellow men he resembled our own Benjamin Franklin."

     "Concerning Swedenborg's mechanical inventions Dr. Raymond said that a letter written by him in 1714 showed that he had on hand the following inventions:

     "For a submarine ship, 'which can do great damage to the ships of the enemy;' a portable siphon for raising great quantities of water; a machine 'driven by fire, which will put water in motion' (a steam engine?); new pumps, of various designs; new airguns; a new musical instrument, 'by means of which one who is quite unacquainted with music may execute all kinds of airs that are marked on paper by notes;' a water clock and a flying carriage, showing 'the possibility of remaining suspended in the air and of being conveyed through it."

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     "Dr. Raymond spoke of the statements by Swedenborg of great doctrines of modern science, such as the atomic theory, the solar origin of the earth and the planets, the undulatory theory of light, the nebular hypothesis, the recognition of heat as a mode of motion, and the connection between magnetism and electricity. As the principal reason why Swedenborg's books and treatises. As published in Latin, have not attracted the attention they deserve from modern students, Dr. Raymond said they were made at a time when the thought of mankind was engrossed in war, and because when in middle life he turned to theology and believed himself to be in continual communication with the inhabitants of the spirit world, those who did not accept his revelations were inclined also to reject his scientific observations and theories.'"
QUESTION OF TRANSLATION 1908

QUESTION OF TRANSLATION              1908

     Writing as the chairman of the Convention's Committee on the Translation of the Word, the Rev. John Whitehead, in the Messenger for February 19, labors to illustrate the need for a new translation of the Scriptures by citing the passage from Matthew, "Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments...(he) shall be called (the) least in the kingdom of heaven." This, he maintains, is a wrong translation, giving the general impression "that he who breaks the least commandment will be the least in heaven." "The order of words in the Greek, however, (he continues), shows that it is not he who breaks the commandment who is the least in heaven; he is not in heaven at all. But in heaven they call him the least. The order of die words in the original is, 'Least, he shall be called in the kingdom of the heavens.'"

     To point his interpretation, Mr. Whitehead has inserted a comma after the word "least." Without this comma, which is not in the Greek, the suggested translation offers not the slightest grounds for his criticism. The very most that the English reader could admit is that the sentence might possibly mean what is claimed.

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And, even granting this, there is no essential difference between this meaning and the meaning given in the Authorized Version. For if one is called least by those in the kingdom of the heavens, the force of the superlative, "least," can mean nothing else than that he is least in the kingdom of the heavens. But we do not need to appeal to the rational interpretation of the passage in question, for the Greek leaves no possible room for doubt as to its liberal meaning. The verb translated "shall he called," in its passive voice has the meaning "to be," and this "because one is named what one is or seems to be." (Liddell and Scott.) The word is frequently used in this sense in the Greek classics; and in the New Testament it is, we believe, its almost exclusive meaning, (Mat. 5:9, 21: 3, Mark 11:17; Luke 1:32, 35, 76), though it is not necessary to so translate it. This equivalence of the Greek word "to be called" with "to be" is also noted in the Writings as pointing to the spiritual sense. (A. C. 3421.) So far, therefore, from the translators of the Authorized Version having made a mistake, they might equally correctly have rendered the text: "He shall be least in the kingdom of the heavens."

     On the basis of the Greek alone, no student of that language would dream of reading any other meaning into the original text; and the attempt made by Mr. Whitehead savors rather of a misunderstanding of the teaching of the text than of the dictates of sound criticism.

     Indeed, this is suggested by Mr. Whitehead's own statements. He illustrates the importance of the revised translation which he suggests, by citing "a sermon by the Rev. W. F. Pendleton in New Church Life for January." In this sermon, he says, Mr. Pendleton, "taking the common conception of the meaning of the verse, labors to prove that the devils in hell, when not actually breaking the law, are not in hell, but in the lower earth of the world of spirits, and that this again is the lowest plane of heaven, hence that a devil in hell, when not doing evil, is in heaven. A right understanding of the meaning of the Letter would have saved the writer (Mr. Pendleton) from this erroneous doctrine."

     This hasty condemnation is an apt companion to the misrepresentation by which it is preceded. The sermon in question does not teach that the devils are ever "in heaven" or in "the lowest plane of heaven."

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What it does teach is that, when in order, they are brought into the ultimate sphere of the Divine Government, which is what is meant in the text by the "kingdom of the heavens." However, the sermon can speak for itself; we are here concerned only with the interpretation put forward by Mr. Whitehead,--an interpretation which it would be quite unnecessary to seriously notice if the Greek language were generally understood.
SAMUEL M. WARREN 1908

SAMUEL M. WARREN              1908

     Following closely upon the sudden death of the Rev. T. F. Wright, came the equally sudden death of another of the ministers of the Massachusetts Association, the Rev. Samuel Mills Warren, who, in his eighty-sixth year, was also the senior active minister of the New Church in America. The manner of his passing away was recorded in the March issue of the Life.

     Beginning his life as a farmer's boy Mr. Warren successively became a teacher, a schoolmaster, a traveller, a law student, and finally accumulated a fortune as a manufacturer of roofing. In the year 1848 he commenced to study for the ministry of the New Church under the guiding hand of the Rev. N. C. Burnham, whom he followed to Philadelphia in 1852. Here he preached for a short time for the Darby Society, but in the following year he went to England where he remained for several years in Manchester. Later on he settled in London as minister to the Camden Road Society. It was while here that he performed an invaluable service to the Church by taking the lead in the successful but terrible fight against William White and the spiritualists who had invaded and tried to take possession of the Swedenborg Society. While in England he also did a great deal of literary work for the Swedenborg Society, revising vols. I and X of the Arcana Coelestia, and translating anew the Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture and the Doctrine of Life. In 1864 he returned to America, where he became pastor of the Brookline, (Mass.), Society. In America he continued his literary activity by preparing the deservedly popular Compendium to the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, which was first published in 1875 and which has been republished, again and again, both in England and in America.

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In 1883 he translated the Doctrine of Charity; in 1892 and 1893 he revised the first two volumes of the Rotch edition of the Arcana Coelestia, and in 1907 he brought out, under a new and unfortunate title, a new translation of Conjugial Love. Besides all this, he was continually active in assisting others in their work of translating and revising, and for fifty years or more was a constant contributor to the pages of the periodical literature of the Church, taking an active and often valuable part in the many doctrinal discussions and controversies.

     Owing to his own theological and scholarly instincts, and perhaps also to the influence of his early training under Dr. Burnham and other sound theologians in the New Church, Mr. Warren became intimately associated with the founders of the Academy, and, in 1876, became one of the twelve who, on June 19th, formally organized the Academy of the New Church. It soon appeared, however, that he was unable to subscribe to all the principles of the Academy especially the teachings concerning the state of the Christian world,--and he, therefore, resigned before the charter of the Academy was issued, the Rev. W. F. Pendleton taking his place as one of the charter members. Mr. Warren, however, continued very friendly personal relations with the leaders of the Academy, and generally supported them in the many bitter conflicts on the floor of the Convention. After the separation of the General Church from the Convention, he undoubtedly grew further apart from the former, and in his old age he became more and more influenced by the unsound views of the leaders in New England. On the other hand, his scholarly and theological mind and his general loyalty to the Writings, must have had a counter-balancing influence in restraining the destructive tendencies of the Church in New England and in the Convention as a whole.

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OF INTEREST TO OUR TRANSLATORS 1908

OF INTEREST TO OUR TRANSLATORS              1908

     "MINA OVERSATININGS-PRINCIPER BETRAFFANDE SWEDENBORG'S SKRIFTER." (My Principles in translating Swedenborg's Writings.) By C. J. N. MANBY. Stockholm, 1907, he recent publication of next to the last volume of the Swedish translation of the Arcana Coelestia is the occasion for the appearance of this interesting little pamphlet, which the author designates as "a piece of autobiography and last testament."

     The historical parts are highly entertaining and likewise useful in supplying information as to the connection between Dr. Seven, who began the work of translating the Arcana into Swedish, more than half a century ago, and Mr. Manby, who took up the interrupted work in 1866. Of Mr. Manby's numerous translations we have often before spoken with admiration, and this feeling is increased by the present account of the "principles" which have guided him in his work,--a work which is beset with difficulties such as no English translator can encounter; for the Swedish language is poverty-stricken, compared with the English. It does not so easily lend itself to the expression of abstract principles, and is averse to the adoption of Latin terms. Imagine a tongue that lacks affections, charity, and conjugial love, and which is limited, instead, to "inclinations," "love to the neighbor," and "genuine love!" Or imagine the task of translating the philosophical language of the Writings into pure Anglo-Saxon!

     But Mr. Manby has successfully accomplished a very similar task, and the result is a translation which, in our opinion, surpasses most of the English versions, in the way of faithfulness, at any rate, if not in style and elegance of diction. Faithfulness to the original is the keynote to his work, and intelligibility to the outside reader quite a secondary consideration. But nothing else can be expected from one who believes that "Swedenborg's theological works are a Divine Revelation, which demand the same reverence as the Bible, in their translation into various tongues. The one important thing is to learn what the Writings actually say,--what our Heavenly Father has deigned to give to the world through His servant, Emanuel Swedenborg,--not any more or less faithful paraphrases of what He has said."

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He believes that these Writings "contain the Revelation of the Lord in His Second Advent. In them, in fact, the Lord Himself is to be seen. And His appearing, now, meets with the same difficulties as at His first Advent." And the translator's sense of responsibility is solemnly expressed in his words concerning "the standard of faithfulness which is needful in the publication of God given works of Doctrine, since upon these men must be able to base their doctrine and their faith; upon their statements they are to live and die."

     Mr. Manby's pamphlet will be of great service to the future but unknown "successor," of whom he speaks rather wistfully. We can only hope that he himself will live still many years, to enrich the Church with his translations. And we could wish also that his "Translation-principles" were translated into English, to give food for thought to some of our modern translators in England and America.

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SIXTH ONTARIO ASSEMBLY 1908

SIXTH ONTARIO ASSEMBLY       E. R. CRONLUND       1908

     The Sixth Ontario Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem was held in Toronto from December 31st, 1907, to January 2d, 1908.

     These total attendance was 129, comprising for members of the General Church and twenty-eight visitors and young people. Of this attendance, sixty-six were from Toronto, thirty from Berlin, thirteen from Bryn Athyn, three from Pittsburgh, two from each of the following places: Gait, Cross Hill, Guelph, Randolph, Niagara Falls, and one each from Wellesley, St. Thomas, Chatham, Milverton, Owen Sound, Coshocton, Ohio, and Chicago, Ill.

     THE BANQUET.

     The Assembly opened with a banquet on December 31st, at 6 :30 p. m. The Rev. E. R. Cronlund acted as toastmaster.

     The first toast was to "THE CHURCH."

     The second toast. "TO THE OLD STANDARDS OF OUR FAITH," was responded to by the Rev. A. Acton.

     The speaker referred to "Our Standards,"--the standards of the Academy,--as being all summed up in these two fundamental principles,--the acknowledgment of the Lord in His Second Coming in the Writings of Swedenborg, and the recognition of the distinctiveness of the New Church. From these two fundamentals many principles known as "Academy principles" had been seen and established. As the Church grows in understanding of the Doctrines, these principles, far from being weakened, will be more firmly established. Our understanding of them, our grasp of what they involve,--this is to grow as the Church grows; but the principles themselves, the Old Standards, will remain. They are Eternal Standards because they are drawn from the Revelation of the Lord who alone is eternal.

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     The third toast, to "SPIRITUAL PROGRESS," was responded to by the Rev. C. Th. Odhner. The speaker's remarks will appear in the editorial columns of the next issue of the Life.

     The fourth toast, to "UNIVERSAL INFLUX AND WHAT IT EFFECTS," was responded to by the Rev. H. Synnestvedt.

     Mr. Synnestvedt's speech was in the nature of a thanksgiving to the Lord on account of His universal presence not only within the souls of all men, giving to them perceptions and inspirations both poetic and artistic but also by way of ultimates operating toward the salvation of the human race by providing orderly planes in the world of nature about us, and in our very bodies themselves, and the appetites impressed upon our bodies and mental organization, whereby we are rendered capable of receiving instruction and being educated into the true order of our lives, and whereby also the world about us is kept in external order so much better than ever before, that no man has any lack of the means of becoming a true worshiper of the Lord. As an illustration of this provision of the Lord for man's salvation by both ways at once, viz., by influx from within into the souls of men, (T. C. R. 8, S. D. 2148), and by natural impellings from below, the speaker referred to our hunger for bodily food and drink, the craving for sense-delights, and the curiosity to know things, whereby also men are impelled to bring into activity the functions which lead finally to civilization and the heavenly life. In further elucidation of this view of the Lord's presence and operation with all men, he dwelt upon the one "instinct," so-called, which leads all peoples to some kind of Divine Worship, and the inspiration which in all ages has led those who had the "wonder sense" or awe arising from a sincere, even if fallacious belief in the reality of the presence of the spiritual world, to the highest achievements in pottery and art. What may we not expect in the New Church, where men will have not only the wonder-sense born of ignorant faith, but the deeper reverence of those who realize somewhat of the interior realities of the wonder-world!

     The fifth toast, to "THE RATIONAL RECEPTION OF RELIGION," was responded to by Mr. John Pitcairn, who dwelt on the fact that the distinctive duality of the revelation to the New Church as distinguished from other churches, was that it was a rational revelation of spiritual and celestial truths. The man of the church is, therefore, invited therein to "enter rationally into the mysteries of faith."

     A few impromptu toasts followed, after which the tables were cleared away and dancing, interspersed with vocal and instrumental music, followed.

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At midnight a brief service was conducted by the pastor. After the service followed the mutual good wishes for a Happy New Year. A delightful sphere of love and mutual good will prevailed.

     FIRST SESSION.

     The first session of the Assembly was held on January 1st, 1908, at 10:30 a. m. The meeting was opened with religious services conducted by Bishop Pendleton.

     The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved.

     The Bishop then delivered an address on "THE CONJUNCTION OF CONJUGIAL LOVE WITH THE LOVE OF OFFSPRING," which is published in the present issue of the Life.

     Mr. Acton. When there is nothing spiritual left in the Church, compulsion takes its place and freedom is destroyed. In the other world magical arts are used to compel people. This magic is also used on earth, not as external magic, for this is no longer permitted, but as various arts of persuasion by which men are compelled instead of compelling themselves. This sphere of persuasion is all-present in the Old Church,--a sphere which endeavors to compel men, even to do good. We are always prone to fall into the sphere of compulsion, from anxiety that people shall do right, and, as parents, from anxiety about our children. Anxiety is from trust in human prudence. Inspire into children the affection of truth, train them to good habits, leave them in freedom, and trust to the Lord that He will lead and guide them, even as He has led and guided us.

     Mr. Synnestvedt: I was much impressed by the statement concerning the relation of conjugial love to the love of freedom. The greatest enemy of conjugial love is the love of dominion. Compulsion destroys the quality of conjugial love. The man has to woo the woman. He could not obtain the real love by methods of compulsion. There must be humility that there may he conjugial love. The welfare of man's soul depends on humility. In the treatment of children there are two kinds of people in the Church. Some are prone to be strict, and cannot relax their authority when the rime comes to do it. Others commit the error of not holding the young children according to order while it is the time to do so.

     Mr. Waelchli. That with which conjugial love conjoins itself is the love of offspring, not the mere lore of having offspring. If there is the love of offspring there will be spiritual offspring. From this Rows the love of natural offspring,--the will that there should be offspring. If this love exist, even if there be no offspring, yet the state may be full.

     Mr. Acton: The statement that there is nothing the evil hate more than freedom, is a remarkable one They will not compel themselves, but they wish to compel others.

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It is this compulsion of others that we must shun. How is this to be done and yet zeal be shown for the reception of truth? Teach it from a love that men may receive, but do not insist that men shall receive.

     Mr. Odhner: We have emphasized the truth in the past that there must be marriage within the Church, and that there must be love of offspring. While there must be freedom, yet the teachings themselves are not changed, and we must count the results if we do not live according to those teachings.

     Mr. Synnestvedt: There is nothing from which the Church is in greater danger than the desire to compel people to live the truth,--a desire which leads the churches to regulate the external lives of their members, and to expect us to do the same. The world is opposed to genuine freedom, and the Church will have to fight to maintain it,--to stand up against inevitable criticism in its efforts to uphold the freedom of its members.

     Mr. Jacob Stroh spoke of the great freedom which now existed in the General Church.

     Mr. F. Wilson: Although an outsider I have very much enjoyed the Bishop's paper. In the Old Church, while immorality is deplored, the lack the courage to take hold of the question and deal with it as it should be dealt with. Mr. Wilson then asked whether the doctrine of freedom, as presented, involved that a man would he free to become a member of the General Church without accepting the Writings as the Second Coming of the Lord.

     Bishop Pendleton: Our Church is based upon the acknowledgment that the Lord appears in His Second Coming in the Writings.

     Rev. J. E. Bowers referred appreciatively to the Bishop's address. Such teachings arouse feelings of gratitude that we have been permitted to come into the New Church.

     Mr. R. Carswell also spoke of the value of the address. To him it was another indication of the thorough study of the Writings which was cultivated in the Academy.

     SECOND SESSION.

     The second session was held on Wednesday, January 1st, at 3:30 p. m.

     The Rev. J. E. Bowers read a report of the missionary work done by him in Ontario. In response to a question he said that he occasionally met new people, some of whom, he believed, would in time become New Church believers.

     Mr. Carswell: Mr. Bowers' work is a very useful one, and serves a large number of people who would not otherwise he served. The fact that they provide a large portion of his expenses shows their interest in the work.

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     Mr. Waelchli: The best way to reach the isolated is for some one to go to them. To write to them is of little use.

     The Rev. C. Th. Odhner then read a paper on "THE SUN OF HEAVEN IN RELATION TO THE FIRST NATURAL POINT ON THE ONE HAND, AND THE FIRST FINITE ON THE OTHER." (See p. 215 of the present issue of the Life.)

     Mr. Waelchli: I understood Mr. Odhner to teach that by the two radiant belts is meant the Sun as a created thing.

     Mr. Acton: We are apt to think of the sun of the spiritual world as in a place. This is the appearance even in heaven, and it is right and necessary for us to think of it in this appearance. But we must not think of it from the appearance. The Spiritual Sun is the center of the whole created universe and of all things therein. While the angels indeed see it in place, they know and perceive that it is inmostly everywhere. Wherever they look, there they see the Sun of the spiritual world, which is thus continually before their eyes.

     There was one point which the writer of the paper has taken for granted, namely, that Swedenborg means his Principia by "my works on Creation" referred to in n. 33, of The True Christian Religion. I would say that, to say the least, this is a moot point. If Swedenborg did mean the Principia, he certainly succeeded in disguising his meaning. To my mind the reference is more probably or at any rate, more directly to The Divine Love and Wisdom and the work on Influx. The reference is certainly such that it leaves men to see the agreement between the Principia and the Writings from interior light, without the persuasive force which would result from a direct reference.

     The speaker then referred to the wonderful light that had been given the Church through the recent study of Swedenborg's scientific works. The remarkable agreement in internal and vital particulars that had been pointed out between there works and the Writings, had led some persons to fear that Swedenborg is assumed to have known too much concerning the spiritual world before his spiritual eyes were opened, and that it would almost appear as if there were no necessity for a revelation. This is, of course, not correct. Revelation was necessary. But it is now seen that Swedenborg as a philosopher had the germ of the things that were afterwards revealed. The speaker illustrated by the doctrine of the Spiritual Sun and of heat and light in Heaven. The whole of this doctrine is involved and contained in Swedenborg's teachings respecting the First Point proceeding from the infinite, and respecting the First Aura by which the Infinite gave of its Love and Wisdom to the human soul.

     Mr. Odhner then read n. 33 of The True Christian Religion.

     Mr. Acton noted that in Divine Providence, n. 6, Swedenborg refers to Divine Love and Wisdom as a "work on Creation."

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     Mr. Odhner: It is a remarkable reference. (T. C. R. 33.) To my mind it refers to the Principia and also to Worship and Love of God. But, of course, there must be freedom to believe this or not.

     Mr. Acton: The quotation should certainly not be used to prove anything.

     Mr. Rudolph Roschman: The laity of the Church appreciate the movement that has been inaugurated of late in the Church. We see that, because of this new study, the Church will understand the Doctrines better and will come into more interior light.

     Mr. Jacob Schoenberger spoke of the great interest in the new movement which existed in the Pittsburgh Society.

     Bishop Pendleton: The use of the word "science," or "scientific," as applied to Swedenborg's early works, is misleading They are, on their surface, a philosophy, but to enter interiorly into them is to enter into the laws of creation and to see God the Creator. An understanding of the laws of nature is taken for granted in the Writings, and these are given in the early works. God the Creator, and even the glorification of the Lord cannot he understood without a knowledge of the laws of nature as given in the philosophical writings. We do not ask the Church to study natural science. But to study the doctrine of the Lord as taught in the Writings, and as illustrated in the philosophical works of Swedenborg. The study of these works was given us a more universal idea of God than we ever had before.

     Mr. Bowers: All through the early works of Swedenborg we find axioms that contain in themselves most grand and stupendous philosophy and involve all things of creation, as it were, in a nutshell.

     Mr. Acton, referring to the Bishop's remarks, noted that books of science are difficult for men without technical knowledge to read. That Swedenborg's works are philosophical rather than scientific is evidenced by the fact that they can interest even the non-scientific reader, provided he has a rational mind.

     MEN'S MEETING AND LADIES' MEETING.

     On January 1st at 8 p. m., a Men's Meeting was held at the church. The Bishop delivered a second address on "THE CONJUNCTION OF CONJUGIAL LOVE AND THE LOVE OF OFFSPRING," which was followed by an interesting and useful discussion.

     At the same time a Ladies' Meeting was held at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Somerville, which was very much enjoyed by all present.

     THIRD SESSION.

     The third session was held on Thursday, January 2d, at 10 a. m. The meeting opened by Bishop Pendleton with religious services. Reports of their work were read by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli and the Rev. E. R. Cronlund.

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     The Rev. H. Synnestvedt then read a paper on "THE KIND OF MAN WE AIM TO PRODUCE."

     Mr. Acton, speaking of the ideals of our Education, noted that the Writings always present a subject as it is in itself. The highest ideals are presented and then their opposites. It is only thus that there can be true judgment and wise action.

     Mr. Synnestvedt: Harm has been done through taking as ideals records of boys as they are or have been. Such books as Tom Brown's School Days, and Kipling's Shorty present false ideals. Boys following these ideals do many things which are tolerated by wise masters, but which are not at all ideal, e. g., hazing, etc.

     Mr. Rudolf Roschman: There was one point which I did not quite understand. In setting ideals and in the correction and education of boys, the teaching must have the true ring, there should not be a sphere going out from us which tells the boy that we have been in the same evils that we are trying to correct. Does this mean that before we can guide or lead we must necessarily be in a higher state than the one we are trying to correct? The minister need not be in the high state of regeneration to which he tries to lead his flock.

     Mr. Synnestvedt: I meant that the teaching does not ring true without the accompaniment of humility. You must put the truth and the ideal before the boy as the Lord's and not as your own. The personality of the teacher should be removed. He should not claim to be such as he teaches. Neither will his teaching ring true if he be not himself in a sincere attitude of condemnation of the evil.

     Mr. Acton: In order that a man's words may have power he must mean what he says. An evil minister may preach truth; but even he must mean what he says, if only at the time. Otherwise his words will ring more or less hollow.

     Mr. Odhner: A father is the priest in his own family. He is the teacher and representative of the Lord who is the only Teacher and the only Father. An evil priest may teach and lead men to the Lord, but his light in time will fail. And so with the father in his family. His educational efforts will fail unless he makes an effort to lead a regenerate life. We cannot pose as regenerating men before our children unless there is an effort toward the regenerate life for they will see through the appearance. Perception of the effort of the parents to lead a regenerate life will do more than teaching. We must fight against the particular evil of our own family, as the ruling love of the parent will be the ruling love of the children.

     Mr. Bowers referred to Swedenborg's Rules of Life, as leading to true ideals.

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He did not know whether a better code of life could be formulated. He asked how early in life Swedenborg formulated these rules.

     Mr. Odhner: We do not know. There is a mystery about them. They were not found among his manuscripts. We know of them only through Sandel's Eulogy.

     Mr. Acton: I was struck with what was said in the paper about the necessity of reflection. The evil have no true reflection. The good man can reflect, but not without knowledges in his mind. To get these he must read the Writings, the letter of the Word, and books of piety. But knowledges are not enough. There must be an affection for spiritual things, and this is a gradual growth with us. We can gain this affection by cultivating the habit of thinking of spiritual things, as it were, from ourselves, and not waiting to be stimulated into it by the conversation of others. The mind devoid of reflection turns to persons; hence the prevalence of gossip.

     Mr. I. Stroh: Have we not also something of the world's ideal, which is merely a desire to be great or famous? Is it not right to wish that our children may be eminent in the Church?

     Mr. Carswell: The ideal to be great and to be rich certainly infests the world at the present time. But a man should build for eternity, and not for time. What a man makes himself in reality, is what counts, and not what he has about him. Doing the work that he has in hand well is the principal thing. The ideal should be not to be rich but to be useful.

     Mr. Waelchli: If we wish to have our ideal realized there must be developed with the young an affection of truth. The storing of the mind with knowledges only will not enable us to reach our ideal. But if our aim be the development of the state of affection of truth, then we will realize our ideal, and I think this is accomplished in a remarkable degree in the schools of the Academy. There must be knowledges, but where the affection exists the knowledges will be acquired. But the teaching of spiritual truth is the chief work in the development of an ideal. On a lower plane is the teaching of moral truth.

     Mr. Synnestvedt: My view is not quite the same as that of some of the others. Our education must be spiritual-natural. Our ideals must be ultimated. We must not only teach internal things but must train children to be efficient for work in the world, just as if this were the end. The man must be a good, efficient, practical man in the world. The two ideals must be conjoined. Either one will fail without the other.

     A question asked by Dr. E. R. Richardson at the close of the preceding session was then taken up for consideration. The question was, Does Imperfection--an attribute of all finite forms-mean that a thing is evil? or does it mean a thing is essential good but incomplete?

     Mr. Odhner: The Divine created all things very good; even the last and least was perfect. The term "imperfection" is applied to that which appears less perfect but is not so in reality.

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Consider the letter of the Word, which appears less perfect than the internal sense, but is in reality just as perfect because it is Divine. It is impossible to create without successive degrees, and therefore it appears as if the perfection shaded off by degrees, as there is the most living, less living, and what is apparently dead; good, less good, and least good. Evil began when men deliberately chose the less good and the least good in place of the highest good.

     Mr. Bowers: The question involves the origin of evil. Evil animals and plants and insects arose together with hell, as correspondences of evils and falsities. If the whole human race were in a good state there would be no such things as cyclones and other destructive manifestations of nature. All nature would be pleasant and agreeable.

     Bishop Pendleton: There is impressed upon the whole of Creation, especially upon human beings, the image of the Creator and free choice. It cannot be said that God created any thing evil or imperfect.

     Mr. Carswell: In what sense does the Lord create darkness and evil?

     Bishop Pendleton: That is from the appearance to man. The last plane created is not evil but is a plane in which evil may exist.

     Mr. Odhner: Darkness is not a thing. It is the absence of a thing. There is no such thing as absolute darkness.

     Mr. Pitcairn. The obscurity of perfect and less perfect is in the terms used. The doctrine of degrees will explain it. Take the atmospheres. Each is perfect on its own plane, and yet one is lower than the other. There is no evil so long as there is order.

     Mr. Schoenberger. I always understood that every thing that was made was made good, but when man turned toward lesser good, and finally to evil, good from the Lord was perverted and became evil. All evil beasts were formed from the evil spirits inflowing into the minds of men, whose affection for evils formed an ultimate plane.

     Mr. Acton: The Lord alone is perfect, and, considered in themselves, finite things are not perfect, though they are perfect works of the Divine. Nature is a theater representative of the Divine wisdom,--a perfect means for the ultimation of Divine ends Finite things are perfect so far as the Divine is in them. So far as separation takes place between the Creator and the created, so far imperfection begins. The imperfection does not arise from the things created by God, but from man's taking these things and depriving them of their perfection.

     A resolution of appreciation and thanks to the members of the Olivet Church for their warm-hearted hospitality, was unanimously carried.

     On motion, the meeting adjourned.
          E. R. CRONLUND,
               Secretary.

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Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. One by one, the old familiar Doctrines are being touched by the new light that has come to us, apparently by way of Swedenborg's scientific works, and each one in turn seems to undergo a veritable transfiguration. The Doctrine of Creation and the Creator came first. Then the degrees and the order of the Divine Proceeding, from the Sun of Heaven, through the "radiant belts," down through all the successive atmospheres and finites, circling through nature and man back to nature's God, placing in a new light the degrees of human faculty and of angelic habitation. The spiritual Sun was seen within the natural sun, even as God-man Himself was seen within the midst of the Sun of Heaven.

     Now it is the doctrine concerning Worship which is receiving the Bishop's attention in the Friday class, and like the other doctrines, it seems to be quite rejuvenated. A few of the new statements of this doctrine will surely challenge the thoughtful mind.

     "Worship is all the ascending sphere of the activity of man's life, whether in prayer, in praise, or in uses...." "Worship is both internal and external. Its internal is all the activity of love and thought received from the Divine, and reciprocated by man through all his channels of expression. Its external is also form itself or the channel of expression, ultimated most fully in what we call Ritual, i. e., prayer, praise and service." "Ritual sums up and includes all the fine arts,--since the highest aim of every art is to open heaven to man, and thus to show forth something of the Lord. The best of every fine art has ever been devoted to the service of God, and ritual not only can, but should, lay every muse under tribute." . . .

     Thus the Bishop is approaching the subject which is just at present focusing the attention of Bryn Athyn.

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The rest of us are trying to learn something about ritual and church architecture, and exchanging opinions as to the site, size, shape, etc., and the more worldly question of economical maintenance. The chief difficulty now is how to provide for the social life, doctrinal classes, and local school. As all agree that we are at last to have a place of worship disturbed by no other sphere of use, a second building or Parish House, to accommodate the other uses, is inevitable. The hitch here is, that the custom of meeting after worship to exchange social greetings--a pleasant and useful custom which many would regret to lose,--seems to require the Parish House to be adjoined to the church. But on the other hand, it is almost imperative that the local school be close to the Academy, on account of library facilities, museum, etc., as well as the convenience of teachers and normal students passing back and forth almost every hour. Logically, these two needs would throw both the proposed new buildings into one group with the college. But this also involves serious objections. We expect to have it all ready, however, in time for another General Assembly, and it fills our hearts with gratitude, not unmingled with awe, to think what it may mean for the General Church to have such a development of our worship as is now promised through the new liturgy, the Bishop's teaching, and this new Sanctuary. May the Lord Himself fill it with the sphere of His very Presence, and help us all to turn our faces toward it in humble adoration. Otherwise it will become but an imaginary heaven,--a delight to the senses only, and an occasion of pride and Phariseeism.

     THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS. The effulgence of social activity, referred to last month, seemed to wane as rapidly as it waxed, and the month's doings in this line are again within the compass of an ordinary edition of the Life.

     The last school social was unusually delightful. Was it the "fast" of a month which prepared for this? Or was it due entirely to the native wit of the committee? Both helped, doubtless. The air is full of flying rumors, and strange noises are heard in divers places, in preparation for coming entertainments, even as far ahead as Decoration Day and the school closing. Those who visit here at that time will not be disappointed. The school was never more active, nor its work more satisfactory.

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     As the weather becomes balmy, and the birds begin to sing, the youngsters become more lively than ever. Another "sphere" is becoming very active--one often interfered with by a "bat." We have some fast base-ball material this year. A challenge has already been received for a foot-ball game next fall. Who will help us win this? H. S.

     PITTSBURGH, PA. Swedenborg's birthday was celebrated here by a banquet. The program was put entirely into the hands of the young people, and the formal remarks of the evening were made by the young men on appropriate subjects. Their efforts together with songs aroused probably as warm a sphere as we have experienced at such an occasion hereabouts. The evening closed with an impromptu march around the tables, all singing "Auld Lang Syne," and finally the "Academia" march. Mr. Pendleton recently took sick, and was obliged to go to the shore to recuperate, consequently services and classes were suspended temporarily. Church and one or two classes have since been resumed, but other work will be held over until he regains good health.

     Miss Zella Pendleton, Miss Vera Pitcairn, Mr. Ralph Hicks, and Mr. Roland Smith, of Bryn Athyn, have all paid us visits since last news. K. W.

     BERLIN, ONT.,CANADA. The Carmel church now devotes one Friday evening class of each month to the reading of Miss Beekman's "Outlines of Swedenborg's Cosmology," under the leadership of the pastor. Dr. Robert Schnarr is also delivering a series of lectures on alternate Tuesday evenings on Psychology, presenting the teachings of Swedenborg's work on that subject.

     On the 18th of February, the young people, after their class, celebrated the eighteenth anniversary of the birthday of Miss Vera Kuhl. It was a "surprise party," and opened with a handkerchief shower upon the unsuspecting victim. An enjoyable evening was spent.

     At the quarterly meeting of the Society, held on the 13th of March, two young ladies, who recently made their Confession of Faith, were received into membership in the Society.

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This is the first time that this has been done in a formal manner. The pastor addressed the candidates and gave them the right hand of fellowship, and then invited them to sign their names to the roll of membership. All present were impressed with the usefulness of the ceremony, and the remainder of the evening was taken up chiefly with speeches on the privileges and duties of Church membership.

     DENVER, COLO. The Christmas services this year were adapted especially for the children. On Swedenborg's birthday we enjoyed a very pleasant sociable at the home of Mr. and Mrs. James Drinkwater. Several of the titles of Swedenborg's philosophical works were acted out in charades by the young people. There was also music and general conversation in plenty. The serious part of the evening was devoted to examining and hearing explained, photographs of Swedenborg, of his contemporaries, and of points of interest connected with his life, which had been loaned by the Academy Book Room; and also in listening to speeches and remarks relative to Swedenborg's public life. At a late hour the guests departed, wiser but not sadder men, and with renewed inspiration to carry on the work of the Church in this city. F. E. G.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. Swedenborg's birthday was observed by the New Church Alliance of BRIDGEWATER, MASS., which met at the home of Mrs. R. F. Frost. A chapter from Odhner's Life of Swedenborg, being "A Visit to Swedenborg," was read by one of the ladies, and was followed by a paper by the pastor, Mr. Small, on "The Opening of Swedenborg's Spiritual Sight." An anagram on the first four lines of Holcombe's sonnet to Swedenborg was then proposed for solution, the prize being a copy of the Rules of Life, and still further distinctiveness was lent to the celebration by the presentation to each guest of a small mounted picture of the revelator, with a quotation from the Writings underneath.

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This is the second year that the New Church Alliance has celebrated Swedenborg's birthday, and both occasions have been found so useful that it is hoped to continue the practice.

     The day was celebrated also by the BALTIMORE MISSION, on the preceding Sunday, January 26. After an address by the Rev. L. H. Tafel, the Rev. G. L. Allbutt read from a letter from a Newchurchman in Russia with whom he had been in correspondence for many years. His correspondent's sister has lately translated "Daisy Dryden" into Russian for circulation in MS. The letter also mentioned the interesting fact that Russian copies of the Writings are on sale at the office of the Novya Vremya, the leading newspaper of Russia.

     On Swedenborg's birthday itself, the Baltimore American published a letter by Mr. Allbutt concerning the researches of Mr. A. H. Stroh and others in Sweden, and bringing out features of Swedenborg's services to his own country.

     On the same day the News published a letter by Mr. Allbutt's son, Mr. G. Clement Allbutt, noting, among other things that the forthcoming edition of Swedenborg's Chemistry will contain an Introduction by Svante Arrhenius, the winner of the 1903 Nobel prize.

     The Northside parish of the CHICAGO Society celebrated Swedenborg's birthday on the succeeding Sunday, February 1. After introductory remarks by Mr. Schreck, papers were read by Mr. Headsten, Mr. Matheson and Dr. Bergman. Swedish songs, dating from Swedenborg's time. were sung by Dr. Bergman, and the celebration was concluded by some ancient dances of Dalecarlia, (Swedenborg's ancestral province), danced in costume by two young Swedish couples.

     The Rev. L. G. Landenberger gives the following extract from a letter by a real estate man of OLYMPIA, WASH., who has been ordering copies of Heaven and Hell: "The Japs employed around here when they see a work of Swedenborg, are sure to disappear with it."

     CANADA. The Toronto Society celebrated Swedenborg's birthday by a meeting at which the central feature was the reading of the last chapter of Mr. Barler's work on Degrees, noted in our February issue.

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This chapter deals with the question of Swedenborg's illumination, and cites a number of strong passages showing that he was taught by the Lord alone.

     GREAT BRITAIN. After a continuous ministry to the Birmingham Society for forty years, the Rev. R. R. Rodgers has retired from that office to seek a rest demanded by the state of his health. He is succeeded by the Rev. Harry Deans.

     AUSTRIA. The Autumn visit paid by the Rev. Adolph Goerwitz to the Society at TRIESTE is described as being almost "the first Provincial or Association meeting of the New Church in Europe, outside of the regular meeting of the Swiss Union." Besides the members of the Trieste Society, there were two visitors from Vienna and three from Rome--Signor Gnocchi and his two daughters. Signor Gnocchi is reported as "being now the leading representative of the New Church believers in Italy."
UNIVERSAL CHURCH 1908

UNIVERSAL CHURCH       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1908


     Announcements.

     


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NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXVIII.          MAY, 1908.          No. 5.
     The Lord is Omnipresent. He is not only present in all nature, but He is present with all men. He is present with every man in the spiritual world and with every man in the natural world; and though men may turn away from Him. He never withdraws His presence from any man: He is with him at his birth and to all eternity. The Lord is not only all-present, but He is all-knowing and all- powerful; and He is not only all-knowing and all-powerful, but He is all-loving and all-merciful. He loves all men, and wills and operates to save all men. He provides that all men be saved. To every man, wherever he may be, in whatever clime, kindred or tongue, salvation is made possible; and it is his own fault if he be not saved, if he become not an angel of heaven after death.

     Since the Lord is everywhere, with every man, and is able to save every man born into the world, who is willing to be saved, and since the Church is the instrumentality of salvation on earth, it follows that there is a Universal Church, that is to say a Church that is with all men everywhere, a Church with every mat in every religion. For since the Lord is with every man in every religion. He is with him in all His saving power; and the power of the Lord for salvation is exercised by means of His Church in heaven and on earth. There is therefore a Universal Church, and by it every man may be saved who is willing to avail himself of the means of salvation; or in brief, because the Lord is Omnipresent, the Church is everywhere, or wherever there are men.

     We read that the Church is the Lord's kingdom. The Church is where the Lord reigns, where He governs; and it is that by which He governs, by which He teaches and leads, by which He redeems and saves.

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For the Church is indeed the same thing as the Truth, the Truth of revelation, the Truth of the Word of God. It may therefore be said that the Church is where the Truth of Revelation is; and since there is Truth of revelation wherever there is religion, the Church of the Lord is everywhere, with every nation, tribe and people; for there is no nation without religion.

     They who would take a narrow view of revelation or the Word, would say that revelation is only where the Word exists in a printed form, where it can be read and expounded. According to this view, the nations that have not the Word as a book, are without revelation, and therefore cannot be saved, since all salvation is by the Word and the Truth of the Word, or by the Lord in His Word. It is believed therefore, that the Church exists only where the Word is read, and where the Lord is known by the Word, and that there can be no salvation elsewhere.

     Those who hold this view do not know that the light of revelation, the truth of revelation, travels faster and farther than the books which contain it. When once revelation is on the earth in a written form, its light begins at once to spread itself around, and it is in the course of time carried in providential ways to all parts of the earth, carried even where the Word itself as a book is not carried. The light of revelation is indeed obscured, changed, and even perverted, as it is conveyed from one nation to another, by its human instrumentalities; but the Lord still provides that there is a sufficiency of truth conveyed from the revealed Word to men of all nations,--a sufficiency of truth to save them.

     In this manner religions have been established in all parts of the world, established by the light of truth from the Word, even though that light be faint and dim, flickering and expiring. Yet it will not expire, for the Lord in His mercy will provide that the light be renewed, when about to become extinct. For no nation can live, no man can live, without the light of revelation. A nation without some revelation, that is, without some religion, would perish from the earth; and a man without some light of revelation in his mind would die. The light of revelation is the breath of life; and the man who does not breathe it,--who does not breathe the breath of life which is the breath of God,--cannot live.

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     There is, then, a Universal Church, or a universal means of salvation, derived from the Word of God, and extending to all nations, and to every man, bringing the means of salvation to all nations and to every man. In order that this might be done there has been since ancient times an intercommunication of nations, established by men for the sake of commerce and trade, but established by the Lord for the sake of the Word, in order that all men might have the light of revelation from the Word. This light went forth, carried by human instrumentalities, first from the Ancient Word, afterwards from the Israelitish Word, and then from the Christian Word; and now in this our day the most interior light of all, the light of pure spiritual truth from heaven, the light of the very angelic Word itself, is to be carried to all nations, renewing and re-invigorating the Universal Church of the Lord.

     A wise man, a rational man, will avoid extreme views. The truth lies in the golden mean. This is always so, but not always in practice. But the rational faculty ascends in the balancing of extremes. One extreme on the subject of the Universal Church we have referred tot namely, that revelation is only where the Word is read, and no others can be saved. The other extreme is that there is no distinction between the universal Church and the Church Specific. The Church Specific is where the Word is read, and the Lord is known by the Word. The Church Specific is the Church directly organized from the Word, and in the direct and immediate light of the truth of the Word. In other words the Church Specific is the Church Visible, and the Church Universal is the Church Invisible, the members of which are known to the Lord alone. Without the Church where the Word is, where the Lord is known, without the Specific Church, the Visible Church, there could be no Invisible or Universal Church, just as there could be no human body without a human heart and lungs. If there were only the Invisible Church, there would soon be no Church in the world, and no salvation for men. When there is both the Specific and the Universal Church, both the Visible and the Invisible Church, then is the Lord's kingdom on the earth, and then is it said of Him, and fulfilled by Him, that His hand is not shortened that it cannot save.

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OPENING THE GATES OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1908

OPENING THE GATES OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       Rev. J. E. BOWERS       1908

     "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; for salvation will he set walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the just nation which keepeth faithfulness may enter in" (Isaiah xxvi:1, 2)

     THE land of Judah, in the spiritual sense, is the Church of the New Jerusalem, foretold, and described in most sublime language, in so many passages, in the Prophets and the Psalms, and in the Apocalypse. They are of the Church, who believe in the Lord alone in His Divine Human, as the one God of heaven and earth. They who thus truly believe in Him, are in love to the Lord from the Lord, having rejected the loves of self and the world as being infernal. They are in the good of love from the truth of faith, by virtue of the shunning of evils as sins against God. And they are in charity toward the neighbor, from the genuine principle of religion, doing the truth from the love of good for the sake of use.

     The Church, in this interior and exalted sense, stands for the truly Christian life and character, the life of religion, which is love toward the neighbor, manifested in all the acts and relations of life, according to justice and sound judgment. The natural man, whose mind is not enlightened by the Truth, and who is in dense ignorance as to spiritual things, imagines that he is a member of the Church, and a Christian, if he has joined an organization of men who profess religion, and if he takes part in the formalities which are regarded as worship, even though it be the worship of an invisible, an incomprehensible, and an unknown God. And of this nature is the worship of all the sects in Christendom, who do not worship the Lord Jesus Christ in His one glorious Person, as the one God of heaven and earth.

     In the supreme sense, the Divine of the Lord is the Church. The Divine of the Lord, by reception in the minds of men, becomes spiritual-natural; and by regeneration it becomes spiritual or celestial; so that men finally become angels of the spiritual or the celestial kingdom, of the heaven for which they are prepared, and in which they will dwell forever.

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The Divine of the Lord is received by men in the form of truth and good, faith and charity, from the Lord, by means of the Word. Then, as regeneration proceeds, truth and good, faith and charity, are more and more interiorly united in the formation of the mind. Truth and good, and the resulting faith and charity, are like consorts, in a spiritual idea or image.

     Here, then, we have a spiritual idea, according to our doctrine, of the human mind in the order and form of heaven,--the idea that man, by regeneration, becomes a heaven in the least form. The particulars on this great subject would fill volumes. But what has been said simply suggests, in a very general way, what the spiritual state of the Church in man is, and what it involves; namely, that the reception, from the Lord, of truth and good, and their conjunction, is the heavenly marriage in the individual human mind; and that, consequently, all things of the Church and heaven have relation to marriage, as a universal principle.

     It is, therefore, by means of love, as the essential of marriage, that the Church is established in the world. To the end that there may be a Church among men, there must be heavenly loves in the minds of those who constitute the Church. Human love, derived from the Divine Human Love of the Lord, is the beginning and end, the first and the last thing, of the Church. Love from the Divine, by reception and application, becomes spiritual and heavenly with men, as it does with the angels, but in a lesser degree. And when this takes place, then, according to the spiritual sense of the expression in our text, is sung the song in the land of Judah. This expression has reference to, and is a prophecy concerning, the acknowledgment and the glorification of the Lord, the God of heaven, in the New Church. For, in the consummation of the age, in the latter days, when the light of heaven had been obscured, and the gross darkness of falsity prevailed; when the Old Church had come to an end by the rejection of every truth; of the Word, and universal spiritual desolation was impending; then, according to prophecy, the Lord executed the Last Judgment in the world of spirits, and effected His Second Coming, to establish a New Church, the Church of the New Jerusalem, on the earth.

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And concerning this the crowning glory of the ages past, of all the Churches the world has ever known, and its Divine Founder, it was written, in terms of admiration: "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion,...the city of the great King."--Psalm xlviii:1, 2.

     As to the song to be sung, mentioned in the text, it may be added here that singing signifies gladness of heart, from the affection of truth. Thus, as one comes into this affection, and his understanding is formed by, and filled with, truths from the inexhaustible fountain of truth in the Writings, and his will is reformed and animated by heavenly loves; then, as he sees clearly the significance of the coming of the Lord to establish the New Church: that it is a new redemption from the powers of darkness, a new subjugation of the hells, a new formation and protection of the heavens; that it is a new manifestation of the Lord, by means of a new Revelation of the Word; that it is the Lord's Divine Presence with man to make all things new, to sustain and perpetuate the Church, so as to continue and remain in its integrity forever: then it becomes evident how great are the reasons for rejoicing, and for the glorification of the Lord, on the part of the angels of the heavens, and the men of the Church on the earth. Then are awakened in the mind new and more interior affections and thoughts, concerning the things which are spiritual, heavenly and enduring. All the higher faculties and powers of the mind are vivified with new life, inflowing from the one infinite source of Life. This is the state of the Church in which there is confession of the Lord from joy of the heart, for what He has done and is ever doing for His people, in establishing His New Church. And this state is described in many passages of the Word, by singing unto the Lord a new song. And the universal glorification of the Lord is described in several places, as for instance in these words: "Sing, O heaven; and exult, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains; for the Lord hath comforted his people, and he hath mercy on his afflicted" (Isa. xlix:13).

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     The song to be sung in the land of Judah, begins with the words: "We have a strong city; for salvation will he set walls and bulwarks." The "city" is the doctrine of Divine Truth. It is a strong city, because the doctrine is from the Lord, who has all power in heaven and on earth. The Lord has all power, by the Divine Truth from the Divine Good. There are no limitations whatever to the Divine Omnipotence, because it is infinite.

     The doctrine of Divine truth is from the Lord, by means of the Word. As the Lord is the Word, He is also the Doctrine which is expressed in the Divine language in the written Word, and thus contained in the letter, or in the literal sense, of the Word.

     Now, in the old church every truth of the Word was falsified. As there was in the Church no light of truth from the Word, the "dark ages" prevailed. There is now more natural intelligence, but the darkness of ignorance as to spiritual things, still prevails almost universally. The Word is not understood without doctrine. The doctrine is contained in the letter, but it can not be known except by those who receive it from the Lord, in the Revelation of the spiritual sense. Men, therefore, can learn truths of doctrine from the Word, only by means of the Doctrine of Divine Truth, which the Lord Himself has revealed, in the Writings of the Church. And if men have not this Divine Doctrine for their guide,--if they do not with all the heart acknowledge it as of Divine authority, as the very voice of God speaking to them out of the Word, and teaching eternal truths for the sake of their salvation,--what are the consequences? If men regard the Writings as those of a man gifted with an illumination superior to other men, but not as Divinely inspired, --what, then, are the results of their investigations? And what is the quality of the doctrine they formulate for themselves and teach to others?

     It is inevitable, that the doctrine in such case is not strong, but lamentably weak. It is indefinite, evasive, obscure, lacking in the full force and potency of revealed truth, which is always clear, logical, comprehensive, communicating to the mind capable of receiving the truth, rational ideas.

     We have, truly a strong city; and for the salvation of mankind there are set walls and bulwarks, that are a complete protection for all who seek to know the Lord, and who will enter in through the gates into the city.

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By the walls and bulwarks are meant truths of doctrine, which protect and defend man from evil and falsity, and thus from the insidious influences of hell; from the spheres of the cunning and malicious spirits of the dragon, who are insane with deadly hatred and fierce opposition against the Lord; who desire nothing more than to prevent men from entering into the city of God, the holy city, the New Jerusalem ; and who would destroy the heavens, and the happiness of all the angels of the heavens, if it were possible for them to accomplish this.

     But in order that the walls and bulwarks may be a sure defense, on behalf of men who enter in through the gates, and that their city of doctrine may not successfully be assailed by the enemies, and the walls at some point, be broken down, and the city be invaded, and serious injuries be inflicted as to their spiritual states, it is necessary that their minds be strongly fortified with truths of doctrine. Everything, therefore, as to protection and security, depends upon the "soundness and purity of the doctrine," which is taught and believed. The weakness, before alluded to, is, that in too many cases, those who are supposed to preach the doctrine, from a lack of due appreciation of its Divine nature, and of its sacred purpose in the salvation of souls, get it mixed up with something of self-intelligence and hence of fallacies, which have a tendency more to obscure the truth and to confuse the thoughts, than to enlighten the human understanding.

     In so far as this is done it is a grievous mistake. The Lord, in His Revelation of the spiritual sense of the Word, has adapted the truth, the pure and genuine truth, to the states of all men who can receive it. No man can add anything to the truth, or make it plainer or more luminous, than it is as given in the sacred pages of our heavenly Writings. All that is necessary, is to teach it in its purity, and to illustrate it so that it can be seen, by those who have the desire to see it; and who, therefore, are gifted by the Lord with the intelligence to see it in its own light, and in its beauty and glory. Then will the truth do its perfect work in the minds of men, and they will be glad and rejoice.

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     The admonition is to all people, of all states and all conditions: "Open ye the gates, that the just nation which keepeth faithfulness may enter in." The gates of the New Jerusalem, and the gates and doors so often mentioned in the letter of the Word, present a most interesting and important subject for devout consideration. From the natural use of gates, they correspond to spiritual truths, by means of which there is entrance, introduction, and admission into the Church. It is according to order, that before one enters into the Church, and into consociation with those who are of the Church, he should learn some general truths of doctrine; that he should know what are the essentials of the Church, namely: The acknowledgment of the Divinity of the Lord; the acknowledgment of the Holiness of the Word; and the life which is called Charity. The sincere confession of these general truths, these essentials, is a state of preparation to enter in through the gates into the city.

     Baptism and the Holy Supper are the two universal gates of the New Church. And concerning them we read: "By baptism, which is the first gate, every Christian man is admitted and introduced into the things which the Church teaches from the Word. . . . The other gate is the Holy Supper, through this is admitted and introduced into heaven every man who has suffered himself to be prepared and led by the Lord" (T. C. R. 721).

     The opening of the gates, mentioned in the text, is the opening of the mind, to the reception of what the Lord teaches. And if the mind is thus opened, there will be a disposition and the endeavor to make a practical application of the Divine teaching, in every possible way; and the natural inclination to evade the teaching, and to regard it as being, in some points, non-essential, will be resisted. And if the mind is fortified with truths of doctrine, this inclination can be successfully resisted, because by power from the Lord, who has all power. Thus the attempts of the spirits of the dragon to infuse falses, which keep the mind closed up, and prevent men entering in through the gates, will utterly fail.

     Now, since the Lord, in the Heavenly Doctrines, has made all things new, in and for His New Church, and absolutely distinct from everything else, it follows that the gates of entrance into the Church and into Heaven, namely, the Sacraments, are also made new.

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Men who will finally come into the New Jerusalem; men who from good are in the love of truth, and cannot rest contented till they find it, and obtain a rational knowledge of it; are led and prepared by the Lord in many wonderful ways. But no man can ever enter into the New Church through an Old Church gate. The impossibility of doing so is manifest, in the light of doctrine from the Word.

     The gates of entrance into the New Church are the general truths concerning the Lord, the Word, and the keeping of the commandments. Baptism into the New Church is baptism into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as the one God. But the gates of entrance into the old church are the falsities of religion concerning the Lord, the Word, and the dogma of salvation by faith alone. And baptism into the Old Church is baptism into the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, as three distinct persons in the Godhead, which is the idea of three Gods, but which are declared, according to the faith, to be one God.

     Entrance by the gates into the New Church is an introduction into the Christian Church, in the natural world; and brings people into spiritual consociation with those of the New Christian Heaven, in the spiritual world, who believe in and worship the Lord alone as the one God of heaven. But entrance by the gates into the old church, is an admission into membership of the various sects of the old church, and brings people into association with, and into the general sphere of, whatever form of religion it may be, both in this world and in the world of spirits. But as the New Church is so entirely distinct from the old church as to every point of its faith, it is provided, according to Divine order, that it has its distinctive gates of introduction, that is, the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper, and a distinctive ministry to administer the things of Divine worship. And thus only can there be a New Church in an organized form.

     All the particulars of doctrine, that are or ever will be necessary to be known by the men of the New Church, concerning this important subject, are fully revealed in the chapters on Baptism and the Holy Supper, in the True Christian Religion.

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And the more faithfully that these particulars of doctrine are learned and applied, in the life and in the uses of the Church, the more clearly will be seen the sublime import of the admonition: "Open ye the gates, that the just nation which keepeth faithfulness may enter in."

     The opening of the human mind, as to the understanding and appreciation of spiritual and heavenly things, is progressive, as the life of regeneration is a continual advancement. And not only is it so during man's life in this world, but it will be so to eternity, with those who enter in through the gates of the Church and of heaven. The minds of the angels are opened more interiorly, as they advance in their states of the felicity of the life of heaven; and this is according to the Divine order.

     The just nation which keepeth faithfulness, has no reference to any one particular nation. There has not been since the fall of man, since the time of the Most Ancient Church, a nation in the world that was perfectly just, and whose laws were formulated in agreement with the Divine Laws; and there is no probability that there will be such a nation, for centuries to come.

     The just nation, in the spiritual sense, signifies those who are in natural good, among all nations throughout the whole earth. Those who are in natural good, shun evils and live well, according to their best judgment. They love justice and mercy, and it is a pleasure to them to do what is just and merciful. They are of the Church universal. Their natural good is, internally, the love of truth, although their state is not as yet revealed to them. Thus their natural good is an external state of the Church with them, which is a preparation to become of the more internal and spiritual Church.

     This is effected when, as soon as it is possible, and, in view of each one's state, at the most suitable time,--those in natural good can be instructed in spiritual truth. To receive this instruction, and to learn the beautiful and rational truths of the Heavenly Doctrine, will be an unspeakable delight to them. They will acknowledge the Lord, and He will lead and guide them in the life according to the Doctrine. Thus the "just nation," in the spiritual idea,--the Lord's faithful people,--will enter in through the gates of the New Jerusalem.

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Of these gates it is said that "they shall be open continually," and by this is meant perpetual admission, from state to state, into the things of the Church, and thereby preparation for an entrance into heaven.

     But we must co-operate with the Lord. Salvation is the Lord's work in us and for us; but we must do our part; and hence it is said: "Open ye the gates." And it is also said: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye doors of the world, that the King of glory may come in" (Psalm xxiv:7, 9). Amen.
Title Unspecified 1908

Title Unspecified              1908

     It is thought by some that the simple are they who know few truths, and the commendation of the state of the simple has been used as an excuse for not reading much in the doctrine of the church. But this is a misconception. We read in D. L. W. n. 361. "Many of the learned who have thought much, and especially who have written much, have weakened and obscured their common perception, yea have destroyed it; and hence the simple see more clearly what is good and true than those who think themselves wiser. This common perception comes by influx from heaven, and falls into thought and sight; but thought separate from common perception falls into imagination from sight and from proprium. This you may know from experience. Tell anyone who is in common perception some truth and he will see it ... but say the same things to one of the learned, who has not thought from common perception, but from principles or ideas taken from the world by sight, and he will not see it. Consider afterwards which is the wiser."

     The contrast is, not between those who have greater or less knowledge from revelation, but between those who are in common perception and so receive the truth of revelation simply, without doubt or reasoning about it, and those who from their worldly wisdom think to stand in judgment over revealed truth.

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CHURCH OF THE SIMPLE GOOD 1908

CHURCH OF THE SIMPLE GOOD       Rev. WILLIAM HYDE ALDEN       1908

     There is in the world a church whose members are known to the Lord alone; whose members mingle with the members of all churches and with those of no church; whose fellowship is not an external bond; whose members have no means of certainly knowing one another in this lower world. This church professes many creeds, has myriad variant forms of worship, speaks many languages of faith, has for the most part false conceptions respecting God, respecting life in this world and life in the world to come. Its fold includes the black, the brown, the yellow and the white races; its worshipers bow down in Christian cathedrals, in Mohammedan mosques, over ancestral graves in China, before idols in the islands of the sea. This church builds no temples of its own, but worships at every shrine which it finds set up in every land. This is the Lord's Church Universal. It consists of those who live the life of charity from religion, and, in Christian lands, of those who acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as God. But I am speaking now of that branch of this vast Church Universal which exists among the churches in the Christian world, which is called appropriately the Church of the Simple Good.

     There are simple good in the New Church, but these we are not now considering. We are thinking rather of the simple good who abide among the dead churches of Christendom. Who are they? What is their relation to the Christian sects? What is their relation to the New Church? What is the relation of the New Church to them?

     First let it be noted that they are not those who characterize the several denominations of the Christian world. We need to discriminate carefully here. We know, the state of the Christian Church. It is consummated and dead; the Lord has departed from it, and abides now with those who are or who will be of His New Church. The First Christian Church has passed into history and has taken its place with those other churches which preceded it, as a dispensation of the past.

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It is dead, as the Jewish Church is dead, and this despite all its wealth, its many temples, its multitudes of worshipers. Its characteristics we know:-the Scarlet Woman, the usurpation by man of the dominion which belongs to the Lord alone in His Church: the Great Red Dragon, the dogma that man is saved by faith in the atoning death of the second person in a tripersonal God. If in the Christian world outside the New Church there be professed anything that is not of these two, it is the denial altogether of the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the substitution of naturalism in the stead of any spiritual faith whatever. But among the churches which profess these false faiths there are the simple good, who are of the Church Universal. These externally profess the faith of the Christian sect in which they are; they use the tripersonal formulas; they believe that they are saved by the passion of the cross: they look to the pope as the vice-gerent of God upon the earth, nevertheless in the sight of the Lord they are distinguished from those who are of the dead church, and after death, if not before, the errors which they have imbibed from the falsities amid which they are, will be sloughed off; they will be instructed in the true faith, and brought into the New Heaven. Who, then, are these?

     We are told who they are. They are those who acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as God and His Human as Divine; those who believe that they must obey His commandments in order that they may be saved. They believe that the Word of the Lord Is holy, and that man will live as a man after death. In very simple fashion they believe these things; not understanding them rationally, but receiving them with single heart as the Lord's children. They do not see the particulars of this their simple faith, nor its incongruities with the falsities of the creeds which they outwardly profess. They think that the faith alone of the evangelical church, by which man shall be saved, is a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ which demands obedience to Him; and they do not at all see the poison of the serpent which lies within this faith, whereby a man may excuse his evils by the thought that the keeping of the commandments does not save, but only the lip-expression of faith in the Lord's saving grace. He of the Catholic communion, in this simple faith goes to the priest in humble confession of his sin, and goes forth from the counsel of the confessional, chastened,--with the desire and courage to live a better life; not realizing that the assumption by the priest of the power of absolution may be used to obscure the conscience and enable the sinner to feel spiritually secure in his sin.

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He may even be in the sincere belief in the sole Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and yet find intellectual difficulties ill confessing this, which compels his outward affiliation with those of the Unitarian unfaith who deny the Divinity of the Lord altogether. He has many obscurities, fallacies even, in his thought, which he derives from the letter of the Word. He believes in a literal hell-fire of burning brimstone, in a heaven where the sole occupation of the angels is the singing of psalms of praise to the Lamb to all eternity. He believes that God is angry with the wicked; that He rewards with outward glories those who serve Him, and takes everlasting vengeance on His enemies. But all these appearances of the letter of the Word have only this effect with him that they confirm him in the life of charity. The fallacies which are associated with his faith, and which he is not for the time able to separate from his faith, which indeed then seem to him such that if he should separate them he would separate himself from the church by which he learns the way of salvation;--these fallacies are held externally only, and after death, if not before, they are cast aside, and the simple faith from religion, that the life of charity is essential to salvation, will be made the means of his receiving the wisdom and the life of the angels of heaven.

     These simple ones do not outwardly appear different from others, with whom falsity of faith is wedded to evil of life, and this for two reasons. In the first place their religious phraseology and external professions are the same. In the second place,--and it is important to note this,--the faith of the simple has a noteworthy effect upon the ostensible doctrine of the churches among whom they are, for theirs is the faith of common perception which the teachers in the church dare not openly deny.

     "Those who are in simple good," it is revealed in the Arcana Coelestia, "acknowledge that the Lord's Human is Divine, and that, in order for man to be saved, the works of charity ought to be done.

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They who are in faith separate know this, and therefore they do not eagerly urge this faith upon all, and scarcely at all before those who are in simple good; chiefly because they dare not speak contrary to common sense, and because they would thus detract from their own honor and gain. For they who are in simple good would say of them, if they denied such truths, that they were foolish; for they who are in simple good know what love is and what the works of love are, but what faith separate from them is, they do not know; arguments in favor of faith as against works, and concerning the distinction between the Lord's Human and His Divine, they would call sophisms which they do not comprehend: wherefore, in order that they may be accepted, and because what is from them is accepted, those who are in faith separate willingly make concessions, for if these truths were extinguished, they would be without profit and eminence." (4754.)

     The use which the simple good thus perform in the Christian world would seem to be analogous to the use performed by the simple good in the imaginary heavens before the Judgment, namely, that of securing communication with heaven. For it may be readily understood that were evils which lie concealed within the papal claim of dominion over the souls of men, and within the doctrine of faith alone without obedience to the commandments, to be openly proclaimed and practiced, unrebuked by the church, and indeed under the cloak of its protection, human society could not survive.

     We may observe the effects of this common sense of the simple good in the opinion which so largely obtains in the world, and even with those of the New Church who should be better instructed, namely, that the influence of the church which is consummated, vastated and dead, makes for the spiritual good of men. Professions of piety, of desire for salvation, are taken at their self-appraised valuation; the withdrawal of doctrines abhorrent to the natural man to the background in the Protestant church, and the deft diplomacy with which the Roman church masks its real animus under a show of public spirit and regard for universal education where the prevailing tone of a country's life demands these things, are taken as evidence that the Scarlet Woman and the great Red Dragon also have become or are fast becoming converts to the insistent sphere of the Lord's New Church acting upon them from within.

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The naked fact is that these things are due to the external pressure of the common sense of the simple good, who, while it is indeed true that they derive the spirit and the internal support of their life and faith from the sphere of the New Heaven and the New Church, are nevertheless only in the appearances of truth, mingled with many fallacies, by the allurements of which they are in no slight danger of being overcome.

     For let it be also remembered, these simple good in the Christian world are not of the New Church. Their only source of spiritual truth is the letter of the Word, and the letter of the Word as interpreted by the dead churches among which they live. They belong to the church universal, and are interiorly associated with the New Church and the New Heaven, but externally they know only of the church once founded by the saints, which to their simple thought is the Lord's appointed means for the salvation of men. That they may become of the New Church or of the New Heaven in this world or in the world to come, they must be instructed in the truths of the New Church. To seek them out and to instruct them, whether by the living voice of the preacher or by the distribution of literature, has been and must continue to be the mission work of the New Church.

     In a recent sermon Bishop Pendleton referred to the indifference of the Christian world as to spiritual faith increasing, over against the faith of the New Church. I may perhaps be permitted to quote his own words:

     "It is interesting to note . . . that the growth of the New Church takes place along two parallel, but opposite lines of growth; on the one hand there is the growth of indifference in spiritual things; and on the other, growth of spiritual affection of truth, and thereby a consequent internal expansion of the church. . . . Given a growth of spiritual power, and the opposite growth of spiritual indifference, and the product is the New Church, the crown of the churches that have hitherto been in the world, the establishment of the Lord's eternal kingdom upon the earth."

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     This brings us to the thought of the relation of the simple good to the New Church and the relation of the New Church to them.

     It may well be believed that, as the Christian world becomes indifferent to the truths of spiritual life, even to the pretended truths of a false faith, those in the Christian world who are in simple faith will be gathered out to form their part in the body of the Lord's New Church. The New Church has been formed, so far as its membership has come, from the world about, from the simple good. It is the simple in heart who receive the Lord at His coming. The mission work of the New Church has found few of them, partly, no doubt, because there were few who could be released from the toils of their ancestral faith, but also, to some extent at least, because, especially in these later years, the New Church has not been proclaimed with the assured word of the confident apostle of the New Age, but rather with the apologetic tone of one who wished to amalgamate the New Church with the Old, to graft the living upon the dead. Indeed, it may be asserted with some confidence that the greater part of those who have come from the Christian world into the New Church have come, so far as the agency of man was concerned in their coming, accidentally, as it were by chance. But it is not too much to believe that the time will come, in the breaking up of the old faiths, in the growing indifference of men at large to all religions, when the simple in faith will turn to the New Church as to that alone which speaks with the sure Word of God. Then must the New Church be ready; then, in the Lord's Providence, we may be assured that she will be ready to provide the Word of the Lord which has been revealed to it to be a light to the nations. To this end those of the New Church faith have been scattered world-wide. For the time will come when the Word of the Lord by the Prophet Zachariah will be fulfilled:

     "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all the languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." (8:23.)

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SPIRITUAL WARFARE 1908

SPIRITUAL WARFARE       E. E. IUNGERICH       1908

     From most ancient times the combats and victories of the Church against her spiritual foes have been celebrated in legend and prophecy. The champion for the Church is usually depicted as a great-limbed warrior, simply clad, and armed with a sword or spear which he wields with trenchant directness. His opponent is generally a dragon or some stealthy, cunning serpent, endeavoring to destroy the champion either by enveloping him in its toils or by carrying him away in the floods poured out from its mouth.

     In Greece we have Herakles grappling in his very cradle with two serpents, and with the Lernean hydra in after life. In Scandinavia we have Thor, the hero of the Aesir, opposing Jormungand, the Midgard serpent, the spawn of a giantess by the recreant Loki.

     Turning to Egypt we find the struggle is between Amen-Ra and the serpent Apep. The "Books of the Overthrowing of Apep," recited daily by the priests of ancient Thebes, give directions to the champion as to how he must comport himself in this combat. This careful advice was couched under the following general heads: Book I. Spitting upon Apep; Book II. Defiling Apep with the left foot; Book III. Taking a lance to smite Apep; Book IV. Fettering him: Book V. Smiting him with a knife; Rook VI. Putting fire upon Apep. In order to destroy Apep it was necessary to curse him by each and every name by which he was known,--denoting, undoubtedly, the necessity for man to examine himself, in order that he may know accurately the names of the evils which assail him, and so curse them.

     Tiamat, the serpent of the Babylonian legends, was 300 miles long and moved in undulations six miles high. The champion was Marduk. The following is a brief record of the actual combat: After an exchange of words of abuse the fight began, and from a mouth, ten feet wide, Tiamat pronounced her spell. But this had no effect, for Marduk drove the winds which he had with him into her body.

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Then whilst her belly was distended he thrust his spear into her, stabbed her to the heart; cut through her bowels, and crushed her skull with his club. On her body he then took his stand. With his knife he split her carcass like a flatfish into two halves, and of one of them he made a covering for the heavens. This last statement is suggestive of the use which the New Church warriors can make of the Old Church dragon. Its false religions and false philosophy cannot be adopted, but its ritual can serve the New Church as an external of worship, and its scientific and historical facts can be used to confirm and infill a truly rational philosophy.

     Referring to the letter of the Word, which is the source of these gentile legends, we find it abounding with many narratives of combat. In the Ancient Word there was a book called "The Book of the Wars of Jehovah," treating prophetically of the Lord's combats and victories over the hells, and also of His subsequent perpetual combats and victories in favor of man, the Church, and the Kingdom of Heaven. The same combats are meant and described in many places of the historicals of our Word, as in the wars of Joshua with the nations of the land of Canaan, and in the wars of the Judges and Kings of Israel. The adversary is described in Genesis as a serpent--to whom it is declared: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel." The Apocalyptic dragon, which is in conflict with Michael, is the same serpent. In the Apocalypse he is described as "that Old Serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world."

     Turning to the Writings, we find, that by the dragon is meant all those of the Christians who wished to enter heaven by no power but their own. Whenever such approach spirits who are preparing to be accepted into the Lord's New Heaven, they appear at a distance like the dragon who stood before the woman to devour her child as soon as it was born. Before the Last Judgment in 1757, these Christians occupied in the world of spirits an exalted position reaching close upon the outskirts of the heavens themselves. They were like a huge, lowering, cloud, intercepting the light that would come from heaven to men on earth; and this cloud was actually in the form of a gigantic dragon.

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Those constituting its head had confirmed themselves in faith alone. Most of them were accomplished and accounted learned. Those who constituted the body of the dragon hall studied the Word from the love of self and the pride of self-intelligence. With a cleverness begotten of natural lumen, these had hatched out dogmas for themselves, and hence are responsible for the heresies and falsities of the Christian world. Those who constituted the skin and scales of the dragon were such as studied the Word without doctrine, and yet were in the love of self. Having no light, they could not distinguish between truths and falsities, and because they were in the love of self they rejected truths, but embraced falsities which favor that love. Those who constituted the tail of the dragon were those who maliciously perverted the truths of the Word. That is why it is said that "the dragon with his tail drew down the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them down into the earth." (A. E. 714.)

     Such was the appearance of the Christians in the World of Spirits at the time of the Last Judgment. But with the formation of the New Heaven, out of those few Christians who had been protected from this monster, there took place a violent overthrow of these exalted spirits and swift and merited consignment to hell. The masses of evil Christians who are daily entering the World of Spirits from this earth can no longer congregate as an organized body to obscure heavenly light and shut it off from men on earth. But they still gather as broken clouds that effectually intercept heavenly light from the men of their own denominations on earth. Through the rifts in these clouds comes the light to those who have received the faith of the New Jerusalem. "Watchman, what of the night?" The watchman answered: "The morning cometh and also the night." Although after the last Judgment there is illumination to those of the New Church, night remains to those in the Old. (A. C. 10134.)

     The combat is however no longer waged on the outskirts of heaven, but on the earth of the World of Spirits and on the earth of this world, into which the dragon and his angels have been cast. In the True Christian Religion (n. 619), written thirteen years after the Last Judgment, we have the following account which I have arranged in ten propositions:

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     1. "Without truths there is no knowledge of the Lord. Without truths there is no faith and therefore no charity. Consequently without truths there is no theology. Where there is no theology there is no church.

     2. "Such is the condition today of the people who call themselves Christians and say they are in the light of the Gospel. But they are in thick darkness itself.

     3. "This was clearly shown me from the spheres in the spiritual world which flow forth from modern Christendom and propagate themselves.

     4. "One sphere is against the Lord. This exhales and spreads itself out from the southern quarter, where the learned of the clergy and the erudite of the laity are assembled. Wherever it goes, it steals into the ideas. With many it takes away faith in the Lord's Human. With many it weakens it. With many it makes it seem silly. For this sphere injects a faith in three Gods and this occasions confusion.

     5. "Another sphere is one which take away faith. It is like a black cloud in winter, which brings on darkness, turns rain into snow, strips the trees bare, freezes the waters, and takes all pasture away from the sheep. This sphere, united to the first, insinuates a lethargy concerning the one God, regeneration, and the means of salvation.

     6. "A third sphere, strong and irresistible, is against the conjunction of faith and charity. It is abominable, infects like a pestilence every one on whom it breathes and tears apart, even on earth, every tie between faith and charity,--the two means of salvation established by the Lord at the creation of the world, and restored anew by Him. I have felt this sphere. When I was thinking of the conjunction of faith and charity, it interposed between and made a violent attempt to separate them.

     7. "The angels complain greatly of these spheres, and pray to the Lord that they may be dissipated. But they have the answer that they cannot be dissipated so long as the dragon is on the earth, since those spheres are from the dragonists. For it is said of the dragon that he was cast upon the earth.

     8. "These three spheres are like tempest-driven atmospheres, arising from the breathing holes of the dragon. Because they are spiritual, they invade minds and force them.

     9. "The spheres of spiritual truth are as yet few. They are in the new heaven and with those beneath heaven who are separated from the dragonists.

     10. Those truths are as little seen among men in the world at this day as are ships in the eastern ocean by the captains and shipmates who are sailing in the western ocean."

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     There are three universal spheres which proceed from the Lord and which communicate the three essentials of the Church: the Lord, Faith, and Charity. When these spheres flow through a bed of seething dragonists, such as is still entrenched in the lowest parts of the World of Spirits, they emerge totally altered and become the pestilential spheres described in the passage quoted above, affecting the men who court the dragon's company with loathing for the Lord, for the Neighbor, and for Conjugial Love. In exposing this condition of affairs, so that the men of the Lord's Church may repudiate these spheres, the Writings perform the work of the ancient "Books of the Overthrowing of Apep." To destroy Apep it was necessary to curse him by each and every name by which he was known.

     The New Church, Militant and Triumphant, is the champion that will give no quarter to this foe. By strengthening in itself, both as to the organization and as to the individual, the faculty to receive the influx of the three universal spheres which can come now through the rifts in the draconic clouds, it is forging and tempering the sword with which it will smite the dragon as
Marduk smote Tiamat.

     And where does the combat take place? In the world, in the church, in the individual! In the world outside the New Church, where there are simple-hearted people who look upon the dragon as God's priesthood, and who need to be delivered as Perseus of old delivered the fettered Androdmeda. Inside the New Church, where has been fostered the fantastic persuasion that the wily dragon has become a gentle and amiable beast, repentant and desiring to clasp the New Church in its fraternal embrace. According to the epistle of Jude: "There are certain men crept in unawares, who were foretold of old unto judgment, profane, turning the charity of our God into the desire of the flesh, and denying our sole Lord God and Master, Jesus Christ" (verse 4). In the individual, who must wage a combat so as to live according to the truths of the New Church and by such life receive the influx of the ultimate and holiest of the three spheres, the sphere of Conjugial Love.

     In the Adversaria, we read:

     "From twenty and five years old and upwards they (the Levites) shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service, and shall serve no more. Numbers VIII v. 24, 25.

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     7056. The service of the priesthood is termed waging a warfare, for it is a continual fight with the devil, that is with evil genii and with evil men who after death, have allied themselves to evil genii. For this reason the priesthood is called a warfare. This warfare appears to be with men, but it is with the evil genii who urge the men on.

     7057. The years dedicated to this warfare are between 25 and 50, between which years a man is in his greatest intellectual vigor, and on that account by means of the truths which compose the intellect, he is able to fight with the foes. For the weapons are spiritual. His shield is faith; but in order to defend faith in God Messiah, intellect with its truths is required.

     7058. This warfare ceases after 50.... When a man enters into his intellect, and become adolescent in the use of it, he then knows how to wield all weapons, for his mind then views objects with great versatility and discrimination. His mind being flexible is suited to conflicts, temptations, and for reformation which is accomplished by means of temptations. But afterwards this warfare ceases, for then he views objects with less extension, circumspection and discrimination. The principles he has held are now inrooted and he cannot easily be turned from them, no matter what their doctrine of faith may be. He no longer enounces these principles as before, he no longer opposes discriminatingly the arguments that are presented. On this account he is less suited to warfare. The human mind may be likened to the other organs in the body which in adolescence and youth are soft, flexible, highly suitable, because pliant to meet resistance and greater active force, but which in advanced manhood and in senility are less flexible, firmer, but therefore less available for such use. As the organs have then acquired their nature, so also the mind, its character. And because such force or activity is to be met with between the years 25 and 50, those between these ages are the ones who are to fight. But those who have passed further on guard and watch, that is, preserve unflinchingly the matters, truths or states acquired in the warfare....

     There are two weapons given to the warrior who has the courage to enlist in this sacred cause. The first, mentioned in this quotation, is a shield, similar to the Aegis which protected Perseus from the gaze of the Gorgon which would have turned him into stone.

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Like Marduk he must be able to hear the spell which Tiamat cast, and yet be not affected thereby. This spell is presented to the individual as a lure to believe in his own perceptions and self-derived intelligence, and to attribute to his own human prudence and discernment the Divine attributes of infallibility. If this occurs he will call what is good evil and what is evil good, and be like a soldier run amuck, who turns his sword upon his own companions. The spell the dragon endeavors to cast on the Church is the deceptive appearance that the Old Church wishes to be on friendly and loving terms with the New Church, and is even willing to accept many of its teachings, though not all.

     The second weapon for the man and the Church is a sword, and this sword is none other than the acknowledgment that the victory, the power to fight, and the very arms themselves, are the Lord's alone. This involves the acknowledgment and confession of Divine Authority. "Who is like God?" This must be the battle cry of the warrior,--even as it is the battle cry of the army of Michael, whose name in Hebrew means "Who is like God?"

     When the founders of the Academy made public acknowledgment of the Divine Authority of the Writings--and of the damnable state of the Christian Church, they gave the champions of the New Church the two weapons, without which the Church would despair of ever becoming the Church Militant and Triumphant. Without these two, the warrior will shrink from the combat like a recreant cur, prating of charity and loving kindness as an excuse for his cowardice. But with these weapons in his hand--what need he fear?

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DEAD CHURCHES 1908

DEAD CHURCHES       WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1908

     If the world should ever pause in its mad course to ask whether spiritual and intellectual peace might, after all, be found in the creed of the New Church, one of its first dislikes would promptly be discovered in the doctrine of the consummation and desolation of the Christian Churches.

     These great stone churches, with their powerful organizations and persuasive crusades of sentiment and quasi-science, often overawe the average man. Their spheres conquer him. Their appeals to natural good soothe him. He feels that, on the whole, they are on the right track. He feels that he himself cannot be such a bad fellow. The appearances are all in favor of this verdict. Added to which, the pomp of worldly dominion has countersigned the mandates of the Churches, and given protection to their Sanhedrins. Therefore our average man is willing to join in the general tumult of hatred against the Lord's Divine Truth. And the secret of the spiritual death of Christendom continues to be well-kept.

     As an inevitable consequence, our belief as to the Dead Churches is only truly accepted by those who have come into the light of Divine Revelation, and whose eyes are thereby enabled to pierce the shell. It is true that the world has its own blunt weekday opinions about those Churches which it finds it politic to patronize on Sundays. And the bitter attacks of a Nietzsche or the brave frankness of a Campbell, are types of widely divergent movements which are proving too much for the complacency of official Christianity. But the significance of these things must not be over-estimated; for they are but driving men into that deeper darkness where the soul falls into a positive and final denial of God. It will ever remain true that only those who have come into the light of Divine Revelation are competent to see the Christian Churches as they are. The Churches themselves know absolutely nothing about their desolation and consummation, except in so far as they are being damaged in a material way; and this they ascribe to anything but spiritual causes.

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     What, then, should be our attitude as to the Old Church? We need to declare the Divine Truth of the matter, at the proper times,--making our declaration in clear, strong words, to be marked by no tones of human apology or passion. Anything akin to diplomacy or truculence will only serve to obscure the doctrine and its tremendous issues.

     Firstly, it may be noted that the onus of proving the death of the First Christian Church does not actually lie upon us. The demonstration of that fact has already been given to us in the Divine Revelation granted through Emanuel Swedenborg. Such demonstration cannot be given to men until the Divine Truths so revealed are seen in the light and acknowledged. When we are in the light of that revelation we plainly see the Christian Church as a corpse, and, in general, it is sufficient to refer to it as a corpse. We need no further proof. We know, because we see. But our logic is often challenged. We are requested by doubters to hold some sort of theologic inquest. We are told, perhaps, that the Christian Churches should be permitted to speak for themselves as to whether they are really dead or not. The common sense of such a proposal is not so glaringly apparent as might appear. The validity of the evidence is doubtful. We never call upon an evil man to testify as to whether he is in evils, or as to whether he is not in evils. We judge him according to some prevailing ethical or legal standard. It is necessary to do that for the safety of society. No specious pleas or vague sentiments are allowed to operate against the administration of judgment according to the outraged principle involved.

     The charge brought against the Christian Church is, that it has become so infested with evils and falsities that it is spiritually dead. For the safety of the human race and of the very heavens, it had to be judged by a standard of truths and goods given by the Lord, and a New Church established. That judgment was not of man. It was from the Lord. To the light of that Judgment everything of the Old Church has to be referred.

     The responsibility of the Judgment is not ours. No "proof" adduced by us can add to, or detract from, its import by one iota.

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Any attempt to impute "uncharitableness" to us for our belief is altogether wide of the mark, and seeks to evade the real issue of Revelation.

     Secondly, the doubts which are sometimes expressed as to the actuality of Christendom's spiritual deadness, are contrary even to rational thought. So far from the work of the archaeologists, higher critics, and psychologists having given to us the truer concept of Christianity, it is admittedly removing it further away. The evils of a false religion have not been lessened by one degree, but have grown far more subtle and strong, so that earnest men have confessed that the world has indeed flooded the church and broken down even the pretenses at distinction,--carrying myriads of souls into utter unbelief.

     Dean Alford in one of his brave deliverances has said: "What the effect of the captivity was to the Jews, that of the reformation has been to Christendom. The first evil spirit has been cast out;-but, by the growth of hypocrisy, secularity, and rationalism,--the house has become empty, swept and garnished;--swept and garnished by the decencies of civilization and the discoveries of secular knowledge,--but empty of living and earnest faith."

     Hence, today, critics are permitted to dissect the constitution of the Christian Churches at their pleasure. The corpse will not protest. Indeed, its friends begin to gravely assure us that it has no further need of a theologic system. We are virtually told that a structure of truth is not necessary to its being,--that a creed, after all, is a hard, bony, unpleasant thing. We are told that the Churches can exist without it. And, doubtless, in a sense, they can. When the very deadness of a corpse is adduced as evidence of its Christian-like behavior, it is useless to assure its anxious relatives that it has ceased to live. They will never understand so long as they remain in that state. They will go on believing in the vitality of the corpse, and mistaking certain galvanic states--induced by currents of natural and worldly power,--for signs of real spiritual life. They will go on thinking that disintegration is spiritual peace.

     Thirdly, it must not be imagined that the Old Church is not clinging faithfully to its falsities as long as the world will permit it to do so.

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A report of a national sub-committee on doctrine, issued in 1907, affords a typical illustration on this point.

     The report was drawn by the representatives of the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational Churches of Canada, with a view towards the ultimate union of those bodies in one common Church for the Canadian Dominion. Among other things, the report said:

     "We acknowledge the teaching of the great Creeds of the ancient Church. We further maintain our allegiance to the evangelical doctrines of the Reformation.... We believe in the one only living and true God.... We worship Him, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons in one Godhead, one in substance and equal in power and glory.... We believe in and confess the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and man....     For our redemption He fulfilled all righteousness, offered Himself a perfect sacrifice on the cross, satisfied Divine justice and made propitiation for the sins of the whole world. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where He ever intercedes for us. . . . We believe that faith in Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive Him--and we acknowledge as a part, more or less pure, of an universal brotherhood, every particular Church throughout the world which professes this faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to Him as Divine Lord and Savior."

     If these extracts be carefully contrasted with the Summary to Swedenborg's Coronis, the real nature of the doctrine of the New Church as to the falsities which consummated the First Christian Church will be evident to every rational man. And if he then gives sincere and careful attention to that doctrine, the impregnable truth will break upon him that--whatever else he believes,--the Christian Churches are no longer Churches, but are now dead; and that their devotees have receded from the worship of the Lord, preached by the Apostles, and from Faith in Him. What is the truth as to the Christian Churches? That is the only worthy question. Our Lord has given the answer in His Divine Truth.

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     Mr. William Whitehead has issued the article, "Out of the Shadows," printed in our February number, as a tract, entitled "A Message to My Friends." By way of a postscript, the last page of this tract contains a statement of the leading principles on which "the Academy" is based, and for which "The General Church of the New Jerusalem" stands.



     The Heath Printing Company, of Bryn Athyn, has published in pamphlet form, a sermon by Bishop Pendleton on "The Hidden Manna" (Apoc. 2, 17) The sermon is issued in an attractive paper cover and is sold at the Academy Book Room, at the price of 10 cents.



     "The cry in England has been accommodate, accommodate, the great and interior truths of the New Church, to the understanding of simple minds and children, in your sermons. Thoughtful men and women do not want to suck milk out of a bottle, and will not." (Rev. T. K. Payton, in Friends in Council.)



     The Swedenborg Scientific Association has just published the third issue (Part I, Fascicle 2) of the series of Scientific and Philosophic Treatises by Emanuel Swedenborg, edited by Mr. Alfred H. Stroh. The present issue contains six little treatises or papers: "On Certain Kinds of Soil and Mud;" "New Ways of Discovering Mines;" "A Letter to Jacobus a Melle;" "Exposition of an Hydrostatic Law;" and "Some Arguments for the Principia." All these may be obtained from the Academy Book Room, at the price of 40 cents.



     The woman's suffragist movement, which has been so actively manifesting itself in British politics, has also made itself felt in the English New Church, where some agitation is being carried on to obtain for the women a vote in the Various societies and in Conference, and a place on committees, etc.

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The objections to such a course are briefly but well set forth by our whilom correspondent, Mr. Claude Toby, in Morning Light of March 7. Toby centers his argument on the intrinsic difference between man and woman, and oil the necessity of this difference for conjugial love, and he quotes abundantly from the work on Conjugial Love.



     Advocates of the permeation idea have probably felt some flutters of pleasurable excitement at the latest theologic pronouncement of Sir Oliver Lodge to the effect that "the soul floats away and joins the general psychical universe, probably retaining its individuality, but no longer in contact with the body nor able to move things in the material universe;" and that "memory, culture, education, habits, character, affection, and, to a certain extent, tastes and interests, for better or worse, will continue." And yet, what, after all, does all this amount to?--an hypothesis, probably inspired by Swedenborg, who, by the way, is mentioned by Sir Oliver Lodge in this connection. The latter's utterances may, possibly, be a means of preparing a few for a future acceptance of the Writings; but their general effect will be to confirm men in the glorifying of science over Revelation. What, indeed, has a "general psychical universe," in which the soul will live in the ether, and a "probable" spiritual individuality to do in the establishment of the Church and of the fear of God?



     The faculty of the Divinity School, of Harvard University, have added to the number of theological periodicals by the inauguration of a quarterly review, The Harvard Theological Review. The writer of the opening article ascribes the general lack of interest in purely theological questions to the fact that ministers, repelled by, while yet clinging to, the dogmas of a former generation have deserted theology and deep thinking for the activities of church work, etc. The new Review is evidently inspired by the wish to remedy this state of affairs;--to supply and inspire theological thought. It is an effort to vivify the Church from the University,--which is, in fact, the true center of all theology.

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The Review is styled "undenominational," but one cannot but note the Unitarian under-current that pervades the purely theological articles.



     The removal of Andover Theological Seminary to Cambridge is but another sign manifesting the Arianism "which still lies hidden in the general spirit of the men of the Church at this day," and "which reigns clandestinely to the end" (T. C. R. 380, 638). The Andover Seminary was established as a direct protest against Unitarian teachings, and now after an activity of over a hundred years, it has surrendered to its old enemy. Not that the authorities of that institution have become avowed Unitarians, but their action indicates a sympathy with Arianism entirely compatible with the spirit that "lies hidden in the Church at this day." Andover, we are told, is to be entirely independent of Harvard Theological School; but the independence is like that of the lamb in the presence of the wolf. For Harvard theological students are to receive courses in the Andover Seminary and the professors of the latter institution can be appointed only with the consent of Harvard.



     An Essay on the Memorable Relations, by the Rev. O. L. Barler, is issued as a companion to the author's recent work on Degrees. It is merely a pamphlet, but in its twelve pages Mr. Barler has succeeded in giving much useful instruction concerning Swedenborg's Memorable Relations. His main theme is the essential necessity of these Relations as a part of the Divine Revelation. Without the intromission into the spiritual world, Swedenborg could never have served as the Servant of the Lord; and so without the Relations of the things seen and heard by Swedenborg the doctrines of the New Church can never be understood,--except, perhaps, as philosophical hypotheses, dry and lifeless. The Revelation is, in fact, twofold, a revelation of the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and a revelation of the arcana of the spiritual world. Well may the author of this Essay wonder that from the early days of the Church "there have been those among us who are slow to accept these Relations as being on a par with Swedenborg's other writings."

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     The Secular Church is a new monthly periodical of eight pages, just published by the Secular Church Publishing Company, of Elkhart, Indiana. There would be no call to make any mention of this little sheet were it not for the fact that its editor, the Rev. C. H. Mann, is a New Church minister, and ex-editor of the Messenger, and that the sheet itself is presumably intended in some way to propagate the "new truths." The Secular Church is the expression of an idea based on truth,--but a truth here very much perverted. It aims to teach that true worship consists in the performance of the duties of one's calling; but in doing this it leaves out of sight the further truth that such performance must be done from religion and the fear of God. It is, as it styles itself, "The Divine in Business"--the "Divine," however, not being in evidence. It is not surprising, therefore, as the Messenger justly observes, that all that it teaches might be and is just as well and better taught by many ethical journals and teachers, and by President Roosevelt in many of his messages. The editor holds that the Church has no "special significance in establishing man's relation to God;" and, therefore, very naturally, the Church is obliterated--not the slightest indication being given even of the existence of the New Church or of the Writings of Swedenborg. "Man's relation to God" is to be established by moral ethics and not by the Divinely appointed way of Revelation for the establishment of a church, internal and external, in which men shall worship from joy of heart.



     The catalogue of the fifty-seventh year of Urbana University gives the aim and purpose of that institution, "founded upon principles of New Church education," as being "to encourage moral integrity and Christian character, together with the intellectual strength and acumen of the secular training." Education is conducted "in the light of the philosophy of the New Church," but it would appear that the "University" does not regard this as of such great primary importance as the preparation of students for other colleges, for we read, "Secular studies are presented in relation to their spiritual correspondence to cause and effect, so far as this is practicable, and does not interfere with the preparation of students for courses in other colleges."

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     The religious instruction, which is in charge of the headmaster, the Rev. Dr. Frank A. Gustafson, covers the four college years and is given twice a week.

     "All the members of the faculty," it is noted, "with one exception, are members of the New Church .... and seek to combine, wherever possible, their courses of study with the doctrine and philosophy, as found in the Writings." But the students are not all children of the Church, or in the home sphere of the Church; and, what with the resultant mingling of influences and with the election as to religious instruction, it is doubtful whether, even under the best conditions, much progress can be made in the establishment of New Church education.

     In spite of this, however, the Catalogue presents somewhat more of New Church features than in the past. This, we suppose, is due to the influence of Dr. Gustafson,--whose resignation has been recently announced. It remains to be seen what effect his resignation will have on New Church teaching in Urbana.



     An editorial in a recent number of the Messenger, gives the "primary reason why the specific New Church does not grow faster," as being "the lusts and unclean loves that prevent love of the Lord, and of the Church finding an ultimate in Conjugial Love." Only as this latter love is cherished, it continues, can the specific church grow. The editorial, while excellent in its tone, is of a general nature. But in a letter to the Messenger of March 18, the subject is treated more particularly by our friend, Mr. Edmond Congar Brown, of New York. Mr. Brown shows that the reason why conjugial love does not grow in the Church, is because the teachings concerning that love are so little understood and applied to life. And he directs special attention to the multitude of mixed marriages as being "the rule rather than the exception;" to the prevalence of prevention of offspring, "not to mention grievous violations of the Commandments, which are the result of evil and lust." "Is it any wonder (he says), that the New Church does not grow faster?" "How can we expect it to grow when this most essential and fundamental doctrine of Conjugial Love is so slighted and neglected?"

     This is good and wholesome teaching, teaching which does not often find its way to the pages of our contemporary.

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But Mr. Brown goes further. His letter breathes an urging that all the members of the Church shall marry young, and he seems to insist that this is a prime necessity to the growth of the Church. And, he continues, if they only look to the Lord it will be easy for them, in every case, to enter into conjugial marriages while young. We would by no means minimize the delight and importance of early marriages. But the ways of Providence are but little seen by man. And it does not follow, that because men do not marry, or because they marry late in life, that they have not prayed to the Lord. Indeed, it may be that their course has been taken because they prayed to the Lord: a suitable partner, if not given on this earth, will yet be given them in heaven.

     Mr. Brown bases his position on "the statement which is plainly made in several striking passages, that while reformation of the natural may proceed with unmarried persons, regeneration can only take place in and by means of a conjugial marriage in the ultimates of the minds and bodies of a man and a woman either in this world or the next." Unfortunately, he does not give any references to these "striking passages," and we are not aware that there is any such teaching in the Writings. The nearest possible suggestion of it that now occurs to us is the statement that "the love of the evil and the false cannot be converted and changed into spiritual love and still less into celestial love...and still less into celestial love...except by the marriage of good and truth, and not fully except by the marriage of two minds and two bodies" (A. E. 984) The teaching here is that the marriage of good and truth, or regeneration, is not complete, is not ultimated, or full, except in actual marriages of conjugial love; therefore, such marriages are provided for all the angels of heaven. But this is very different from saying that regeneration can take place only "in and by means of a conjugial marriage in ultimates." The latter position assumes that conjugial love in ultimates is the origin of the marriage of good and truth, instead of its ultimate manifestation. If it were true it would, indeed, necessitate marriage on earth, for the defect could never be remedied by marriage in the other world, since a man does not there advance beyond that stage of regeneration which he has entered into on earth. And, among other things the position, if true, would at once settle the question, sometimes raised, as to Swedenborg's regeneration; i. e., far from being a celestial man, he was not even regenerated, the only possibility open to him being "reformation of the natural."

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     In connection with Mr. Brown's letter, a correspondent in a later issue of the Messenger wonders "why the subject of conjugial love has not been referred to more in the Messenger. I know it to be a fact (he says), that a great many young people are thirsting for enlightenment, being desirous of putting the truth into practice, if possible. I think the welfare of all might be served by some comment in the Church's paper." It were to be hoped that this call from the young people will encourage our contemporary to give some of the practical teachings of the Writings on this most important subject.



     Writing in the New Church Magazine for January, Mr. George E. Holman contributes a decidedly unfavorable review of the Cosmology. He admits a "full recognition of the value of the general body of the book as an outline of the Principia," but regrets that "the faults here pointed out should so greatly discount its value as a whole." Like the reviewer in Morning Light, Mr. Holman regards the Principia as treating simply of the material universe. But, though he admits that it is "substantially true," and implies that it can be harmonized with the Writings, yet, apparently, that harmonization with the Writings can be made only by excluding everything of the spiritual world.

     A number of minor criticisms are made against the Cosmology, but the central criticism, and that to which the reviewer directs most of his remarks, is the place and character of the first aura. According to the Principia there is a first and universal aura from which suns were created. Mr. Holman entirely dissents from the identification of this aura with the universal celestial aura proceeding from the Sun of the Spiritual World. On the other hand, he holds that the first aura of the Principia is a purely material element from which is woven, not the soul, but its purest material coverings. If this view is correct, then the Principia cannot be "substantially true."

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For, deducing the creation of suns from a universal natural aura, its fundamental proposition falls under the condemnation of the Writings as deducing the center from the expanse; in fact, it teaches nothing more than the nebular hypothesis. And more than this, Swedenborg might be charged with gross materialism, for in the Principia itself, to say nothing of his later anatomical works, he derives the soul,--not its finest material covering, but the soul itself,--from this first aura, which he styles "the aura of a purer and better world" (Prin., Part III, p. 231). That he means the first aura is evident from the fact that the Principia, proceeding from the Infinite Deity, recognizes no purer or better aura than this first element. And if Swedenborg regarded this first aura as material then the soul also is material.

     Mr. Holman maintains that this first aura with its finites cannot possibly be identical with the atmosphere of the celestial heaven, because the latter is "a living atmosphere of love." But love is substance itself, the form or determination of which is truth. And how else shall we conceive of a living atmosphere of love proceeding from the spiritual sun where is the first finition, than as an atmosphere of most perfect finite forms by which the Divine Love and Wisdom are present in the universe?--forms in which all future things are present,--forms the determinations, of which are manifested in the whole universe. But this is the teaching of both the Writings and of the Principia. The former show that the natural sun was created from the spiritual sun, and that from these two suns creation then proceeded. And in order that the natural sun might be thus created there must be a medium, a proceeding or an atmosphere from the spiritual Sun. It is in this universal atmosphere proceeding from the Center of the created universe that we have the first aura of the Principia,--the "ur-stoff of which suns and solar systems are made."

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WRITINGS INTERPRETED 1908

WRITINGS INTERPRETED              1908

     The Messenger of April 8, in an editorial quite suitably entitled "The Writings Misinterpreted." endeavors to construe the Memorable Relation in Conjugial Love, no. 10, so as to remove any possible impression that the angels were "rude" or "uncivil" to the intruder who, having entered heaven without possessing the proper garments, was stripped naked and cast out.

The passage in question reads: " I saw angels in white garments, and they came about me and examined me, and muttered, 'Behold, a new guest, who is not clothed with the garment of heaven;' and I heard this, and thought. This seems to me to be a case like the one of whom the Lord said that he came in unto the wedding without the wedding garment. And I said, 'Give me such garments!' But they laughed: and then a person came running from the courthouse with the command, 'Strip him naked, cast him out, and throw his garments after him.' And so I was cast out."

     Someone having objected to the uncharitable conduct of the angels on this occasion, the Messenger sagely rises to explain: "It should be noticed that the person narrates his experience, not that of the angels. HE heard the command. To him it appeared that he was stripped and cast out. But the experience of the angels, upon a higher plane, was far different. Neither did they do what the person narrates. The person was a hypocrite. The Lord sent forth the light; that light stripped the intruder of his deceiving mask and at the same time separated him from the angels. The angels saw the man's hypocrisy unmasked, and turned from him," etc. (Italics ours.)

     "Tenete risum, sodales!" Is this "interpretation" meant seriously, or is it a piece of questionable hermeneutic wit? In either case, by what possible law of "charity" does the Messenger assume that the intruder was "a hypocrite?" Nothing is said to this effect in the Revelation, but only that he was not prepared for heaven and that he was one of a company who finally said that "after those hard experiences they no longer desired heaven, but only a suitable place among their like wherever these might be.'

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     There remains one awful fact, however, which our contemporary does not attempt to explain away,--the angels laughed, actually laughed! How is this to be "interpreted?" Perhaps they only appeared to laugh, but how could they have been so rude as to do something which caused such an appearance? The apologetic attitude of the Messenger reminds us of an incident related by the Rev. Samuel Noble, who, in the year 1819, was associated with Charles Augustus Tulk in translating the True Christian Religion. They came to the Memorable Relation in n. 505, Which terminates with the ludicrous attempt of an raged spirit to throw a candlestick at Swedenborg. But the light went out suddenly, and the spirit, alas, struck the forehead of his companion. "And," says Swedenborg, in closing, "I went away laughing" (Abivi ridens). Mr. Noble wished to translate this literally, but was overruled by Mr. Tulk, who wrote: "I must confess that I see nothing comic in this scene, and I think the abivi ridens disgusting, as savoring too much of that spirit which unhappily excited it." (Intellectual Repository, 1829, p. 409). And so this "disgusting" behavior on the part of Swedenborg was toned down to, "I went away smiling," though even this was rather "uncharitable." Perhaps Swedenborg only appeared to smile. Even the word cahinnare, which means to "laugh loudly," was translated "to smile," and somewhere we have seen it rendered, "they smiled aloud."

     The serious part of this kind of pietistic sentimentality lies in the attempt to elevate man and angel above God, to make human goodishness superior to the Divine good. For, according to the Messenger, while the angels are too good ever to say or do anything "to hurt another's feelings,"--no matter how infernal those feelings might be,--yet, in this case, the blame is put upon the Lord. "The Lord sent forth the light," etc.

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SPRINKLING OR IMMERSION 1908

SPRINKLING OR IMMERSION              1908

     A correspondent in Saskatchewan asks upon what authority the New Church substitutes sprinkling and the tracing of the cross upon the forehead and breast, in the act of Baptism, for the original mode of baptizing by immersion. "Out of a spirit of obedience ought we not to practice the mode sanctioned by the Lord Himself? And upon what authority from the Word may Infant Baptism be defended?"

     There can be no doubt that Immersion was the original mode of Baptism,--the rite which John performed in the Jordan and which the Lord underwent in order to signify the complete glorification of His Human. We are distinctly taught that the washing of Aaron and his sons, which represented regeneration, was "a washing of the whole body, which was also called a baptizing. That a complete washing was called a baptizing is evident from Mark 7:4; and that the washing was a washing of the whole body is evident from Matthew 3:13-16; Mark 1:10, and also 2 Kings 5:2, 10, 14." (A. C. 10239. See also N. J. 209.)

     In the New Church, therefore, there can be no essential objection to Baptism by Immersion, if any one feels in conscience bound to follow the example of the Lord even to the letter, provided the immersion is not made an essential, for this would be to close the mind to the internal things of the sacrament, and fix it on mere externals There must be freedom for such a conscience also, and, in fact, this freedom has been respected in the New Church in the past, as, for instance, in 1822, When a whole society of former Free-will Baptists in Frankford, Pa., were admitted into the General Convention and, at their own request, were allowed to retain their mode of Baptism by Immersion.

     On the other hand, there must be freedom for those also, whose conscience is not letter-bound as to the mode of administration, and who regard the element itself, the water, as alone essential to the representation and effect of the sacrament. It is the water itself that represents the regenerating influence of the Divine Truth, and this representation remains whether it be a drop or an ocean. The significance depends upon the quality, not the quantity of the element, and there seems no more necessity for immersion in Baptism, than for a whole meal of bread and wine in the Holy Supper.

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The "spirit of obedience" to the Lord's example means obedience to the Spirit rather than the letter of His words and actions. Strict literalism would involve not only immersion, but also immersion in the Jordan, a thing which is manifestly non-essential. When instituting the Christian sacrament of Baptism, the Lord gave no direction as to baptizing either in the Jordan or by immersion, but dwelt only upon the necessity of baptism by "water and the spirit as the sole essentials.

     In regard to the tracing of the cross upon the forehead and the breast, this custom is distinctly sanctioned in the True Christian Religion, n. 685; and in n. 682 we are told that it signifies "inauguration into the acknowledgment and worship of the Lord,"--the cross here representing the temptations as to both understanding and the will, whereby the man of the Church is introduced into the internal acknowledgment and worship of the Lord.

     As to the importance of Infant Baptism, there can be no room for doubt in the New Church, in view of the teaching that "little children by means of Baptism are introduced among Christians in the spiritual world," and that " without the Christian sign, which is Baptism, some Mohammedan spirit, or some spirit from the idolaters, would be able to attach himself to new born Christian infants, and breathe into them an inclination for his religion, and so draw away their minds and alienate them from Christianity, which would be to distort and destroy spiritual order." (T. C. R. 678.)

     Though we find no literal direction, in the New Testament, as to the baptism of infants, yet it is known to everyone that Christian Baptism was instituted to take the place of Jewish Circumcision, as a sign of initiation into the Church. Since, therefore, all children were thus circumcised soon after birth, it is evident that in the Christian Church children are to be introduced by Baptism. "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The Church is the kingdom of heaven in the natural world.

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ARIUS STILL AT WORK 1908

ARIUS STILL AT WORK              1908

     The influence of Unitarianism upon leaders of the New Church in New England has been noticed for a long time, but was never more strikingly evidenced than by an editorial on the "Recognition of Swedenborg" in the April issue of The New Church Review. The writer, who is one of the leading ministers in the Massachusetts Association, is immensely gratified at a recent lecture by Professor William W. Fenn, the Dean of the Harvard Divinity School, in which the lecturer "frankly and generously stated that Emanuel Swedenborg first gave this truth to the world, that love is the esse of all things and the very substance of God. 'And in this,' the speaker gracefully added, 'as in many other things, Swedenborg showed himself far in advance of his times.'"

     The editorial in the Review continues: "The application of this principle to the Scriptures was very interesting and suggestive. In substance Professor Fenn said that the perfection of the revelation of God found in Jesus Christ is explained by this principle. Even if the real Christ were only a Galilean of humble origin and attainments, even if he were self-deceived, and his idea of himself and his mission as the Son of God, the Messiah, were all an innocent illusion, nevertheless in him is found the fulness of Divine Revelation on account of his wonderful love. The Divine Love filled his personality and was made manifest."

     It would seem impossible for any Newchurchman to be deceived by this sugar-coated statement of the usual Unitarian attitude towards the Lord.

     "EVEN IF the real Christ" were only an ordinary man, and, in addition to this, low-born, ignorant, self-deceived, the victim of an "innocent" illusion, yet the Unitarians have always found in him a "fulness of Divine Revelation on account of his wonderful love,"--a love merely human,--a "Divine" Revelation based on ignorance, self-deception and illusion!

     There is nothing in all this but what might be expected from any professed follower of Arius, (with due apologies to Arius who, after all, did not take quite so "advanced" a stand of denial as the Harvard professor).

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But because he mingles with these blasphemies the name of Swedenborg and some general ideas about "love," the New Church Review is overcome with joy and immediately beholds a descent of the New Jerusalem into the midst of Harvard,-the very center of Arian thought in this country!

     "In such thought as this," exclaims the editorial writer of this New Church Review, "suggested by the seed-truths of the Lord's gospel in His second coming, found in the writings of Swedenborg, may not the Higher Criticism prove not only destructive of the falsities of the old theology, but also constructive of a new theology that shall be built up at length upon the foundations and into the walls and palaces of the New Jerusalem?"

     The writer forgets that the walls and palaces of the New Jerusalem were built up some time ago,--by the Lord Himself,--and that the assistance of Arius and his followers is not required THE DENIAL OF THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST would scarcely prove a safe foundation for the Holy City.

     Unitarianism may, indeed, fasten itself upon the walls of decadent Swedenborgianism, as barnacles eat into the sides of a rotting ship, but the NEW JERUSALEM is built upon a Mountain so high as to be not only out of reach, but even out of sight from the point of view of Harvard. And if the leaders of the New Church in that neighborhood can imagine that "such thought as this" is suggested by the seed truths of the Lord's Gospel in His Second Coming, or is to be found in the Writings of Swedenborg, it proves only that they have read those Writings in vain, or else that their New Church conscience has become so weakened by the Unitarian sphere to which they have exposed themselves, that the open denial of the Divinity of the Lord longer awakens that horror which, we believe, would be aroused in any other quarter of the New Church.

     After describing the evolution of Arianism and the Higher Criticism into the walls and palaces of the New Jerusalem, the editorial concludes: "Not without Swedenborg's Writings [will all this come about], some may object. Surely, these writings are instrumental, as we have seen in this instance [!].

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The Lord and the angels are working, too. Can we not find a part in it also, a part for us to do in co-operation with them?"

     It is, indeed, frank and generous, this admission that the Revelation of the Second Coming Is instrumental in the establishment of the New Church, though it will never be on the basis of Unitarianism. But what is meant by the juxtaposition of the Writings over against the working of "the Lord and the angels?" Is not the very root of the permeation heresy here laid bare?
ISSUES OF LIFE AND DEATH TO THE CHURCH 1908

ISSUES OF LIFE AND DEATH TO THE CHURCH              1908

     In the correspondence columns of our English contemporary, the Morning Light, which are characteristically open for the freest discussion of current Church questions, one occasionally meets with some searching criticisms as to the real state of the New Church in Great Britain. Thus in one of the February issues we hear a complaint as to the quality of the teaching given. "It cannot be (says the writer), that the leading men of the Church are not able to give deep and thoughtful addresses on the many profound teachings of Swedenborg, yet as I listen to them at the public meetings and services, I hear little but the lifeless repetition of things I have been familiar with all my life, and at the last Conference it was a disappointment and a weariness to sit through the simple and superficial treatment of those great subjects which were at their command.... Neither should we have our preachers telling us several times a year that there are not three persons in the Godhead!--that the whole of religion does not consist in going to church!...instead of leading us on to greater familiarity with such subjects as the formation of conscience; the doctrine of degrees; what and how remains are implanted. The A. B. C. of Church teachings should be kept for missionary efforts and not for old established societies and meetings of members. This correspondent does not seem to realize how pre-eminent a place missionary work has in the English Conference, though she clearly sees the effects.

     The following week appeared another correspondent, Mr. O. E. Prutz, who criticized the feebleness of spirit manifested in the prevalent intermingling with the Old Church.

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This correspondent is supported by letters from Mr. George E. Holman and Mr. A. E. Friend. The former writes, "What invertebrate molluscan things most of our societies are. They profess to believe themselves the possessors of a new Divine Revelation, but it would not be far from a true estimate to say that in any society, not more than ten per cent, of the members read the Writings even once a week.....This New Church Revelation, which we occasionally refer to as "glorious" and the "crown of all revelations," is carefully kept in the background. Are there half a dozen churches in the country where a reading from the Writings forms part of the public service? Then look at the books which are often used for missionary purposes and which contain not a single reference to that Revelation which is the source of their inspiration."

     Still more direct, because more searching, is the criticism made by Mr. Friend. He sees the cause of the lack of growth in the Church as lying in the fact "that we are not content to accept the Divine Order of the Lord, Who, in all previous ages, established His New Church, separated from the former Church which had been consummated and was dead, never again to be reformed or revived. Conference Newchurchmen seem afraid to accept the truth, so frequently taught in the Writings, that the Old Church is dead as to faith and charity..... It is such a pity that we allow our own judgment and our own desires to interpose between us and the plain teaching of the Lord's revelation. If we did not so often do this, we should plainly see that 'falsities and evils increase continually in the Church, once perverted and extinct' (A. C. 4503) .... The root of all this lukewarmness is to be found in the attitude taken up towards the Writings, which is reflected by the fact that the 'Writings of Swedenborg are divinely illumined, yet are accepted to the extent to which they can be rationally understood.' . . . . The Writings given through Swedenborg are the Lord's revelations to His New Church, and are, consequently, of Divine authority."

     On top of this defense of the distinctiveness of the New Church, comes a vigorous and manly letter from the Rev. W. T. Lardge, in Morning Light, of March 7. Mr. Lardge addresses himself more particularly to the now pretty general practice in the English Societies, of New Church ministers joining the local Free Church Councils.

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To him "this matter has resolved itself into a question as to whether a Newchurchman can consistently and conscientiously be on a religious body whose fundamental teachings....are diametrically opposed to the principles (fundamental and otherwise) and attitude of the New Jerusalem..... I consider that this matter of joining with others (not of the faith of the New Church), in meetings of a religious character, which, we are distinctly taught, is detrimental to a Newchurchman's spiritual life, is one of the gravest questions which confronts the New Church in its specific form today; its gravity lying in the fact that it is indifferently thought of and very little understood..... I am sometimes heartily sick of this, what I regard as playing at churches and religion, this tinkering here and tinkering there, which I see going on around us. The greatest charity, at present, at all events, is to look well to our own, and sweep well our own doorsteps. I have lived just long enough to learn that what I once regarded as broad is narrow, and vice versa."

     Mr. Lardge regrets that the vital principle for which he stands is not represented by a better champion. But the Church can need no better champion than one who can voice such sound sentiments as those to which Mr. Lardge has given utterance, and--so outspokenly and fearlessly. It is not often that such principles are advocated in the English journals. But they must be enforced again and again that the lethargy may be disturbed and the around prepared for the seed of truth.

     Mr. Lardge's letter is, of course, not allowed to go unchallenged. The gage is taken up by the Rev. Harry Deans,--the young minister of the Birmingham Society, who writes that the New Church is retarded "in its external growth because we are misunderstood by our neighbors." This is not the reason given in the Writings, but what of that, when we see the manifest signs of "Christian charity" about us! And Mr. Lardge is counseled to mingle with Old Church ministers that they may see that "our Church exists for the betterment of the world and not as an exclusive self-satisfied cult," etc. Was it because the Lord was misunderstood that the Jews crucified Him? Do the devils revile the angels merely because they "misunderstand" them as a self-satisfied cult?

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What a pity that angels do not mingle with devils that their cause be better understood!

     Another of the younger New Church ministers deplores the trend of thought manifested in the letters by Mr. Lardge and others, as lacking "that breadth of spirit," etc., and he quotes from the Writings to show, as he thinks, that "a man may be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church (etc.) and still be a member of the New Church." He does not explain why he himself is the minister of a New Church Society. Perhaps, it just happened so, and he could have (lone equally as good work in any other church. It could hardly be less faithful to the church's principles. The reason given by this gentleman for the slow growth of the Church in England, is that "Worship is put before Missionary effort" in the various societies, whereas, "the New Church Denomination exists solely for two purposes: First, for Missionary reasons; secondly, for reasons of convenience of worship for those who acknowledge the doctrinals of the Second Advent!!!
LOVE OF SPIRITUAL OFFSPRING 1908

LOVE OF SPIRITUAL OFFSPRING              1908

     The love of offspring, like the objects themselves of this affection, is threefold: the love of natural offspring, the love of spiritual offspring, and the love of offspring which is natural and at the same time spiritual.

     The first kind, the love of offspring merely natural, we need not dwell long upon. It is a merely natural love which we have in common with all animals, a love in itself gross, carnal and selfish, the love for the reproduction of our own material flesh and blood. It vanishes as the self-will of the children rises against the self-will of the parents, and the perception of this probable antagonism between parents and children is one of the potent causes of the evil of race-suicide. For what is the use of having any children, if they are going to turn against you as they grow up? And hence, without the internal of a spiritual love, the love of offspring is perishing in the Christian world.

     There is a kind of offspring, however, which is not only natural but at the same time spiritual, resulting from a love that is a spiritual as well as natural storge, because having an internal essence of conjugial love.

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     This is the kind of offspring which is spoken of in Conjugial Love, n. 202, Where we read that "the offspring born of two who are in love truly conjugial, derive from their parents the conjugial of good and truth; hence they have the inclination and faculty, if a son, to perceive the things which are of wisdom; and if a daughter, to love the things that wisdom teaches."

     Not that they inherit the perception itself and the love itself, of their parents, but they inherit the inclination and faculty to perceive and to love what is of wisdom, and thus to break and render mild the common inherited inclination to the love of evil and folly.

     This, also, is the kind of offspring that is promised, together with the promise of Conjugial Love itself, to the Church of the New Jerusalem,--a promise which, to some small extent, we are beginning to see fulfilled round about us, in the advancing and ever swelling lines of boys and girls who, with all their own faults, and with all the evil inclinations of their parents, still as a rule do seem to possess also an inclination and a faculty to perceive and to love the things of Divine wisdom which are revealed in the Writings of the New Church.

     In its very origin this kind of offspring is spiritual, for they would not be in existence today--at least not in such abundance--if it had not been for the spiritual and heavenly principle of "Marriage within the New Church." And this principle of the Academy's was in itself the offspring of the conjugial within the individual members of the Church,--the desire to live according to their faith. Hence came the desire for conjugial union with one who would be in spiritual sympathy with this inmost aim. Hence came the desire for children for the sake of the Church and Heaven. Hence also came the fruitfulness and the children themselves,--an astonishing abundance which may be hoped in time to fill the earth with a new race of spiritual men.

     This new generation, as was said, would not have come into existence but for the previous birth of spiritual offspring in the Church, nor will this generation fulfill the promise unless new spiritual offspring be born continually to them.

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For it is this purely spiritual kind of offspring that is the most essential to the true growth of Heaven and the Church.

     In heaven, as we know, there are no births of actual, ultimate offspring, for mother earth alone can render that ultimate infilling substance which gives fixation and eternal permanence to the soul. But let us not on this account think of the angels as barren and childless. Not only are they actually surrounded with a multitude of infants from this and other earths, but the heavenly husbands to eternity beget, and the heavenly wives are to eternity conceiving and giving birth to generation after generation of purely spiritual offspring. Every new perception of wisdom and every new affection of truth and good is such a spiritual birth, and their generation corresponds exactly and in every detail to the conception, gestation, and final birth of a child upon the earth. (A. C. 3298.)

     Consider, in this connection, some of the teachings in the Writings concerning spiritual offspring:

     "From charity as a father, and from faith as a mother, are born all spiritual offspring, which are the cognitions of good and truth." (T. C. R. 377.)

     "When there is a conjunction of the will and the understanding, then, as from a marriage, there are continually born offspring, which are truths and goods, with their blessednesses and delights." (A. C. 6717.)

     "When man is regenerated, he sees truths continually more and more, for they are produced thence as offspring from their parents; these offspring are from the celestial marriage of good and truth, and these new truths enter the good successively, and enlarge and perfect it, and this to eternity." (A. C. 8772.)

     "The spiritual offspring which is born to the angels from their marriages, are such things as are of wisdom from the father, and such things as are of love from the mother, which they love from a spiritual storge. This love adds itself to their conjugial love, and continually elevates it, and conjoins them." (A. C. 211.)

     "With us," said the angels, "the fructifications are spiritual, and are the fructifications of love and wisdom, or of good and truth.

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The wife, from the husband's wisdom, receives into herself the love thereof; and the husband, from this love in the wife, receives into himself wisdom. Yea, the wife is actually formed into the love of the husband's wisdom, which is effected by her receiving the propagations of his soul with the delight arising from this that she wills to be the love of her husband's wisdom." (C.L. 355.)

     Somewhere in the Writings,--we cannot recall the number,--it is said that these spiritual propagations are represented outwardly by most beautiful little infants, held in the arms of the heavenly wives, and it was this idea, no doubt, which inspired that immortal New Church artist, Flaxman, in one of his most lovely illustrations to Dante's Paradise, where he depicts angelic pairs, returning "each to its native star" from a great convocation in Heaven. On the arm of each of the heavenly wives is seen the faint outline of an infant form.

     All of this spiritual offspring, and, we may add, all of our natural offspring, in reality own no other actual father than the Lord the Creator alone. For every new perception of truth, and every new generation of masculine seed, is after all nothing but a conception of spiritual seed in the universal matrix or simple cortex of the human brain. And this brings us to the truth that the Prolific essence, with the individual man and with the Church as a whole, is from the Lord alone, and is conceived only in the degree that the Lord is allowed to enter into the understanding of the man and the Church.

     We are taught that the angels are in continual potency of spiritual prolification because the inmost of their mind is ever open to the influx of the Divine Seed--the Divine Truth. And we are taught that the same will be given to the men of the New Church in proportion as they love and receive the Divine Truth of the new Revelation. Thus natural increase will be given in proportion to the birth of spiritual offspring.

     We may then ask, with a new meaning, what is the reason for the slow growth of the New Church? The answer will be found in the fact that there has been such a slow growth of spiritual offspring. Thus far the New Church as a whole has been rather barren, for it is a fact, as well known as it is deplorable, that the present generation of Newchurchmen, generally speaking, love the Heavenly Doctrines less, and read and understand them less, than their fathers and grandfathers of fifty or a hundred years ago.

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Not only do the children of New Church parents leave the Church, en masse, as they grow up, but those who do remain do not seem to receive any spiritual inheritance from their ancestors, or to add anything to the general fund of knowledge and affection. Read the columns of the more popular New Church journals of today, and compare them with the New Church journals of fifty or seventy-five Years ago, and you will understand what we mean. Each succeeding generation, instead of beginning where the Preceding generation left off in their spiritual advancement, begins where the new-comers from the Old Church begin, and generally with far less zeal and actual spiritual progress.     

     But, with the birth of the Academy, a new state seems have begun and has become somewhat more general. The barren woman began to be fruitful, and the one supreme cause may be found in the acknowledgment that the Revelation given to the New Church is a Divine Revelation, from the Lord alone, the very Word of God. For there can be nothing spiritually prolific in a revelation which is regarded as merely human or semi-human, and thus as merely natural. The Divine prolific conatus can enter the Church and fructify the Church, only when the barrier of human conceit is removed, only when human reason prostrates itself in humility before Truth which is recognized as Divine.

     Though we can speak only from appearances, this appears to have been done in the Academy, and to this source we cannot but ascribe the remarkable spiritual activity manifested wherever the Academy principles have been received and conceived.

     Beginning with the great fund of interior doctrine gathered by the spiritual predecessors and founders of the Academy, there has been no doctrinal stand-still in the history of this movement, but new perceptions and conceptions of the Doctrine, new affections and interest and uses have developed and succeeded one another in almost bewildering rapidity,--so much so that the Academy has been characterized by outsiders as "a merely experimental body,"--an experimental field for new ideas and ultimations of those ideas,--while from our own members there has often arisen the cry that things were moving too fast.

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     However this may have been, there came a time,--not very long ago--when the Academy seemed to settle down a bit--when external conflicts seemed to cease and the old issues began to grow somewhat stale,--when the mind of the old warriors began to inquire with anxiety: What next? This was a very vital question, a question that filled many minds with great anxiety for the spiritual development of the Church. We seemed to have run the gamut of internal development, and the prospect of external prosperity without internal growth was most disquieting.

     But, unknown to the most of us, there had been a new conception in the Academy, of an unexpected character, and when the new offspring was born, it was hailed at first with much misgiving. A little examination, however, soon convinced many that the newcomer was of a heavenly origin,--was, indeed, a kind of new revelation of truth born from and out of the Writings themselves,--we refer to the new correlation between the Writings and Swedenborg's preparatory works showing that the two series of works are one in essence, even if not in form.

     With this conviction settled, there came a veritable shower of new spiritual offspring out of heaven--a shower of new cognitions and perceptions, new interests and affections,--and the wonder and delight that has been felt at them has been like the wonder and delight when a real new baby comes to bless our homes.

     We need not dwell long upon the list of all this new spiritual offspring, for it is very long and ever growing,--the new ideas that have come concerning the Infinite and the finite, the nature of discrete degrees and spiritual substance, concerning the first natural point and the universal spiritual aura, the celestial cortex and the universal fibre, the growth of the intermediate degrees of the mind in the organic substance of the human brain, etc., etc.--all of which has filled the mind with a new astonishment at the former lack of understanding, a new humility in the presence of the infinite wonders revealed by the Lord to His Church.

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     This new spiritual activity fills the heart with the conviction that the Lord is indeed present in His Church; that His Divine Truth is ever prolific, and that the New Church will forever experience similar new openings of deeper perception.

     But it is not the intellectual mind alone that has been affected;--not only have there been born new spiritual sons to the Church, but new spiritual daughters as well, new affections and delights, new affections of deeper truths, and consequently a new state of receptivity.
Title Unspecified 1908

Title Unspecified              1908

     It is taught in the Arcana 9280 that the "internal sense is presented in heaven, when man reads it holily." It is taught in T. C. R., n. 207, that "the sense of the letter can be turned hither and thither, but if it be turned to the false, then its internal holiness perishes and with this its external holiness." From this it follows that with those who are in falses of doctrine, who use the Word to confirm those false doctrines, the holiness of the Word both internal and external perishes. With such, the reading of the Word in the letter could have no connection with heaven. And this connection is restored only by the reception of the true doctrine from the Lord out of heaven. The Jews receive and read the Old Testament, but it is not to them a holy book, nor does it have connection with heaven far them. So also the Word as to its holiness has perished with the Christian Church which has come to its end, for the reason that the false doctrines of the Christian Church have perverted and profaned every good and truth of it. This is the internal reason for the denial of the verbal inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures; for the destructive results of the higher criticism; for the impending denial that the Bible, in whole or in part, is more than any other book of human authorship. The internal holiness of the Word has perished with the Christian Church; the profession of belief in its external holiness must follow.

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APPARENT CONTRADICTION 1908

APPARENT CONTRADICTION       E. E. I       1908

EDITOR New Church Life:

     In the exposition of Apoc. xiii:14, "And they that are within him are called and chosen and faithful," the Apocalypse Explained and the Apocalypse Revealed appear to disagree.

     A. E. 1071, "'The called' ... are those who are in love to the Lord,... 'the chosen' are those who are in love to the neighbor,... and the 'faithful' are those who are in the faith of charity.... The angels of the third heaven who are in love to the Lord are said to be called, the angels of the second heaven who are in love to the neighbor are said to be chosen, and the angels of the first heaven who are in the faiths of charity are called faithful. These names are also applicable to those in the church who after death will come, respectively, into these heavens, as the concluding sentences to this number state.

     A. R. 744. "By called, chosen, and faithful--are signified those who are in the externals, internals, and inmosts of the church; who, because they are in the Lord, come into heaven.... Those who are in the externals of the church...are said to be 'called,' those who are in its internals are said to be 'chosen' --and those who are in the inmosts are called 'faithful." For so they are called in the Word, where Jacob is said to be called, and Israel chosen, since there by Jacob are understood those who are in the externals of the church, and by Israel those who are in its internals."

     By comparing these accounts of the called-chosen-faithful, there is in the Apocalypse Explained a series proceeding from inmosts to outmosts; while in the Apocalypse Revealed it is explained to be the exact opposite. How are these apparently contradictory statements to be reconciled? E. E. I.

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Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. Spring has brought us quite an influx of visitors. Miss Adah Nelson, of Glenview, is making an extended visit, and Mr. Seymour Nelson has looked in upon us several times. Mrs. A. S. Pendleton and daughter, of Valdosta, Georgia, are sojourning at the Inn, and the visit of Miss L. Dixon, a teacher in the Horace Mann School, of New York, has been much enjoyed--especially by those in her line of use.

     Mrs. Theo. Bellinger, of Waterloo; Mrs. Harvey Farrington, of Chicago; Mr. Doering Bellinger, of Pittsburgh; Mr. Norman Bellinger, of Toronto; Mr. Rudolph Potts, of Guelph; Mr. Warren Potts, of New York; Mrs. J. Ebert, of Allentown, and Dr. and Mrs. Woodruff, of Long Island, have all been spending the Eastertide here.

     Dr. Edward Cranch, of Erie, stopped off long enough to inspect his latest grandson.

     Socially the chief event of the month for the Society was the spring social given under the care of Dr. and Mrs. F. A. Boericke, and Mr. and Mrs. Emil Stroh.

     On Good Friday, quite a few visitors from the city, as well as others from a distance, filled the supper tables to overflowing. The ball game in the afternoon, between the old timers and the present Academy team, whetted appetites, which speedily resulted in well cleaned tables. Mr. Pitcairn then gave some account of a recent visit to Texas and New Orleans. He painted the prospects of that region in glowing colors. There ought to be a New Church centre somewhere in such a promising field. It makes the heart ache to realize how utterly inadequate is the present state of the Church, for even though the remnant be but a very small percentage numerically, there must be hundreds and even thousands in so vast a State, if the organized Church were but fit to serve them, as no doubt it will some day.

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     After the supper, instead of the usual exercises, we ascended to the chapel, where a most satisfying service was held, comprising the singing of the thirtieth and the twenty-second Psalms, the reading of texts about the Lord's Passion, and the summary of the doctrine respecting the Divine work of Redemption.

     On Saturday night a set of four Easter scenes was given with much solemnity, like the Christmas scenes. We do not present the Lord Himself in these representations, but the surrounding scenes from the great drama of His earth life. This is a favorite mode of teaching these things in the other world, and we are moved by a desire to develop a similar use here, as far as we may. On Easter day the morning was devoted to a service of Glorification, and at four o'clock in the afternoon, the Holy Supper was administered to 137 communicants.

     The baptism of a new-born infant added much to the sphere.

     SCHOOL NOTES. The smaller children were entertained during the spring vacation at Cairnwood. The "party" proper consisted of ice-cream moulded into most surprising forms.

     The regular monthly school social was an unusually charming affair, in imitation of the "kindergarten," which all our folks have been enjoying so much this year. It was certainly a clever idea and the "old ones" are constantly growing more and more surprised to see how our young folks alone now fill the Gymnasium. Professor and Mrs. Price, and Professor and Mrs. Odhner did the honors--but the committee of pupils did the work.

     The teachers of the local school gave a sort of school exhibition, consisting of various recitations and scenes connected with their regular class work. Miss Lucy Potts' primary classes gave tableaux, representing classical scenes. Miss Olive Bostock's classes, aided by Miss Bellinger's, gave an extended dramatization of the story of Siegfried, forged entirely by themselves. Miss Hobart's older class gave the court scene from "Merchant of Venice," and a comedy, "The Will." The whole was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience, but its use in a literary way to the pupils themselves, is what makes these shows so valuable an asset in our school work.

     In the baseball line, the boys have lost their first two games, but the last one by such a small margin that they have every hope of winning from now on.

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Our boys seem, however, to have the true sporting spirit, and reverses do not seem to dampen their spirits very long.

     ABINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS. The Rev. Thomas S. Harris, for eight years pastor of the New Church Society in Abington, Massachusetts, has resigned from the ministry of the General Convention, with the expressed intention of joining the General Church of the New Jerusalem. With him nine others have separated from the society. Their letter of resignation, dated April 6, 1908, reads as follows:

     "We, the undersigned, earnestly believing in the necessity of a real New Church in this community that will stand true in faith and life to the Revelation which the Lord has given at His Second Advent, and being assured that the only hope for the New Church in this place is in a new beginning, have decided to separate from this Society and the General Convention, and apply for admission to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and, therefore, do here and now respectfully tender to this body our resignations."

     The ten persons, whose names were attached to this paper, constitute one-sixth of the membership and one-third of the men in the Abington Society. Since the separation, services have been held by Mr. Harris at the parsonage, at which there has been an attendance of twenty, morning and evening. On Tuesday evening each week all meet and take supper together; old and young, there are twenty-five persons in the movement. W. H. A.

     NEW YORK CITY. On account of giving up our old place of worship, and the difficulty of getting another, the New York circle made a late start this season, services not commencing until late in November.

     However, our new place, the Everett House, is far superior to the old one, and is conveniently located at Fourth Ave. and 17th street.

     The services are held on the first and third Sundays of each month, at 11 o'clock.

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     A doctrinal class is held at 10:30, immediately preceding the service, and is fairly well attended considering the great distances most of our members are obliged to travel.

     Previous to this season, classes were held at the members' homes, but this year a general class on Sundays was thought preferable.

     The attendance has greatly increased, compared with that of former years, having nearly doubled, the present average being eighteen.

     The main social feature is the dinner at Carlos' restaurant nearly every church Sunday, where we have a private table in a large room. All who wish, meet here after the services, and the average attendance is about fourteen.

     Of late, we have had a number of visitors, people newly interested in the Church, who find this occasion particularly pleasant for its social and, incidentally, instructive features.

     The second annual visit of the bishop was celebrated, as usual, with a banquet, at which thirty-one were present, including visitors from the 35th Street Society and the Brooklyn Society. A most enjoyable time was had. For particulars, see issue of April 5th, of our new local amateur paper, the New York Circle.

     This publication, while of very recent origin, is published regularly every Church Sunday, and contains stories, the news of the Society, and editorial comments that are "literary masterpieces."

     The editions are limited, but it is hoped that a majority of General Church members will, at least, see it, even though they may not have the good fortune to be on the subscription list; thus making unnecessary frequent reports of our progress to the Life. A. A. S.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. Apart from our regular Church uses, we have, during the past two months, enjoyed two lectures by Dr. King. Mr. Seymour Nelson, on his return from Europe, favored us with an interesting talk about his meetings with New Church brethren and left us with a very live impression of our "friends across the sea," whom we all hope to meet some day.

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Then, there was a Washington's Birthday celebration, at Mr. and Mrs. Maynard's cheerful home, which was patriotic, literary and musical. The pastor gave an address on Washington and Lincoln, while Dr. King illustrated some of the more unfamiliar forms of versification, such as the ballade, the rondeau, the chant-royal and the vilannelle, with very beautiful examples.

     One of the most useful and interesting features of our life here has never been officially recorded in these columns. This is the monthly meeting of the gentlemen, which takes place after the regular business meeting. A toastmaster is appointed, who has the privilege of naming his successor. He assigns a topic for discussion, almost always on some spiritual subject, although its application frequently leads to the consideration of law, medicine, science, politics or business. The result is, that besides encouraging the study and thought concerning spiritual things, a considerable number of excellent speakers have been developed among the laymen. The variety of topics and their applications, besides providing for the expression of thoughts and affections on the vital spiritual things of life, give opportunity also for fulminating eloquence and delicate byplays of genial wit, on its less serious side. What, with refreshments and songs, it is all very charming, very stimulating and very useful in establishing those bonds of brotherly love so necessary in a community of the Church. K.

     LONDON, ENGLAND. This society pursues the tenor of its way so evenly and calmly that, by the time there is sufficient news to chronicle, some of the items are rather out-of-date. If, as appears possible, on perusing the "Church News" in the March number of "the Life," the inhabitants of Bryn Athyn are suffering from too much social life, we would recommend that they come here for a rest-cure.

     Our Swedenborg birthday celebration this year took the form of a supper, provided by the ladies, and the vote of thanks to them, was no more than deserved. During the evening we had the pleasure of listening to addresses by some of our members based upon prophecies from the Word relating to the New Church, among which were the following:

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     1. That the time of the end of the former Church is also the beginning of the New Church. 16:12.

     2. The Lord's joy at the rise of the New Church. Is 65:18.

     3. That there will be no external worship in the New Church separate from internal. Apoc. 21:22.

     We have had a most enjoyable, though short, visit from Mr. Seymour Nelson;--a social, arranged to welcome him was greatly enjoyed, especially as Mr. Nelson gave us a most interesting account of Glenview, and the work that is being done there.

     At out last social a charming operetta was performed by our school-children, under the very able direction of Miss Waters. Some of the costumes were most effective and the songs were splendidly rendered.

     The monthly Sunday evening class for the young people, held at the home of our most hospitable friend, Mr. Howard, has finished reading Conjugial Love, and by the unanimous wish of those attending, is about to start re-reading the same work. W. R. G.

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND. On January 18th we were delighted to have with us Mr. Seymour Nelson, of Glenview, who accompanied our pastor, when the latter came to pay us his usual visit. Mr. Nelson was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Locke. This was his first visit to Colchester, but we sincerely trust it will not be his last, and also that it may be possible for Mrs. Nelson to come with him. The benefits of these visits from the Church in America cannot be overestimated; not only is there the great pleasure of the personal presence, but there is a spirit of fulness, which to us, at such a distance, no writing or printed matter can adequately take the place of. In the evening the men of the Society met Mr. Nelson at the home of Mr. Locke, and a most useful time was spent. The day following, Divine Worship was conducted by our pastor as usual, and, by his request, in the afternoon the cantata, "A Night of Glory," was repeated, under the direction of Mr. Potter. At the conclusion of the singing Mr. Nelson expressed his appreciation and pleasure; he also took occasion to convey to the Society greetings from the bishop. Mr. Czerny thanked Mr. Nelson for his message, and desired him to convey to the bishop and the Church in America, hearty greetings from Colchester.

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     On Sunday, February 2d, in place of the Doctrinal Class, Swedenborg's birthday was celebrated. Mr. and Mrs. Motum, as on many previous occasions, provided supper for the Society. Our pleasure was much enhanced by again having Mr. Nelson with us, who, this time was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Gill. We also enjoyed the presence of our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Denney, of London. An excellent address by Mr. Czerny was followed by several papers and speeches by the men of the Society. Mr. Nelson gave us a most interesting account of the various uses of the General Church up to date, and a toast to our host and hostess concluded a most enjoyable meeting.

     The day following, a children's social was held, fifty-one being present, including our pastor, Mr. Nelson, and Mr. and Mrs. Denney. Tea was provided by Mr. and Mrs. Motum. After tea the usual games, etc., were indulged in, followed by a repetition of the operetta, by Mrs. Gill, "Dream of Nursery Rhymes." This was much enjoyed by all. Our visitors had to leave for London that evening, but they carried with them the hearty good wishes of all. F. R. C.

     NATAL. Mr. and Mrs. J. Henry Ridgway and family arrived m Durban at the end of their long journey from America, at the end of January. A week after their arrival, on February 6, the Society tendered them a social reception. Mr. Ridgway gave an account of his visit to America, dwelling particularly on the life and work of the Church in Bryn Athyn, and the value of New Church social life.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The pulpit of the CINCINNATI Society was filled on March 15 by the Rev. Richard de Charms, of Bryn Athyn. In the course of the services three grandchildren of the Rev. Richard de Charms, Sr., were baptized by their uncle.

     On the same Sunday the Rev. J. E. Bowers, the missionary of the General Church, preached to the COLUMBUS, O., Society, in place of the Rev. Dr. Gustafson.

     The Rev. Albert Bjorck, of "Larger Hope" fame, having returned to this country, has been endeavoring to interest the Swedish residents of BROOKLYN, N. Y. in the New Church.

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His lectures are delivered in Swedish and advertised in the local Swedish weekly. The attendance for the four lectures averaged over twenty-five persons.

     The WALTHAM, Mass., New Church school reports a total attendance of forty-five pupils,--thirty girls and fifteen boys.

     The Ministerial Council of TOLEDO, O. has refused to accept the application for membership made by the pastor of the New Church Society, the Rev. George H. Morgan. In consequence of this action, the sixty Protestant ministers, composing the Council, have each been furnished with copies of Mr. Landenberger's lecture on Swedenborg.

     At the annual meeting of the CONNECTICUT ASSOCIATION, one of its members was appointed to represent it at the coming meeting of the State Federation of Churches.

     The Rev. Hiram Vrooman was inducted into the pastorate of the PROVIDENCE, R. I., Society, on March 8. The services were conducted by the Rev. James Reed, alter which the Rev. E. T. Root, "field secretary of the Rhode Island Federation of Churches, extended the greeting to the new pastor on becoming a member of the Federation." Thus is the New Church "making Covenant with the nations."

     CANADA. The Rev. Walter E. Brickman has resigned the pastorate of the Berlin Society and is available for a call elsewhere.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The New Church Theological and Philosophical Society, of London, enjoyed its largest attendance at a meeting held last January, when the Rev. Isaiah Tansley delivered a lecture on the Principia. The paper, which was a lengthy one, was both historical and analytical. It was briefly discussed by Mr. George E. Holman, Mr. F. A. Gardiner and the Rev. W. A. Presland.

     The March meeting of the Society listened to a paper by the Rev. J. F. Buss, on The Inspiration of Swedenborg. Mr. Buss regretted that the English language had only one word to express different phases of inspiration. Swedenborg was "inspired," but his "inspiration was not of the same class as that of the writers of the Word itself."

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Consequently, he concluded, the Writings are not the same as the Word in containing an internal sense. Nevertheless, the essayist admitted, the truths contained in them "may be regarded as given by the Lord." As reported, the paper seems to have dealt in platitudes. Of course, Swedenborg's inspiration was not "of the same class" as that of the prophets; neither was the inspiration of the writers of the Gospel; it does not follow, therefore, that the Gospels, and the Writings are not the Word. And, of course, also "the Writings do not contain an internal sense," in the same way as the Letter of the Word. But, surely, Mr. Buss would not maintain that, in a revelation "given by the Lord," there is no internal sense! that the Divine Truth Itself-the inmost sense-- is not within Divine Revelation!
TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS 1908

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS              1908


     Announcements.




     In accordance with our general custom, we have usually continued to send "New Church Life" to subscribers until ordered to discontinue and arrearages paid.

     A new ruling of the Postmaster General forbids this, and does not allow monthly magazines to be so sent longer than four months unless specifically renewed. This order was issued in December and went into effect January 1, 1908.

     We have on our books quite a number of subscribers whose accounts are overdue, and to whom several bills and notices have been sent.

     We would earnestly request that all who have not yet remitted, please do so immediately, otherwise we shall be compelled, under the above ruling, to discontinue their subscriptions, which we would very much regret to do.

     Address all subscriptions to C. E. DOERING, Treasurer, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
CONTINUITY IN THE FORMS OF THE CHURCH 1908

CONTINUITY IN THE FORMS OF THE CHURCH       Rev. WILLIAM C. CALDWELL       1908



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NEW CHURCH LIFE.
VOL. XXVIII. JUNE, 1908.           No. 6.
     Newchurchmen sometimes are infested with a doubt as to the use of maintaining the external forms of the Church,--regular worship and instruction, suppers, socials, and meetings of various kinds; as also the customs in the home, such as family worship, the instruction of children, individual reading of the Word and other books of the Church, and many other things that sometimes are omitted because a doubt of their use arises and prevails.

     Whether this doubt arises from a state of cold toward the spiritual things of the church, from the pressure of worldly cares, or from an honest questioning of the mind, it is true that the feeling does come upon us at times, that we are merely going through forms over and over again, and accomplishing little of value. At times we lose a sense of the newness and variety that we would like to feel,--a newness and variety that we do feel when we are in the interior delight that gives life and fulness to all external forms. We usually overcome these infestations by the reflection that the forms often are useful without our being conscious of it, and that uses often come when we least expect them. We also realize that externals are a means of arousing internals, as they are the means of ultimating and expressing internals once aroused. And so we maintain the forms.

     In the daily round of our uses, private and public, we are obliged by the order of things, by the dependence of others upon us, to perform our duties regularly. If we are in the love of use, this is more a delight than a duty. So also we maintain regularity in the physical life. We eat three meals a day, sometimes when we are not hungry, and sometimes when the food is not entirely to our taste; and physicians tell us that it is conducive to the health of the body to eat regularly.

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But when we are hungry a meal is always delightful. It is similar with the forms of the church. When we are spiritually hungry we can always find delight in them. Sometimes we are not spiritually hungry, and sometimes the forms are imperfect, but still we conclude that we should observe them, hoping for a use.

     But we are led to seek further reasons for continuity in the Church forms and practices. Why should there be a repetition from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year?

     From as external point of view it is true that our activities consist largely in doing the same things over and over again. But from an internal point of view, which regards spiritual states and not acts alone, we see that there is a perpetual variety within external forms with those who are making spiritual progress. A man's spiritual state changes continually, from moment to moment, day to day, year to year. Like the rounds in nature's course, his spiritual path is made up of cycles, which bear him now away from back to a central point. When he is nearest that point he is nearest the Lord and heaven, consequently in his best state of spiritual exaltation and delight. When farthest from that point, he is in his poorest spiritual state, farthest away from the central are and light of his spiritual existence.

     But though there is this continual circling in man's spiritual state, this going out and returning, there is never a return to exactly the some point as before, but with the good man there is a return to a higher and more interior point, nearer to heaven and the Lord. Moreover, this variation of state, apparently a repetition, but in reality never the same, continues forever, even when man has become an angel. And by means of those variations, constant, regular, but ever new, he is perfected to eternity. So long as he is spiritually living, he is passing through the gyres of this perpetually circling spiral and vortical path, though he be as unconscious of it as he is of the daily and yearly gyration of the earth. (A. C. 4041.)

     And we know that it is the Life, the Divine Life, that maintains this perpetual round in the spiritual course of every individual angel and man, and of every larger composite man,--Heaven and the Church, in general and particular.

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This Divine Life is infinite, unceasing, and continual in its influx into all finite forms in both worlds. But the variation and mollification is in the finite beings who receive it; nor can they be more and more perfected in the image of that infinite and unceasing life except by perpetual variations of state, which consist in alternate approach to and withdrawal from their highest state of reception, each approach carrying them higher and more interiorly than before.

     In other words, the progression of spiritual state with angels and men, the progression of the life of regeneration, the progression of the life of the Church as a whole, operates in the perpetually circular or vortical form, presenting a similarity of repetition in external appearance, but involving a perpetual change to all eternity.

     From these considerations we may see an interior cause and reason for the continual repetition of the forms in natural life, and of the forms of the Church in particular,--the reason why we do the same thing over and over again, from day to day, and from year to year. All natural things are doing it, and all spiritual things are doing it, because it has been impressed upon them by the Divine. And every man who is progressing spiritually will be able to testify that there is a perpetual newness in the forms of the Church. And if he has reflected upon it he has discovered that the repetition of a form never finds him in quite the same state that he was before.

     When we see that there is law impressed upon the spiritual and natural worlds, preserving continuity and at the same time variety, we see the importance of cultivating and preserving continuity in the life of the Church, that we may come more and more into the Divine order.

     Some of the cycles in our Church life are small, some large; some festivals come once a year, some things are performed every day. Individuals who progress more slowly than others may be said to advance in larger circles, the gyres of their life gradually becoming smaller and smaller, and more and more rapid, as they go forward in the regenerate life, so that they return to their central point more often.

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And the more fully this is effected by the life of regeneration upon earth, the sooner man's spirit can enter heaven after death. For the introduction into heaven consists in the preparation of spirits to enter swifter and swifter gyres. As their grosser states are cast off, the finer and more interior are released to perform more rapid gyres. (See A. C. 5181-3; S. D. 1015-1038.)

     So long as spiritually living, as individuals, and as a Church, we will feel within us the spur and incentive to greater and greater continuity. For the Life, which alone is Life, unchanging, unceasing, is then present in our activities, with its eternal endeavor to impart more and more of its infinite bounty to finite creatures. The presence of this Divine Life inmostly in the Church is what imparts new blessing, new use, new delight, to our oft repeated forms.

     The Church, however, as composed of men, is finite, and subject to the limitations of everything finite. We cannot bear continued states of exaltation in spiritual things, nor must we expect this. We are subject to the laws of spiritual change of state. We have our ups and downs, our bright periods and our dull. But within all the changes in the state of the Church there is a continuous life, love, and endeavor from the Lord reigning inmostly, elevating and exalting its states as far as we permit, bringing us back to its central life after periods of reaction, and blessing us with renewed delight in its interior uses.

     This reigning love and life in the Church is the stream of the Lord's Providence, which regards the one only end of perfecting the Church. Toward this end the Divine Providence not only looks continually but also operates continually. And a faith in this unceasing Providence justifies the continual disposing of man to receive. It justifies a continuity in our Church forms and practices, for when we least expect it, or when we are not aware of it, a spiritual blessing is imparted.

     When infested by a doubt as to the need of continuity in the Church life, we have but to consider this ever-present and urgent Providence of the Lord, the reception of which is only limited by the inconstancy of finite men. And when the progress of the Church seems slow, we have but to consider that the law of spiritual growth is "line upon line, precept upon precept."

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PASSION OF THE CROSS 1908

PASSION OF THE CROSS       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1908

     "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John iii, 14, 15.

     A fundamental principle of the theology of the Christian world, especially of those denominations known as Reformed or Evangelical, is, that the passion of the Cross is the whole of Redemption, and that men are saved by faith in the merits of the crucified Savior, who was sent by God the Father into the world to suffer for mankind r and that there is no other way, or no other plan of salvation.

     This faith of the Reformed or Evangelical churches is based on certain passages of Scripture, like that of the text, which do present, according to the letter, the Passion of the Cross as the means of salvation, and faith in the Lord as He suffered on the cross for men, as essential for the salvation of the human race. The Son of Man must be lifted up, or suspended upon the cross, even as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, that whosoever looketh upon Him, and believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. A similar passage occurs in John xii, 32, 33, where the doctrine of the Passion of the Cross is presented even more plainly, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This He said, signifying what death He should die." The death He should die was the death upon the cross, and if He be lifted up from the earth, or upon the cross, and die upon the cross for men, He would draw all men unto Him.

     The same idea or teaching appears in a number of passages of the Word, in particular where the blood of the Lamb is spoken of, as in the following: "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." (Rev. i, 5.) "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." (Rev. v, 9.)

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"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony." (Rev. xii, 11.) "And he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God." (Rev. xix, 13)

     Since it is not true that the Passion of the Cross is Redemption itself; since it is not true that man is saved solely by faith in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, as He suffered upon the cross; the question arises, why does it so appear in many passages of the Word, both in the Old and New Testaments? Why did the Lord permit such an appearance in the letter of the Word? The answer to this in general is, that the greater part of the letter of the Word is made up of appearances which are fallacies, and if any one of these appearances or fallacies be confirmed as genuine truth, it becomes a falsity, and a heresy is hatched to the injury of the church and of heaven. But why is this permitted to be? The understanding instinctively seeks the reasons for the problems and paradoxes of the Word, as it does for the problems and paradoxes of nature, and it is of the Divine Mercy that reasons should be given, and they have been given now by the Lord in His Second Coming. Every problem of the Word is solved; every paradox is explained; now it is lawful for the understanding to enter into the mysteries of faith. The only limit is the limit of our ability to understand the limit of our ability to understand that which is now revealed. The internal sense of the Word has been given, heaven is opened, and any one may enter and understand, who is willing and ready to enter according to the laws of order.

     As with all the appearances of the Word, which are fallacies, so with the appearance of the Passion of the Cross, or the bloody sacrifice, as essential to salvation, there are important reasons, Divine reasons, why the Lord permitted it to appear in His Word,--why He permitted it to appear that the suffering of the Lord upon the Cross, and faith in the merits of that suffering, are the one instrumentality or essential to the salvation of men.

     We shall consider in this discourse four reasons for this appearance in the Word,--or why the Lord permitted it to appear that men are saved by the satisfaction He made upon the cross for the human race, thus appeasing the wrath of the angry Father, making propitiation for the sins of men.

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     1. It was for the sake of the representation.

     2. It was because the Word takes form according to the genius of the men by whom it is received.

     3. It was for the sake of the simple and children.

     4. It was for the sake of concealing the genuine truth of the Word until His Second Coming.

     In respect to the first reason, namely, that it was for the sake of the representation, it is necessary to note first, that the churches before the coming of the Lord into the world were representative churches. The Jewish church, indeed, was not a representative church, because it had no charity or internal of the church; still it represented a church in the external form, and the law of representation was still in force with them, even until the coming of the Lord, even until the crucifixion, or, rather, until the resurrection of the Lord--or His glorification-when the whole state of the church was changed, and representations as such were abolished.

     So long as the Jews observed strictly the commands of the Mosaic law, they represented in the outward form a true church, and were consociated with heaven in their worship; but when they departed from the law and worship which hall been commanded them, the representation was changed; they then represented the opposite, and they themselves were actively in the opposite, not only in their lives--as they hall always been--but even in their worship, being then consociated with those spirits is the other world who were actively striving against all things of heaven, against all things of Divine order. The Jews then threw themselves wholly into this state, and, inspired by evil spirits, they were filled with rage against all things of the Word of God.

     It was necessary that this, their state, should also be represented. For in that day of representation, all states of the church, whether good or evil, had to be represented in ultimates, in forms which correspond. It was necessary, or it was permitted for the sake of the representation, that they should ultimate their states of hatred of the Word against those who represented the Word; and as the prophets represented the Word, the Jews visited, from time to time, cruel treatment upon them.

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This was when they were actually in the opposite, and at the same time actually represented it. The evil spirits, who occupied the imaginary heavens at that time, thus treated the very Word itself, or the Divine Truth, and they inspired and drove the Jews on earth to do the same in acts which were representative.

     This is the reason why the Lord, who was the Greatest Prophet, who was the very Word itself, permitted the Jews to treat Him as they had treated the Word in the person of the prophets. The evil spirits of the imaginary heavens so treated Him on a more interior plane, and it was necessary that this should be represented in the ultimates of the natural world. This is the reason for the tremendous drama of the crucifixion; why the Lord was betrayed by Judas; why He was taken and condemned by the chief priests and elders; why they spit in His face and scourged Him, and buffeted Him; why they smote Him on the head with a reed; why they placed a crown of thorns upon His head; why they divided His garments, and cast lots for His vesture; why they suspended Him upon the cross; why they gave Him vinegar to drink; why they pierced His side; and why it was that He then, having cried with a loud voice, bowed His head, and yielded up the breath of His body--all because it was necessary that He should, in the natural world, represent in His own person the treatment which the Jews, and the spirits who inspired them, had accorded to the Word. For nothing in heaven is complete, nothing in the spiritual world, until it is ultimated in the natural world in those things which represent and correspond.

     What was it that was represented in their cruel treatment of the Lord? It was simply this, namely, the destruction with them of all things that were from the Lord, all things of heaven and the church, and thus the demolition of the imaginary heavens in the spiritual world; in other words, the last, or final judgment upon those false heavens was what was represented in the treatment the Jews visited upon the Lord, and was a sign of their destruction.

     The final judgment takes place when hypocritical spirits, who had been in the outward profession of the good and truth of the church, can no longer restrain their interior hatred of things Divine.

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Being no longer able to restrain themselves, they rush forth in the open effort to destroy all things that are from the Lord with the good. They endeavor to destroy good spirits, and the angels themselves, and even the Lord. In doing this they finally exterminate all good and truth with themselves, and thus rush into hell, separating themselves from heaven and all things of heaven. The Lord permits them to do this,--to break out into open and enormous deeds of evil,--in order that they may be led to yield up all the good and truth which they have, and in this manner be finally separated from heaven, and from all who are in heaven, from the good and all who are in good. It was this final judgment in the spiritual world that was represented in the treatment of the Lord by the Jews, and which he permitted to take place for this reason. The Jews, by this act, also destroyed all remnant of the church with themselves; and that the representation might be made complete, that the final destruction of the church with them might be made complete, they were expelled from the land of Canaan. Their apparent victory, therefore, was their complete and total defeat.

     The destruction of the Jewish church on earth thus represented the complete demolition of the imaginary heavens in the spiritual world, and in it the work of universal redemption was accomplished. It was the last assault of the evil in the imaginary heavens upon the Lord, in which they destroyed all good and truth with themselves and thus was the final victory of the Lord over them. His apparent death was in reality His resurrection, His complete glorification. His final triumph, resulting in the salvation of the good,--who hall been shut out of heaven,--and the formation of a new heaven and a new church upon the earth.

     This is the cause, therefore, of the appearance in the letter of the Word of salvation by the Passion of the Cross, and why it was the Lord said, "I, if I he lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me;" and why He said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." For in the Word that which is last, final, and ultimate, includes and involves all that precedes; and, understood in this sense, it can truly be said, that salvation is by the Passion of the Cross, and why in the letter of the Word it so appears.

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     We shall now proceed to consider briefly the other reasons for the apparent teaching in the letter of the Word, that the all of salvation is in the Passion of the Cross. We have considered the first, which is, that it was for the sake of the representation. The second is, that the Word takes form according to the genius of the men by whom it is receiver.

     The Jews believed that their God was like unto themselves, vindictive and revengeful; full of wrath when they disobeyed, punishing them for their misdeeds; doing all manner of evil to them, when they departed from his commandments. When calamities came upon them, these were a sign of His anger, and it was necessary that He should be propitiated and appeased, in order to avert the visitation of His wrath upon them. This they believed could be done by presents and offerings in worship, especially by bloody sacrifices, by yielding up to Him that which they held most dear; and they were even inclined to sacrifice their children for this purpose. By sacrificing that which they valued most, they believed that the wrath of their God would be turned away from them. In doing thus they rendered satisfaction for their sins, as they imagined, and were pardoned for their iniquities.

     The Lord accommodated Himself to this belief of the Jews, in order that the Word might be given through them to the human race; and so the idea of a sacrifice for sins, thus appeasing the wrath of God, appears in the letter of the Word throughout. And the transition was easy in the minds of men to that of a great sacrifice for the sins of the whole human race. The Son of God Himself appears and becomes such a sacrifice for the sins of men, and thus is appeased the wrath of God. God accepts the sacrifice of His Son, He is propitiated, He pardons the iniquities of men; and the human race, otherwise doomed to destruction, is saved.

     This idea of sacrifice for sins appeasing the wrath of God, not only prevailed with the Jews, but it was the universal belief of men at that time. It appears in all the ancient religions, being evidenced by the existence everywhere of the forms of sacrificial worship, and the tendency to human sacrifices in various parts of the world.

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And if the Lord had not accommodated Himself to the universal belief, in His work in the world, in this teaching, in the letter of His Word, and in the passion of the cross itself, men would not have received Him at all, nor could the Christian Church have been inaugurated; for the Lord always leads men by that which they already believe, not suddenly breaking, but gently and gradually bending the faith which they have. Their faith is at first full of fallacies, but it can be slowly inclined to the true faith of heaven, when men are in charity. This is what is meant by the words. "A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory." (Matthew xii, 20.) This describes the state of the simple good in all nations, who are in fallacies as to faith, but yet in good as to life, and the Divine accommodation to their state. The Lord, therefore, permitted the appearance of atonement by sacrifice, because of this state of simple faith with men, and He could have reached them in no other way.

     This brings us directly to the third reason for the appearance of salvation by the passion of the cross, namely, that it was for the sake of the simple. By the simple are meant children, and all adults who are like children as to understanding and thought in the things of religion. One of the first things with the simple and children, in implanting faith and charity in them, is the exciting of compassion; and the story of the cross, as told in the Gospels, has performed this use in all the ages of the Christian Church, and is still to go on performing it in the New Church itself with the children of the Church. In all human history, and in all human literature, there is no such picture given of self sacrifice for the good of others, as that of the Lord upon the cross; and it will continue forever as a source of inspiration to good for the simple in their simplicity, and even for the wise in their wisdom.

     The fourth reason for the appearance in the letter of the Word of salvation by the passion of the cross, and the atoning sacrifice then made by the Lord appeasing the wrath of the angry Father, is, that the genuine spiritual truth of the Incarnation, the genuine spiritual truth involved the passion of the cross itself, might be concealed from the view of natural men, thus averting and providing against the danger of profanation, which has in it destruction and death to the human race.

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The profanation of the interior spiritual truth of the Word would have this result. Men cannot profane that of which they are ignorant; and so it is by ignorance, by concealing the real truth from the natural man that the Lord provides against this greatest of all evils. This is the reason why the Divine mysteries, the arcana of heaven, are yielded in the appearances of the Word, and are not uncovered until natural men cannot profane, because they will not acknowledge them. For when a man does not acknowledge a thing it is the same as if he were ignorant of it. A truth not acknowledged or believed gives no concern, stirs no affection, and so does not penetrate the interiors of the mind of man. It is to him as if it did not exist. When this is the general state, the spiritual truth of heaven may be revealed with safety, giving the opportunity to men who are in spiritual affection, to receive the truth in heart and life. And then comes about that wonderful thing, namely, that the appearances of the letter of the Word perform the double use of concealing the arcana of heaven from natural men, and of revealing them to spiritual men. Such is among the many wondrous things of the Divine Wisdom, having nothing in mere human learning to compare with it. The same thing that conceals from one reveals to another! Verily the Divine way passeth all human understanding

     There are three things that present themselves to view, or to the senses, by appearances; and a volume could be written-many volumes--on the subject of the paradoxes of Revelation, of nature, and of human life, for a paradox is a fact or statement that is contrary or contradictory to the real truth; as when the Book of Revelation speaks of the wrath of the Lamb. There would have been no parades, if the word spoken had been concerning the wrath of the lion; or of the tiger; but of all animals the lamb is the furthest away in its character and disposition from anything of wrath. Why do we say that the sun rises and sets, when we well know that it does nothing of the kind?

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There are similar paradoxes in the actions of men. But we are concerned here with the paradoxes of Revelation, though it does not come within the scope of our purpose in this discourse to set forth in particular the law of paradoxes, or why it is we so often say what we do not really mean, or why it is the Lord speaks so frequently in His Word according to this law. Suffice it for us to beware of forming conclusions from appearances, whether it be appearances in Revelation, or in nature, or in the lives of men, to be careful to follow the Divine injunction to "judge not according to the appearance, but to judge a righteous judgment." A righteous or just judgment is formed by the light of genuine truth, illuminating the appearance, causing the sight of the understanding to penetrate to the heart of the thing, and judge of its spirit with fairness and justice.

     The, Lord for Divine reasons, has permitted it to appear in His Word, as in the test, that men are saved by the passion of the cross. Now this is not the real truth. Men are not saved by the worship of the crucified Lord, but by the worship of the risen Lord; and the gathering cry of the New Church is not to be, "Jesus Christ and Him crucified," but "Jesus Christ and Him glorified." Hence the real truth revealed in the test, is not the Lord as lifted up upon the cross, but the Lord as lifted up above the earth, and above the heavens, by glorification, as the sole object of our faith and worship. It is belief in the Lord, not as He hung upon the cross, that saves men, but belief in Him lifted up, risen, glorified, made Divine by the passion of the cross, as the one grand climax and conclusion of His life in the world,--it is this faith, this belief that saves men.

     It is for this reason, as we are told, that the angels do not think of the passion of the Lord, but of His resurrection; they do not think of the crucified Lord, but of the risen Lord; they do not worship the Lord as suspended upon the cross, but the Lord risen, the Lord ascended to His place above the heavens, and there as having all power, ruling the universe as the one only God over all.

     Hence the teaching is given us now by the Lord in His second coming, that the faith and belief of men in the passion of the cross as redemption itself, is a fundamental error of the church; and that this error, together with that other error which teaches that there are three Divine persons in the Godhead, has perverted all things of the church, and all things of the Divine Word itself.

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     Sins are not remitted to man by faith in the passion of the cross-for this is the old teaching, namely, that when man has faith in the crucified Redeemer, faith in Him as He hung upon the cross, faith in the merits of His suffering, faith in the satisfaction which He rendered then to the angry Father for the sins of the human race, belief that man is pardoned for his sins when he exercises such faith, his sins are then wiped away as filth from the body with water,--not by any act of his own, but by faith simply and alone. This is not the faith by which sins are remitted; but the faith that is established by repentance. Man, indeed, has faith only after repentance; and without repentance there is and can be no faith. He who believes that he has faith without repentance, faith without the confession and acknowledgment of his sins, faith without supplication to the risen and glorified Lord for the power to resist evil, faith without the inward struggle and resistance to evil, faith without shunning evils as sins against God--he who so believes can never have his sins removed by the Lord, can never be justified or regenerated, cannot be saved.

     This is what the victory of the Lord upon the cross accomplished. The Lord then took unto Himself the power of saying every man who would believe in Him, and at the same time repent of his sins. The passion of the cross did not leaven man nothing more to do, but gave unto him the power to do for himself,-as of himself from the Lord; gave unto him the power to fight for himself as of himself, and remove his sins by the Divine power present with him and in him when he fights and resists. By the universal redemption which the Lord effected through the passion of the cross, He took unto Himself the power of redeeming every individual man, who repents and shuns evils as sins against God, of redeeming every individual man who keeps the commandments of the Decalogue as the only way of salvation. For this is the only way of salvation--not faith alone or by itself, but faith conjoined with the keeping of the commandments, by the power imparted to man when he wills to keep them, and has faith that he is saved by the keeping of them.

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Or to quote this truth, as the Heavenly Doctrine teaches us:

     "The Lord did not take away sins by the passion of the cross. He takes them away, that is, removes them, in those who believe in Him by living according to His commandments." Note the words: "He takes them away, that is, removes them, in those who believe in Him by living according to His commandments"--not by faith alone, but "in those who believe in Him by living according to His commandments-for no others can believe in Him, or will ever believe in Him to all eternity, except those who live according to His commandments.

     This the Lord also teaches in Matthew: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets." "Whosoever breaketh one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (v. 17, 19.) "Every one may see from reason alone, that sins cannot be taken away from man except by actual repentance; which consists in man's seeing his sins, imploring help of the Lord, and desisting from them. To see, believe, and teach otherwise, does not originate in the Word, nor in sound reason, but in evil lust, and a depraved will, which constitute the proprium of man, by which his intelligence is debased into folly." (L. 17.)

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ORIGIN OF THE ELEMENTARY KINGDOM 1908

ORIGIN OF THE ELEMENTARY KINGDOM       LILLIAN G. BEEKMAN       1908

     II.

     If the whole finite universe consisted in the beginning of a simple substance, the materia prima, the first findings of the Infinite, a question at once arises as to the properties of that simple primal substance. Was it an inert substance? Or was it a substance possessed of intrinsic powers of motion, of defined orbit and velocity?

     Swedenborg's answer to the question is direct and without qualification. If this primal simple substance were imagined as something inert, of itself passive, no new or composite thing could originate from and amongst the "particles" or units of which it is composed, nor could any derivative series of composite entities be produced therefrom. For the Simple Substance to produce anything, there must be motion, actual motion, and this motion must be intrinsically resident in the Simple Substance itself, as its very in-being and existence. Otherwise the production and finding of the sequent universe would stop short at this stage of the proceeding; nothing farther could be done. (Pr., Part I., Chap. II, 20 ; Chap. III, 13.)

     The experimental data in the province of dissociative analysis given at the beginning of this chapter in connection with an earlier phase of the subject, will at once recur to mind, as affording the powerful confirmatory evidence of ultimate fact to this great statement by Swedenborg; for all the line of inference involved in the actual experimental result draws toward the same conclusion.

     All chemical compounds possess, in addition to their other defined physical properties, characteristic powers of action and reaction, with distinct motions and velocities. The dissociative or destructive analysis of a chemical compound recovers in full the prior substances of which it was framed. These are always found to consist of a volume of simpler and smaller entities, themselves possessed of intrinsic motor powers characteristically defined as to orbit and velocity, and the latter is invariably found to be of an order greatly higher than that which was proper to the compound.

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Dissociative analysis of these finer entities in turn produces the like result; establishing the fact that this relatively simpler entity itself is a composite, framed from a volume of finer entities still possessing motor powers of a characteristic orbit and speed, but of a vastly higher order of velocity and curve. So far as dissociative analysis has been able to bring ultimate substances to finer test, this everywhere holds good.

     Moreover, experimental comparison has brought to view a deeper fact. The motor powers characterizing any compound chemical entity, although they are of a lower order of native velocity and curve than those belonging to the finer entities of which it is framed, yet are directly due to and dependent upon the native motor powers of those simpler entities. The specific motor powers of the compound entity represent either the residual of the sum of their counter-balanced motor powers, or that common integer of curve and speed in which all their component orbits and velocities can find place. To the indications given by the manifest trend of such experimental work, Swedenborg's great affirmations give security and breadth of application, and change what otherwise would, at this stage, be no more than hopeful suggestion or tentative hypothesis, into form and ground for rational thinking,--a definite starting point for progress.

     Other statements that he makes on the general topic are sweeping. The motor-powers characterizing a composite body as a whole are due to a systemic circulation or some sort of regular motion among the finer entities of which it is framed; this circulation or motion of its component entities exists continually within the compound, and arises from the fact that every particle of which that finer substance is framed is itself intrinsically and forever a motor-substance characterized by motor energies of definite degree and direction. Thus the continual definite systemic circulation of its substance, occurring within the compound, is given as the fundamental physical cause of the spontaneous motor, or locomotor, powers characterizing the compound as a whole. "Nor can any finite originate from the simples or points except by means of motion among the points....

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But the motion among the points must likewise have its cause. The cause of motion must be solely in the simple or point itself, that is to say, in the internal motion or state of the point in its active force as acquired by its own internal motion or state." (Pr., Part I. Chap. III, 2, 3.)

     There must be the same kind of motion . . in the finite which there is in the point; consequently the same . . active force. (Pr.. Part I, Chap. III,13.)

     "The fact that a body may be internal motion be made to pass into another motion, is one which experience every day testifies. Every being in the world which possesses animation, whether man or brute, is impelled and actuated only by internal motion. The various members, such as the arms follow the motion of the muscles; the muscles follow the motion of still smaller organs these organs follow the motion of others which are most highly subtle. Thus the first motion comes from the most subtle, etc., etc. (the mechanism of moving automata is also cited). (Pr., Part I. Chap. V, 29, Par. 2.)

     As the one is varied, the other varies also. If any physical cause blocks its interior systemic circulation, the compound will cease to move. If the freedom of its interior circulation is restored, the compound entity will spring spontaneously along its old curves. Thus it is a certain specific intra-peripheral circulation of the substances of a compound entity, which gives that entity certain specialized powers of locomotion. Any change in the system of its intra-peripheral circulation, is instantly registered by some change in the specific powers, path of motion, or velocity characterizing the compound as a whole.

     All the laws and the characteristic activities of every composite entity of the Elementary Kingdom are due to this cause.

     To this cause, in the domain of chemistry, is due the activity of chemical interchange, and the difference of motor power possessed by different chemical compounds. It enters also as a fundamental factor into everything pertaining to molecular physics.

     In Astronomy the like thing comes to view. Each earth, from the like interior cause,--that is from the common effort and direction (tendency) of a circulation or progressive motion of its substance, (its component finites), going on continually in its central mass,--derives the power and the spring and the curve of its annual locomotion around the sun.

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     A planetary globe consists of fourth finites, which are its individual parts, and which always present themselves as the same whether in a larger or smaller volume or mass; for every individual possesses the same force, derived from the same primitive force in the point. These fourth finites, therefore, operate in the large body or system in the same manner as they do in the smaller. If, therefore, a planet derives its similitude from its own finite or its individual parts, it does so more particularly in respect of its tendency to a similar motion.... What therefore, we have said of the finites, of the progressive motion of their parts, of the axillary and local motion of the whole, is applicable to our own earth; and all that is said upon the subject in Part I, would here be repeated and applied to the motion of each planet, were it not desirable to avoid repetition. (Pr., Part III, Chap. V, Par. I.)

     Inasmuch as our earth, which consists of fourth finites, is a single large finite, or a compound of individual finites, it has, therefore, an axillary motion, according to the principles we have already frequently mentioned. Immediately on its elapse from the sun it revolves round its axis, sporting, as it were, and gamboling in orbital motions like a child around its parent, and thus, running off, far and wide, into the vortical field. (Pr., Part III, Chap. V, 3.)

     That the earth perpetually revolves round its axis like a large finite, and spontaneously; that is to say, by reason of the nicety of the individual parts constituting its central globe. (That since the central globe of the earth consists of fourth finites) these finites...always tend to become actives...these finites put their compound finite not only into a progressive (an interior), but also into an axillary motion.... That the earth (therefore), like a large active, has a tendency to a second motion or to circles around the sun...this large finite, or the earth, when in a free state, could not but actuate itself, according to the theory of actives in Part I, and the theory of fire, in our present part. (Pr., Part III, Chap. XI, 3.)

     For in internal motion and in internal motion alone, there is inherent and permanent the power of putting itself into local motion. (Pr., Part I, Chap. III, 24.)

     The same principle is also carried body by Swedenborg into the realm of physiological activities. The motor powers of an organic body rest at last upon the intrinsic motor powers of the organic leasts, or unities, of fibre cell and molecule; and these again upon the motor powers of the very elementary substances from which they are formed.

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The whole organized body, as respects its motor potencies, is chiefly an exquisitely granted and "dove tailed" vital mechanism, by which the intrinsic actions and reactions of the basic elementary parts, built into its structure, can be locked or let go, sundered or recombined; and their fundamental intrinsic powers of action, reaction and counter-action, in the field of structural leasts beyond microscopical sight, be governed to larger end and purpose and result.

     The fact that a body may be internal motion be made to pass into another motion, is one which experience every day testifies. Every being in the world which possesses animation, whether man or brute, is impelled or actuated only by internal motion, the various members, such as the arms, feet, etc., follow, together with the whole body, the motion of the muscles; the muscles follow the motion of still smaller organs, or it may be still smaller muscles; the organs follow the motion of others, which are most highly subtle and which are determined by the soul through the medium of the will, into act. Thus the first motion come from the most subtle, and proceeds gradually to the more and more compounded, until the entire machine passes into motion. (Pr., Part I, Chap. V., 29, Par. 2.)

     The functions and operations of every viscus and member are mere mutations. (A. K. 537) Things that exist, lie idle, without mutation, folded up in mere potency . . . unless they become forces, which cannot happen without change or some activity. (Animal Kingdom, 537, Note (i).)

     Nothing in the animal body can maintain its connection, support its form, or allow of motion, without the ministration of some Aura. (E. A. K., Part II. 197.)

     The Elementaries, by virtue of their constitutional mobility, and elastic power of action and reactivity, are pre-eminently fitted to be the active forces, and, as it were, the life of the whole universe. (The Infinite. Chap. II. Sec. IV (VII).)

     Each physiological play of viscus, tissue, cell, molecular unit, if followed back along the line of instrumental causes is resolvable at last into such leasts and primes of activity, and these "leasts" themselves are in the potency of motion by virtue of the fact that the corpuscular leasts of which the)r are constructed, are not inert but always and permanently are intrinsically active entities. Thus it is as if, literally, the organic serviceable body on every plane was constructed of finest motive wheels, and thither the spirit goes, thither the wheels go also; the flesh itself being contextured of rolling chariot wheels on which the will rides to its purpose, guiding them now there and now here.

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Thus man is compounded of all the Elements of the world. To all its Ethers he possesses planes sympathetically answerable. (Pr., Part II, Chap. VII, 17; The Infinite, Chap. II, Sec. II. (VIII); E. A. II., Part II, 272, 289.)

     In sensitive forms these are tunics or tissue structures organized to imitate, in their motions, the motions of the ethers. When the vibrations or waves of these Ethers fall upon their answerable tunics or structures in any living form those structures are set into sympathetic and imitative vibration. This vibration is sensed in the tunic itself; or passed on to central tunics, and sensed there. It is as if the violin wood, set humming by some strong musical vibration in the air should be able to feel its own induced sympathetic tremulation as sweet thrills of sense; and be dependent upon the coming of such outside stimuli from the vibrating air, for its moments of sensitive thrill, or sensation. In the human form there are four such planes, perfectly distinct; one for each Ether or "active force of the universe, which the human form can sing sympathetically with the fourfold symphony of the universe; and there are also unresponsive lower planes, whereby the human form partakes also of the nature and state of the unresponsive clods.

     All its finites are textured into man, and brain and flesh and bones are molded of all the fires there are, tamed and held into use, connection form, controlled and flowing motion by the omnipresent Infinite. "In animals, as in Elements, every series has subsistence only by motion, for the whole Elementary particle with all its individual parts, and the individual parts of these again, until we arrive at the original point (simple), we perceive to be in a kind of perpetual motion." (Pr., Part III, Chap. II. (2).)

     The law remotely indicated in the dissociative analysis of modern experiment, is stated by Swedenborg as a universal, and carried sweepingly upward along the line of ascending substance to the primal substance of the universe itself.

     All concrete bodies are molded from volumes of substantial corpuscles called finites. These finites are their substance, their materia.

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These primary substantial corpuscles or finites are not simple corpuscles, bet compound. For are they natively inert, or at rest. Each and all they are compounds, although there are degrees of compoundness among them; the more composited being also the larger.

     In one thing, however, all these finiting corpuscles are alike. Each, whether small or great, by virtue of a peculiar spiral circulation taking place among the finer entities of which it is permanently composed, possesses continually and permanently the conatus and power of locomotion in a special orbit of its own; and if it be unconfined, and in a frictionless medium, it will go spinning off, of its own accord and power in an orbital path produced and governed by the peculiar impetus and spring of its own interior circulation. Even as the planets as vast compound corpuscles possess each the conatus and power of locomotion in their annual orbit by virtue of a spiral progressive circulation taking place perpetually in the very substance of their central globes.

     The only difference between the local motions of finites or substantial corpuscles of different dimensions and degrees of compoundness, is that the larger, more compound corpuscles possess orbits of greater diameter and move more slowly than finer corpuscles do; and are suited only for use in planes of coarser structures.

     In all cases, however, dissociative analysis of the substance of a more compounded corpuscle or finite would resolve it into a volume of finites of a finer or higher degree; and the resolution of one of these again would give us a volume of corpuscles finer still; and at every step of this process up to the first of the series of compound finites, the higher we go, the simpler and finer the finites, the finer the orbit of their local motion, and the greater their velocity.

     One step more is taken in Swedenborg's Principia. This rational analysis is carried up through and beyond the very first of the series of compound corpuscles or finites to the primitives or simples themselves,--the resolution of which would be the extinction of the finited Universe, by the resolution again of its very materia, into the Infinite,-"inasmuch as with respect to its existence and cause everything subsists and ends in the Infinite." (Pr., Part I, Chap. III, 7.)

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     Thus the law indicated in the dissociative analysis of compound substances, is carried by Swedenborg up to the absolute primitive substance of the universe, the sphere of points or simples. This primitive substance is declared to be the only substance in the first compound corpuscles or finites, and thus the only substance in all the derivative series of finites; and the only substance in all compound substances to the very end. These primitive points or simples, the absolute first finitings of all, the only substance in sequent compounds, are said to be in the highest order of motion and velocity of all, and to the powers, laws, native directions, and combinations of their motor energies and the peculiar lines of their orbital or local motion, the intrinsic motor powers of compounds are due. For every larger sequent body existing in the universe has arisen as a compound, accommodation, and equilibrated inter-dependent arrangement and association of this primitive substance, in which the beginning of finitings lie, and the spring, power, measure and determination of every compound motor energy in the world.

     Hence it comes, that everything in the created finited universe is formed in motion, according to motion, and for motion.

     "There is nothing in all nature which is not formed in motion, hence according to motion and for motion, for the veriest state of nature is an active state, and, therefore, nature is defined as an active force. According to this force are found the substances of the mundane system." (E. A. K. Part I,. 169.)

     And the whole of very substance, the materia of which concrete entities are molded, is rationally perceived to be in a kind of perpetual motion. (Pr., Part I, Chap. V. 29. Par. 2.)

     For motion is the sole correspondent of Life. Without an intrinsic motor power and conatus in the mere substance of which recipient entities are framed, the substances of the natural world would possess nothing in their own constitution and powers correspondent with life, and, therefore, could not be swung by life into larger organic form and framed into a body and contained, adapted to be flexibly agent of life's quick uses and powers.

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Only that substance which is adapted to the beginning of motion, is also adapted to the reception of life.

     On the simple plane of elementary physics also, the same thing holds. Corpuscles which are already in motion can have the path of that motion guided to the right hand or to the left, without the expenditure of force or work,--if the modifying force act always upon the moving body at a right angle.

     In this connection see Pasteur's Second Lecture in Foundations of Stereochemistry, the great distinction between minerals on the one hand, and all artificially produced substances and substances produced by organic life, on the other hand. He says:

     I know of no more thorough-going difference than just this between substances which are formed under the influence of life, and other substances.... The knowledge that ordinary asymmetry is a direct organic principle, and the knowledge of the lack of this property in all bodies of dead nature, permits us to extend and render more exact our assumptions in regard to this noteworthy molecular property. (Sec. V, Par. 2 and 7.)

     The general conclusion drawn from the foregoing studies throws a new light upon our idea of molecular mechanics. We recognize from these that when natural organic bodies arise under the influence of vegetable life, they are usually asymmetric, in opposition to minerals and synthetical bodies. Therefore the elementary constituents of all living matter will assume one of the other of the opposite asymmetries according as the mysterious life force, which causes asymmetry in natural bodies to act in one direction or another. (Sec. VII. far. I, 2. 6.)

     "Perhaps this will disclose a new world to us. Who can foresee the organization that living matter would assume if cellulose were levorotatory instead of being dextrorotatory, or if the levorotatory albumens of the blood were to be replaced by dextrorotatory bodies? These are mysteries which call for an immense amount of work in the future, and today bespeak consideration in the science." (Sec. VII, Par. 7.)

     To this should be added Prof. Japp's address before the British Association, 1898, as president of Section B,--Chemistry--"I shall endeavor to show that living matter is constantly performing a certain geometrical feat which dead matter is incapable, not even conceivably capable, of performing." (Par. 5.)

     In order to make clear the bearing results of stereochemical research on this physiological problem, it will be necessary to give a brief sketch of the stereochemistry of optically active compounds...substances are said to be optically active when they produce rotation of the plane of polarization of a ray of polarized light which passes through them.

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The rotation may be either to the right or to the left, according to the rotation, of the substances. In the former case the substance is said to be dextrorotatory, in the latter, laevorotatory. The effect is as if the ray had been forced through a twisted medium--a medium with a right-handed or a left-handed twist--and had itself received a twist in the process. (Par. 6, 7.)

     It furnishes, I am convinced, a reply to the more fundamental question that physiology can propose to itself,--namely, whether the phenomena of life are wholly reducible to problems of the kinetics of atoms, or whether there are certain residual phenomena pointing to the existence of a directive force, which enters upon the scene of life itself, and which, whilst in no way violating the laws of the kinetics of atoms,-whilst, indeed, acting through these laws,--determines the course of their operation within the living organism.

     The latter view is known as vitalism. At one time universally held, it fell, later on, into disrepute; the older vitalists confounded force with energy, so that their doctrines contradicted the law of the conservation of energy. I would point out, however, that the assumption of a purely directive force,--using the word "force" in the sense which it bears in modern dynamics, does not necessarily involve this contradiction.

     For a force acting on a moving body at right angles to its path, does no work, although it may continuously alter the direction in which the body moves.

     The application of the foregoing principle of dynamics to the discussion of problems like the present is, I believe, due to the late Prof. Feeming Jenkin. (Par. 2 and 3.)

     Nothing is moved except by life from the Lord...so that it is the truth that in God we live, are moved, and are. (D. L. W. 301.)

     Life itself is also represented by mobility. (S. D. 4089.)

     There is no other origin of all endeavors, forces, activities and motions in the universal world, than the Divine Love. (D. Love xx.)

     Unless there were such action and co-operation with the influent life in the spiritual organization of the brain, thought and will could not come forth. (T. C. R. 577, 472.)

     If, anywhere in the universe, compound entities present themselves as characterized by non-motion, their non-motion but indicates such an internal arrangement of its natively-active component corpuscles as results in their mechanically blocking each others' progressive motion, and thus preventing all interior circulation of substance, in the compound entity.

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     Every form except the angular...is able to change its state, and...to pass over into imperfect ones and from these to return again into the non-perfect. (The Soul, 180.)

     The most imperfect forms,--the angular,--are held together only by the encompassing atmospheres or rest and inertia.... In these, lines drawn from the surface meet in such manner that everywhere a progression is arrested, a fluxion is terminated, and forces extinguished. (The Fibre, 261.)

     That these substantial forms of inertia, or rest are held together only by the encompassing atmospheres or ethers, see D. L. W. 302.

     From which, of course, it results that the compound entity is inert and motionless. Even in such a case and near flash of fire, or any sufficient release in the surrounding pressure of a subtler atmospheric plane, holding the inert entity together, will suffice to unlock the block, dissociate the whole compound, and let its component entities fly free again.

     Swedenborg's statement on the subject is unmistakable and without reservation. The primitive substance of the universe, unique and sole,-from which all concrete entities of creation are afterwards molded, is not an inert or quiescent substance. It is supremely active. It possesses at once an interior conatus of supreme potency; and intrinsic powers of locomotion of the highest order, both as to specialized path, and velocity, and ever-lastingness.

     Another of the great questions presents itself here. Granted that the Infinite brought the finited universe into existence; granted also that all the concrete entities of the universe have been framed from a primitive substance, most simple and supremely active,-whence, then, was this sphere of primitive substance? From what did the Infinite form it?

     But two possible concepts present themselves to thought.

     First,--the first or simple primitive substance of the universe was formed by the Infinite from nothing.

     Second,--the first or simple primitive substance of the universe was formed by the Infinite from the Infinite.

     The first concept Swedenborg negatives with vehemence.

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The primitive substance of the universe could not have been formed from nothing. To be nothing, is to have neither being nor existence. From that which has neither being nor existence, not anything possessed of being and existence, or substantial forthstanding actuality and force is producible. The attempt to think otherwise, is a vacuum to human rationality in which right thought swoons and collapses. For the mind is then unable to reciprocate its own animations correspondently with the activities of the actual verities of Divine thought as manifested in Divine Order and Proceeding in the Universe.

     Therefore, the first substance, or absolute materia prima of the Universe, must have been formed by the Infinite from the Infinite, according to the second of the above concepts. For do third concept is giveable.

     Thus God, who imparts all animatory motions to the recipient forms of the universe, animating some things to live, and some to be and come forth, produces also, from His own substance, that primal simplest plane of substance, of which all concrete entities are constituted.

     There is no other Giver of Life there is no other giver of motion; there is no other giver of substance; there is no other determiner of forms,--save God alone. And God and the Infinite are, in Swedenborg's use of the terms, One and the Same.

     These premises are the very principia of Swedenborg's systematic doctrine of nature. All his thought and all his deductions proceed from and return to their primal ground.

     Thus God is the only giver of gifts to His children, and to His universe. And all gifts, He gives.

     Moreover, since the Infinite God who transcends and exceeds the bounds of the universe, is also omnipresent therein, and there is no where, where He is not, therefore, the primitive substance of the universe, in which resided the beginning of finiting, must have been a sphere of most simple and active substance, formed BY the Infinite, FROM the Infinite, and is the Infinite.

     "For unless God were Infinite, there would not be the finite, unless the Infinite were the All, there would be no part; and unless God, from His very Self, had created everything there would be no thing, or nothing; in a word, we are because God is." (Divine Providence, 46.)

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     SUMMARY.

     (1). The Universe is a concrete entity, composed of a of diverse concrete entities.

     (2). The Universe, both as a whole, and as to all its particulars, is finited or limited.

     (3). The Universe finited or limited as to
     a) self-origination
     b) Ownership of the simpler substances from which it is concreted.
     c) Extense.
     d) Exterior configuration.
     e) Interior arrangement or structural order of its component substances.
     f) Powers, both of intra-peripheral circulation of component substances, and of locomotion.

     (4). The Universe did not at first present that complexity of compound entity and phenomenon which it now possesses. All the present varied compound forms of the Universe have been framed by means of an orderly sequence of changes and activities occupying a course of time, from a certain primitive substance, most simple and most active, in which was the beginning of
finiting.

     (5). This simple, active, primitive substance of the finited universe, did not originate itself,--it was formed by the Infinite. Nor was it formed from nothing. It was formed from the Infinite; and as the Infinite is omnipresent, it was formed in the Infinite.

     (6). Thus the Infinite is the origin of the finited, and the source of the primitive substance, from which the concrete universe, both in its whole and in all its particulars, has been framed. And the concreted universe derives from the Infinite both its substance and motor energies, and the limitations of its substance and motor energy; for that which gives, and empowers, alone has power to finite or bound the gift, and to define the power.

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FISHERMEN BECOMING DISCIPLES, AND THE APOSTLESHIP IN THE NEW CHURCH 1908

FISHERMEN BECOMING DISCIPLES, AND THE APOSTLESHIP IN THE NEW CHURCH       Rev. J. E. BOWERS       1908

     When, in the fulness of time, Jehovah, the Creator of the universe, assumed the Human, and, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, became the Saviour of the world, He chose twelve disciples. It was of the Divine Providence that the employment of the men chosen was that of fishermen. This was because by performing the use of fishermen, the preparation of those men could best be effected, to become disciples of the Lord. And it was for the further reason, that they were afterwards to become apostles, and, finally, spiritual fishermen.

     While the Lord was in the world in person, the twelve whom He had chosen were disciples. They had been specially prepared to receive from the Lord, in some measure, instruction in the doctrines and principles of the Christian religion. And just before the Lord's ascension from them into heaven,--which was a vision, representing to their sense of spiritual sight, the Lord's entrance into His Divine, or into His Glory, above all the heavens,--the disciples received from the Lord's own mouth, their most sacred commission, to go forth into all the world, to baptize and to preach, and to teach and make disciples of all nations.

     It was then that the disciples were made apostles; and that they were more fully ordained as the representatives of the Christian Church, which the Lord was about to establish through their instrumentality.

     As fishermen, then,--and possibly some of the chosen twelve were in other employments,--they were prepared to follow the Lord when He called them. As disciples, being as yet merely natural men, the Lord's Divine Teachings were received by them as scientifics, and as natural truths But by such reception, which indeed was, according to the order of man's preparation to become spiritual, they acquired the qualifications to become apostles. And as apostles, as teachers of the truths and precepts of the Christian Faith, in which they had been instructed by the Master; as preachers of the eternal gospel for the salvation of the human race; and by the slow process of the growth and development of their minds, and thus the more interior opening of their understanding they at last became spiritual fishermen.

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     To the question as to what a spiritual fisherman is, we have in the Writings this definite answer:

     "A fisherman, in the spiritual sense of the Word, signifies a man who investigates and teaches natural truths, and afterwards spiritual truths in a rational manner." I. n. 20.

     Now in the time of the apostles, no man in the natural world could become a spiritual fisherman. Men could then investigate and teach natural truths; and this the disciples did, or they could not have become apostles of the Lord. They necessarily taught the doctrines and principles of the Church in a general sense, and in a natural manner, each according to his state of mind, as impelled by the influences from the Lord and the angels. But it was not possible for them to investigate and teach spiritual truths in a rational manner, because this could not be done by any man, until after the Lord had revealed the spiritual sense of the Word, in the Writings of the New Church; and it was then made possible by the opening of the faculty of understanding, thus enabling men to see spiritually and rationally, in the light of the Sun of heaven, which is Divine Truth.

     When this came to pass, it was made known by the Lord to His servant, Emanuel Swedenborg, and through him to men in the world, whose minds can be interiorly opened. It was made known by a most beautiful representation. There appeared in the spiritual world a magnificent temple, which is fully described in the True Christian Religion, n. 508. Over the gate of the temple was the inscription: NUNC LICET,-which signified that now it is allowable to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith.

     It remained, therefore, for the apostles to become spiritual fishermen after their entrance into the spiritual world, by preparation there, for which the Lord provided the necessary means. By doing uses there, as they were led and directed; by passing through changes of state in the other life, during more than sixteen centuries of time; they were educated, trained, and perfectly qualified, so that they could enter upon the grand and momentous apostolic mission which awaited them.

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For on the Nineteenth Day of June, 1770, the Lord called them together, and sent them forth throughout the whole spiritual world, to preach the gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigneth, whose kingdom shall endure for ages of ages, according to the prophecy in Daniel (vii: 13, 14); and in the Revelation (xi: 15); and that "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. xix:9). T. C. R. n. 791.

     In the natural world the apostles hall a hard mission. A most difficult, and, as to their personal comfort and safety, a most perilous, task was assigned to them as their life's work. The very thought of their hardships would make one fear and tremble, who could not appreciate the nature and importance of such a mission, as fell to the lot of the apostles. As the Lord had foretold, it was for them to go forth as sheep into the midst of wolves. They had to encounter the fierce opposition of the scribes and pharisees, and almost all men were animated by diabolical principles. The Jews were filled with envy, hatred and malice, and had accomplished their deliberate purpose,--the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostles hall good reason to believe that the Jews would make attempts to destroy them also. And as they well knew, they might expect to have inhuman and cruel pagans to contend with on every hand. They knew that they would be exposed to all manner of dangers, to be imprisoned, to be stoned, and in various ways to be persecuted, even unto their death.

     What the Lord had foretold them involved all these things, and infinitely more. But the apostles could understand scarcely anything that was meant, even in the natural sense, on the occasion when the Lord had predicted their persecutions and their direful sufferings. And yet, the gracious words the Master had spoken, would come to their remembrance often, no doubt, and would be to them a source of strength, imparting to them great comfort, and a wonderful sustaining power.

     The Lord God Omnipotent had been with the apostles in the world. He had glorified His Human; had performed the Divine work of redemption; and had taken to Himself all power in heaven and upon the earth.

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It was the Divine purpose to establish the Christian Church in the world. For this end the disciples were the salt of the earth, and the delight of the world. Having received the authorization of apostleship from the Lord Himself, they were infilled with a sacred zeal,--endowed with power from on high, as had been promised them. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended upon them in tongues of flame, of heavenly fire, by which they were inspired with an intense devotion to their mission, to such a degree that it gave them courage to go forward in their work, and to remain faithful to their only Lord to the end.

     All the marvelous things which the Lord did on behalf of mankind by means of the apostles, as teachers and preachers of the gospel, first in the natural world, and afterwards in the spiritual world, was a preparation for the establishment of the Church of the New Jerusalem. And here, therefore, we will take up for consideration, briefly, the subject of the apostleship in the New Church, which should be well understood.

     Ever since the Lord came again into the world, by a new manifestation of Himself, in the Word and as the Word, by the Revelation of the glories of the internal sense, there have always been a few men in the world, who were so constituted, mentally, that they could receive the Heavenly Doctrines in some degree of fulness, and who from enlightenment, could appreciate the real significance of the Lord's New Church. The number of these men was very small, at first, but it has been steadily increasing as time rolled on; and each and all of them, in their day and generation, labored with all their might in the promulgation of the Divine Truth, in order that men should have the privilege of attaining rationality in spiritual things, and that the new and true Christian Church should be founded.

     The Lord employs angelic and human instrumentalities to do His will, and if there had not been such men, as have just been alluded to, in the past hundred years or more, there would not be in existence to-day any visible, distinctly New Church at all. Thus the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, could not have descended from God out of heaven, and could not have had a habitation and a name in the world.

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     It is of great interest to us to know that there have always been those in the New Church, who were at first disciples, and who in due time became apostles, and thus spiritual fishermen. From a profound rational conviction as to the Divinity of the Writings, the absolutely Divine authority of the Heavenly Doctrines, they were powerfully moved from within and filled with zeal, which gave them heroic courage, perfect confidence in the Lord, an abiding devotion to their sacred calling, in the ministry of the Church. They pursued their work with diligence and perseverance, although, on account of the state of the world, they were subjected to all manner of drawbacks. But they had no fear of opposition, of derision, or of persecution; for the delight experienced in the performance of their uses, sustained them, and enabled them to rise above the fear of anything that either men or demons could do in their attempts to injure them, or to hinder them in doing their duty.

     The character of those who have labored so faithfully in the glorious cause of the New Church in the past, arouses our admiration and our thankfulness. For the services they have rendered we owe a debt of gratitude to the Lord which we can only pay by looking to Him for help and for the ability to do wisely and well the uses in the Church and the world, which fall to our lot. And we have good reasons to rejoice that we are permitted to enter into the labors of those before us, who have departed from this life to engage in the more interior and heavenly uses in the New Jerusalem above. It is, for instance, in a great measure, owing to the work of those in the past, who firmly maintained "the soundness and purity" of the Doctrines, according to which alone the Sew Church can exist in its integrity, and be permanently established, that there is today such a body as the General Church of the New Jerusalem. And, consequently, that we enjoy the privilege of being associated as members of this Church; that, in common with oar brethren, we can make some progress in the acquisition of spiritual things, thus in intelligence and wisdom; that it has been granted us to experience such delightful, and such edifying and soul-cheering occasions as our District and General Assemblies; and that we are witnesses of the fact, which is to us an unspeakable satisfaction, that an actual beginning has been made in the important work of distinctively New Church education, the success of which is assured, because it is being carried forward with ever-increasing usefulness, and has been for many years, namely, since the Academy of the New Church was instituted, in the year eighteen seventy-six.

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     The education of the young, according to the doctrines and principles revealed in the Writings, is certainly a legitimate and specific feature, in the apostleship of the New Church. And it seems strange that not all, but only a minority, of those who profess to believe in the Writings, are at all impressed with the idea that such is the case.

     We may now speak of the subject under consideration, by way of a few points of contrast. The Writings of the Church, which have been extensively published, and very widely circulated throughout the world, are, and have been read by people of an endless variety of mental conditions and spiritual states. But not all those who read the Writings are capable of receiving instruction in the Divine and spiritual truths which are revealed in them. And some merely patronize them, and in reading between the lines, they everywhere put in their own false notions, and then imagine that these are contained in the books. This perverse thing they do under the influence of certain spirits, who control their thoughts, and withhold them from receiving the truth.

     From the beginning of the formation of the organizations of the Church, there have been, in general, two classes of minds composing those who profess to believe in the Writings. And no doubt it will continue to be so for centuries to come. These two classes are, respectively, so constituted, and their spiritual environment is such, that they hold different, in fact, essentially opposite views, as to the manner in which the Writings were given, and as to their character as a whole. On the one side it is held that the Writings were given by Divine inspiration, and on the other side Swedenborg is regrartied more as having been a good commentator. These diverse views, in the process of time, were so ultimated that the two classes of people no longer work together in harmony.

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Those who believed in the Divine authority were uncompromising in their adherence to the Doctrines. It was a matter of conscience with them to make the effort in all things to apply the principles taught in the Writings in the work of the Church. This spirit was not agreeable to, and aroused feelings of opposition on the part of, the majority. Fermentations and conflicts were produced in the General Convention. For some years the sphere during the annual meetings in that body, was so inharmonious as to be exceedingly unpleasant to everyone. The proceedings of the Convention got to be such as to be unendurable to those who were of the Academy of the New Church, and to those who understood and were in sympathy with, the specific uses for which that Institution was organized. But the conditions were ripe for a change. And in the years 1890 and 1891 separations were effected. In view of the conditions that existed, those separations were the very best things that could have come to pass, and they have proved to be an unspeakable blessing to the Lord's New Church in the world. We rejoice to see the evidences of the good effects, in our own day and generation. And, moreover, we have the assurance that the spiritual benefits consequent upon the separations, will continue for ages, and will descend with increase, to be enjoyed by many generations yet unborn.

     There are, therefore, good reasons why there are now in existence two general bodies, the one called the General Convention of the New Jerusalem, and the other the General Church of the New Jerusalem. It is a good thing, in the present formative state and beginning of the Church, that there are these two general bodies, so that people can have the choice of being affiliated with the one or the other, as, according to their doctrinal standpoint, they may prefer. Since, as was said, the views held in the two bodies, respectively, concerning the Writings, are essentially opposite, the contrast between them is necessarily well defined. And that it is so, will be found by any unbiased person, who will investigate the matter in the light of the Doctrines.

     The differences of the views as to the character of the Writings, held in the Convention and in the General Church, have, during recent years, been so clearly presented in the pages of New Church Life, that we need not dwell on them here.

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They may, however, be briefly stated thus: The one view is that the Writings are a Revelation of truth, but not the Word of God. And the other view, that held in the General Church, is that the Writings are a Revelation of the Divine Truth; that they are the very Word of God to men of the New Church; and that they are the Lord, in the Glory of His Second Advent, to establish with men; the crown of all the Churches, which is to endure forever.

     Certainly no truly enlightened mind can doubt that this latter view is the correct one. For the Lord's servant informs us that on all the books which constitute the Revelation to the New Church, in the spiritual world, was written: This Book is the Advent of the Lord. Written by command. Outline of an Eccl. Hist.

     I realize that my pen is far too feeble to describe, in adequate terms, the vital spirit of apostleship in the New Church,-which was never more needed than at this day, by many who profess to be of the new faith. What is actually of the Church, is steadily growing and increasing. All who are sincere believers continue to advance in the knowledge of the truths of doctrine, and in the life according to doctrine, which is the Church with them. But the opposition to the distinctively New Church, even on the part of many who are nominally of it, is also stronger, more cunning in its methods, more dangerous and deadly in its seductiveness, than ever before. But those who are in the affection of truth, will be protected by the Lord, and will in due time be prepared to receive instruction from doctrines, and so led into states of intelligence in spiritual and heavenly things.

     When we meditate on the great subject of the apostleship in the New Church, we are deeply impressed with its significance, as to every phase of it. And whether we are ministers or laymen, it is a most practical question for our thought. And as we think about it, we may well take it earnestly to heart, and examine ourselves occasionally, to see whether there are not some shortcomings on our part, which require attention, in order that we may reach the standard of our faith.

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And this is to strive with all our might,--to exert all our spiritual faculties and powers,--to so co-operate with the Lord by opening our minds to receive from Him the Divine truth which He has given, in the Revelation of His Second Advent, that by a life according to the heavenly doctrine, we may be sincere and zealous, genuine and faithful members of His New Church.

     Evidences are forthcoming, from time to time, which clearly indicate that the false and fatuous lights of the present day self-derived intellectualism, are causing such spiritual blindness and hardness of heart, in the minds of some in the nominal New Church, that the powers of darkness prevail to prevent them reading, and learning the truth from the Writings; which are the only source of instruction, whereby to obtain a rational understanding of the Word of God, and the things of heaven and the Church. Thus, societies whose members do not study the Doctrines, are deprived of their spiritual vitality and lapse into externalism, similar to that in the old or vastated Church. They are gradually disorganized by the denial and rejection of the Faith.

     But what are the pastors doing to avert such lamentable consequences? Do they realize their responsibility, as to the truly apostolic mission of the New Church?

     To us in the General Church it seems that those pastors who do not take a strong and decided stand in doctrine, according to the spirit of every Page of the Writings, are making a most serious mistake. For, if they do not themselves believe that the Writings are Divinely inspired, how can their preaching be valid and effective as New Church teaching? If they deny the Divine authority of the Doctrines,-and many of the pastors do deny this, in declaring that the Writings are not the Word of God,-must not the use of their ministry be deprived of the very essence, virtue, spirit and power of the Divine truth to a great extent? Are they not, therefore, leading the people to be followers of the man, Swedenborg, and not to be disciples of the Lord in His Second Advent? And what, in this case, is the quality of their work? Is it genuine New Church Work, or is it spurious and unreliable? These are questions which we, from an earnest desire for their welfare, and for the good of the Church, suggest for the serious consideration of all whom it may concern.

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     The New Church is now, and is to become in an even greater degree, a power in the world to rescue men from the raging floods of falsity and evil which are now carrying away millions to spiritual destruction. But all power is in the Divine Truth, which is revealed from the Lord at His Second Advent, and which is the Lord in His Advent. And there must be the full acknowledgment of the Lord,--a firm faith in, and a heartfelt acceptance of, all that is taught in the Heavenly Doctrines,--for without this there is only a nominal or an imaginary New Church, a thing without a substantial existence, a mere phantasm or idealistic notion, induced by the spirits of the Dragon to obscure the understanding, and to prevent the establishment of the Church.

     If we are faithful disciples of our Lord; if we cherish the truly apostolic spirit; if we labor in His Name, and endeavor to be in the life of charity according to the truths of faith; then shall the Church be in us and with us, to abide and increase forever. Our co-operation with the Lord and the angels and each other, in the uses of the Church, will be a delight to all who participate therein. And in all our Assemblies and feasts of charity, we shall experience, in some measure, a foretaste of heaven and of the ineffable joys of the blessed.

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     A writer in one of the London papers (The Referee), referring to the removal of Swedenborg's body from the church in Prince's Square, suggests that the name of the Square be changed to
Swedenborg's Square.



     The Messenger, of May 13, publishes an abstract, reprinted from The Engineering and Mining Journal, of the paper read by Mr. R. W. Raymond before the American Institute of Mining Engineers, on February 18. This paper, which is entitled "Humboldt and Swedenborg, Mining Engineers," has already been noticed in the Life for April (p. 235) and some extracts were there printed. It appears from the abstract now published, that Mr. Raymond expects to publish, at some time, "a more elaborate text of his paper," wherein he will treat of "the statements more or less clearly made by Swedenborg (but not dealt with in the paper), of the great doctrines of modern science, such as the circulation of the blood; the atomic theory; the solar origin of the earth and planets; the undulatory theory of light; the nebular hypothesis; the recognition of heat as a mode of motion; the connection between magnetism and electricity; and the principles of dynamic geology."



     The compilation of a General Index to all of Swedenborg's preparatory works was proposed in a paper read at the Academy's annual banquet on "Founders' Day," January 14th, 1908. The proposition was favorably received and, after some consultation among those interested in the undertaking, a Permanent committee was appointed to draw up and distribute a complete plan of the work. This plan is now published in The New Philosophy for April, in the form of a Report by the Committee, signed by C. Th. Odhner, W. H. Alden, and Emil F. Stroh.

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It occupies sixteen pages, nine of which are devoted to a complete Catalogue of all of Swedenborg's poetical, scientific, political, economic and philosophical works and papers (one hundred and twenty-seven in number), with initials or abbreviations for the title of each, for the sake of ready reference in preparing the Index. Seventeen gentlemen have thus far promised their cooperation, and some work has already been done. It is scarcely necessary to point out there the great importance of such an Index, which will open all the scientific works for the comparative study of subjects, as the Potts' Concordance has opened up the inspired Writings. The cooperation of all other scholars of the Church, able to handle the Latin or Swedish of the originals, will be needed, and correspondence with the Committee is invited.



     Mr. Charles Higham contributes to the pages of Morning Light, of April 25, a most readable review of the Catalogue of Swedenborg's books, recently republished in facsimile by Mr. Alfred H. Stroh. The reviewer addresses himself mainly to those books which were written by Englishmen. One of these, ("The Complete Duty of Man, Land, 1763"), we learn, Swedenborg, possessed, "in an edition earlier than that known to the eminent biographer, Lowndes," who gives 1764 as the date of the first edition. The date "1763" in the Catalogue, we would suggest is more likely to be a misprint than an evidence of an error by Lowndes.

     Mr. Higham's long experience as a dealer in books leads him to the positive assertion that the 206 books catalogued in the two Appendices did not belong to Swedenborg's own Library, but, according to the well established custom of the trade, were included in the Catalogue by the bookseller, because they were to be sold at the same time as Swedenborg's books and to the same company. This conclusion is fully confirmed by the Appendices themselves, the second of which is evidently the catalogue of a medial doctor's library, and the first containing principally historical works. Granting, then, that Mr. Higham's assertion is correct, this leaves 268 books belonging to Swedenborg's library, instead of 470, which is the total list comprised in the Catalogue.

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It does not, however, follow that these 268 books were all that Swedenborg possessed at his death, for, as Mr. Higham suggests, "the Library was, doubtless, sold by direction of Swedenborg's heirs, and, in all probability, each of them had exercised the right of selecting volumes which he or she desired."

     While on the subject of the Catalogue of Swedenborg's library, we would suggest to our book loving readers, the great use to which this Catalogue might be put in materially assisting the Academy Library to complete its collection of all the works used by Swedenborg. Many of these works, in the same or different editions, are, doubtless, to be found on the shelves of second-hand book dealers, and a little inquiry, or, the submission of the catalogue to the bookseller, would soon lead to their discovery. The use of collecting the books read by Swedenborg,--from many, if not by far, the most, of which he quotes--is obvious in its bearing on the study of his life and writings. As time goes on it will be increasingly difficult to procure copies of most of the works, and it devolves upon this generation to do all it can in the way of collecting them. Most of our readers, and particularly those residing in large cities and in England and on the Continent, could co-operate in this work. The Catalogue may be procured at any New Church book room for twenty-five cents.



     The opening number of The Secular Church,--a monthly paper inaugurated in April under the editorship of the Rev. Charles H. Mann,-was conspicuous by the absence of all reference, not only to the New Church and its revelation, but even to the very name of Swedenborg. It now appears, however, that this omission, at any rate, in part, is not to be wholly characteristic of the paper; for in the May issue, Swedenborg is mentioned. The article containing this solitary reference to Swedenborg starts out with this truth: "The Secular Church represents no special religious denomination,--Christian or otherwise." It then continues, "It believes in the Church Universal. It holds that every religion on the face of the globe furnishes for someone the bread of life in a form adapted to his spiritual needs. The performance of that use authenticates its validity as a church. The Church of God, therefore, is as all inclusive as is human religious experience.

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The best setting forth of this conception of the church universal with which we have ever met is that of Swedenborg, who most satisfactorily expresses it in the following three quotations: 'The Church of the Lord is scattered over the whole terrestrial globe, and thus is universal.' 'It is not limited to those who have the Word, but is also with those who have not the Word, and, therefore, are entirely ignorant of the Lord.' 'All who acknowledge a God and who live according to the laws of civic justice from religion are saved.'"

     Of course, it is true that every religion furnishes spiritual food adapted to the needs of those who are in that religion, provided this be understood to be a provision of the Lord by means of the specific church, and in spite of the perversions of religions. But The Secular Church ignores this proviso, and limits its view solely to the church universal. What justification, then, can it offer for its own existence, presumably for the purpose of teaching men, or, in its own words, for the purpose of "reversing the usual order observed in the interpretation of the facts of religious experience?" Why "reverse" anything, if all is well, and every religion furnishes all that is needed?

     There is an evident confusion of thought; for while The Secular Church evidently does wish to teach men something, the logic of its whole position is the policy of laissez faire. That is,-because the Lord provides that every man may come into the Church Universal, therefore He does not will that there should be a genuine church on earth, that men shall work for the establishment of such a church. Both reason and revelation repudiate the thought. The Lord wills that men shall receive genuine truths that they may be more interiorly conjoined to Him, and that the Church Universal itself may continue to exist. Therefore, He has provided Revelation and has ordained that it shall be proclaimed among men. But the men who are instruments in the proclamation, never have been, nor will be, men who "belong to no special religious denomination." They will be men who accept the revelation, believe in it, and preach it as the sole means for the establishment of a true Church, the conservation of the Church Universal, and the salvation of the human race.

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SWEDENBORG HONORED BY THE WORLD. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? 1908

SWEDENBORG HONORED BY THE WORLD. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?              1908

     The recent removal of Swedenborg's remains has been an occasion of considerable historic interest and significance, and we have, therefore, in the present issue of the Life, made room for a detailed account of the event,--the most complete account that has appeared anywhere. It will make interesting reading, especially for our younger readers. Our older friends, accustomed to the obloquy under which Swedenborgs name has rested so long, will be astonished at the worldly honor now bestowed upon his bones, and will naturally ask, What does it all mean?



     Many a time did Swedenborg, when in the body, leave the English shore to cross the North Sea for his native land. Then, how unnoticed his departure, save, perhaps, for some humorous paragraphs in the magazines about the "New Jerusalem gentleman." Now, how different! What a solemnity, what an eclat, what universal interest in the memory of one who for a century and a half has been regarded by a whole world as a deceiver, or a madman, or an arch-heretic! One hundred and thirty-six years ago he died, alone, and in a foreign country, unhonored by the native land he had served so faithfully and long, his body unclaimed even by the relatives, who by no means forgot to divine his worldly goods. Now England reluctantly gives up his remains, and Sweden was in a quandary how best to honor them. And the public press, not only of England and Sweden, but of the whole civilized world, seems suddenly to have discovered Swedenborg and his greatness.

     Unquestionably, there is a great change in the public attitude towards Swedenborg as a man. The world is more correctly informed about him, owing chiefly, we think, to the encyclopedias which, since Dr. Wilkinson led the way by his article in the Penny Cyclopaedia in 1842, have generally tried to supply more facts than fiction in regard to our author. Undoubtedly, also, the respect of the world for Swedenborg as a man of science has gone up in the public barometer lately, after famous scientists began to discover that Swedenborg had "anticipated" this and that fact or theory, and worldly governments and royal institutions began to inquire about his manuscripts and publish his forgotten volumes.

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     But in all this hue and cry of astonishment and admiration, what a vast amount of ignorance and misunderstanding still seems to reign, even in "the learned world." Among the "anticipations" claimed for Swedenborg, we find in the recent press notices the constantly repeated assertion that he was the original discoverer of the "nebular hypothesis,"--showing that there is not abroad the faintest idea of Swedenborg's real principles of Cosmology, which are the very opposite of the nebular hypothesis--the creation of the center from the expanse! And the learned members of the Swedish Academy of Sciences have been led in Providence to publish some of Swedenborg's earlier works, and they are writing kind and learned prefaces to the volumes, but without any apparent understanding of his universal principles or scientific system as a whole. The doctrines of Series and Degrees, of Form, of Motion, of Influx, of Correspondence and Representation, seem as unknown as if the books had never been investigated. But still they are giving us these invaluable volumes, and the New Church is looking on with much pleasure and some astonishment.



     Looking beyond the surface of the present excitement, we can find but small comfort in it for our "permeation" sentiments, for in all the newspaper paragraphs and articles with which kind friends have kept us so well supplied, there has not been a single voice raised in recognition of a single spiritual doctrine of the New Church, or in admission of Swedenborg's claim as the revelator of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Second Coming. The honor is all for the man, Swedenborg, and his worldly achievements, but none for his Lord. The theological part of his career is invariably spoken of in tones of amusement and good-natured contempt, showing that the general "incredulity" in regard to the realities of the spiritual world has not yet been "dissipated." (H. H. 1.) But even if the whole Christian world should in time learn to venerate Swedenborg as the best and greatest man that ever lived, what would it all amount to so long as the Doctrine, and the Lord in and as the Doctrine, are not received?

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     When, after a while, "the tumult and the shouting dies," there will, no doubt, follow another long period of profound silence in respect to Swedenborg. Nevertheless, the present movement has come about by the Divine Providence and will be of ultimate benefit for the New Church. It is to be hoped that the public interest shown on this occasion will encourage the Academy of Sciences to continue its good work, and even, perhaps induce the wealthy Swedenborg Societies in England and America to provide us with English editions of the scientific works. The dragonists in the old "orthodox" circles may also become more shy of culminating Swedenborg's name with the ancient falsehoods. And, among the millions who now for the first time have heard something about Swedenborg, there, will, no doubt be some few who will be induced to read the Writings themselves. And thus, as the Morning Light has well said, this second funeral of Swedenborg's will be found "to have served to call the world's attention to the man, who has served and still serves to call attention to his Lord."
STORY OF SWEDENBORG'S REMAINS 1908

STORY OF SWEDENBORG'S REMAINS              1908

     The moving of Swedenborg's earthly remains has created great general interest, and it is quite certain that Swedenborg's name has never been so prominently before the public as during the past two months. The great newspapers of England, America, and Sweden, have been teeming with references to Swedenborg and detailed accounts of the ceremonies in England, The Morning Light made excellent use of its opportunity, and on April 11th, published a special illustrated "Swedenborg number." From a great many different sources we are now able to gather a connected outline of the whole story of Swedenborg's remains.

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     As is well-known, Swedenborg departed this life on March 29th, 1772. On the authority of Mr. Charles Lindegren, a Swedish merchant in London and a personal friend of the deceased, the body was taken from the house of Richard Shearsmith, No. 25 Bath street, where Swedenborg died, to the home of Mr. Burkhart, the clerk of the Swedish church, and thence to the establishment of an undertaker by the name of Robinson, where it was prepared for burial and laid in state. Finally, on Sunday, April 5th, the coffin was deposited in the vault of the Swedish church, the burial service being conducted by the retiring pastor, the Rev. Arvid Ferelius, Swedenborg's friend and sympathizer, from whose hands he had received the last sacrament, and to whom he had uttered the last solemn asseveration that "he had written nothing from himself, but the truth from God."

     The burial was the last official act of Ferelius who immediately afterwards returned to Sweden, being succeeded in London by his former assistant, Mathesius, who sedulously circulated a story about Swedenborg having been insane; as is known, Mathesius himself became a maniac.

     Swedenborg's personal effects, his manuscripts, and the sum of L500, were sent over to his heirs in Sweden by Mr. Lindegren.

     THE SWEDISH CHURCH IN LONDON.

     Originally known as the "Ulrica Elenora Church," the chapel of the Swedish legation in London is situated in Prince's Square, Wapping, on the Radcliffe Highway of ancient notoriety. It is now surrounded by the dirtiest and most odoriferous district of East London. Swedenborg himself hall occasionally, though not often, sat in one of the old-fashioned, high-hacked pews. As reported by Ferelius, "he said he had no peace in the church, on account of the spirits who contradicted what the minister said, especially in regard to the three persons in the Godhead, who were the same as three gods."

     This chapel, which could afford no comfort for Swedenborg's spirit, now became the resting-place for his dead bones, which were deposited immediately beneath the altar.

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For a hundred and thirty-six rears it remained a shrine of pilgrimage for New Church visitors to London, who came from all parts of the world to gaze reverently upon the one landmark of Swedenborg's earthly life that had remained untouched by the tooth of time. In the small vestry behind the church are preserved oil-paintings of the successive pastors, including the benignant, rubicund countenance of Ferelius, who in time became an earnest receiver of the Doctrines. For many years there has no visible sign attesting the fact that here rested the dust of the immortal Swedenborg, until in the year 1857, Mr. James S. Hodson, the New Church publisher, at his own expense, caused a handsome memorial tablet to be affixed to one of the walls. This was done in commemoration of the centenary of the Last Judgment. (What, by the war, is now to become of this tablet? Would it not be well to send it over to Sweden, to be erected again over Swedenborg's grave? The papers have been silent as to this matter. )

     There was to be no "requiescat in pace," however, for the remains deposited in the Swedish church. The coffin was opened, at least, three times, and, probably, oftener, for the gratification of curiosity-seekers, and at one time, in 1817, the skull was abstracted, to be restored only after the death of the thief. The story of these adventures of the relies was related briefly in the Life for March, 1907, p. 171.

     THE REMOVAL PROPOSED.

     The movement for the removal of the coffin to Sweden began two years ago, when it became known that the old church was about to be torn down and a new one to be erected in Baker street, West End. At the suggestion of Mr. Alfred H. Stroh, and at the request of Professor Gustaf Retzius, the Swedish Government then obtained the permission of the British, to have Swedenborg's remains removed to Sweden. A lot was also purchased by Prof. and Fru Retzius, at the cost of 530 kronor, for the re-interment of the remains in the Solna cemetery, just outside Stockholm, next to the grave of the eminent poet, Count Snoilsky.

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     Among the New Church people in England, however, the proposed removal was regarded with somewhat mingled feelings. A private application for the removal was actually refused by the British Government, influenced, no doubt, by its great veneration for the sanctity of graves. But when the pressure of the Swedish Government itself was brought to bear, the British authorities showed every courtesy. International complications were happily averted, in spite of the belligerent attitude of Mr. Speirs, in the Morning Light. At last even he submitted to the inevitable, though not without the consolation of a parting shot in his journal at the victorious Swedes.

     THE SERVICES IN THE CHURCH.

     On the morning of April 7th, the coffin containing Swedenborg's remains was brought up from the vault and opened for identification, in the presence of Count Wrangel, the Swedish Minister to the Court of St. James, Captain Bermark, representing the commander of the Fylgia, and the Rev. Joseph Deans, chairman of the Swedenborg Society's Committee. The outer coffin of wood (dating from 1853) was first opened and then the inner coffin of lead. Of the body itself nothing remained except the skull, some other fragments of bone, and, a small quantity of whitish dust. These remains were now packed in cotton wadding to hold them in place, the leaden coffin was sealed, and the whole placed in a large new casket of oak, the original steel name--plate being affixed to the outside. The coffin was then placed in front of the communion-table of 1:he church and decorated with the wreaths sent by Swedenborg's English admirers.

     The beautiful wreath presented by the Swedenborg Society occupied the position of honor at the head of the coffin and consisted of a glory of autumn leaves and immortelles, bearing the inscription, in Latin, Swedish and English: "A token of reverence in memory of Emanuel Swedenborg, Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, Great in Science, Greater in Philosophy, Greatest in Theology." The wreath sent in behalf of the General Conference consisted of palm-leaves and white lilies, and also carried an inscription in the three languages.

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Beside these and other wreaths, there was one sent by the Society in Burton Road, to which the Rev. R. J. Tilson is ministering, and bearing the following inscription: "To the honored memory of Emanuel Swedenborg, servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, from the pastor and members of the Academy of the New Church, Burton Road, Brixton," (such being the official designation chosen by this Society). On another floral tribute were these words: "This wreath is sent by the members of the New Church Young Men's Association, as a tribute of reverence for Emanuel Swedenborg's whole life in appreciation of his theological writings, and a pledge of loyalty to his teachings."

     In the afternoon of the same day about 3 P. M., a great crowd of people began to gather in front of the church doors. "It was a curious crowd, part Swedish and wholly [?] Swedenborgian, and that part of it which was not Swedish was the more interesting," according to the benighted reporter of the Daily Telegraph, who was eagerly listening for something "real ghostly." All that he could snap up was some "broad Scotch" from a pillar of the Church in Glasgow. Outside the grounds a tattered crowd of "natives" were gaping in astonishment at the "eminently respectables" within, and in the windows of the high old buildings round about the cameras of photographers were threatening.

     At 4 P. M. the church doors were opened and the limited capacity of the church was soon taxed to its utmost. Among those in attendance were, beside Count Wrangel, Baron C. A. Beck-Friis, and other members of the Swedish legation; Mr. Danielson, the Swedish consul general; Baron Loewenhjelm, who was reported as "a descendant of Swedenborg" [!], and some officers of the Swedish warship, Fylgia, which was to convey the remains to Sweden. The New Church was represented by the Rev. J. R. Rendell, president of the General Conference, together with the Rev. Robert J. Tilson, the Rev. Andrew Czerny, and other ministers and members of the New Church Societies in London. There were present, also, New Church people from Birmingham, Manchester, Colchester, Bath, Accrington, Glasgow, and other cities and towns.

     The services were conducted for the greatest part in the Swedish language by the pastor, the Rev. J. Lindskog, who introduced his address by referring to the famous man whose earthly remains were new to be removed to the soil of his fatherland, after so lone a sojourn in this spot.

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The regular burial service was then read. Two Swedish hymns were sung,--one beginning with the words, "My home is in the heavens," and the other with, "Have Rest,"--both of them composed by Bishop Swedberg to whom the Swedish Lutheran hymn book is indebted for a great many of its most popular hymns. Fru Elsa Lindqvister then rendered, as a solo, a Swedish anthem, the "Dreams," by Sjogrent and then, while the organist played Chooin's "March Funebre," the coffin was raised to the shoulders of six stalwart men. The audience rising, opened a way for the procession; the crowd outside did likewise, and, in the sunshine of a glorious spring afternoon, the coffin was delivered by Count Wrangel to Captain Bergmark, and placed in a closed hearse and driven slowly to Paddington station, followed by a procession of carriages containing representatives of the Swedenborg Society, the General Conference, the Evidence Society, and other institutions.

     Arriving at Paddington too late for the evening train to Dartmouth, where it was to be embarked on the Fylgia, the coffin was placed in a separate room until the departure of the midnight train. In the meantime, a great number of New Church people assembled at the station, and the Rev. Joseph Deans improved the opportunity by delivering a brief address on the significance of the occasion.

     A DARTMOUTH HARBOR.

     At 8 o'clock the next morning the remains arrived at Kingswear railway station in Dartmouth, and the borough flag on the Dartmouth embankment was simultaneously hoisted at half-mast. The town clerk, on behalf of the mayor of Dartmouth, placed on the coffin a wreath of laurel and white everlasting flowers, tied with ribbons of the British and the Swedish national colors. A cross of violets was added by Mr. G. H. Collins, the Swedish vice-consul at Dartmouth. There were other floral contributions, and these, with the wreaths previously described, completely covered the great coffin.

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     Shortly before ten o'clock a guard of honor, composed of officers and bluejackets from the Fylgia, all in dress parade, under Commodore Ekelund, together with the ship's band, was drawn up on the platform of the station. The Britannia Royal Naval College was represented by Commodore H. T. Buller and Captain Kilvert, R. M. A. There were present also the Rev. R. R. Rodgers, of Birmingham, together with deputations from New Church congregations and Swedish societies, and of ladies.

     As the coffin was borne out from the station to the platform, the naval officers saluted and all others uncovered, and the great procession moved off slowly, between an avenue of marines standing at a salute, to the adjacent pontoon, at the solemn strains of the Swedish Dead March. The remains were then placed under a catafalque surrounded by a guard of honor, in a large boat which was towed by the steam launch of the Fylgia, the short distance down the harbor to the cruiser, the removal being witnessed by a large number of persons assembled on both sides of the river. Other boats followed, bearing the visitors, the officers and the marines. After being hoisted on board the cruiser, the coffin was deposited on the after turret deck, the band playing the music of an appropriate Swedish song, commemorative of the virtues of the great and good man of the past.

     The brief and simple ceremony which followed, in the brilliant spring sunshine, and with the officers and crew grouped in military order around the coffin, was conducted by Mr. Rodgers, who, in a clear voice, read the following Latin ode, composed for the occasion by Mr. A. J. Allen:

     VATES REDUS.

En tua nos patrio (patria revocante) gementes.
     Maxime Suecorum reddimus ossa solo.
Num vero tantos animi celebrare labores.
     Num tantum Ingenium carmina nostra valent?
Arcana an petimus Coelestia? an ima vagamur
     Per loca Naturae? te duce lucet iter.
At tuba conclamat, panduntur vela, carina
     Prosilit, et resonat terra relicta vale:--

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"Nunc licet ad sedem redeas, vir sancte, paternam,
     Laus tua cum nobis haud peritura manet."

     Of this we offer the following literal translation in the original somewhat faulty metre:

     THE SEER RETURNING.

Sighing we send now thy bones, at the calling voice of thy country.
Greatest of Swedish men, home to thy fatherland's soil.
What can songs such as ours avail to celebrate labors
Of a mind such as thine, of a Genius so great?
Do we Arcana seek to resolve, of Celestial regions.
Or deep Nature explore, thou leadest onward to light.
Hark to the trumpeting call! Now sails are spreading, the vessel
Starts from the land which is left, still resounding Farewell!
Now, O saintliest man, to thy ancestral home thou returnest,
But with us shall thy praise, never to perish, remain.

     As an alternate, we offer the following Paraphrase:

Thy country calls, O Master Mind of ancient warrior race,
And at her call we give the dust that once was thine
     To lie all honored in its native soil.
We give,-and weep; but with our tears is mingled deep the thought
Of thy Herculean labors,-tasks of mighty intellect.
     Whose praise no song of ours were meet to sound.
The task was thine, and thine the weary labor and the toil
To pierce the gloom and darkness on thy lonely way
     But ours the joy, the fruit thy toil hath won.
For would we search the mysteries of the heavenly realm above?
Or downward turn our wondering gaze to earth's dark deep,
Our way lies on the path that thou will toil hath hewn.
     Our light, the light thy love and zeal hath found.
But hark! The trumpet calls, the glistening sails are spread
And, as though longing homeward to convey the dust,
     The noble vessel heaving starts its way.

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The land that sheltered thee in life, in death, cries out, Farewell!
Farewell to this thy mortal dust, now Fathered home
     That men may give the honor due thy name.
Farewell!--But not to thee, Illustrious Swede, bid we farewell.
For thou art living in thy works; and from our hearts
     Thy name, and praise of thee shall ne'er depart.

     At the close of the recital of this ode, Mr. Rodgers, addressing Commodore Ekelund, thanked him on behalf of the New Church in England and America for the courtesies extended to the speaker on this occasion, when the remains of the great Swede, the most gifted genius of the Christian era, were to be conveyed for honorable interment in his native land. Commodore Elklund, in a brief reply, thanked Mr. Rodgers for his kind works, and expressed much gratification at the way in which the whole proceedings had been arranged and carried out. The coffin was then removed to the strong room of the cruiser, which left for Sweden the next morning.

     THE HOME-COMING.

     According to program, the Fylgia arrived at Carlskrona, the chief naval station of Sweden, on the morning of April 18th. The ceremonies here are thus described by Mr. Stroh:

     "The time for landing Swedenborg's remains having been fixed for two o'clock, many spectators began to assemble near the wharves and the adjacent Admiralty Church, in the vault of which the remains were to be deposited. At two o'clock two boats could be seen leaving the Fylgia, in the second of which eras the casket and wreathes from England. Immediately after landing, a silent procession followed the casket, borne by marines from the Fylgia, to the vault of the Admiralty Church. The procession passed between lines of marines from the Fylgia and soldiers of the coast artillery. Immediately following the casket was the head of the Swedenborg family, Captain G. W. E. Swedenborg, with lady, accompanied by his brother, Lieutenant Emanuel Swedenborg, and Professor Dr. Hasselberg, representing, in his capacity as president, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which had been appointed by the Government to officially receive Swedenborg's remains at Carlskrona.

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Then came relatives of the Swedenborg family, after whom I followed, representing the Swedenborg Scientific Association. Finally came officers of the Swedish navy and army.

     The Admiralty Church was reached after about ten minutes, and the casket placed in the vault, situated under the eastern side of the church, and approached through a vestibule draped with Swedish flags. The casket and wreaths were then inspected by the members of the Swedenborg family and others. The wreaths still looked fresh and beautiful."

     The Swedish government had ordered that Swedenborg's remains were to be deposited at Carlskrona until it should be decided where they were to have their final resting place. Strong and numerous objection had been made in the Swedish press against burying them in Solna cemetery, as had been originally arranged by the Academy of Sciences. The remains are now looked upon as national property, but there was great uncertainty as to how to honor them in the most distinguished and befitting manner. Various places were suggested, but, according to information just received from Pastor Manby, the Government, on April 29th, decided that the remains are to be deposited in the Cathedral Church of Upsala, the University having applied for this honor. This, certainly, is a very distinguished resting place, as the cathedral is the true Pantheon of the Swedish nation, where Gustavus Vasa and many of the earlier kings of Sweden are interred. Swedenborg's place in human history was quite unique, and will always so remain, and on this account we believe that some day, in the far distant future, his remains will be moved to Stockholm, where he lived the greater part of his life, and where he wrote the Writings, and be placed there in a unique position, under a Mausoleum, which, in grandeur, will surpass anything that can now be imagined.

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IN DEFENSE OF THE SWEDISH TONGUE 1908

IN DEFENSE OF THE SWEDISH TONGUE       J. H       1908

EDITOR New Church Life.

     I was much surprised at the statement in the April Life that "the Swedish language is poverty-stricken, compared with the English. It does not so easily lend itself to the expression of abstract principles, and is averse to the adoption of Latin terms. Imagine a tongue that lacks affections, charity, and conjugial love, and, which is limited, instead, to 'inclinations,' 'love to the neighbor,' and 'genuine love.'"

     Seeing this I could not help thinking that the writer was misinformed. In the pamphlet, which is being reviewed, the writer, Pastor Manby, says that "Our Swedish tongue is very plastic, if one will only use its possibilities, and it is sometimes a loss not to do so. Once the writer (Mr. Manby) read a Swedish translation of a Greek poetical work, and he has never been so astonished at the ability of our language to follow the Greek original. It was pure Swedish, and yet so unlike the tongue every day spoken. Rydberg, the artist of the language, knew what the Swedish tongue was able to do, and he did not hesitate to use its rich resources"

     When the writer says that the Swedish lacks "affections," "charity," and 'conjugial love," he must have lost sight of the fact that "bojelse for," means affection for, "Menniskokarlek" (love for men) means charity, and that "Aktenskaplig karlek," means marriage love-"akata karlek," means genuine love.

     As to the English, it can be said that with all its riches in words that are never used and no one understands, it is poverty-stricken when it comes to a common everyday expressions. For instance, the Latin "homo" (a human being of either sex) cannot be translated into English with a single word. There is no single expression for brothers and sisters or for the twenty-four hours of the revolving of the earth round its axis. A spiritual neighbor cannot be expressed with one word, and a hill no higher than a chair is a hill equally with one that is a half a mile high.

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     In the pamphlet referred to Mr. Manby says, "Once a Swedish Newchurchman wrote from American, congratulating us in Sweden for having a translation of Swedenborg's Latin, and not as in the English works merely, Latin in English form, making it necessary to know Latin in order to understand what one reads. Very respectfully, J. H.

     REPLY

     While we appreciate the patriotism of our Swedish correspondent, the fact remains that the Swedish language has not yet carried over into its own forms the Latin terms "affectio," "charitas," or "amor conjugialis," and is not, at present, able to do so without considerable difficulty.

     The word "bojelse," means literally a "bending towards," or inclination, and by no means expresses the fundamental idea of affectio as that which makes things to be what they are. "Tillgorelse" would be a good literal rendering, but this, unfortunately, suggests "affectation."

     "Charitas" is a general term which cannot, in, Swedish, be expressed by any one terse word, but has to be paraphrased or interpreted as "love of man" or "love of the neighbor." It means all this, but it also means more than this,--a special kind of subjective love without special reference to its object. It could be well rendered by "karlighet," but this has become obsolete in the Swedish.

     "Conjugialis" cannot be carried over into Swedish without causing ridicule. It has always been rendered "Aktenskaplig," which means in general the same as "Marriage love," but the latter is not, either etymologically or spiritually, the same as Conjugial love. "Aktenskaplig" presents, however, a much more internal idea than "marriage love, [= husband love], as it is derived from "akta," which means what is genuine or legitimate. Nevertheless, it does not per se convey the root-meaning of conjunction.

     The power and beauty of the Swedish language lies in its ability to express concrete ideas tersely and--to Swedish ears--euphoniously.

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Its poverty--being limited to some 8,000 words, instead of the 100,000 or more of the English,--is caused by the inhospitable influence of the "purists," who would eliminate and forbid all words not of the original Gothic stock. Their influence, however, is becoming weaker each year, and we look hopefully for the day when the Swedish shall have appropriated the whole of the English dictionary.-EDITOR.
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 1908

SPONTANEOUS GENERATION       OSKAR E. PRUTZ       1908

EDITOR New Church Life:--

     With your kind permission I should like to bring to the notice of your readers a question that has for some time occupied my thought, and which, I think, can with advantage be discussed by Newchurchmen in view of the increasing interest in scientific matters in the light of New Church teaching. Briefly, the question can be put as follows: "How far can a conscientious Newchurchman accept either of the current scientific views on the subjects of Abiogenesis and Biogenesis?"

     In the first place the original creation of life on this planet cannot have been in the strict sense of the term abiogenetic, for we know that the Lord, who alone is Life, was the absolute Creator; hence, in a sense, creation must have been biogenetic. But I should like to ask, Sir, whether there is any definite teaching as to the exact method by which life was created here. Granting that the Lord is the First Cause, is there any reason for supposing that the first living entity was produced by the chemical combination of various substances, which resulted in the production of protoplasm, and that this was the first step in the production of higher living forms? Or would one be justified in thinking that living forms suddenly appeared without the previous inter-combination of chemical substances? In T. C. R. 781 I find the nearest approach to an answer that I have yet seen. Here we read: "The only difference is, that in our world [the spiritual] such things are created by the Lord instantaneously according to the affections of the angels; whereas in your world [the natural] they were created in like manner at the beginning, but it was provided that they should be renewed successively by propagation from one another, and thus that creation should be continued.

378


This passage apparently favors instantaneous creation, but there may be other passages which modify it, or which throw further light on the subject. Are there any such in the Writings?

     There is another aspect of the question of creation which I think needs the illumination of New Church teaching, and that is, whether in the world as it now exists, living organisms are only propagated from pre-existent life-forms, or whether individuals of existing species can be spontaneously generated from unorganized matter? From my reading of D. L. W. 342, the question is left undecided, but with a tendency to the position that spontaneous generation does take place. If this is so, we are in direct conflict with the vast bulk of scientific workers, and in opposition to the facts as generally observed. In order to avoid misunderstanding, the whole number should be quoted:

     "The question now; is, whether such things [animalculae and insects] arise out of eggs conveyed to the spot, either through the air, or by rain, or by percolations of water in the soil; or whether they originate out of the damps and stenches themselves. The whole experience about the case does not lend itself to the opinion that the noxious animalcules and insects are hatched from eggs carried to the place, or lying in the ground since the creation. For worms exist in minute seeds, inside nut-shells, in wood, in stones, and creep out of leaves. And upon plants and in plants there are lice and grubs which correspond with them. Flies, too, appear in houses, fields and woods in great swarms in summer, with no oviform matter to account for them. Then there are the vermin that devour meadows and lawns, and in some hot localities fill and infect the air, and those that swim and fly invisible in fetid waters and fermenting wines, and in pestilential air. These experimental facts support those who say that smells, foul effluvia and exhalations themselves, breathed out of plants, earths and ponds, furnish initiaments to such animalcules. The fact that afterwards, when they have been produced, they are propagated by eggs and off-shoots, does not disprove their immediate generation. Every living creature of the kind, along with its little viscera, receives also organs of generation and means of propagation. These positions are attested by the experience hitherto unknown that there are similar things in the hells." (D. L. W. 342)

     Again in D. L. W. 343, We read:

     "Wherefore when affections and cupidities, which in themselves are spiritual, meet with homogeneous or corresponding things on earth, a spiritual is present which gives a soul, and a material which gives a body."

379




     These quotations seem to advocate the theory of local spontaneous generation, provided the necessary conditions are present. This, however, appears to contradict T. C. R. 78, already quoted, and is quite opposed to modern observation. Would these quotations be best understood only in the sense that when the necessary conditions are present, entirely new species of organisms, such as the disease germs of new diseases, may be spontaneously generated and then left to propagate according to T. C. R. 78. The things mentioned in D. L. W. 342 as favoring spontaneous generation are explicable by modern science on a strictly biogenetic basis, and Pasteur's experiments seem to prove that biogenesis is the only tenable theory.

     I should like, Sir, to see these matters discussed, and hope that with your kind permission this may be the case. Yours faithfully, OSKAR E. PRUTZ.

     15 Charsley Rd., London, S. E., England.

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Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BERLIN, ONT. Our Easter service was, this year, more than usually delightful, on account of our having in connection with it the baptism of an infant,--that of Dr. and Mrs. Schnarr. In the afternoon of the same day the Holy Supper was celebrated.

     The Society held its Annual Bazaar on the 20th of April. The booths for the sale of articles were artistic constructions by the young ladies, and were made all the more attractive by the presence of the fair architects behind them. Under such circumstances, it could not be otherwise than that business should be good, and that the bazaar should be successful and enjoyable.

     Arbor Day was celebrated by the school children on the 8th of May. A forest-garden was begun in a small plot on the school grounds. Each child planted a tree of one or two years' growth, which will, in the course of time, be taken from this nursery and planted elsewhere on our grounds. The trees are to be cared for by the children.

     CARSBALTON, ENGLAND. For some months past, there has been a small circle meeting in this district, which is just outside the radius of greater London. It is visited every fourth Sunday evening by Rev. A. Czerny, and on the intervening weeks reading meetings are held alternately at Sutton and Carshalton. The attendance averages about 14, with 19 as the highest number present at one service.

     On April 17th the local friends had the pleasure of welcoming the London brethren to their first social gathering. The young people spent the day on Banstead Downs, an open space in the neighborhood, some 600 feet above the sea level, returning to Carshalton in time to join the others at tea, to which 36 sat down. The evening program comprised short papers on "Distinctive Isolation," "Influx," and "Social Life," together with vocal and instrumental pieces.

381




     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. At a special meeting of the Board of managers of the Convention THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, held in March, it was decided to invite the Rev. William L. Worcester, of Philadelphia, to become the president of the school, the understanding being, that, in case of his acceptance, the Rev. James Reed, the present incumbent of the presidency, would resign the office. After consultation with his society, Mr. Worcester decided to accept the offer, provided the board be willing that he shall retain his pastorate and residence in Philadelphia, and spend one week every month with the school in Cambridge; he would take entire charge of the theological instruction there, and, during the week of his visit, would instruct in person. The proposal is made as a temporary arrangement, with a view to finding out what might be permanently useful. The board has not yet acted on the matter, and further developments will probably be delayed until the meeting in Cleveland.

     In a paper read before the Men's Club of the BROOKLINE, Mass., Society, and voted for publication in the Messenger, Mr. George Warren makes some practical suggestions for taking advantage of the current interest in Swedenborg, on the occasion of the removal of his remains, for the purpose of advertising the theological writings. Mr. Warren's proposals are, 1. That the short extracts from the Writings, say, two to six lines, be systematically and regularly printed over Swedenborg's name, in the prominent reading columns of the leading daily papers of various cities. 2. That contracts be made with such papers for the regular insertion of addresses where New Church books can be obtained; such contracts would dispose most papers to publish the extracts in their reading columns free of charge. 3. That arrangements be made with book sellers in every city, to carry, at least, catalogues of New Church publications. 4. That the advertisements be followed after a suitable period of time, by well advertised lectures. For the financial carrying out of these suggestions, Mr. Warren purposes a co-operation of all the publishing branches, more or less connected with the General Convention. The matter will, doubtless, be discussed at the coming meeting of the Convention in Cleveland, O.

382




     The Decennial meeting of the SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION held at Twenty-second and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia, on the morning and afternoon of May 27th.

     The celebration of Easter Sunday by the CINCINNATI SOCIETY included the presentation of a play, "The Easter Angel,"--given by the children in the Assembly hall before the usual morning services. The first scene of this play represented a Jewish family on its way to the feast of the Passover at Jerusalem. The father of the family converses with two friends, who acquaint him with certain stirring events in the Lord's life, which have greatly excited the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The family then goes on to the city, hoping to meet the Master who is said to have prepared to sup there that evening. The second scene represents three of the women coming from the Tomb on Easter morning on their way to the disciples, who relate the events which they had witnessed and with which their minds were full. The final scene reveals an angel proclaiming a message from heaven regarding the descent of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, "to make all things new upon this earth in this the time of the Lord's second advent." Between each scene Easter songs were sung by the children.

     After the play the children marched into the church with their banners, during the singing of the processional. The subsequent service was attended by about three hundred people of whom one hundred and twenty-five partook of the Holy Supper. The sphere of worship is said to have been very strong throughout.

     The Rev. C. A. Nussbaum has resigned the pastorate of the ST. LOUIS German Society. No successor has yet been appointed. Mr. Nussbaum still continues as pastor of the English Society.

     From the membership of the moribund Pacific Coast Association has been formed a new organization, under the name The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION of the New Jerusalem. The organization was effected at a three days convention, held in Los Angeles, Cal., April 24-26, and presided over by the Rev. John Faulkner Potts, who has been visiting California for the purpose of ordaining the Rev. William de Ronden-Pos into the ministry of the New Church.

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Mr. Potts was made General Pastor of the Association, and will visit the Pacific coast once every year. The other officers are: President, the Rev. J. S. David, of San Diego; vice president, the Rev. J. E. Collom, of Los Angeles; secretary, Charles Welch, and treasurer, S. Maclaughlin, both of Los Angeles.

     CANADA. The Rev. F. L. Higgins has resigned the pastorate at TORONTO. This puts the two principal convention societies of Canada, Toronto and Berlin, in the same position of looking for a pastor.

     GREAT BRITAIN. Another step in the breaking down of the barriers between the New Church and the Old is chronicled in the news columns of the New Church Magazine as "A New Venture at MIDDLETON." We learn that the Middleton New Church Sunday School, although already a member of the Conference organization known as "The New Church Sunday School Union," has also become "a member of the Local Nonconformist Sunday School Union." This Union maintains a Preparation Class, where the Sunday School teachers, including those of the New Church, discuss Bible questions, and for the present year, are taught by a Congregational minister. The principal New Church representative is Mr. Wilson, the headmaster of the "New Church" day school at Middleton before it was handed over to the local authorities. Imagine the possibility of any real New Church school being "handed over" to the Old Church. One can as easily imagine Moses handing over his rod to Pharaoh, because of Egypt's wealth and power.

     Mr. Wilson's chief contributions to the "Preparation Class" appear to consist in setting the teacher straight, though, rather naturally, with little effect. For we read that after the last "setting straight," which occurred in the New Church Sunday School room, the "teacher" made no comment, but closed the meeting at once."

     AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, The Rev. A. L. Goerwitz describes in the New Church Magazine an abortive effort made last fall to establish a General New Church Union in Austria, with its center in Vienna.

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The Austrian law requires that the members of such a union declare themselves as "non-confessionists" since the New Church is not one of the denominations recognized by the Government. A member of the Vienna Society drew up the statutes of the proposed Union, but they were refused by the Government. The proposed Union is, therefore, abandoned for the present.
ANNUAL MEETING 1908

ANNUAL MEETING              1908


     Announcements.




     Special Notices.

     The Council of the Clergy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will meet at Glenview, Cook Co., Ill, from Tuesday, June 23 to Monday, June 29. The Executive Committee of the General Church will meet on Friday, June 26, at 10 A. M. A joint meeting of the two Councils will be held on Saturday, June 27, at 10 A. M.
Wanted 1908

Wanted              1908

     Girl or woman, for general housework or as working housekeeper, in family of three. Address, Mrs. B. E. Colley, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
DOCTRINES PECULIAR TO THE NEW CHURCH IN SWEDENBORG'S SCIENCE.* 1908

DOCTRINES PECULIAR TO THE NEW CHURCH IN SWEDENBORG'S SCIENCE.*       Rev. WILLIS L. GLADISH       1908



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NEW CHURCH LIFE.
VOL. XXVIII. JULY 1908.     NO. 7.
     * Read in Middleport at the celebration of Swedenborg's birthday, Jan. 29, 1908.
     BY THE.

     The Writings of the New Church reveal from the Lord through Heaven a number of doctrines that are new. Some of these were known in the days of the Most Ancients and the Ancients, and after being lost for ages are now restored to the Church on earth; others are entirely new, never having been known before. Among these doctrines now revealed for the New Church are the following:

     1. That Father and Son are one in Person, and that the Trinity is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

     2. That there is only one Life and that all finite creatures live by influx from that Life, which is God.

     3. That there is a Sun in the spiritual world as there is in the natural world.

     4. That Degrees are discrete as well as continuous.

     5. That there is a correspondence between the natural world and all things in it and the spiritual world and all things it contains.

     6. That Heaven viewed spiritually is a Gorand Man, the most perfect image and likeness of the Divine Man.

     7. That the end of Creation is a Heaven of angels from the human race.

     8. That there is in every man an inmost Soul into which the Lord's life flows immediately; that this Soul is above man's consciousness and hence is not in itself affected by evil but is the same in an angel and a devil; that this inmost is what distinguishes man from the beasts and makes him immortal.

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     To this list might be added other doctrines peculiar to the New Church. It is true that the primitive Christian Church worshiped the Lord alone; but the doctrine of the Trinity as now unfolded, including the Glorification of the Human, is new.

     Concerning the newness of the doctrine of the spiritual Sun, we have the following in D. L. W. (85):

     "That there is any other Sun than that of the natural world has hitherto been unknown."

     Concerning Degrees in the same work:

     "I am not aware that anything has been known hitherto about Discrete Degrees or degrees of height." (188.)

     Concerning Correspondence in H. H. (87):

     "What Correspondence is, is not known at the present day."

     "Knowledge of Correspondence is now utterly lost." (110.)

     And concerning the human Soul in H. H. (39):

     "Finally a certain arcanum respecting the angels of the three heavens which has not hitherto come into any one's mind because degrees have not been understood: In every angel and in every man there is an inmost or highest something into which the Divine of the Lord first or proximately flows, and from which it disposes the other interiors in him that succeed in accordance with the degrees of order. This inmost or highest degree may be called the Entrance of the Lord to angel and man and His veriest dwelling place in them. It is by virtue of this inmost or supreme that man is man and is distinguished from the brutes which do not have it.

     "From this it is that man, unlike the animals, is capable in respect to all his interiors which pertain to his mind and animus of being raised up by the Lord to Himself, of believing in the Lord, of being affected with love to the Lord and so of seeing Him; and that he is able to receive intelligence and wisdom and to speak from reason; thence also it is that he lives to eternity.

     "But what is disposed and provided by the Lord in this inmost does not distinctly flow into the perception of any angel, because it is above his thoughts and transcends his wisdom."

     Now, strange to say, we find all these new doctrines in Swedenborg's scientific works. These very doctrines which in the Writings of the Church he declares to be new, and which have not hitherto entered into the mind of any one, or have been utterly lost, such as Degrees, Correspondence and the Inmost Soul, we find given at great length in his scientific and philosophical works:

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     1. That Father and Son are one in person and essence is demonstrated at length in the work On the Infinite, where it is shown that there must be a Medium or Nexus between the Infinite and the finite: that this Nexus must be Infinite and Divine, and since the Infinite is one, this Nexus must he one with the all-begetting Father, and that this Infinite Nexus is our Lord Jesus Christ.

     2. That each lower form lives from a higher and finally all things by influx of life from God, is taught throughout the scientific works. I will give but a single quotation. After teaching that all the degrees of the body live from a most pure fluid or supereminent blood composed of the first substances of the world he says:

     "It (this blood) can by no means be said to live, much less to feel, perceive, understand, or regard ends; for nature considered in itself is dead, and only serves life as an instrumental cause: thus it is altogether subject to the will of an Intelligent Being who uses it to promote ends by effects. Hence we must look higher for its principle of life, and seek it from the First Esse or Deity of the universe, who is Essential life, essential perfection of life or wisdom. Unless this First Esse were life and wisdom nothing whatever in nature could live, much less have wisdom; nor yet be capable of motion." (E. A. K. II:231)

     That man and nature live solely by influx of life from God is not more clearly stated in the Writings.

     3. Concerning the sun of the spiritual world we have the following:

     "For as the sun is the fountain of light and the distinctions thereof in its universe, so the Deity is the sun of life and of all wisdom. As the sun of the world flows in by mediating auras, so the sun of life and wisdom flows m by the mediation of His spirit. But as the sun of the world flows into subjects and objects according to the modified character of each, so also does the sun of life and wisdom. (E. A. K. 11:251.)

     4. That all substance exists in Discrete Degrees the whole of the Principia is devoted to showing. Indeed it is to this work that we must go to get a clear idea of discrete degrees and the manner in which a lower degree is formed from a higher.

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Only general statements of this are given in the Writings. He who would have a clear natural idea of the matter as the basis of rational thought must find it in the Principia and others of the scientific works.

     5. If the substances and forces of the universe exist in discrete degrees, then there must be correspondence between those degrees. Hence we find much concerning Correspondence in the Principia and the physiological works. And it was before his call and intromission that Swedenborg wrote and published the Hieroglyphic Key, applying correspondence to the representations of the Ancients.

     6. Does not the doctrine of the Gorand Man appear pretty clearly in the following from the work on the Soul After saying that Heaven consists of many societies or as it were many heavens, he says:

     "It is a universal society whose units are to be counted by myriads; it is the most perfect communion of all, or a perfect consociation of spiritual minds, such that whatever is in one mind is common to another: thus there is one soul in the society and likewise every variety possible in the universe, which diffuses and at the same time concentrates the felicities of minds. The happiness is concentrated upon each one of the society and by each one it is diffused and thus it is multiplied infinitely...."

     "At length from so many pure minds the common, animus of the society is inspired, just as is our body." (541, 542)

     7. Concerning the end of Creation, that it is a heaven of angels from the human race, we have the following in the Soul:

     "No other end of creation can be given than that there may exist a universal society of souls, or a Heaven, that is, the Kingdom of God." (553.)

     8. And, finally, concerning that most hidden doctrine of the inmost soul which distinguishes man from beasts, we have a treatise of 156 pp. in the Economy, besides what is given in the work on the Soul. From these a few statements will be quoted:

     "But to know in what manner this life and wisdom (from God) flow in (to the soul) is infinitely above the sphere of human mind: for there is no analysis and no abstraction that can reach so high." (E. A. K. II:251.)

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     "For the intelligence of the soul is the same in the infant as in the adult and aged: it is what flows into our thought and makes us able to understand and philosophically to connect together all things which we think." (525.)

     And that the inmost soul is the same in angel and devil and is never closed to God, we find stated in the Soul:

     "Therefore, there are divine souls or those belonging to the divine society, and there are those that are diabolical belonging to the infernal society. All nevertheless enjoy the most perfect intelligence of the good and the true, but are effected with either the love or the hatred of these." (527.)

     This would be differently stated in the Writings, but it is in essential agreement with the statement that the inmost soul is never closed to the Divine influx and cannot be perverted or injured by sin: hence in that degree even the devils receive Divine gifts, though they have closed their conscious
minds against them.

     This wonderful harmony between the scientific and theological works has not been fully seen until recently. Where seen it has caused great astonishment and many questions have arisen.

     Of the use of Swedenborg's science to the Church there can be no doubt. Indeed a knowledge of his science and philosophy is indispensable to a full and rational understanding of our theology.

     This does not mean that every one must become a philosopher to be saved. But it does mean that they who would see truths rationally and profoundly, who would see in themselves that truths are true and not depend upon others for their light, must be both natural and spiritual philosophers.

     Every spiritual truth rests upon natural truth. Natural truths are the mirrors in which spiritual truths are seen. Therefore, if the Church has not natural truth, her spiritual truths will be seen in but vague and misty outline. They cannot be clearly and sharply defined. We shall not consider at this time the manner in which Swedenborg gained these super-eminent truths as a philosopher, except to say that it seems to us necessary that he should gain them by his own efforts, acting as of himself and not by an immediate influx from God.

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     The revelation for the New Church is a rational revelation. It was dictated to Swedenborg into his rational. It is an essential of rationality that there be freedom and reason. The rational cannot be coerced. It cannot think from another. In either case it ceases to be rational.

     How could the Divine flow in and give any new spiritual or rational truth by immediate influx unless there were already in the mind the natural form of that truth? According to the laws of influx as given in the Writings it is impossible.

     The Divine light and love indeed flow into every soul without measure, but are received only as vessels are provided to receive them.

     These vessels are never given nor can they be given by influx. They must be learned by man. They must be drawn in through the senses. They must be gained by the man himself that they may be his own.

     Then when he has these vessels, which are natural truths, and when they are truths looking upward to the Lord as the only source of wisdom and love, the Lord can inflow immediately into them and give enlightenment. He can give man to know by an internal dictate that the truths which he has learned are true.

     But without these natural truths gained from without by science and reason, man can receive no internal and spiritual truths. Time forbids to go into this subject more fully. But perhaps enough has been said to show that it was necessary that Swedenborg, as a philosopher, should have the natural form of every general doctrine that Swedenborg, as Servant of the Lord saw and taught from the Lord.

     The Lord does not give instruction as man to man. His Spirit flows down from man's inmost into his mind. Divine speech is heard according to the forms which are there to receive it. Revelation will be outwardly Jewish with a Jew, and Christian with a Christian. If revelation is to be rational and without fallacies in its outward form it must be given through a rational mind.

     Differently from previous Divine revelations the Word for the New Church is not a parable or shadow of truth, but is truth itself even in its outward form.

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     If this is Divine and given with Divine authority it could be so only where the external or natural forms of all its doctrines previously existed in the mind of the revelator.

     Then the Divine Spirit, flowing in, finds the form as a body to receive it. The truth which is now seen and taught with Divine authority, because internally perceived or dictated by the Lord, is spiritual truth. It is different from the natural truth previously known. Yet it is like it as the soul is like its body, as the spirit is like the face through which it reveals itself. These doctrines which we have been considering as new to the New Church are very different from the same doctrines as they appear in the scientific works. They are higher and more universal. They are spiritual. They are living. They are realities and not merely entities of reason.

     Yet they are like them as soul to body and could not have been given in a body of different form. Columbus saw by reason that the world was round and that by sailing West he should reach land. But the land discovered and explored was much more than the land he saw by faith.

     So the Sun of Heaven, Heaven itself, Degrees, Correspondences, and hence Creation and the inmost Soul as revealed through the Lord's Servant, immeasurably exceed the conceptions of those same things as foreseen by reason by Swedenborg the Philosopher.

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NAPHTALI--TEMPTATION AND CONSOLATION.* 1908

NAPHTALI--TEMPTATION AND CONSOLATION.*       Rev. C. TH. ODHNER       1908

     * For the preceding sermons of this series, see New Church Life, Jan. 1903, Jan. 1904, Jan. 1906, Nov. 1906 and Nov. 1907.

     "And Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel, conceived again, and bare unto Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, with wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed. And she called his name Naphtali." (Gen. 30: 7, 8.)

     The two wives of Jacob signify the two general affections of truth within the regenerating man, out of which are born all things of the Church with him. Leah, the firstborn, is the affection of exterior truth, while Rachel, the younger sister, is the affection of interior truth. To each of the sisters there was given a handmaid, by whom is signified an introductory or subservient affection, and here by Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, is meant the affection of affirming interior truth, or the affirmative disposition towards interior truth. Her first son was Dan, who represents the acknowledgment of interior truth.

     Her next son was Naphtali, who was named from the "wrestlings" of Rachel with her sister for the love of Jacob,--that is, the struggles of the affection of interior truth to become the mistress of the regenerating mind. Naphtali, therefore, signifies the second general state of man after he has entered the life of the internal Church,--that is, the state of temptations and also the state immediately following upon successful spiritual combats.

     That Naphtali signifies the state of temptations is evident not only from the literal meaning of his name, ("My wrestlings"), but also from everything that is known of the history and location of this tribe. Inhabiting the mountainous region through which leads the highway from Syria into Palestine, the tribe of Naphtali always had to bear the brunt of attacks from invading Syrians, Ammorites, and Assyrians, and hence of necessity it became a fighting tribe, the warlike guardians of the gateway leading into the land of Canaan.

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Thus in the days of the Judges, when Jabin, king of the Canaanites, and his captain, Sisera, oppressed the children of Israel, it was Barak, the hero of Naphtali, who with his own tribe and Zebulon, defeated the gentiles in the great battle by the river Kishon. Hence these two tribes were thus celebrated by Deborah, the prophetess, in her inspired paean: "Zebulon and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. . . . They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." (Judges 5:18, to). These words are thus echoed in the Book of Revelation: "They loved not their life, even unto death." (Rev. 12:11), signifying here also "the faithful who have endured temptations on account of the truth, and who have regarded the life of the world as of no account, in comparison with the life of Heaven." (A. E. 750).

     Naphtali bears the same signification in the New Testament, when, after the Lord had endured the forty days of temptation in the wilderness, "He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the seacoast, in the borders of Zebulon and Nephtalim." (Matth. 4:13). For Naphtali represents not only the temptations themselves, but also the state after temptations.

     As in the case of all the other tribes of Israel, Naphtali also received as inheritance a portion of the land of Canaan which as to geographical situation was in exact correspondence with the spiritual signification of the tribe itself.

     The tribe of Dan, as was shown in a preceding discourse, was located at the extreme west and also at the extreme north of Canaan, at the only natural gateways into the land, and this in order to represent the fact that the only way of entering into the Church, or into the interior life of regeneration, is by the affirmative acknowledgment of the Divine Truth.

     Now, when the pilgrim entering the land from the north, through the Lebanon valley, has passed through the gateway of Dan, he finds himself in northern Galilee in the rugged mountainous district formerly inhabited by Naphtali. Here are the loftiest peaks in all Palestine, with great forests and deep, dark ravines, the region gradually sloping down on all sides: on the west towards the Mediterranean coast, where dwelt the tribe of Asher; on the east towards the Jordan valley, on the other side of which dwelt the northern half of the tribe of Manasseh; and on the south towards the fertile regions inhabited by the tribe of Zebulon.

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Let us keep well in mind these neighbors of Naphtali, for they all belong together in the one series which represents as a whole the introductory or relatively external states of the internal spiritual Church. Asher represents in general Charity or the love of being useful to the neighbor; Manasseh, the actual life of uses; Zebulon, the conjunction of charity with internal faith; and Naphtali, the perception and the joy of perceiving all these heavenly things, after victorious combats of temptation.

     The entrance into this perception, however, and into all the goods and truths of Heaven and the Church, is afforded only through the "narrow road" of spiritual temptation,--the mountain-passes and ravines of upper Naphtali; and the traveler is bound to come into these struggles the instant he has entered the internal Church through the gateway of Acknowledgment,--the territory of Dan.

     We are taught that "after the delight of the love of self and the world has prevailed with a man, it cannot be dissipated by any other medium than the affirmation and acknowledgment of the Holy of Faith and the Good of Love. This is Dan. And then through temptation, which is the second medium, and is signified by Naphtali, for this medium follows the other." (A. C. 3228.)

     For spiritual temptations do not come to the man who does not know the Truth, nor to the man who may know the Truth as a matter of memory and of intellectual interest, yet does not acknowledge from the heart that the Truth is Divine, that it is from the Lord alone, that it is the Lord with man. Such a man cannot be let into spiritual temptations, for on the one hand he does not possess anything that the devils hate, nor, on the other hand, anything that the devils fear; he does not as yet possess anything truly Divine, or any effective weapons whereby he may fight against the evil spirits. But as soon as the LORD is seen in the truths of the Church, as soon as the LORD becomes present by His Truth in the human mind, the hatred of Hell is at once aroused; but at the same time the LORD is admitted into the mind, and is permitted to fight for the man, to defend him, and gain the victory for him.

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For without the LORD, no man could fight against the power of Hell, any more than a solitary swimmer could turn the raging torrents of Niagara.

     As soon, therefore, as the regenerating man has acknowledged the presence of the Divine in the Truth which he knows, the hordes of Hell rush upon him. For he is not at once saved from Hell by any general acknowledgment of the Truth. He may cut down the tree of denial, but the roots of doubt still remain in the ground, and they will spring up, here, there, and everywhere. Remains of the old state, the innumerable hidden affections of love of self and the world, of corporeal lusts, of self-confidence, of distrust in the Divine Providence, of suspicions against the neighbor,--innumerable falsities and innumerable evils, still possess the vessels of the mind, quite like a garden overgrown with weeds. These have to be rooted out, one by one. The real struggle has just begun.

     The pilgrim to the heavenly Canaan becomes an Israelite by entering through the gateway of Dan. He becomes a Newchurchman, in faith at least, by the acknowledgment that the Heavenly Doctrine is the Word of the Lord in His Second Coming. But he is not safe as yet. The Syrians and the Ammorites are pursuing from behind, and he must hasten into the mountain-passes of Naphtali. The Syrians are the "cognitions," the knowledges of Doctrine minus the acknowledgment of their Divinity. The man thinks he knows so much of these Doctrines, but his previous knowledges often seem to conflict with the new and interior vistas of the land which he gains as he painfully climbs to the mountain-tops of Naphtali. Doubts occur, doubts as to more particular truths, doubts as to their real value in actual science and in actual life. Thus "the man who is in temptations hangs between the negative and the affirmative. He who succumbs, remains in doubt and falls into the negative. But he who overcomes, may indeed be in doubt, yet, if he suffers himself to be raised up by hope, he stands firm in the affirmative." (A. C., 2338).

     As with the individual, so with the Church as a whole.

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In the whole Christian Church there has been no spiritual temptation since the fated day of the Council of Nice when the Church universally confirmed itself in the spirit of negation by denying the sole Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. When, after more than a thousand years of desolation, the Lord effected His Second Coming and began to establish His New and crowning Church, the receivers of the new Revelation first had to pass through the Lebanon valley of Syria, that is, they had to acquire a general knowledge of the rational principles of the Doctrines, but they were yet outside the internal Church itself, until they were ready to acknowledge that these Doctrines are of Divine Authority, superior to the judgment of the natural-rational man.

     When this acknowledgment had been made, when some few at least had entered through Dan into Naphtali, then the New Church began her long history of temptations,--combats against the Dragon attacking from without,--doctrinal controversies with negative spirits nominally within the pale of the Church,--misunderstandings, upheavals, and divisions within nearly every society of the Church,--until at times the very existence of the Church seemed threatened, and courage often gave way to despair. It has been a painful history, a mournful history, but it was inevitable; nothing else could be expected. The new wine had been gathered, and it had to undergo the foul and turbulent process of fermentation if it was ever to become a clear, noble, and generous wine.

     It has not all been storm and stress and combat, however,--not always the darkness of ravine and canon, for after each six days of labor there has always come a day of rest. As the few pressed on through Naphtali they occasionally gained glimpses of the blessings before them and around them. States on consolation succeeded each bitter struggle. The "blessedness of Asher" then smiled upon them,--the social delight of fellowship in the Church, the sphere of a new, spiritual and genuine charity, refreshing the strength and the courage. The plains of Bashan, where Manasseh dwells, also rolled forth its riches with perceptions of uses in the life of the Church, uses for the Church and for Heaven, uses for the salvation of mankind. And, best of all consolations, Zebulon, the conjugial life of the Church, offered harbor and peace and the joys of Heaven, wherever marriage was regarded and entered upon according to the Doctrines of the Church.

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Thus Naphtali, for the Church as a whole and for each regenerating man, has proved not a curse but a blessing.

     The actuality and nature of temptations are more easily recognized in the collective man than in the individual. It seems to the individual that he has seldom if ever experienced the direful struggles so vividly described in the Heavenly Doctrine. Somehow he cannot recollect any grand battles in his own little life, or any decisive victories over the powers of hell, and hence he becomes despondent, occasionally, thinking that either he has not entered at all upon the life of regeneration, or else that he has failed and given in without a struggle whenever temptations have approached. He does not realize that this very doubt may be in itself a spiritual temptation. He forgets that the memory of past troubles is easily covered over, even as a woman quickly forgets the pangs of childbirth in the joy over her newborn child.

     The fact is that the struggles known as spiritual temptations generally take place upon so interior a plane of the mind as scarcely to come to the notice of his external consciousness, except as a more or less vague sensation of disturbance, distress, and anxiety, the man himself hardly knowing "what is the matter with him." This is the case with most of our temptations, the Lord fighting for us far within, and giving life and growth unto His beloved, as it were in sleep. Sometimes, however, the temptation becomes natural as well as spiritual, especially when natural misfortunes, or dangers, or states of disease, add themselves to internal doubts and distresses; the temptations then become severe and reach the man's consciousness, although even then he may not realize that they are spiritual temptations. And after the battle is over the memory of it is removed lest the man should ascribe to himself the merit of victories. He forgets it in the "forgetfulness of Manasseh,"--that is, in the joy and absorption of uses in life.

     All temptations, whether natural or spiritual, have one common origin,--the influx of the spirits of Hell into the ruling loves of the natural man. They are permitted to come upon the regenerating man "when he immerses himself too much in worldly and corporeal things" and in such a state "speaks or does something contrary to the conscience that has been formed within him by the Divine Truth." (A. C. 986, 6202).

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The evil spirits then infuse the idea that the evil is from the man himself, and not from them, and hence he experiences pangs of conscience and interior anxieties, attended with clouds of doubt as to the truth or value of the dictates of his conscience. (N. J. 196).

     Spiritual temptation is thus a controversy, a disputing, in the mind, between the truths of Heaven and the falsities of Hell. The infernals infuse their accusations and falsities, endeavoring to cause the man to doubt as to his final salvation; to make him believe that he himself is a devil, hopelessly lost; that there is no use struggling against his own impulses; and they labor with might and main to bring him into a state of despair in which he shall confirm his doubt into a denial of the mercy and presence of the Lord, nay into a denial of the existence of God.

     Nevertheless, in the inmost of the mind the Lord and His angels are present as the center of peace in a raging whirlwind; and to every falsity which the hells inject, there is an answer and a refutation from the Word, gradually dissipating the infernal arguments. After a while a rift appears among the fleeing cloud banks; a star is seen, a perception of hope; reasons after reasons come down from Heaven, showing the foolishness, the insanity, the wickedness, of the despair, the denials, the doubts, and of the evil itself by which the devils were tempting. Little by little the sky clears and the storms of passion abate, and at length there is peace.

     These spiritual combats are no mere figures of speech, or imagery of words describing abstract processes. They are actual organic modifications of the very substances composing the human mind. They do not take place in the corporeal flesh itself, for the troubles of the flesh are not spiritual temptations. Nor do they take place in the soul itself, for this inmost organ of life resides in an atmosphere far removed from the touch of Hell. But between these two there is the man himself, his rational mind, which is built up by the influx of the soul into the body, and the reflux of the world through the senses of the body. Here, then, is the field of the battle.

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     This intermediate mind is a complete human system or internal body consisting of most minute and subtle glands, fibers, and tissues, quite discrete from the grosser and compound vessels which weave the visible body. This internal system is distributed throughout the body, in all its parts, but has its center and high-seat in the simple glands which constitute the cortical or gray substance of the brain. These glands, with their simple fibers, again consist of still smaller cells, nuclei and vessels, all arranged into perpetually spiral gyrations according to the ruling loves which are inmostly active in the mind. As are the ruling loves, such will be the twist or spire of the vessels.

     With the descendants of countless generations of fallen men, the ruling loves are perverted from the very birth, and hence the disposition of our mental vessels is flowing in a curve and twist contrary to the order and flux of Heaven. It is thus true, even physically, that the human heart is "desperately wicked," all the constituent vessels of the mind "being in a position and direction contrary to the inflowing life; it is therefore evident that these vessels must be brought back into a position according to that life, or in obedience to that life. This can never be done as long as man remains in that state into which he was born and into which he has reduced himself; for the vessels are not obedient, because they are obstinately resisting and with all their might opposing the heavenly order according to which the inflowing life is operating." (A. C. 3318).

     Concerning this contrary disposition of the vessels we are further taught in the Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 270.

     "The natural mind, with all the things thereof, is coiled into gyres running from right to left, but the spiritual mind into gyres running from left to right; thus these two minds are curving in directions contrary to each other,--a sign that evil resides in the natural mind, and that of itself it acts contrary to the spiritual mind. Moreover, the gyration from right to left is turned downward, thus toward hell, but the gyration from left to right tends upward, thus toward heaven. This was made evident to me by the fact that an evil spirit can turn his body only from right to left, but not from left to right. But a good spirit can only with difficulty turn his body from right to left, but with ease from left to right. The turning follows the flow of the interior things which are of the mind."

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     The left side, it should be remembered, always signifies the intellectual faculty, thus truth and faith; while the right side always signifies the voluntary faculty, thus good and charity or their opposites. The gyration from right to left, therefore, with men of the fallen race does not mean a current running from good to truth, as with the celestial men, but a current running from evil to falsity, from hatred of good toward the denial of truth, from lust of the will to the confirmation and excusing of evil through false reasonings and persuasions.

     Thus the whole form and disposition of the natural mind, which had been created an image and likeness of God, has become an image and likeness of Hell; has become, in fact, a miniature hell, or a collection of evils and falses, each gland being a form of infernal lust, each fibre the form of a falsity. To this hereditary disposition there are added, moreover, the evils and falses acquired by each individual in his actual life, which confirm the infernal twist of all the vessels of the mind, rendering them stiff and hard and permanent in their crookedness, so that, with a confirmed liar, for instance, the very folds of the tongue are so set in the wrong curve that the lie slips out, as it were of itself.

     All this, however, must be radically changed if the man is to be saved. "All these forms of lust have to be individually converted, [i. e., turned], and the man himself is to be converted. . . . And to convert a dragon into a lamb can only be done gradually." (D. P. 296). This conversion would seem to be a work impossible to accomplish, and it certainly would be so, were it not for the miracle which the Lord wrought in the body and mind of man in the days of Noah, when He gifted man with an ability to separate his understanding from his will,--an ability to recognize truth in spite of the evil will,--an ability to force himself away from himself as his only center, and turn to the Lord as the center of life.

     By this ability or freedom of turning from evil to good, man was enabled to change the whole current and twist of his life-forms, so that by obedience to the Lord's Truth he can in time change the right-to-left spiral into a spiral running, from left-to-right,-from truth-to-good.

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This turning, however, involves a tremendous upheaval of everything within him, a complete inversion of the whole state and disposition of his very life, a re-coiling of every fibre and vessel, an actual re-formation of his whole internal structure,--in other words, an entire new birth, It is quite evident that the man himself is utterly powerless to accomplish all this work himself. It can be done only by the Creator who made him in the beginning. All that man can do is to permit the Lord to do it for him, to open the door for the Lord to enter in, to render himself passive to the regenerating operation of the Divine Truth.

     Before the infernal twist of the mental vessels can be thus uncoiled and turned into a contrary and heavenward direction, it is first of all necessary that these vessels be softened and rendered plastic to the moulding hand of the Regenerator. Once softened, they can be bent with ease, but it is the softening process that is attended with so much difficulty and pain. And "this softening of the vessels is effected by means of temptations, and by them alone, for temptations remove what is of self-love and contempt of others in comparison with self." (A. C. 3318).

     Every process within man is organic, a change in the very substance of the mind and its body, and so also it is with this softening process. The whole tendency and gravitation of things natural, including the natural mind, is toward quiescence, inertia, death. Every blood vessel and nerve tends toward fixation, hardness, ossification, and the fixation itself is effected by the insertion, of hard, sharp, compressed particles into the interstices between the soft and fluent cells of which the glands and fibers consist. It is the man himself who is responsible for this hardening of his heart, by his voluntary association with the spheres of Hell instead of the spheres of Heaven. The spheres of Hell consist of such hard and sharp particles, salty and acid forms out of which everything of life has been pressed out, ammoniac spheres, sulphurous, urinous and excrementitious affluvia proceeding from the devils and constituting the atmosphere of Hell. The more the man steeps himself into such spheres, the more of these molecules of death he introduces into his blood; they stick fast to every interstice; they form a coating over every fluent vessel, and thus the vessels themselves become more and more stiff, hard, unpliable and foul.

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The only way of softening the vessels, therefore, is by removing these obstructing substances; the foul coatings must be broken up, the infilling affluvia must be shaken out, and to effect this, motion and commotion are necessary.

     It is this commotion that is aroused by spiritual temptations. The Lord permits the influx of infernal spirits into the selfish and worldly loves with the man. Some evil passion is aroused from below. A volume of gall is then emitted into the red blood; a herd of poisonous, black, sharp-pointed particles spread themselves throughout the vital fluid. The pure blood, in fear and trembling of these hellish arrows of the bile, retreats precipitately to the stronghold of the heart, but soon, recruited by new columns, it rushes forth to expel the invaders. Thus there is a battle and commotion in the very blood, and a corresponding commotion and shaking up of every coating blood vessel, nerve and fibre, and the disturbance spreads to every gland and cell of body and brain.

     Every vessel then shakes and trembles like a tree in the storms of early spring. But by the bending and breaking the infilling particles of death are actually loosened and shaken out, and are carried away by the victorious currents of the invigorated blood. The grossest parts are swept away to the kidneys, where they are examined and strained and condemned to Hell, but the more interior evils are cast out through the sweat-glands of the skin. The sweat corresponds to the proprium of man, (A. C. 9959), for the impure and poisonous matters cast forth in the sweat, actually are of the substances of the human proprium. In every heavy labor, and also during severe mental conflicts,
the sweat pours forth, and, if not wiped off, chrystallizes into urinous and nitrogenous salts mixed with filthy fats. Thus also we read that in the Lord's supreme agony of temptation in Gethsemane, "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." (Luke, 22:44) With Him everything, the very life and blood of the maternal proprium, was completely cast off, whereas mortal man can get rid of only the grossest and most deadly forms.

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     "When, then, the vessels have become somewhat tempered and subdued by temptations, they then begin to be yielding and compliant to the life of the Lord's love, and thus man is afterwards gifted with another temper and disposition, being rendered mild, humble, simple, and contrite of heart." (A. C. 3318)

     For the evil spirits themselves have then been cast out of the blood together with the filthy particles loosened from the vessels, and they rush into these particles and are ejected from the body, even as the devils did cast themselves into the herd of swine when the possessed man was redeemed by the Lord. The vessels of the mind are now soft and plastic and can be turned by the Lord into the heavenward direction. The resistance of the man himself has also been broken, his self-confidence has been shaken by reflection upon his own weakness, and by a realization of the shamefulness of the evil towards which he so passionately inclined, and he thus becomes like clay in the hand of his Maker.

     The representation of Naphtali now undergoes a change. He no longer represents the state of man during temptations, but he now stands for the state of consolation after temptation, with all the new perceptions and delights which come to man after a victorious combat. This new state is beautifully represented in the words of Jacob when bestowing the final blessing upon his sons: "Naphtali is a hind let loose giving discourses of elegance." (Gen. 49:21).

     "A hind let loose,"--a beautiful simile, and more than a simile! The hind is a noble and graceful animal, loving its forest freedom above all things; though timid and distrustful of its own powers, it is swift of foot in eluding its enemies, while, when brought to bay, it is fierce and strong in defending its life. Such, also, is the natural mind of the regenerating man, which ardently longs for and rejoices in the freedom of its new-born spiritual affections. (A. C. 6413.) This longing is described in the words of the Psalmist: "As the hart panteth after the brooks of water, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." (Ps. 42:1.) And the freedom and security gained after temptation is described in the words: "The Lord maketh my feet as the feet of the hind, and setteth me upon mine high places." (Ps. 18:33.) And in the Writings, free nations are likened to "great stags with lofty horns, who roam over the fields, the groves and the forests in perfect freedom; while nations that are not free are like deer kept in parks to please a prince." (T. C. R. 815.)

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     The joy of this ardent affection of freedom, when it is liberated from the servitude of Well, finds expression in "goodly words" or "discourses of elegance." For "all speech proceeds from the mind, and when the mind is glad and cheerful, it speaks with elegance." (A. C. 6414)

     After a great victory come celebrations and jubilations. The liberated thought swings upward in thanksgiving to the Lord. The sphere of Heaven descends and the mind perceives a delight which is in reality a perception of the joy of the angels over a soul liberated by the Lord's Redemption. The tongue then breaks forth into songs of gladness, paeans of victory, words of unconscious eloquence, unconscious because from a humble heart, eloquent because from the harmonious rhythm of the heavenly auras.

     Thus it is with the individual man, and thus it has ever been in human history. After every great national struggle, poetry and fine literature blossom forth with renewed vigor. Thus it was after the escape of the Israelites from Egypt, when Moses and Miriam sang their songs in celebration of their liberation and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host. Thus also Deborah, the prophetess, broke forth in song after the victory of Zebulon and Naphtali over Sisera. Thus also the great national struggle of the young Hellenic race against the corrupt power of Troy was celebrated in the immortal epics of Homer. A similar development took place in Athens after the Persian Wars, in Rome after the long civil wars, in England after the Reformation, and thus in many other instances.

     The consolation which is bestowed by the Lord after the combat of temptation thus brings a new state of freedom, a new state of joy and delight and beauty of life, and not only these but also the even more valuable blessings of a new light, a new perception, and a further extension into the interior truths and goods of the Church. For by the shaking out of the obstructing dead particles from the vessels of the mind, these vessels are opened for an influx of the more interior societies of Heaven, and this new influx brings with it a new "perception of use and what use is." (A. R. 354)

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Associated with Asher to the west, there is then in Naphtali a new perception of uses, looking to Manasseh, or the uses themselves, in the east, and to Zebulon, the conjunction of the external life with the internal, in the south. Thus by spiritual temptations, and by them alone, man is able to enter more deeply into the Church, more interiorly into the Heavenly Canaan which is to be his eternal home. Amen.
REMAINS 1908

REMAINS       ELEORA PENDLETON       1908

     In the Gospels the Lord teaches His disciples that "whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein."

     The Lord has provided that everyone map receive His kingdom while a little child, for it is His will that everyone shall enter therein; but man's nature is a fallen one, and he forgets in his vain strivings for natural kingdoms, that God has made him a gift, which, used as is the Divine intention that it should be used, will lead him to the everlasting kingdom.

     Remains are easily and naturally implanted in children. Their natural affections are not fully enough developed to resist the reception, and angels who give of their own states of innocence and peace are always present.

     The part of the parents in implanting remains in their children is that of teaching the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and in reading from the Word. If, in their dealing with children, parents will look to their children's eternal welfare and not to their mere pleasure, the children will have a leaning toward moral and spiritual rectitude. From such parents they early learn to distinguish between right and wrong, learn obedience and self-control, and these things, unknown to the child, are used by the angels and the Lord in combating the evils which later in life will infest.

     States of innocence and obedience last, in general, until the fourteenth year. At that time a youth begins to think and reason for himself, and if truths from the Word were not deeply inrooted, how often would he think rightly or do good?

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He knows the Commandment: Thou shalt not lie; and since he has learned obedience to his parents, it is easier for him to obey the Lord, and if he lie, it is not because he does not know. Formerly it was to him a sin against his parents; now it becomes a sin against his God, and how much graver the fall if he does not resist!

     Not only are remains implanted during infancy and childhood; they are all states of innocence, charity, mercy and truth from the Lord, which gradually form a strong defense against the enemy. But unless the defense is very strong, one enemy will creep in like a spy into a camp and insidiously destroy remains. This enemy is deceit. "Deceit is like a poison which penetrates to the interiors and destroys remains, on the destruction of which nothing of spiritual life remains."

     It is by means of the influx through remains that man becomes rational; he reasons from what he knows to be the truth, judges natural science, rejects the false, and accepts the true.

     Remains in later life pertain more to truth than good, for if a man knows the truth he can resist evil by means of it, and good will follow.

     A man cannot do good that is good until he has shunned evils; new wine cannot be put into old bottles; all the commandments teach: "THOU SHALT NOT".

     When the grave importance of all that is meant by remains is felt, it will be more fully realized how necessary it is for evils to be resisted. Every evil that is indulged, every evil thought that is cherished, makes a lasting impression on the very substance of the brain, and is with much difficulty eradicated. When evils are active the angels cannot be present, and remains are for the time obliterated; but a path once trod is more easy of access, and every evil resisted leads to regeneration.

     Inasmuch as evils indulged and falsities confirmed, or truths denied, and the heart hardened, will kill remains with man, and inasmuch as all spiritual life is from remains, the Lord in His mercy protects them against profanation and deceit: and only when the Lord is acknowledged and evils are shunned as sins against Him, are remains given to man as his own, and by making use of the heavenly gifts we can enter the kingdom of heaven.

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     SWEDENBORG AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF "EMPIRICAL MYSTICISM."

     The following remarkable tribute to Swedenborg deserves to be placed on record in the Literature of the New Church. It is to be found in J. R. Morell's edition of Tennemann's Manual of the History of Philosophy, (London, Bohn's Library, 1852). The chapter on Swedenborg is by Mr. Morell, as is evident from the preface where it is stated that "It remained for the editor to introduce several systems which have recently obtained currency in the empire of thought. Emanuel Swedenborg was a man of too remarkable a mould, and his system too original, to be overlooked in a work professing to develop the psychological manifestations of human nature."

     We may add that the writer is quite unique among the historians of Philosophy in thus granting to Swedenborg a place in the Annals of human thought. The more modern textbooks on the History of Philosophy generally pass him by without a word.

     SWEDENBORG.

     "About this time there appeared a man, whose merits were overlooked by the contemporary and succeeding generations, but who has assumed a loftier stature and mightier proportions as years have rolled on, and distance has enabled us more justly to estimate his altitude. Emanuel Swedenborg occupies a prominent position among the master-minds of humanity. Sprung from an eminent Swedish family, he was born at Stockholm in 1688, and passed a considerable part of his life tranquilly in London, where he closed a long and happy career in 1772. In his earlier years he devoted himself with ardour to the physical sciences, and explored them with a keen spirit of research, anticipating many subsequent inquiries. A tendency to spirituality may be traced even in his earlier scientific works, though it was reserved for his later years to develop his gift of Seership. On attaining his fifty-seventh year (A. D. 1745), he threw aside material researches, and dived into the mysteries of the spiritual world, which he has reported with a clearness, dignity, and consistency that have seldom if ever been emulated.

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It is not our province or purpose to decide the question of his Seership, but we may be permitted to remark that to all impartial and reflecting minds his historical appearance Presents a problem that still awaits solution. The smile of incredulity begins to die upon the lips of the conscientious sceptic, and the opprobrious terms 'dreamer' and 'madman' are yielding to the more courteous epithet of Mystic. In vain will you ransack the archives of his family or personal history for a trace of insanity. Equally fruitless will be your endeavor to trace any symptoms of incoherence or raving in his methodical pages. If he must needs be mad, there is a rare method in his madness; and if the world insists on his being a visionary, it must admit that his visions are something anomalous in their systematic and mathematical form. But we have yet to learn that visionaries and dreamers can write a cool, business-like style, and pen dry and well-digested folios; nor is it a common thing to find a madman deficient in sallies of imagination, and remarkable for strong common sense. Such is the problem and anomaly presented by this remarkable man, whose gift of seership is attested by such characters as Kant and the sister of the great Frederick. The solution we leave to the skill of the gentle reader, as it does not fall within our province.

     HIS PHILOSOPHY.

     "Swedenborg's philosophy, as developed in his scientific as well as theological works, may be characterized as a very decided system of Empirical Realism, distinguished for an almost diaphanic introvision into the human heart, for consummate simplicity, and consistency. He regards the science of Correspondence as the Key of Knowledge, a Divine Philosophy unlocking the treasures of the Spiritual as well as Natural worlds, and sending thought at a bound from the Zoophyte to the Seraphim. The material world is the ultimate and pedestal of the universe, filled with various creations, corresponding to others in the higher-ascending Spheres of the Universe. Thus nature is in truth a Revelation and a Divine Book, whose letters, the Groves, Hills, and Rivers, the Firmament and the Lamps of Heaven, are hieroglyphic representatives of corresponding spiritual realities.

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     "The doctrine of Degrees forms a pendant to the science of Correspondence in Swedenborg's Philosophy. Degrees, which he classes in two series, i. e., Continuous and Discrete, carry the mind by the Patriarch's Ladder, from earth to heaven; and, scaling the empyrean, conduct us from O to the throne of God. The Continuous Degrees are evident and familiar to all, whereof an obvious example is presented in the ascending series of organic vitality, from the plant to man. Discrete Degrees constitute a series of a different description. They are the same things mirrored or re-echoed on different platforms through the medium of Correspondences. Thus God is the Sun of the Spiritual World, whose heat and light are love and wisdom.

     "The Psychological Analysis of Swedenborg is remarkable for its agreement with the conscience and experience of all who reflect on what transpires in the chambers of their own heart. His remarks, indeed, are alarmingly searching, and seem to proceed from one who united to a profound knowledge of mankind, a natural kind of clairvoyance that penetrated into the inmost recesses of men's thoughts and motives. His philosophy savors much more of life than of the lamp. He divides the mind into will and understanding; the seats of the affections and of thought. It is the former that constitutes the character; man being what his loves are, according to the elevation or depression of his affections, a little lower than the angels, or crawling worm-like in the dust. Man, regarded as a psycho-physiological being, consists of three parts: 1st, The spirit, which is essentially the mart; 2d, Its inner garment, or spiritual body, identical with the soul of St. Paul's Epistles, and which constitute the medium of union between the spirit, and 3dly, its outer garment or material body. The latter is woven around it by the spirit through the law of correspondences. Hence a perfect analogy exists between the mental faculties and the bodily organs.

     "Death, according to Swedenborg, is nothing more than the casting off an outer skin, or the shelling of the mature and ripened spirit within.

     "The mind may be again subdivided into three parts: 1st, The inmost or Celestial-Spiritual principle, by which man communicates directly with God, angels, and heaven.

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2d, The Rational and Internal, which constitutes the intellectual and scientific principle; and the External, natural, or sensuous, which brings man into connection with the material world The metaphysical reader will easily trace an analogy between Swedenborg's Celestial-Spiritual, Rational, and Sensuous principles, and the Intuitive Reason, the Logical Understanding, and the Sensational Perception (Anschauung) of Transcendental Philosophy. There is, however, one broad distinction between them: Swedenborg's Celestial-Spiritual Principle grasps an objectively real and substantial world of Spirits; and his sensuous principle grapples with the solid reality of an objective world of matter, whilst the Transcendentalist, both in his intuition and his sensation, hobbles in a world of subjective ideas and representations, that hold his mind in a straight-waistcoat.

     "On an impartial review of his system, it will be found to be characterized by that best of wisdom, which consists in its adaptation to the normal understanding, and its agreement with the most cherished instincts of the human heart.

     SWEDENBORG'S POSITION AS A PSYCHOLOCICAL PHENOMENON.

     "It is refreshing, in the eleventh hour of the eighteenth century, the age of Atheism, Libertinism, Freemasonry, and Rosicrusianism, to meet a man who united a healthy, plain, and practical view of life, man, and nature, with the sublimest, and at the same time, the most scientific handling and treatment of things spiritual and eternal.

     "In the eyes of an impartial and discriminating posterity, Emanuel Swedenborg will obtain an elevated rank in the illustrious brotherhood of the luminaries of the Church. A certain family likeness may be traced between all the members of this memorable group.

     "Benedict, St. Francis, and Loyola, were a union of contradictions; themselves living paradoxes. The first, a burning Calabrian rhapsodist, could descend from the sublimest exstacies and the most rapturous trances, to draw up a legislative code, whose propriety, expediency, and sound practical sense, have astonished the world for above one thousand years.

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     "St. Francis of Assisi was another instance of the blending of superior diplomatic acuteness with a grasp of faith that revealed to his glowing vision those things that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. The Franciscan Order still remains as a monument of the man, who was as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove; and its history attests the giant arm that raised it.

     Loyola, whose merits none can dispute, notwithstanding the sins of his Order, coupled the extreme of ascetic humiliations and apostolic devotion with a dry, business-like style, and a deliberate shrewdness in his knowledge of mankind, and in the reading of the human heart. Similarly, Swedenborg, when treating of the sublimest realties, proceeds with the coolness and
imperturbable deliberation of a man entering items in his ledger.

     "As previously observed, however, the revelation and commentaries of Swedenborg do not fall exactly within our province. Nevertheless, since his philosophical writings are considerably influenced and modified by his theology, we must consider the latter in order to estimate the former. On a general survey of his works it appears that he must be classed with Empirists, Supernaturalists, and perhaps with Mystics. Let not, however, the latter term be taken as a condemnation. Since the diffusion of Kantian and other Rationalisms, there has been an evident tendency to pronounce Supernaturalism identical with Mystiticism; and Mysticism, hallucination. The impartiality and dignity of history requires us to abstain from attaching a stigma to any honest and enlightened phase of thought and feeling, whether positive or negative."

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DOES THE RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY CONTRADICT THE TEACHING THAT ANGELS ARE IN THE HUMAN FORM? 1908

DOES THE RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY CONTRADICT THE TEACHING THAT ANGELS ARE IN THE HUMAN FORM?       ELDRED E. IUNGERICH       1908

     Swedenborg, in his Rational Psychology, makes the following statement:

     But it is asked, What is to be the form of the soul in heaven, whether similar to the corporeal form, or another which is called angelic? and then whether the angelic form is similar to the human form? This indeed I do not think will be, (viz.), that we are to put on the human form. (521.)

     The editor and translator of the English edition, the Rev. Frank Sewall, here introduces a copious footnote which begins as follows:

     "How entirely contrary this is to the author's subsequent teaching may be seen from the following extracts from the work on Heaven and Hell, Nos. 453, 456, 461." He then quotes much from these passages--to the effect that man after death is in a perfect human form, and that the modern widespread denial of this truth is coupled with an ignorance and non-understanding of what a spiritual principle is. The translator is of the opinion that the Rational Psychology contradicts this teaching. Yet at the end of this footnote he calls attention to the fact that Swedenborg in the second part of the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, WRITTEN IN THE SAME YEAR as the Rational Psychology, namely, 1741, seems clearly to have maintained the doctrine of the human form of departed spirits. The reader is then referred to the appendix where the teaching of the Economy is presented in the following form:

     It may be demonstrated to intellectual belief that the human spiritual fluid is absolutely safe from harm by aught that befalls in the sublunary region; and that it is indestructible, and remains immortal, although not immortal, per se, after the death of the body. That when emancipated from the bonds and trammels of earthly things, it will still assume the exact form of the human body, and live a life pure beyond imagination.

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     We are thus encouraged by the translator to believe not only in a manifest contradiction between a scientific and a theological work, but also between two scientific works written the same year.

     Now does this passage of the Rational Psychology really constitute a contradiction to the true teachings? We think not. The very next sentence after the point where the translator has introduced his footnote, is a disclaimer to his contention. Adding this to the foregoing, we read as follows:

      But it is asked, What is to be the form of the soul in heaven, whether similar to the corporeal form, or another which is called angelic, and then whether the angelic form is similar to the human. This indeed I do not think will be, (viz.), that we are to put on the human form. For such a form is solely for use in the ultimate world.

     By the "human form" which the angels do not have, Swedenborg evidently means the corporeal form which is put off at death because it "is solely for use it the ultimate world." He makes no statement here as to their not having the "perfect human form" described in Heaven and Hell, or the "exact form of the human body" mentioned in the Economy.

     Read with this thought in mind, and not with the doubt interjected by the translator, the rest of this passage from the Rational Psychology presents scarcely any difficulty.

     In heaven they are as [uti] winged souls, nor do they join the society in any earth; they have no need of feet or arms, hence neither of muscles, that is, of flesh and bones, for they are spirits; nay, they require neither the red blood, nor stomach, nor intestines, nor mesentery; for these things belong to the reception of food, to chylification, to nutrition, the making of blood, and similar uses.

     By all these terms we take it that Swedenborg is referring exclusively to the members and functions of the corporeal body in this ultimate world. That this is not a specious plea, may be seen from his use of the word "flesh" in A. C. 9315; these things it is plain that the Lord from eternity was Jehovah or the Father in human form, but not yet in the flesh, for an angel has not flesh."

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     Resuming again our quotation from the Rational Psychology, we read as follows to the end of the passage:

     Nor is there need of a heart, inasmuch as there is no red blood; nor of liver, pancreas, or spleen. Neither are there teeth, jaws, throat, trachea, lungs, nor tongue; there is no use of air, respiration, speech, digestion; neither ear nor eye, for where there is no air there is no sound, and where no earth exists, there is no sight, nor could this be of any use. Even the members of the cerebrum, with the meninges, and the medullae oblongata and spinalis will be of no use; the necessity for this having perished together with the use itself. For what use could the genital organs be? All these things will serve for no use as soon as we become spirits and angelic forms. In the same manner it does not seem that the soul will assume that form which is more imperfect but not celestial, unless, as is the opinion of some, there shall be created a new earth and a new atmosphere into which we shall be sent as new inhabitants.

     The words of this last clause, we think, are to be taken in connection with the teaching concerning the establishment of the new or natural heaven, and the fact that the inhabitants of that heaven are bound to remain close to the particular earth they lived on while in the body. The angels of this heaven, (called in some places of the Writings "good spirits" in contradistinction to the "angelic spirits" of the spiritual heaven and the "angels" of the celestial heaven), are identifiable with the inhabitants here mentioned, in respect to the predicate of having a form that is more imperfect, but not celestial. This form they may have from the new atmosphere. It is the angels of the higher heaven who are "as winged souls, and do not join the society in any earth." It is not the higher angels who on occasion have speech with man.

     We see thus that Swedenborg here speaks of two distinct forms, one, the corporeal which man puts off at death, and the other the form in the natural heaven which is more imperfect than the celestial. By asserting that the angelic form is different from either of these, he has not denied that angels have a perfect human form, nor contradicted any declaration to that effect in other works.

     That he does not deny a human form to those who can do without both the corporeal and the natural, is made quite convincing in the subsequent number of the Rational Psychology, (No. 522).

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     What form shall we acquire? This we can no more know than the silkworm, which, when a miserable worm, crawls over its leaves, but after its long endured labors is turned into an aurelia and flies away a butterfly. [Notice the three forms here--worm, aurelia, butterfly.] It does not know that it is to put on an entirely different body which shall agree with the atmosphere in which it is to live; it does not know that it will take on wings and be provided with members adequate to that life. And so with ourselves. We are profoundly ignorant of the quality of that purest aura which is called celestial and in which souls are to live, being completely furnished with such a form that, like birds in our atmosphere, they may everywhere traverse their spaces and fly through universes and heavens, their members and their forms being exactly adapted to that life. Therefore, until we know what that aura is, and what life we are to lead in it, we are wholly unable to say what form we shall put on. This only may be said, that our future form is not to be suck as this present one, but the most perfect of all; a form into which we shall all be changed as nymphae and aureliae are changed to more perfect forms; a form to which our souls in like manner aspire, and for this reason often accelerate the death of the body; for this (aspiration) is inherent in the souls, and is not communicated to our body.

     To justify our conclusion as to the obvious tenor of these passages we quote the following passage from the Fragment on the Soul, which antedates the Economy.

     When the body has performed its part upon the scene, and the soul has lost the use of the sensations common to itself with the body and its organs, then the soul takes its flight and emigrates from its palace. By no means is it therefore exiled beyond all worlds, or consigned to any place or position either above or below nature; but only entering upon a freer field of existence, it expatiates in the fulfillment of its own nature over the immensity of heaven, and rises the higher into the celestial aura, the more purely and holier it has lived in its microcosm, and the more finely it has there been moulded into correspondence with the genuine state of the causes of heaven and the principles of its own particular essence. And still impressed most purely upon the simplest modifiable substances as causes, there remains in it the effigy of the body with its motions and effects, just as the figure of a tree with all its details is involved in the seed.

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Also at this time whatever actions through the instrumentality of the body have by long usage become habitual or distinctive, are still represented to the life in the separated soul. (Post. Tracts, p. 145.)

     In conclusion we would call attention to the lesson here given--as to how we shall approach the so-called Scientific works. If we view them as partaking of that mental obscurity and spiritual confusion which is so patronizingly ascribed to Swedenborg before he received his call, we will be prone to fasten our attention on mere words or mere letters, and quick to herald any unusual expression as the sign of an irreconcilable contradiction. As a result we will find in these so-called scientific works nothing more satisfactory than a complacent reflection on their striking inferiority to the theological works; or else in order to get something out of them we may have to read first a half dozen or so modern gentile philosophers, (as the Rev. L. F. Hite recommended in the New Philosophy, October, 1900, in the brief review he gave of Dr. Sewall's translation of the Rational Psychology.).

     But if we regard them as perfectly reconcilable and harmonious with the later works, and rather seek to gain that rational understanding which shall see a perfect and unbroken system and connection in all the works ever written by Swedenborg, we may come to see wonderful things and to be affected by them.

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     Den Svenska Familjejournalen, a Swedish magazine, on May 7th, published a very appreciative account of the "Swedenborgian Academy in America, Bryn Athyn." It was written, we are informed, by Mrs. Hildegard Ljungberg, and is one of the numerous articles which have recently appeared in the Swedish press, dealing with Swedenborg and the New Church.



     The state of sectarianism, to which the New Church in Great Britain has been reduced, was characteristically expressed by the resolution adopted by the English Evidence Society at the last annual meeting.

     "That, while acknowledging the efforts of the orthodox bodies in the cause of religion, this meeting reaffirms the conviction that the New Church alone is in full doctrinal accord with the fundamental teaching of Holy Scripture."

     Imagine a meeting of primitive Christians in heathen Rome adopting a resolution anything like this!



     The Rev. L. F. Hite, in an article appearing in the Messenger for June 10th, makes the confident assertion that "the differences between the Convention and the Academy as to the character of 'the Writings' are largely mere differences in the use of abstract terms." No doubt it does so appear to those who do not understand the issues involved. It was the same in the early Christian Church when the Church was rent asunder by the Arian controversy. Was Christ of the same substance with the Father, or of a different substance, or of a similar substance? To the unthinking these differences as to the character of "the Lord" were largely mere differences in the use of abstract terms. Nevertheless, the issue involved nothing less than the acknowledgment or denial of the Lord as God! Is the Lord an abstract term, either in His first or His second coming?

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     The "Northern Museum" in Stockholm has issued a Catalogue of the objects contained in its "Memorial Exposition" of Swedenborgiana. It contains a preface by Bernhard Salin, the director of the Museum, and a biographical introduction by Mr. Stroh, through whose influence the various objects of the Exhibition were lent to the Museum for this occasion. Among these objects there are eight portraits and three medallions of Swedenborg, (some of these hitherto unknown); portraits of Jesper Swedberg and his wife, Brita Behm, Charles XII, Eric Benzelius, Polheim, Augustus Nordenskjold, and C. B. Wadstrom; original manuscripts and signatures, (amongst the latter one dating from 1695, when Swedenborg was but seven years of age), original editions of printed works, historical works relating to Swedenborg and the New Church, a set of the Concordance, etc.; and, finally, a collection of objects which are said to have belonged to Swedenborg, including his organ, his inlaid marble table, etc., the whole forming a highly interesting and instructive exhibition.



     The recent stir caused by the official removal of Swedenborg's remains has raised up in the Stockholm papers a crop of legends respecting the man Swedenborg, of an imaginary and sensational character, some of which, now that they have been born into the world from the fertile brains of newspaper correspondents, will doubtless be repeated from time to time with all the solemn assurance of established facts. The ridiculous nature of these stories which have been propagated in the Swedish Capital may be judged from the following item contributed to the Chicago, Swedish-American by its Swedish correspondent: "It is quoted as a strange coincident that Swedenborg has predicted in one of his less known Latin writings, both that his bones should be brought over a great sea on a Swedish man-of-war, and that at last they would be deposited among the remains of other Swedish celebrities. That prophecy, (the correspondent credulously continues), has thus been fulfilled in every detail."



     The publication in Stockholm of stories equally misleading as the above, has induced Professor Retzius to secure from Mr. Alfred H. Stroh two lengthy biographical and critical articles on Swedenborg.

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These were printed in the Aftonbladet, a leading evening paper of which Professor Retzius is the proprietor, and are excellent presentations of the subject. It is now proposed that they be enlarged and issued as a pamphlet.



     The remains of Swedenborg arrived at Upsala on Monday, May 18th, and on the following day they were deposited, with some ceremony, in the Cathedral of Upsala, their final resting place. The long procession that followed the hearse included the head of the Swedenborg family, Captain G. W. E. Swedenborg, (a descendant of Swedenborg's brother Jesper), members of the Westmanland-Dala "nation," (a provincial student society of the University of Upsala, of which Swedenborg had been a member), Cathedral priests, University professors, army officers, representatives and members of the New Church Societies, and of the Academy of Sciences, the Swedish archbishop and other priests, members of the Scientific Society of Upsala, with which Swedenborg had been more or less closely connected, and, finally, the student corps of the University following their banners, nation by nation. The procession wended its way through the streets of Upsala between rows of school children, over three thousand in number, bearing the Swedish flag.

     After its deposit in one of the Cathedral chapels, the casket was covered with a fine embroidered cloth on which was laid a silver laurel wreath contributed by the members of the Stockholm and Gottenburg societies. Other wreaths, representing the Swedenborg family, the University, the Academy of Sciences, the Swedenborg Scientific Association and other bodies, were arranged about the casket. Later in the day they were added to by a wreath sent by the Swedish House of Nobles acting in pursuance of a resolution passed on the previous evening. The wreaths representing English admirers will also be placed about the casket. That contributed by the Swedenborg Scientific Assoc. was a large laurel wreath with a parchment inscription to the effect that it was from "the Swedenborg Scientific Association and admirers in North America."

     During the services which followed the placing of the wreaths, the Archbishop delivered a short address, in which he reminded his hearers of "Swedenborg's greatness of mind and heart, which make him an inspiration to the Swedish people."

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     It is intended to place the casket containing Swedenborg's remains in a sarcophagus to be prepared for that purpose, but which will not be completed for several months.

     The arrival in Sweden has led our English contemporary, Morning Light, to publish another illustrated number, which, among other pictures, contains a view of the debarkation at Carlskrona.



     A correspondent calls attention to a statement in the May number of the Life that, after death, a man does not advance beyond that stage of regeneration which he has entered into on earth. This was made as a general statement to be understood according to the context. It is, of course, true, as our correspondent notes, that regeneration continues to all eternity, and that those who have been reformed on earth may be introduced into regeneration after death. But to understand the bearing of this teaching a true distinction must be made between reformation and regeneration. Reformation is of the understanding, regeneration is of the will. In reformation "man looks to the spiritual and desires it;" in regeneration "he becomes spiritual-natural, i. e., the spiritual descends and regenerates, or makes anew, the natural. Reformation, therefore, is an ascending process wherein man by means of the senses, the memory, and the understanding, receives the truths of faith, and by thought, meditation and determination on them and to them brings the interior organic vessels of his mind into a form correspondent to and receptive of the Lord's life, and infills
and confirms that form. The Lord's life inflowing into these vessels thus formed from the Word, is the new will which is formed in the understanding, and it is from this new will that regeneration is to be effected; that is to say, from this new beginning a new man is to be born as a child is formed in the womb from the nucleus of seed. Regeneration is, therefore, a descending process and is effected by the Lord as man co-operates.

     Reformation takes place not according to the mere intellectual comprehension of the truths of faith, but according to the man's attitude to those truths which he knows, according to his attitude and state of mind to the things of religion. He may look to the Divine, may determine his thought to God and confirm himself in a state of obedience to God; and yet his external man may have many fallacies and evils.

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It is these that are to be removed by regeneration; the external man is to be reborn from the new internal, and if this is not done on earth it may be done after death.

     But it must be noted that this regeneration after death, is wholly determined by the plane which man has opened for himself on earth. For after death man comes into that degree which had been opened with him on earth, (D. L. W. 238; H. H. 35), and while, from the Lord's life received in this degree, he is continually regenerated and perfected, he never changes as to the inmost plane he has opened on earth, and on this plane is based his place in the Gorand Man.

     It is this doctrine which was intended to be expressed in the somewhat loose statement to which Mr. Brown calls attention. And the true meaning of the statement is plainly indicated by the connection in which it was used.

     Mr. Brown's position, which we attempted to disprove, is, that the marriage of good and truth, or regeneration, cannot be effected except by actual marriage of one man and one woman; and that without such marriage there is possible only "reformation of the natural." To this he adds the further idea that with the good, who, by reason of no marriage on earth, can only be reformed as to the natural, there will be given marriage in the other world whereby their regeneration will be effected. But to us, the plain and unmistakable teaching of the Writings is that the marriage of good and truth is of the internal man and thence of the external, and not, as our correspondent's position would imply, the reverse. Man is reformed and regenerated just in the degree that he looks to the Lord and suffers himself to be purified and his will and thought to be reborn from the Lord. These are internal processes and are effected according to the interior states of the man. They are effected irrespective of the merely external conditions in which man is, but not irrespective of the attitude of the man to those external conditions. In other words, man's state is to be judged solely from his intention and will and not from his deeds. In marriage also he may be merely in the state of reformation, because, as yet, many fallacies and evils remain in his external.

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In unhappy or unconjugial marriage one of the partners may be in conjugial love and the other not. (C. L. 226.) In celibacy also those who have desired marriage may be spiritual men, (C. L. 54), for their state is determined not by their celibacy but by the interior desire of their will.

     It is indeed the universal teaching of the whole of the Writings that the marriage of good and truth is effected solely according to the state of the internal man and not according to the deeds of his body. The latter are qualified by the former and not the former by the latter. Take ten men whose deeds appear alike,-yet five may be in heaven and five in hell; for man is in spiritual societies according to his thought from intention.

     How contrary is this to the thought that man cannot be in the marriage of good and truth unless he is in actual marriage. Moreover such a thought is opposed to the Lord's teaching that in heaven they are neither married nor given in marriage. Concerning this teaching we read: "There are weddings in the heavens as on earth, but with no others there except those who are in the marriage of good and truth, nor are others angels. Therefore, spiritual nuptials, which are of the marriage of good and truth, are there meant. These are given on earth and not after death, thus not in the heavens." (C. L. 44 fin.) There must be something of the marriage of good and truth with every man on earth who is to be saved. The marriage itself is in the interiors of man, and it is by the descent of this marriage that he becomes regenerate either here or after death. And this descent is effected so far as man removes the evils and falses in his external man that oppose it. Principal among these opposing evils and falsities are the love of adultery and its persuasions. So far as man suffers these to be removed by the Lord, so far does the marriage of good and truth descend from the heaven of his internal man to the earth of his external; so far he becomes a new man; so far he enters into conjugial love, if not in act, still in end and intention.

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"THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE NEW CHURCH." 1908

"THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE NEW CHURCH."       W. H. A       1908

     Under this caption the Rev. L. F. Hite discusses in the April New Church Review, the particulars of doctrine in which the New Church might claim distinctiveness in the eyes of those not of its own communion. Admitting that it is proper among ourselves to claim distinctiveness, he yet finds difficulty in so putting the matter that the New Church will appear distinctive in the eyes of others. Beginning with the three familiar essentials of New Church doctrine: the acknowledgment of the sole Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the holiness and Divinity of the Word, and the life which is charity, he finds that these are likewise claimed by all Christian sects. The notion of the spiritual sense of the Word he finds to be familiar in the Christian world, and the great doctrines of correspondence and degrees are the commonplace of old philosophies. He is driven to take final stand upon the doctrine of the glorification of the Lord, which he declares to be the one distinctive doctrine from which the distinctiveness of all other doctrines of the New Church is derived. But it would not seem difficult, if we were to admit the justice of his reasoning, to show that the doctrine of the Glorification is also a doctrine of all Christian churches, which surely cannot have failed to learn from the Gospels that the Lord was glorified. Surely they must have some conception of a glorification! So Mr. Hite would seem by his own logic to be deprived of his last refuge, and be compelled to admit that the New Church has nothing at all distinctive, nothing that essentially distinguishes it from other churches.

     How different this from the claims made by those writings by which the New Church is established. Note only that compact statement of the Brief Exposition:

     "That the faith of the New Church can in no wise be together with the faith of the former church, and that if they are together, such a collision and conflict will ensue, that everything of the church with man will perish."

     Mr. Hite is strangely unmindful of that one distinction which is the source of all other distinctions, namely, that the Lord has made His SECOND COMING and has revealed Himself anew in His Word in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

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This is the one essential thing which makes distinctive the New Church. Of this Mr. Hite makes no mention. This is the one claim which he would find admitted to be distinctive by any other or all to whom it should be presented. But it would not be acceptable to the Christian world. Can it be that this is the reason for the prevailing reticence respecting this Doctrine? W. H. A.
WORK BY SWEDENBORG NEWLY DISCOVERED 1908

WORK BY SWEDENBORG NEWLY DISCOVERED              1908

     EMANUELIS SWEDENBORGII, FESTIVUS APPLAUSUS in Caroli XII in. Ponzeraniam Suam Adventum. Holmae, 1908, pp. 28. This little work is a facsimile reproduction of the original edition published by Swedenborg himself in Griefswalde, Pomerania, in 1714, when the author was twenty-six years of age. This work is not mentioned in Tafel's Documents. In fact, its existence does not appear to have been known until 1905, When Mr. Alfred H. Stroh announced that he had discovered two copies of it in the library at Griefswalde (New Church Life, 1905, p. 738) One of these copies has been recently presented to the Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. The reprint of this exceeding rare work, which was undertaken by Mr. Stroh, will be welcomed by students of Swedenborg, as one more of the documents which throw light on his early life and work.

     This Festivus Applassus must not be confounded with the Festivus Applausus mentioned in the Documents (Vol. 3, p. 886). The latter is a short poem written in 1710 in celebration of the victory of Count Stenbock, and was included by Swedenborg in his Ludus Helicoltius. But the work now before us is a prose poem of greater pretension written in laudation of Charles XII on his return from captivity among the Turks.

     And truly it is a laudation! Opening with a poetical description of the Pythagorean doctrine of transmigration of souls, the author presents his hero as commanded by the fathers to come forth as the heir to the glory of the ancient Swedish race, and as a Phoenix who has conquered death.

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He traces the deeds of Charles and finds in them the mighty works of the ancient heroes of Greece revived in all their glory. Throughout the whole work Charles is treated as a man of the utmost bravery, candor, skill and nobility of character. His escape from Turkey is described in heroic strains as the yearning of a patriot for his country and a father for his children, and the author concludes with a beautiful and poetical description of the happiness and the glory of the blessings which his return will bring upon Sweden. An extract from this portion of the work will serve to give some idea of the author's poetical and imaginative vein, clothed as it is in the finest style of the Latin classicists:

     "The people that now lives is not the same that thou sawest in thy land of old. It is a new people. For they who were then young men, rejoicing in their youth, are now worn out, are rugged of brow, and lean on staves. And if, perchance, thou shouldest return home they will come forth bending on their staves and view thee with a more searching, but yet a wavering glance, and will more surely see whether thou art the same as him who went away. They who were then infants, when thou journeyed forth to thy enemies, are now of more advanced years, now they can follow thy banners and thy arms and can set their breasts and their hands against thine enemies. She who was then a girl hardly apt for marriage and the smallest among her unmarried sisters is now wedded and has many children to go to meet thee.

     "But though thy land be changed, though the people that venerate thee be another people, though all be worn-out, yet when they shall hear that thou hast returned they will again take breath, again they will revive and take new life. From thee will they get their life, and by reason of thee will return unto their youth and infancy. All things shall now be vernal, and the winter unto which our cold northern world has sunk shall depart. The earth shall bid her flower to bloom again and to again shed gladness over the land."

     With our present knowledge of Charles XII, of his obstinacy, and of the ruin which he brought upon his country, there seems something incongruous in Swedenborg's writing a laudation so fulsome as is the Festivus Applausus. And yet there are many considerations which tend to account for the writing of this panegyric at the time and under the circumstances.

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The general custom of the day was to address royalty in terms of utmost flattery, to compare them to gods and heroes, and to see in them the highest virtues. Living in the home of his father, Swedenborg must have imbibed much of this feeling of external veneration, for Bishop Swedberg was by nature and by training par excellence a royalist. Add to this the fact that Swedenborg was as yet but a young man of twenty-six years, and, like others, doubtless carried away by the bravery and skill of the great Captain who was regarded as the foremost military genius of Europe and whose genius could not but shed a luster on the country over which he ruled. Of Charles's undoubted bravery Swedenborg makes mention in some of his writings, particularly in his work on Rational Psychology, where he speaks of him as being possessed of a true heroic virtue and of a bravery which knew not fear and laughed at threats of death (226, 250). That such bravery, united with a skill which had prevailed over immense numbers and experienced leaders, should inspire the young Swede, is not to be wondered at, nor that his inspired admiration should express itself in the terms of laudation characteristic of the times.

     When Swedenborg wrote his Festivus Applausus he had not met Charles XII. He was introduced to him in 1716, soon after his return to Sweden, and judging from what he has written he was vividly impressed with the genius, the keen mathematical mind, and the personal magnetism of the young monarch. Indeed his admiration seems to have been so great as to have threatened at one time to have entirely carried him away. Swedenborg seems to testify to this in the Diary 4704 where he says: "Many things which took place between me and Charles XII were recounted and it was thus manifestly shown that the Divine Providence has been in the smallest particulars, . . . also that, unless the state had been changed from good into anger with Charles XII, one person would have utterly perished." The "one person" here spoken of seems undoubtedly to refer to Swedenborg himself. That from 1716 to shortly before Charles's death in the fall of 1718, Swedenborg was closely associated with the King and enjoyed great favor at his hands is abundantly testified to by Swedenborg's own letters.

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But the passage quoted above indicates that before Charles's death an estrangement took place which had the effect of freeing Swedenborg's mind from too great an influence by the King. How this estrangement came about is not clear, but it seems indicated by three of Swedenborg's letters to Benzelius. In the first, dated September 14, 1718, he speaks of having met the King familiarly, but adds: "His majesty found considerable fault with me for not having continued my Daedalus, but I pleaded want of means; of which he does not like to hear (I Doc. 302). In the second letter, dated October of the same year, he writes: "I will see if I cannot get leave to follow [the army] to Norway. (Ib. 304.) But in a following letter, dated December 8, 1718, when Swedenborg was as yet ignorant of the King's death which had happened the previous week, he writes: "Thank God! I have escaped the campaign to Norway, which had laid a hold sufficiently strong upon me so that I could escape only by dint of some intrigues." (Ib. 305) These letters perhaps indicate that the change of Charles "from good into anger" originated in his annoyance because his wish for the continuation of the Daedalus was not complied with. But however this may be, and whatever the estrangement, it did not prevent Swedenborg from continuing to admire the genius of Charles, and to extol his personal bravery, until the true character of the King became manifest from the spiritual world.
RESUSCITATION OF PLANTS OUT OF THEIR ASHES 1908

RESUSCITATION OF PLANTS OUT OF THEIR ASHES              1908

     In a number of passages, both in the Scientific works and in the Theological Writings, Swedenborg speaks of the resuscitation of forms resembling plants, arising from the ashes of such plants.

     That this phenomenon was quite well known in Swedenborg's time is evident from the Memorable Relation in Conjugial Love, n. 151, (repeated in T. C. R. 692), where two newcomers in the other world, in conversation with the ancient Sophi of Greece, told them that one of the tenets of modern naturalists on earth was that "it is vain to believe that man lives after death, any more than a beast, unless, perchance, for a few days after his departure he may, from the exhalation of the life of the body, be able to appear like a mist under the fashion of a specter, before he is dissipated into nature; scarcely otherwise than like a shrub, raised again from its ashes, appears in the likeness of its form."

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     We find a reference to the same phenomenon in the posthumous work On Divine Wisdom.

     "That it is from a law of Divine order that all things return from ultimates to the first, a quo. This may be seen from every created thing in the world. Other types of this thing also exist in both kingdoms, the vegetable and the animal; in the vegetable, from their resuscitation out of their ashes, and in the animal, from the metamorphosis of little worms into chrysalides and butterflies." (D. Wis. viii, z.)

     In the Scientific works we find the following observations on this subject:

     By virtue of a corresponding perfection in the ether of the third order, and of the likeness between its part, inanimate things are resuscitated from their ashes, nay, even by artificial means: I allude to plants, flowers, arborescent forms, which are born again exactly in their own image, as it were by a kind of love in the substances constituting the compound. Even these things will not allow themselves to be sundered, or carried off into the atmosphere with the flux of the universe. How then should beings most perfectly alive, (the parts of whom), are conjoined not by mere similitude but by intimate love,--beings that in all their perfections immensely exceed these lower things? (Ec. II, 355.)

     The Rational Psychology is even more explicit:

     It is quite well known that shrubs, plants, flowers, roses, that have been burned to powder, are born again in water, if only by a certain art their vegetable lives, or, as it were, spiritual essences are excited. When the vessel is shaken, this figure thus excited, relapses into its ashes and grows up again, and this a number of times; these parts cannot be disjoined and separated, but they come together into their pristine form, and after death join the old friendship and habit, and this, in fact, so that they altogether coalesce into the pristine form. Why not, then, human souls after the death of the body? (R. P. 517)

     In the Worship and Love of God there is a statement which may have reference to the same subject:

     Each offspring, (of the earth), in like manner as the great parent itself, breathed interiorly a kind of perpetuity, and a spring resembling the great one; but one efflorescent germination did this in one manner, and another in another,--thus in a thousand ways.

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It was a common thing that each produced new seeds, the hope of a future race. It was otherwise with others of the offspring; for, being again and again quickened from their stock, they either renovated their flowers in a long series, or resuscitated themselves from their own ashes; for the sap which, being extracted from the mother, they diffused into their veins, was big with nothing but mere beginnings, (principia), and thus was prolific in innumerable new beginnings of itself; for the whole earth throughout was already a seminary and ovary; and soil at length grew up from the tombs of dead flowers. (W. L. 19.)

     The Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, commenting on some of these passages in New Church Life for 1887, (p. 57), makes the observation that "We have here a scientific fact, as the effect of a general law of Divine Order, a fact which, while it may be observed in the phenomena of nature, may also be established in the laboratory. The latter seems to be one of the lost arts known to the old alchemists, and doubtless to be 'resuscitated from its ashes' by means of New Church scientists. Oetinger who, as is well known, was a reader and translator of the Writings, appears to have been acquainted with this art, for it is reported of him: 'Oetinger, it was confidently believed, was an adept, and the story passed current that by means of a mysterious tincture he had resuscitated living plants out of the ashes of burnt plants.'"

     Modern scientists do not appear to have observed the phenomenon in question, but quite recently we found an interesting confirmation of it in August Strindberg's work, entitled En Bla Bok, which was noticed in the Life for February, 1908, p. 106. The author, who has a great deal to say on scientific subjects, devotes a page and a half to the "Palingenesis of Plants," and presents some illustrations which, unfortunately, we are not able to reproduce. He says:

     There is an ancient observation that the formative power of matter, or its tendency to produce images, is so great that the forms or the matrices, as it were, return after their destruction. If, for instance. Tartaric Acid is permitted to crystallize, there is formed a dendrite simulating the leaves of the grape vine; this is best accomplished by using the vegetable sap, and not so well by using the chemical preparation.

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Fig. I resulted from burning a gooseberry, the ashes of which was dissolved and then crystallized. These prickly forms represent, of course, only souvenirs, and not actual reproductions, of the original form.

     Fig. 2 represents (a) the various flower parts of the Fritillaria imperialis, and (b) their resurrection out of their ashes, after solution and crystallization.

     These forms may truly be called the spectres or ghosts of the plants, which, as it were, "walk again;" and thus also the apparitions of the dead are not the dead themselves, but their consumed forms or shells, as occultists call them.

     This, too, is the "apokastis panton,"--the final restoration of all things, as this doctrine was preached by Origin, Schleiermacher, and others, on a higher plane.

     In conclusion, we present an image (Fig. 3) resulting from the ashes of a Dahlia. (Strindberg: En Bla Bolt. Third Edition, pp. 368, 369)

     The results mentioned by Strindberg were obtained by the chemical solution and crystallization of vegetable ashes, but this method is evidently not the same as the "artificial means" or the "certain art" of which Swedenborg speaks, for he says that plants, burned to powder, "are born again in water," and that "when the vessel is shaken, this very figure thus excited relapses into its ashes and grows up again, and this a number of times." But what does he mean by the certain art by which their vegetable lives, or, as it were, spiritual essences are excited? We would be thankful if any of our New Church scientists would inform us as to what is known to modern science in regard to the remarkable phenomenon which so strikingly illustrates the doctrine of Immortality. If it is indeed a forgotten art, it would be well for some one to enter upon a series of experiments until the art is restored to the world. Swedenborg makes so much of the phenomenon that it would seem well worth investigating. It certainly is in harmony with the general doctrine that "everything in which there is force, wills to produce a resemblance of itself." (A. E. 1009:5.) This force, in the present case, is from "the perfection in the ether of the third order," i. e., the third aura which is the soul of the vegetable kingdom, and which, acting through the medium of water, strives to restore out of the ashes their pristine form of a living use. A wide and unexplored field of investigation is here suggested. We are told that "the clothing of form, which goes on everywhere in the atmosphere, is an arcanum of which no one as yet has knowledge, but it is an essential property of atmosphere, both spiritual and natural." (Ath. Creed, 26.)

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SOME COSMOLOGICAL QUESTIONS 1908

SOME COSMOLOGICAL QUESTIONS              1908

     A correspondent writes: "I have just finished reading the article on "The First Finites" in the April issue of the Life, and find it difficult to grasp the conclusion drawn from A. C. 7270, given on page 231. In that number it is said that the "second successive" is the Divine Truth which is in heaven, and then that the first two are above the heavens. The first two would seem to be, 1. "the Divine Truth immediately proceeding from the Lord, and 2. the first successive. Your deduction, however, if I correctly understand it, is that the two successives are above the heavens, (though the number says otherwise), and constitute the radiant belts."

     The passage in question reads as follows:

     Inasmuch as the Divine Truth which proceeds immediately from the Lord, is from (ex) the Infinite Divine Itself, it can by no means be received by any living substance which is finite, thus neither by any angel. On this account the Lord created successives, by which, as media, there could be communicated the Divine Truth immediately proceeding. But the first successive from this was too full of the Divine to be as yet received by any living substance which is finite, thus by any angel, and therefore the Lord created yet another successive by which the Divine Truth, immediately proceeding, was as to some part receptible. This successive is the Divine Truth which is in heaven. The first two are above the heavens, and are, as it were, circles radiant from flame, which surround the Sun which is the Lord. (A. C. 7270.)

     From this we concluded that "the radiant circles surrounding the spiritual Sun, are the first two created and finite successives,--the first and second finites; while the Divine Truth immediately proceeding out of the Infinite Divine itself is the First Natural Point, or the Divine Conatus of Love, which constitutes the internal of the spiritual Sun."

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     We are thankful to our correspondent for drawing our attention to the "difficulty" of this conclusion, which is a difficulty simply because it is wrong and based on a misunderstanding of the passage in question. It seems strange that we could have come to such a conclusion, which is contrary to the central truth that the First Natural Point is Infinite, is, in fact, the "nexus" or the Lord Himself, as the Only-Begotten, the all-creative Logos. We were misled in reading this passage by the reference to the "Infinite Divine Itself," mistaking this for the "Infinite" of the Principia. It is to be noticed, however, that the passage in question does not make any distinction between the Lord and the Infinite Divine Itself, but identifies the Lord with it: "Inasmuch as the Divine Truth which proceeds immediately from the Lord, is from the Infinite Divine Itself," etc.

     The series treated of in A. C. 7270, is, therefore, the following:

     1. The Lord, or the Infinite Divine Itself.

     2. The Divine Truth which proceeds immediately from the Lord.

     3. The first successive from this, (i. e., from the Divine Truth immediately proceeding).

     4. Yet another successive, i. e., the Divine Truth which is in heaven.

     The "first two," spoken of in the passage,--which are above the heavens, and which appear as radiant circles around the spiritual Sun,--can refer only to n. 2 and n. 3. In relation to the spiritual cosmos the series is, therefore:

     1. The Lord as the Sun of the spiritual world.

     2. and 3. The two radiant belts, both of them still too full of the Divine to be as yet received by the angels.

     4. The atmosphere beneath these radiant belts,--which is the Divine Truth such as it is in heaven, (H. H. 120; A. E. 412; D. L. W. 296, 299).

     Now, since the Lord, who is the Infinite Divine Himself, is also the "nexus" or the First Natural Point, (in relation to nature); and since the Divine Truth which is in heaven is the same as the universal spiritual atmosphere, or the first aura, it is evident that the two radiant belts are the spheres of first and second finites. The series is, therefore, seen to stand finally as follows:

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     1. The Lord, the Infinite Divine Itself, the Sun of heaven, or the First Natural Point.

     2. The Divine Truth immediately proceeding from the Lord,--the first radiant belt around the spiritual Sun,--the sphere of first finites.

     3. The first successive from this,--the second radiant belt, the sphere of second finites.

     4. The next successive,--the Divine Truth which is in heaven, the universal spiritual atmosphere, or first element.

     Thus, in its correlation with the Principia system, this remarkable passage in the Arcana becomes concrete and intelligible. The radiant belts,--the Divine Truth immediately proceeding and the first successive from this,--cannot be received by the angels because these belts consist of pure spiritual fire; in other words, they consist of finites in a state of inconceivable activity, deriving their activity from that inmost conatus of Divine Love which is the Sun of the spiritual world, or the First Natural Point. This activity must be tempered in order to be communicated to the angels, and it is tempered when the active first finites are imprisoned within an envelop or shell of second finites, rendered passive by being crowded together into a bullular shape. The universal atmosphere of heaven consists of such bullae, and the angels can live and move in this atmosphere, because these bullae or bubbles are elastic,--expansible and compressible,--which pure finites are not, in their simple, active, uncombined state.

     It is the same with our natural sun, which consists of an inner space of first and second finites active, surrounded by an outer crust of third finites,--the whole constituting the natural solar fire which cannot, as such, be received by any living creature upon the earths, until tempered by the solar atmosphere; this atmosphere consists of elastic bullae, each of which is an envelope of third finites passive enclosing a small volume of second finites active within. It is by the modification of these envelopes, volumatim and singillatim, that the fire of the sun is tempered and diversified for our benefit into the grateful activities known as heat and light.

     The same correspondent continues: "While I am writing on this subject, I might also ask for light on a point that has been the most difficult one for me in Miss Beekman's Cosmology.

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She states that the first aura is the atmosphere of the celestial heaven, that in which all who are celestial, from all the earths, dwell; and that this atmosphere is also that of human internals. My understanding of the doctrine in regard to the heaven of human internals has always been that this heaven is above the celestial heaven,--in fact, I have understood it as explained in Bishop Pendleton's sermon in the Life for January, 1908, p. 14."

     While we cannot speak for the author of the Cosmology, it seems to us that this work is quite in harmony both with the view of our correspondent and with the Bishop's sermon on the question involved. Concerning the heaven of human internals we have the following teachings:

     Man differs from brutes in this, that to him is given a soul which is purely spiritual and super-celestial. But to brute animals there is given a soul which is lower than heaven and partakes of what is spiritual and natural. The soul of man is in the higher heaven and is near Messiah Himself, and is thus immortal. (Adversaria, 919.)

     As to his interior, man is in heaven; and as to his inmost he is near the Lord. (A. C. 7910.)

     The internal of man is that from which man is man and by which he is distinguished from brute animals; by means of this internal, man lives after death and to eternity; and by means of it he can be elevated by the Lord amongst the angels; it is the very first form from which man becomes and is a man; by this internal the Lord is united with man. The very heaven nearest the Lord is from these human internals, but still it is above the inmost angelic heaven, wherefore these are of the Lord Himself. (A. C. 1999.)

     The "heaven of human internals" is, therefore, situated in a region which, (speaking according to spatial appearances), is intermediate between the spiritual Sun and the celestial heaven. This region or sphere is not a vacuum, but it is filled with the universal or celestial aura proceeding from the Lord as a Sun. This aura, however, is not only above the supreme heaven but is also within it, even as our natural ether is not only above but also within the air we breathe on this earth. All the heavens, and all the solar systems of the universe, are embraced and penetrated by this universal aura, but each is surrounded in addition by its own return-atmosphere which consists of its own emanating sphere variously combining with the universal aura.

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     Even the celestial heaven is enveloped in such a return-atmosphere, proceeding from the celestial angels and consisting organically of actual particles, the finest substances of nature, which insert themselves into the interstices between the bullae of the universal atmosphere. This return-atmosphere is probably what is meant by the "thin accordant cloud," by which the angels are veiled over, lest they should be injured by the influx of the Divine Love in its ardor (H. H. 120.)

     The angels of the highest heaven "live, as it were, in the pure aura," (D. Wis. xii; A. E. 594), because even their return-atmosphere is celestial, that is, it is in complete accordance, harmony and correspondence with the celestial form and gyre of the universal aura, and hence it may be said that this first aura is, "as it were," the pure aura of the celestial heaven, though more especially and without combination with any return-atmosphere it is the atmosphere of the super-celestial heaven of human internals. The latter, indeed, is the heaven of human souls, but it should be remembered that the celestial heaven consists of those whose minds have become one with their souls.

     What has been offered above may possibly be of some service to another correspondent, who writes as follows:

     "On p. 22 of the Outlines of Swedenborg's Cosmology it is stated that the human internal is formed from and in the first aura. This statement, according to a footnote, is taken from the Economy of the Animal Kingdom. In the Writings, I believe, it is stated that the human internals are situated in the two radiant belts around the spiritual Sun,--those of celestial men in the first belt and those of spiritual men in the second belt. Can these two statements be reconciled?"

     We do not know of any statement in the Writings teaching that the human internals are situated in the radiant belts. On the contrary, we are taught in A. C. 7270 that these belts are "too full of the Divine to be received by any living substance which is finite."

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WELCOME CORRECTION 1908

WELCOME CORRECTION       SAMUEL BALL       1908

EDITORS New Church Life:

     I have read with much surprise the very incorrect report you gave of a lecture recently delivered before the New Church Theological and Philosophical Society of Great Britain by the Rev. J. F. Buss.

     I had the very great pleasure of being present at the lecture and have a very vivid recollection of what took place on that occasion.

     The whole of the expressions you attribute to Mr. Buss are most truly a correct digest of views expressed by two Conference ministers during the discussion after the lecture. The manly effort made by Mr. Buss to combat these very falsities on that occasion will long be remembered by us who were present with much pleasure.

     We all feel that it was the best effort ever made in this country at a pubic lecture to establish the "Divine Authority" position. The lecturer fully and honestly explained at the commencement of the lecture that he would rely solely on quotations from the Writings for proof of his position. Your report must come as a great surprise to many, and certainly does Mr. Buss a great injustice. That Mr. Buss had the courage and honesty to give all the quotations as contained in "Testimony of the Writings" without a single addition from himself in way of qualifications, will, I feel sure, be read with much satisfaction by many. Your great love of justice and truth will, I feel sure, prompt you to explain the mistake as contained in your report in May number, page 318.
     SAMUEL BALL.
          London, England.
Title Unspecified 1908

Title Unspecified       ALFRED E. FRIEND       1908

EDITORS New Church Life:

     There is something materially wrong in your report of the paper given by the Rev. J. F. Buss at the Theological and Philosophical Society's meeting in March. Words which were uttered by other Conference ministers are attributed to Mr. Buss; and these words, moreover, are the very opposite of the belief expressed by the essayist.

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I was present at the meeting, and heard the paper as well as the discussion. The former was a strong and fearless assertion of the Inspiration of Swedenborg. No word of "regret that the English language had only one word to express different phases of inspiration" escaped the lips of Mr. Buss, and as a consequence your comments are quite out of place.

     I trust this report is not a sample of other reports which appears in your valued journal. If so, I would suggest that you appoint a reporter, at any rate in England, who can attend meetings, at which topics of such interest and moment are discussed. I trust you will find space in your next to retract what has been said in your current issue, for I am sure you will have ample reason for so doing when the paper appears in press.
     ALFRED E. FRIEND.
          London, England.



     Our correspondents, Messrs. Ball and Friend, seem to have overlooked the fact that the item of news to which they object was printed under the heading, "From Our Contemporaries." For the correctness of news printed under this heading the Life can accept no responsibility beyond that of correctly representing the reports of its contemporaries. The paragraph in question was based on an item in Morning Light for April 4, 1908, p. 140,--an item wherein the only "opinion expressed," and which was condemned by the Life, was given in such a way as to leave no other impression than that it was the opinion of the essayist It now appears that it was the opinion expressed in opposition to Mr. Buss's paper, and that the reporter entirely suppressed all reference to the sentiments of the latter. This particular proceeding was, of course, most unjust to Mr. Buss, who, as the essayist of the evening, was pre-eminently entitled to a report of his paper. The obvious course would have been to call attention to the injustice in the columns of Morning Light itself, whence it would done, we take pleasure in printing the letters of our correspond certainly have been noted in the Life. But as this has not been ents. We may add, that their vindication is fully confirmed by Mr. Buss's paper which now appears in print in Morning Light for May 30, and June 6 and 13.

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Because of its intrinsic value we hope to reprint this paper in a future issue of the Life. EDITORS.
MARRIAGE AND REGENERATION 1908

MARRIAGE AND REGENERATION       EDMOND CONGAR BROWN       1908

EDITORS New Church Life.

     The editorial in the May Life commenting on my letter in the Messenger of March 18th, on the relation of Marriage to Regeneration, contains two somewhat surprising statements, and I should like to say just a few words with regard to the same if I may be permitted to do so. The first is your statement, with regard to the life after death, that "a man does not there advance beyond that stage of regeneration which he has entered into on earth." Is not this incorrect? Apart from the general teaching in many places to the effect that regeneration is never completed but proceeds progressively to eternity, we have the following passages which seems to be directly in point:

     There are two states that man must enter upon and pass through, when from being natural he is becoming spiritual. The first state is called Reformation, and the second Regeneration.... The man who, while in the world, has entered upon the first state, after death can be introduced into the second. (T. C. R. 571.)

     The other somewhat remarkable statement is that you "are not aware that there is any such teaching in the Writings" as that which I tried to point out, as to the absolute necessity of a conjugial marriage, either in this world or the next, in order that man be regenerated. In view of this it may be useful for me to refer your readers to a few of the passages in which I think this teaching is contained. One of the most striking is the very one referred to and of which a fragment is quoted in your editorial, and if you had quoted the first part of the passage instead of only a sentence near the close, the meaning would have been much more clearly brought out. It is there said:

     Man cannot become the love which is the image or likeness of God, unless by the marriage of good and truth, for good and truth intimately love each other and burn to be united that they may be one; the reason is, because Divine Good and Divine Truth proceed united from the Lord, consequently they must be united in an angel of heaven, and in a man of the Church.

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This unition can by no means be given except by the marriage of two minds into one, for as was before said, man was created to be the understanding of truth, consequently truth, and woman was so created as to be the affection of good, consequently good; for love truly conjugial, which descends from that conjunction, is the very essential medium whereby man becomes the love which is an image or a likeness of God.... From these considerations it is evident that man becomes a form of love, and thence a form of Heaven, which is an image and likeness of God, by marriage. (A. E. 984.)

     I cannot at all agree with the Life as to the meaning of the word "fully" (plene) in the sentence which is quoted in the editorial from the latter part of the number, following the portion above quoted. It seems to me merely a word of emphasis or confirmation, which should not be examined so microscopically for some possible hidden meaning. Certainly to give the word the meaning and force you suggest would be inadmissible, for that would make the passage apparently self-contradictory. If the whole passage is carefully read, the general teaching seems unmistakable, that the unition of good and truth in an angel of heaven and a man of the church, which unition is regeneration, and is the church with man, is effected, not as commonly supposed, by the union of good and truth in the mind of each individual, but by the unition of the truth of a man with the good of a woman, and that this unition can only take place by a marriage in which there is love truly conjugial. As it is explained in the preceding number:

     When the understanding of truth, which is with the man, makes one with the affection of good, which is with the woman, there is a conjunction of two minds into one: this conjunction is the spiritual marriage. (A. E. 983.)

     We are distinctly taught that it is the conjunction of good and truth which makes the Church and Heaven with man. "Heaven and the Church are a marriage of good and truth." (A. E. 999, and so in substance many other passages.) I presume all will admit that this formation of the Church and Heaven with man, or the growth of man in Heaven and the Church, is simply another name for the process of regeneration.

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This subject is further treated of, and the necessity of marriage to the reception of the Church pointed out, in the following passages:

     The Church is first implanted in the man, and through him in the wife. (C. L. 125.)

     The Church from the Lord is formed in the husband, and through the husband in the wife, and when it is formed in each it is a full Church, for in this case is effected a full conjunction of good and truth, and the conjunction of good and truth constitutes the Church. (C. L. 63)

     There is a correspondence between the spiritual marriage, which is that of truth with good, and natural marriage, which is that of a man with one wife; . . . the Church with its truths and goods cannot possibly be given except with those who live in love truly conjugial with one wife: for the marriage of good and truth constitutes the Church with man. (C. L. 76)

     Man (homo) was created that he might become love and thence wisdom, because the Lord is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and it is from creation that man is the image and likeness of the Lord. (Gen. i, 26, 27.) And this cannot be without genuine conjugial love, from that everything of man can be turned to love, for in marriage it is permitted for each to love even the body from heart, and so to dispose the soul and all things thence to the form of love, which otherwise is not possible. The inmost and outermost there make one, and induce that form, and that form is a form of Heaven. (De Conj., p. 20 of Engl. trans., p. 16 of Latin Text. See also A. E. 993.)

     In confirmation of what has been above said, reference may be had to various passages which, while not mentioning marriage by name, teach that Conjugial Love is essential to the presence of the Church with man and thus of regeneration. The applicability of these passages will be obvious when it is remembered that, while one may indeed before marriage look forward to Conjugial Love, and earnestly desire it, it is only in and by means of an actual marriage in ultimates that this love can be developed and brought forth from the love of the sex. As to this we are told:

     The first love of marriage does not conjoin, for it partakes of the love of the sex, which is the love of the body and thence of the spirit. . . . The love of the spirit, and of the body from the spirit, is insinuated into the souls and minds of married partners united with friendship and confidence. When these two conjoin themselves with the first love of marriage, conjugial love is effected. (C. L. 162.)

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     Some of the passages teaching as to the necessity of Conjugial Love in order that the Church may exist with man are as follows:

     "The Conjugial of one man with one wife is the jewel of human life and the repository of the Christian Religion.... The quality of a man's life is according to the quality of that love with him....
A man is a soul living by means of that love." (C. L. 457.)

     "The origin of the Church and Conjugial Love are in the same place of abode." (C. L. 238.)

     "Man has so much of Heaven in himself, or is so much in Heaven, as he is in love conjugial." (A. E. 996.)

     "By Conjugial Love is man in Heaven and the Church.... He (the Lord) protects all who are in love truly conjugial, for with those and no other are Heaven and the Church." (A. E. 999.) EDMOND CONGAR BROWN. New York City.

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Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The Bishop's class in Education on Tuesday afternoons, and the Friday evening doctrinal classes, closed before the end of May. As Decoration Day occurred upon Saturday, the last society supper was put upon that day. Rain spoiled the field sports set for the afternoon, but a rift in the clouds permitted the boys to give their exhibition drill. In the sham battle which followed, the new guns of the college company were use" for the first time, while the Local School company, with an improvised cannon, fell gloriously. It was the girls' drill in the Gymnasium later on, however, which won the most admiration. The boys lack uniforms, while the twenty girls had white sailor suits with natty red hats, ties and belts. The girls excel, also, in precision.

     The Civic and Social Club brought another very successful season to a close with a German on the 9th of May. It was a red letter event, notable especially for the thoroughness of its preparation.

     Musically, the recital given at Cairnwood on April 29th, (a Shumann evening), stands out, although it is hard to choose among such various offerings as we have had. On May 2d there was a recital by Mrs. Colley's school chorus, in the Gymnasium. On May 12th we enjoyed a concert in which Mr. Van Leer, a barytone from the city, assisted Mrs. Colley. The most interesting, however, from an educational standpoint, was an afternoon recital of Local School pupils, where Mrs. Colley showed her methods in sight singing, etc.

     The quarterly meeting of the Bryn Athyn Church heard reports and empowered its building committee to go ahead with the new edifices, and they are now at work upon the plans, both for the Church and the new Local School building, which is expected to adjoin the College and contain a large hall for assemblies and other social purposes.

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     The bulk of the time, however, was given to hearing from all the teachers of the Local School. The sphere of interest is very gratifying. Miss Lucy Potts and Miss Centennia Bellinger have received two years' leave of absence to perfect their training in special lines at Columbia University. Miss Phebe Bostock will take Miss Potts's place in the Primary room, and Mr. Otho Heilman, who is spending his summer at Chicago in company with Mr. Leonard Gyllenhaal and Mr. Wm. Whitehead, will return to teach grade VII for another year.

     Four students graduated from the Normal School this year, three of whom, together with a first year student, read papers before the teachers and patrons of the School on June 2d. There was an extensive exhibit of this work, and a warm appreciation of their able papers.

     The Seminary gave a tea and an exhibition of its work to the ladies of the Society one afternoon. The developments here are surprising everyone.

     A meeting of the Teachers' Institute was held on May 20th, at which the organization was improved and the History and Hebrew courses were critically examined with a view to better adjustments, while the new curriculum was explained. (See the Journal of Education.)

     Three plays have been given by pupils of the Schools,--the "Two Gentlemen of Verona," under the direction of Mr. Gyllenhaal and Miss Buell, being the most pretentious. The German comedy, by Miss Centennia Bellinger's class of the Local School, was well done, and showed a living grasp of the language. Very charming, indeed, was the French play given under direction of Prof. C. Vinet, and was entitled "The Marriage of the Butterfly." This was an operetta, and the quaint music still lingers with us. Some of the lines were of exceptional beauty, and like the Shakespearean play, the costumes and scenery and setting were well wrought out and very effective. These things mean a great deal of work, especially for those in charge, but the thorough mastery of such fine things, under the stimulus of aroused interest, is invaluable from a literary point of view.

     The "Theta Alpha," or Daughters of the Academy, had a banquet on June 6th, which in beauty and charm and enthusiasm indicates that the intense spirit of loyalty to the Academy and its spiritual purposes, which characterized its first days, is steadily maintained.

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     The Alumni Association held its annual meeting on June 15th, and after a pleasant initiation, undertook to adopt a better working form,--but owing to a lack of agreement between, the draft sent out and that which was brought in at the last minute for adoption, the matter had to be continued in the hands of a committee.

     Much more productive, perhaps, was the joint meeting held on June 13th, between the Board and Faculty, for the hearing of reports of the year's work in all departments. What made it more useful than usual, was the fact that many graduates were invited, who added much to the sphere and interest. In the evening a banquet was given to those attending the previous meetings of the day, some seventy-five persons in all, at which the main speakers were the graduates. The announcement was here made that the Rev. Charles E. Doering had been chosen as Superintendent to fill the vacancy which had existed for several years. In response to a hearty toast, Mr. Doering spoke a few serious and inspiring words. May the Lord prosper him in his work, and bring added efficiency to each one working under him! We all feel that the time has come to cope with some of our deficiencies in externals, which heretofore we have been compelled to excuse on the ground of the greater value of the doctrinal things which have always been given. This spirit is active all along the line, from the Kindergarten up.

     At the closing exercises on the 12th of June five lady teachers were honored with the degree of B. S. E., (Bachelor of the Science of Education), four graduates of the Normal School received their diplomas, one graduate of the College received his A. B., and one graduate of the Seminary was decorated with the gold medallion. Mr. Hubert Hyatt was valedictorian, and he also presided at the School Banquet in the evening, a very elaborate and enjoyable affair in every way. Indeed, after the long and painstaking preparation on the part of Mr. Hyatt and other pupils, it could hardly have been otherwise. The orchestra, the decorations, the beautiful lights, and the wholly delightful sphere, made it very hard to quit at midnight.

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Following so closely upon such an inspiring evening, the "serenade" later on seemed strangely out of tune.

     The Junior ball, which was given on May 29th, can only be mentioned. It was distinguished by much witticism and apt doggerel. "The New Church School among the Cannibals" was about as rich a bit of farce as one could find anywhere.

     We have left the weddings to the last, for the dessert, or is it because of a perception of the impossibility of doing justice in words to such occasion, the delight of which stirs the heart so deeply, and is so pervasive as to elude the rational and its lame servants, the words of human language. "Man knows that love is, but he knows not what love is." In the presence of this, the crown of human loves, no outward show seems too much, and no degree of simplicity can rob the ceremony of marriage of its solemnity. In the case of the wedding of the Bishop's daughter, Korene, to the Rev. W. B. Caldwell, of Chicago, nothing seemed wanting which might enhance the effect.

     The wedding of Miss Priscilla Alden to Mr. Raymond Cranch, while characterized by less, perhaps, of these "trimmings," was precisely the same as to all the essentials of the spirit, and we feel that our connection with the "right crowd" in the other world has been strengthened by these two events.

     But "it's all over now," and the last lingering student and visitor has departed. Bryn Athyn was at her best, and although Decoration Day was married by rain, the weather since then has been both mild and beautiful. Canoeing, picnic suppers, long walks and drives have found place in spite of the strenuous work of the term end.

     Is it any wonder, in view of all these school doings, that the Nineteenth celebration was made rather simple, aiming rather to give a taste of the delights of worship and deeper, quieter thoughts, than the more ultimate pleasures just experienced so abundantly?

     PHILADELPHIA, PA. The pulpit of the Advent Church was filled by Candidate Eldred Iungerich on Sunday, March 15th.

     Mr. Charles Pendleton has finished his Sunday evening class on the subject of Creation in the light of Swedenborg's philosophy.

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This class was greatly enjoyed by all, and was well attended.

     On April 5th the Rev. C. Th. Odhner preached instead of the pastor, who had been called away.

     At Easter services, April 19th, the hall of worship had been most beautifully decorated--thanks to the Ladies' Aid and others who had contributed, and to the exquisite taste of Mr. and Mrs. Leander Good, who had the decoration in hand. The services commenced with the baptism of an infant and ended with the Holy Supper, at which thirty-two partook. Beautiful songs, sung by the choir under Frau Muller's direction, added much to the services.

     The last services of the season were held June 19th; the Holy Supper was administered to twenty-six communicants. Services will be resumed on the first Sunday in September.

     The Society is much indebted to Dr. Eldred Iungerich, who has taught the older children of the Sunday School with very good results. The Sunday School will also be resumed in September next.

     During the summer the Pastor goes to visit the Swedish members of the General Church in Rockford, Ill., where he intends to preach in Swedish on six consecutive Sundays, after having been present at the Council of the Clergy in Glenview, Ill. R.

     RENOVO, PA is to have regular services this summer, beginning with a little celebration of the Nineteenth of June. Pastor Synnestvedt and his family have been supplied with a cabin in the mountains nearby.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. After worshipping in a public hall for the past two years, the BROOKLYN German Society, May 31st, entered into its new building, which was then completed. The dedication services were participated in by the Rev. Messrs. L. H. Tafel and J. K. Smythe, and the congregation numbered nearly three hundred persons.

     The Rev. F. A. Gustafson, after serving as the principal of URBANA University for one year, has severed his connection with that body.

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He will continue as pastor of the Urbana Society until July when he will enter into pastoral charge of the Society at DENVER, Col.

     The Rev. E. W. Shields has built a boat in which, accompanied by his wife, he is making a missionary trip down the Mississippi. Mr. Shields spent some weeks at Wabasha, Minn., where the boat was being built, during which time he preached in the Congregational and Methodist-Episcopal churches of the town.

     The O'Farrell Street Society of SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., has organized an Esperanto Class under the leadership of the pastor, the Rev. William de Ronden-Pos. The class plans to translate some of the Writings into the new language.

     CANADA. The members of the BERLIN Society, which is now without a pastor, continue to hold Sunday School and services, both under the leadership of Mr. Charles Ruby, who reads "some helpful New Church sermon." In order further to keep up interest in the Church during the vacancy of the pastorate, the Society has inaugurated Friday evening meetings, at which "specially interesting articles in the New Church periodicals, such as the Messenger, Morning Light," etc., are to be read, together with some collateral work.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The annual meeting of the NEW CHURCH COLLEGE was held on the evening of May 19th, under the chairmanship of the president, the Rev. Joseph Deans. In his opening address, Mr. Deans called attention to the supreme necessity of the students receiving systematic instruction in the Writings, and he congratulated the College on its present force, who were men "not likely to water down the teachings of the Church for the sake of pleasing anybody, either inside or outside of the Church." The College, he added, had no sympathy with the regrettable efforts sometimes made to accommodate the New Church to the Old. The New Church is to draw people solely by the plain proclamation of her own doctrines. The Rev. W. H. Claxton thought that the great need of the day was an increase in the number of ministers who have gone through the College. The Rev. W. A. Presland spoke of the wonderful increase in charity evidenced during the past fifty years.

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He was followed by the Rev. H. Gordon Drummond, the editor of Morning Light, who held that "there never was a time when definite and distinctive teaching was so much required; for our existence today as a Church depends upon our distinctiveness." But what he believed was needed even before this was "a personal conviction by the students of the fact of the Second Advent;" that the Lord has made His Second Advent in the world, and that He has made it in them. Other speakers dwelt on the worn-out theme of the necessity of missionary work.

     The reports read during the meeting showed that the College had three regular students, and about fifty evening and correspondence students preparing for lay teaching. The funds of the College consist of an endowment of $1,600, which was supplemented during the year, by contributions for current expenses, of $160.
Seventh British Assembly 1908

Seventh British Assembly       A. CZERNY       1908


     Announcements.




     Special Notices.

     The Seventh British Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at 99 Holland Road, Brixton, London, August 1st-3d. The members and friends are cordially invited to attend. Visitors are requested to send notice of their coming to Mr. W. Rey Gill, 2 Syndenham Road, Syndenham, London.
A. CZERNY.
Berlin New Church School 1908

Berlin New Church School       HERBERT STEEN       1908

     REUNION OF EX-PUPILS.

     Next September it will be twenty years since a New Church School was instituted in Berlin, and the event will be celebrated on the 7th of September by a reunion of ex-pupils and former teachers. All those not now residing in Berlin who will he able to attend, are requested to notify the chairman of the Committee on Entertainment, Mr. Fred. Roschman, 375 King St., West Berlin, Ontario, Canada, in order that accommodations may be provided for them. Those who cannot attend are requested to send letters to be read at the meeting.
     HERBERT STEEN,
          Chairman of the Com.
HUMAN FORM AND CREATION 1908

HUMAN FORM AND CREATION       LILIAN BEEKMAN       1908



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NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXVIII. August, 1908.           No. 8.
     In the doctrine of Creation we must learn from revelation: First, That God is Man, and thus that the Human is at the heart and beginning and center and inmost of the Doctrine of Creation, as it is of the Creation Itself.

     Second, That God-Man created the Universe, and that the created Universe subsists from Him.

     Third, Concerning the successive degrees of Life, parts, powers, which constitute the verity Man,--individual, whole, One.

     For we are as wholly dependent upon Revelation for a knowledge, an idea-concept, of what is involved in the actuality of Individual Man, as we are for the knowledge that God is Man; that God-Man was the Creator of the Universe; and that the created Universe now, and ever, subsists from Him.

     CHARACTERISTIC DEGREES AND SUCCESSIVES OF LIFE, CO-EXISTENT IN INFINITE GOD-MAN, INDIVIDUAL, ONE.

     That is, in Infinite God-Man, in Himself existent, before creative outgo, veiling, proceeding, Spiritual Sun or Natural Star or any Aura or Ether or acting atmosphere soever....

     In the Eternal I AM of Infinite God-Man there co-exist three successives of intra-reciprocal Life; and these three are, and constitute, the One and individual God-Man, Infinite,--in Himself existent.

     These degrees are, the Infinite Celestial,--Soul and Esse of Infinite God-Man; the Infinite Spiritual or mind of God-Man; and the Infinite Natural or corporeal of God-Man,--the Body, reflexive, reagent, of the God-Man Life, as a Last, Eternally and Infinitely begotten of the First, the Esse and Soul, and Itself an finite and uncreate.

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     These three degrees--The Infinite Celestial, Infinite Spiritual, Infinite Natural,--co-existed in God from eternity, infinite and uncreate and inseparably One; and they constitute that God revealed to us as God-Man, who alone is very Man--In Himself, Self-existent. (D. L. W. 230.)

     In the human, in a Man, the last, the ultimate, the reflexive and bodiment is always begotten immediately by and from the first the Esse or Soul. And this because in the Trine in Infinite God-Man, Individual, perfect One, the law governing the trine of organic series, universal in creation from Eternity, was in Him as in very Spring and Self-existence Thus all creation,--and most of all, created finite Man, the image, the shallow, the mirrored form, or theatre of action, of God-Man--must manifest it in very form and order, as the law of creation and subsistence.

     This law, stated in the Animal Kingdom No. 229, is, that wherever there is an organic trine in an individual form of life or of use, in order to be complete and effective, the First must dispose and act in the Last or ultimate immediately, as well, as mediately through the Second. And the law and order of action is the same as that of subsistence and of existence.

     This is the ground of the verity revealed to us, that God-Man acts from firsts by lasts; even this ground-that the First Essence or Body and Human, the first Natural of God as Man, directly derived and disposed from, in and by the Infinite Esse or Soul. (T. C. R. 18, 36.) For the order in Infinite God, as a Man--prior to and transcending creation--is the same as the order which is manifested in creation.

     Hence also it is, that in the creation of a human form, the corporeal unities,--the inmost of the body,--as a reflexing reagent form, answer over against, the Human-Internal or Soul Itself, and are the direct and only immediately-begotten offspring thereof.

     These are the three degrees of Life, substance, form, which, before creation and forever transcending creation, constitute, are Man--God-Man--Individual One. For it takes three degrees of Life to make Man. In the Infinite I Am, God as the One God-Man, all three co-existed eternally. Nor is finite Man a whole image, without all three.

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     We say, "Celestial, Spiritual, Natural," "Soul, Mind, Corporeal or Body." What the names, the qualities, of these respective parts of the Individual Man Life of God, (who alone is to be called very and truly "Man"), as He knows them in Himself, none can say.

     But, as respectively manifested and operative in the theater of the universal creation, these three Lives and Powers in Infinite God-Man are called the Kingdom of the Lord of those names

     There is the Celestial Kingdom, the Spiritual Kingdom, the Natural Kingdom. And in the form of the human creature, Man, the image, there are such answerable three;-the soul and the mind and the body. The soul--celestial, the mind--spiritual, the body, the reflexive ground--natural.

     THE TWO DIVINE-NATURALS.

     The first infinite-natural, body, essence, begotten Divine human of God-Man, from eternity in Him existent. And

     The second infinite-natural, body, Essence, Divine human of God-Man; brought forth "in time" in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him born, perfected, empowered.

     Completion of the circle of Divine Proceeding Efflux and reflux in creation-and the going forth of a New Divine Proceeding, with new empowerments and qualities.

     In God-Man, from Eternity, before even a first of creation was brought forth, there existed these three degrees of Life, of form and substance,--Soul, Mind, Body,--the Celestial, the Spiritual, and the Natural, all Infinite and uncreate; all indispensable parts and lives reciprocally united, one in Infinite Individual God-Man.

     The Infinite God-Man-Natural, the Body, the Essence, the Human Form from Eternity of God-Man, the first or primordial Natural or Body of God, from which creation was initiated (Initiation is always effected by the Divine Natural, A. C. 3206), was co-existent and eternal with the Esse or Soul--derivative from or consubstantiate with the Esse or Soul of the Celestial Degree of Infinite God-Man; but it was less universal than that Esse, and it lived the life and acted the purposes, the impulses of the Esse or Soul, and not its own. The Esse continually entered into it, cohering, one with it, determining and forming it, and elevating it,--the very spring and will and conatus in its Infinite: and Eternal reflux.

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     Thus, although living indeed,--as a very degree of Life of God-Man,--this Infinite First Natural or Body of God-Man, from Eternity, this first begotten Human, did not as yet "have life in itself," like the Esse "the Father" from which it derived being. Not until the Lord's Glorification did the Natural, the Human, the Body--the "Son" or Begotten of the soul of God-Man-"have Life in Himself" even as the Father, or Soul or God has.

     From the First Natural all creation was initiated and framed, the ages through, until the coming and glorification of our Lord. From it were framed all the enveloping veils of the celestial and spiritual degrees of Life of God-Man. The envelopes of the bullae of the Elemental Kingdom, the Auras, the Ethers, which bodied and accommodated the Celestial and Spiritual Life of God-Man to creative manifestation and power in the Universe, were framed but of concretions and aggregations of the leasts, the units, the primitives constituting this first essence,--this first Body of God-Man; and not only that,--the Essence itself of Life, which, with man, is called the Soul, was hence, was from this Divine nature or essence, which was also Himself, though distinct from the Esse or Soul of God-Man. (A. C. 4235.)

     Yet these envelopes,--drawn from, consubstantiate with the Primordial Infinite-Natural or God-Man Body, living still the Life of the Esse, and not their own,--only veiled about and mediated the Infinite Life of the Celestial and Spiritual Degrees of God-Man, as those Lives willed and acted in the "active centers" within these marvels of veiling envelopes. And from the firsts to the lasts of the series of active atmospheres, the envelopes were but mediates--acting alone from the higher degrees of the God-Man Life pulsing within; or reacted from the repressures of lower ultimations.

     Even so it is with angel-men after death; their celestial and spiritual forms and lives act; but their natural, (or corporeal-memory plane), performs the use merely of a certain mediating, conditioning passive-power or structural potency through which the Celestial or Spiritual human "lives" may act upon, may affect planes below or relatively external, according to the set form and structure of that passively-mediating natural.

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Conversely, the reflux, the regency of the latter, the more external and ultimate, is able only to affect the spiritual or celestial lives, through its veil or mediation, according to the potencies fixed already in its conditioning form. Thus their natural or natural-memory plane is, with angel-men, but a passive-structure or potency, an enveloping or mediating form,--not acting of itself, but acting as it is played upon from within or from without.

     Even thus was it, with that first Natural,--that First Body and Human Form of Infinite God-Man. The Infinite-Celestial Degree of Life, Substance, form, lived its own Life, in itself sufficient and active. So likewise, the Infinite Spiritual; but the Infinite Natural lived the Life of the Soul, Celestial, Esse, of God-Man; Itself being as a continual reflexing and returning-a reagent, reflux, containing and reacting, as it were, Infinitely; but relatively passive, because determined by the Life of the Soul or Esse.

     Not until after the glorification of the Body, the Corporeal of our Lord Jesus Christ, producing the fullness of the God-Head bodily, was there an essence, a body, an Infinite Natural, a begotten Human, that was given to be Life in Itself. Not Life of the Esse, the Celestial of God-Man, determining and acting through it; but an essence, a Natural, a Body of God, having Life in Itself, having the living personal outgoing activities and effects, self-determined and formed, which are Life,--a Natural, the containent and accommodation of the Celestial and Spiritual of God-Man, lived, self-determined in action, in and from Itself; being now perfected, completely fulfilled in self-direction, and in giving and acting power. For only with the coming of God-Man manifestly on earth, as that Bodily Form we know as our Lord Jesus Christ, did the natural or corporeal degree of Infinite God-Man carry the creative, effective enveloping and efflux impulse of the Proceeding God-Life, to realization of all it was able to be and endeavored toward,--namely, to a full completion of its reflux, catching and holding all creation, hitherto safe in the loop of its circle of essence, and the very Body, Natural, Human Essence of God-Man became thus all which lay in its conatus, and attained to all that was possible to it as an active form of self-living, self-reflexing or determining God-Man-Life, all creation through,--heaven and earth and hells, and dead things also; for the Divine Natural reaches to and compasses about and rules from Itself the hells also.

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     The Divine Natural has now become as the natural of a man on earth furnishes analogy,-far more than the body of natural man gives analogy. For it pursues self-determinant and active power. The Soul does not act through it as through a simply-mediating and passive veiling or structure. The soul acts into it, but it acts from itself.

     Even as, during the weaving months in the womb, while the Soul in the inmost, the first essences of man proceeding by degrees to the production of an ultimate essence,--is forming a natural or body to the full, that body remains still helplessly dependent upon its soul, and does not act from itself. But when that body is born into the breathing reciprocatable world, full and adequate to co-act also to the spiritual degrees and type of the God-Man-Life--at that crisis-hour, the last essence, the ultimate essence of the body, rounds back through the cerebrum in afflux stream ascending and resolving by way of that initiate organic of the spiritual kingdom of the brain, the mind--the intermediate degree of the three Human lives--that it may adjoin itself to, unite itself to, the first essence in which is the soul;--from which union a new intermediate essence, a Benjamin essence, conjunct of both, forms to a re-descent, into the body. And with that, the full body begins to act from itself, in living, self-determinant, sensing agency and re-agency. A new epoch opens for the hitherto form of man; and the cerebrum of the mind or spirit, with the whole man, grows, perfects, is ready to live indeed--become adult, individual-full-powerful.

     The images we here have from which to form our idea-concept, are all images belonging to the body of man--understood according to the doctrine of the Human Form,--as that doctrine was of Providence given at the second coming of the Lord, revealing to us both God and Man.

     The Human mind or spirit is an intermediate organism brought into existence by means of the intercourse of soul and body,--or of the Human Spirituous fluid and the red blood,--in the rudimentary cortical glands.

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And by the same it is formed, grows, is reformed, developed. (E. A. K. Part II, 30.) Hence, in the human mind,--Spirit, heaven,-of man, a spiritual and a natural constitution are united. (Influx, 12; E. A. K. II, 235)

     The great law of Human organism and form is, that when the procedant series of the human bloods has attained its lowest or outmost degree, and has built itself a natural or body correspondent thereto, then that outmost blood or essence must, in the structure of the cortex of the brain, by its co-action, return and ascend by resolution until it unites itself in perfect circle and
unanimity with the first essence,--the human spirituous fluid or soul. And from the last and first united, a new conjunct, a "marriage unity," intermediate essence, goes out in circuit again. (S. D. 899; A. E. 1223, 727; W. L. G. 104; E. A. K. II, 301, 287, 323)

     This was the chief universe-affecting result of our Lord's unition in Himself of His ultimate human form and human essence, (compounded or concreted of the Divine Love), with the Infinite-Soul and Esse of the God-Man-Life.

     After that, no longer was it an affair of the Infinite Esse alone, conjoining, adjoining itself to the Infinite Essence, the Natural and Human Body of the God-Man-Life--to enter into, form and reform and elevate it in all its own proceedings and impulses, so that the Divine Love as a substance and body was formed, determined, acted, lived, not from itself, but from the activity and Life of the Esse.

     But at the glorification-now-at the self-unition of the Body, the Natural, the reagent Human form, worked out, full, perfect in the Body of our Lord on earth--(taking up also in His Body, our life and history and the past and worked-out substances and forms of the world)--the reciprocal, the last nature and human shape of the world, had returned in full circling reflux,--in itself worked out and immortally established,--by the union and intercourse of which a new mediate essence goes forth to ultimate ends and conclusions; a new and self-living essence was at the heart of creation, and the very veilings of the envelopes of the elementaries, the atmospheres, were new create therefrom; even like unto the reflux of the last, the ultimate and essence and blood of man, to unite itself to the first essence, the spirituous fluid or soul in man, when, at the hour of birth, is opened first the afflux or reciprocal life, reagent peculiarly to the Spiritual Life, the middle life-degree of God-Man Himself.

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     As much as the First, the Primordial Essence or Infinite Natural and reagent Body in God-Man, before depended upon the Esse, even so much and more was now the new Essence impowered in itself to live, act, react from itself, and to sustain, reciprocate to, and empower, from itself and its action, every monition, end, pressure, impulsion and reciprocal regard and interchange of the lives of the Infinite Celestial and Infinite Spiritual--the soul and the mind of very and Infinite God-Man--in their manifestation and proceeding in creation and in creatures.

     For the first essence, the first natural of Infinite God-Man successively ultimating and producing itself, to an ultimate essence in form, and that ultimate essence rounding back to adjoin, to unite, with the first,--was like a great liquid flying arch flung out in creation to ultimates and resistants,--to the ground and body of things, and the resilient red-blood heart,--and coming back again in vast driving sustaining circle, giving a new fulcrum, a perfect, livingly adaptable, effective, unbreakable leverage for every will of the mutual endeavoring of the Celestial and Spiritual Lives of God-Man in His creation and His creatures; and it was thus established to all ages.

     For at last, that first Body, Essence refluxing Human, begotten, conceived, then gestated to full formation, was born into its own reciprocal and effective life. That which had not before, from the beginning of creation, had life in itself,--the Divine Natural, the Divine Human from Eternity in God-Man, the first reflexive acting body of God as Man, and the first finitings of infinity,--that, even that, was now given to have Life in Itself--even as the Esse had.

     And the first outgo, the first product--the first new creation and regeneration therefrom-was a new creation, a new generation, of the very atmospheres, even as to their envelopes, which acted as the mediate body and containent of the celestial and spiritual Life of God-Man, in their proceeding of accommodation and action in the Universal Creation of heaven and the world.

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For the Divine Love and Wisdom together with the Atmospheres (Auras) are the Divine Proceeding.

     This was a new Proceeding, in which the very veiling, bodying envelopes now lived of themselves, as God-Man, Body, from itself determining, acting, moving.

     The veils lived, in the organic, conceived, born, and glorified Infinite Natural of Him who was even in the corporeal, a living tabernacle and form of the Infinite soul and mind,--the Celestial and the Spiritual degrees of God-Man.

     Of this new Essence, this second and last-produced essence, this further epoch of fulfillment of the Divine Proceeding in heavenly form even to full reciprocal returning unition, this new-born Infinite Divine natural, this full ultimate form and body of God-Man, no longer now a mere passive-potency, like a babe's body still in the womb,--a simple, reacting-structure, moving, formed, governed by the Soul, the Celestial, the Esse of God-Man, conceived and begotten from the Infinite Soul from Eternity like as it were, indeed, its body still a-shaping in the womb of creative ages, --of this the second essence, second body, natural, human, which, begotten from Eternity, was but now in time brought forth, bent to actualization, manifestation and its involved potencies, self-propriate, reciprocal Life--of this Essence the Writings say the like has not been in all the world of creation before, nor ever hitherto in the universe of heaven and the earths has been known such a Divine manifestation and bodiment to the full. (A. C. 10634)

     And this even the most Ancient Church had not, and did not know-for love and for worship. (T. C. R. 786 to 791) For it was not then, present, acting, in creation.

     Compare the four epochs or churches, conceived of the formative gestation of an historic grand-man of creation to be an exterior body, "an image and likeness" of the Intra-human God-Man-Life,--compare these with the four epochs of intra-uterine gestation of the conceived human body or recipient, reflexive to full form, prepared up to the beginning of self-determinant life and reciprocal action of the heart and lungs, celestial and spiritual human lives in the natural--as suggested in the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, Part I, 272 to 280.

     With this correlate--that the Human Spirituous fluid, the celestial and soul of man, in the womb, frames and bodies recipient man as a recipient organic tabernacle of four degrees of faculty, answerable over against, reciprocal to, the four degrees of the Life of God-Man mediated, veiled in Elementary-bullae, as atmosphere or use, or the two very degrees, celestial, spiritual,--twice veiled. (E. A. K. II, 273 to 282; S. D. 2835; Adv. 923; A. C. 978, 9632; T. C. R. 140; A. E. 726; D. L. W. 296, 299; A. R. 45; Ath. Creed, 8, 17, 19, 33, 39, 41.)

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     OFFICE OF THE INFINITE NATURAL OR BODY DEGREE OF LIFE AND SUBSTANCE AND FORM, IN GOD AS MAN.

     The Infinite Celestial or the Spiritual (the soul, and the mind or "spirit"). Lives of God-Man are inseparable from the Infinite Natural or body of God-Man. The three coincide, unite, are at one, in the sole, Individual God-Man.

     Thus the Celestial and the Spiritual degrees of God-Man always act, operate, are present and presented in the Infinite Divine Natural or Body. Apart from it, they cannot be, apart from it they do nothing whatever. Thus God always acts in the universe,--and in man,--through the Divine Natural.

     We are accustomed to think of the Natural Sun as a double Sun, as a Soul-and-body Entity. The Soul of it is the Spiritual Sun, with the full God-Man-Life within; for the Infinite Divine Natural--before, as after, glorification--was ever inner to the Spiritual Sun. The body of it, engirding it around as in form of a hollow spherical envelope of primal metallic corpuscles,--is the Natural Sun proper. Every bulla, every elementary form of Swedenborg's elementary kingdom, is, like the sun, a double entity, a soul-and-body form. The envelope veiling about and mediating the action of the active space within, is one entity. The active space thus veiled about, is another.

     The active space within each such envelope belongs to the Human Life of God-Man. This active space is bodied, veiled, accommodated, empowered, finited and individuated from all other spaces and expanses of God-Man's Acting Life of that degree,--in short, discreted, and given "a form" or "containant vessel and body" by means of its individual and own veiling envelope, which, as it were, encompasses and involves it.

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     Compared with the breadth, the scope, verity, depth, instancing of the verity of God-Man,--the Human always, before creation of atmospheres or heaven or star of world, as well as the heart and beginning and center and inmost of creation--compared with this the idea of the Spiritual Sun is narrowest.

     For the Spiritual Sun is only a creative issue, in order that a limited gift from the essence or Infinite Corporeal, or Infinite Natural, the spiritual body of God-Man, may be determined into successive concrete finitizations, so form veils, enveloping media, at once concealment and effectuating Hand for the Life of the Infinite God-Nan, to act, write, operate, give in a Precedent created universe.

     The Natural Suns are local issues, for the determination of a continued series of derivative concretions, for veiling-for ultimate gift.

     The Celestial Life, that is, the universal or "Soul" degree of Life of Infinite God-Man, can "proceed" and be operative in the universe of heaven and earth,--can effectively flow into the universe and all things of it--if mediated, bodied, by least veilings or envelopes intrinsically apt to infinitely vortical motion,--these envelopes being derived and composited from the Infinite Natural of God-Man, (the nexus, human and body begotten from Eternity), by means of the universal pulsing fount of cardiac life of God-Man, agent as a Spiritual Sun. The envelopes of the Primal, the sole universal Aura or Atmosphere, thus veil, body, mediate, accommodate, empower, the universal or celestial degree of Life of Infinite God-Man; and they are framed from the Primal Divine Essence, Divine Corporeal, First Natural, or Human from Eternity of God-Man.

     The General Life, the Mediate or Spiritual Degree of Life, of God-Man, can flow into the universe, through structures apt to the vortical motion. The envelopes of the second aura, veil, body, mediate, accommodate, empower the general or middle Life of Infinite God-Man. These envelopes are drawn from, are framed from the substances of the first tender natural body of the double sun,--when, indeed, in the beginning of solar creation, the Double Sun first begins to be double, (or Soul-and-body sun).

     Therefore the Spiritual or General Life of infinite God-Man is veiled in the Solar Natural; that is, in the Infinite-Natural or body from Eternity of God-Man,--still further derived, composited and maintained in derivative composition, by the forces issuing from the great natural centers of cardiac pulsing motion locally maintained for each solar system, by the heart pulse of the God-Man Life.

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     These first two atmospheres, properly "the Habitation of God-man," do afterwards, separately and respectively, again further veil and accommodate themselves around each planet, by still further envelopes drawn from the cloud and sphere of substance arising from the virgin planet mass,-thus by means of the ascending terrestrial natural.

     Thus, as it is said, God accommodates Himself, His influent entering Life, first, by means of circumvolutions or vortex whirls of the Infinite,--and second, He further accommodates His Life by means also of the sphere of substances given off from the bodily form of the man or angel himself; here also is the same in the astronomic sphere, before men or angels were created,--but only the precedent mediatives of God-Man Life, veiled, bodied and accommodated, in Providential preparation and ground of creation.

     Moreover, not only does the Infinite Celestial and the Infinite Spiritual degree of Life of God-Man, always act through the Infinite-Natural or Body of God. But, when, in last ages of creative act, from outmosts it has created, produced from ramental spheres and fragments of lower first-forms, then God-Man begins to shape recipient reciprocatable sensitive "human" "images and likenesses" of Himself, out of the "Natural" dust of the ground and past ages of form and the historic nature and action of the world; and still likeness to the law holds. God-Man acts always through His own Natural upon "the Natural of created man, that is, upon that sensing, recipient human-image and form which man is. Alike before man's death--and after death--this law governs.

     And it is only as the man, in his natural--(his "ramental superinduced covering" of spheres, infilling and fixing, which he provides, furnishes, during the activities of his sojourn on earth, to adjoin to, to envelope yet again--the Proceeding of God-Man)--it is only as the man shapes his own natural body and natural mind as a reagent, containant to the celestial degree of Life in God-Man,--or to the Spiritual degree of Life,--in, at least, some part, fragment, and effigy thereof,-that the man to all Eternity will be, can be, the recipient, joy, and body, and organ, and power, of the celestial or Spiritual Lives of God-Man--in such part, fragment or effigy.

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     THE TABERNACLE OF THE DIVINE MEDIATION, VEILING BODYING, OF THE GOD-MAN LIFE PROCEDANT IN CREATION-AS THE SERIES OF THE FOUR ACTIVE ATMOSPHERES.

     The Elementary Primordial Constants of Creation.

     In the universe in which we live many constants have been created and maintained by God, in order that inconstants may exist. (D.P. 190.)

     The universal Constants of creation, primordially crested, and lastingly maintained, are the series of the Elementary Kingdom. Concerning this kingdom and the particulars of its character, production, structure;-we know alone from the revelation of Divine Providence, at the second coming of the Lord to illuminate and reveal to sight the human verities hidden in the phenomena of the world, and in the clouds of narrowly-finite understanding.

     The series of the Elementary Kingdom, the series of the four great auras or ethers in succession created, is the series of degrees characteristic of the human life of God-Man, in Himself existent, present, veiled about, embodied, accommodated and empowered to manifestation as creative, formative, operative forces in the extense of creation; and for veiling, the envelopes the four atmospheres are taken from the Divine Corporeal. Essence, natural human begotten from eternity of Infinite God-Man, framed into successive creations.

     This series of the active atmospheres constituting the Great Elementary Kingdom, firstborn Kingdom of creative will which bodies and manifests the series of Lives in God-as-Man, active, effective in the universe, presses on, as to its ultimate aim and will, to the formation, from its outmost and veiling substance, of a recipient and reactant creation,--a creation, the last produced individual forms of which shall be figured men, considered as complex recipient reactant forms framed to potency of sensitive reception, sympathetic response, and prolonged reverberation to the actuant powers, undulations, impulses of each separate one of the four active atmospheres, which at once veil and empower, give moving acting hands to, these degrees of Human Life hid in Infinite Uncreate God-Man.

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That thus a human created form should be framed, a sensitive reactant creature produced--in itself little; in its own-hood of life, as it were naught indeed, yet framed to sympathetically sing back in sweet sense, to every motion of the Infinite Divine Life acting upon it, at the Will of God, movement by movement, to all Eternity, a creature framed partaker, in largeness of bounty, of the joys of the Infinite Life of God-Man, to all eternity, alike before and after death.

     The acting atmospheres of the Elementary Kingdom do this office for and to the recipient organic forms of men, in so far as the latter are framed to reciprocative response. Those organic reactant planes framed before death to organic sensitive reverberations to the modulatory motions of a special degree of atmosphere, which is enabled thereby to carry to effective touch upon it, the flowing expanding play of the Infinite Life of God therein veiled and bodied--will continue to receive like actual motions and like sweet sensations therefrom after death. And if, upon earth, there fails to be inbuilt in the mind, (the extended spirit of man), the reactant reverberant sensitive plane, organism, own reciprocal to a given degree of the atmosphere--as mate to mate, wife to husband, ear to air,--so that never upon earth does the infilled form of the reciprocal of finite spirit of man tremble in sweet obedient singing sense to its touch, then never, to all eternity, can that lacking plane of the receptive natural, of the sensitive-reciprocal to that degree of the Divine man life, be made good. 'Tis as a recipient tabernacle with an apartment gone. 'Tis a musical instrument with part of the strings for full chord lacking. Never shall it sing back in sympathetic sense to the full harmonic God-Man Life, and Form, and active love.

     The planes, the structural degrees of the spirit of man, which he has formed for himself before death,--from and in the natural,--to a reciprocal, a sensitive, sympathetic reverberation with the action of the series of degrees of the active atmospheres, continue to react thereto, to reciprocate thereto, after death also.

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Therefore the series of the active atmospheres, the Elementary Kingdom, exist equally as determining actuant factors, acting upon the human form of man, whether before death, or after, and the series of its atmospheres are active forces alike, equally, in both worlds. For men, angels, devils, so far as concerns the recipient organic proprial forms of the natural, which finite and individualize them, are alike under their touch and rule.

     Thus we may say the Elementary Kingdom is Elementary, common to both worlds--the Spiritual and Natural alike;--that it is the Lord's one Kingdom of operation, of use, the media of the presence and effective touch of the degrees of God-Man Life in both worlds, in all worlds, simultaneously. God-Man never acts on the recipient human form, of any degree, save through them. Thus God Messiah, as Man, fills the Universe with the play and the pressure of the God-Man Life, and the atmospheres of the Elementary Kingdom are as it were His members,--and as the hands of Jehovah God in the Universe. Or they are as the Tabernacle of His presence, outspread, where He appoints to meet His creatures all, and they to meet with Him, so far as they present, in their own structure, answerable reciprocations.

     Atmospheres, in the sense that we term the breathable oxygen part of the atmosphere--the so-called atmosphere, constituted of the volatile aerial salt, oxygen,--and the like type--the relatively passive atmospheres, in short, are another story altogether. The latter are all derived from ultimate finite individuals, created, formed, actant and reactant. They consist of a volatile sphere, a "passive or reactant aura," a sort of outbreathing smoke of its finest particles radio-emanating from every part of an ultimate structural-individual, in the heat of its reactant reciprocal motion; particles fine enough, active enough, not to be driven to the earth by the pressures of gravity, but able to float above it, borne and carried between and upon the veiling envelopes of the bullae of the Elementary Kingdom, in the lower degrees of its series. These are the passive volatile atmospheres, "the return atmospheres"--ascending like incense to God, from all finite created forms, individuals.

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     When existent in the macrocosm, the Divine Proceeding of the active atmospheres adjoins these to itself, in all its formation of organic subjects, creatures. They constitute "the farther accommodation taken from the sphere, the substance of the actual creatures," and are the nature of the world, the endeavor of the past forms of life of the earth.

     Moreover, every man is a little cosmos within the skin-bounds of his own form. From living, acting cells,--tissues,--of lower planes, of his body, as of his body's mind, such a ramental sphere is constantly being given off, of like quality and type and substance as the living, active, state, form, of the actual working cell. These spheres "ascend" and are actually used by the living essences, the Divine Proceeding in the Man, operating to accommodate itself, appropriate itself to the human form,--that is, to organically build, infill, a structure plane in the mind or "heaven and spirit" of man--expressly to receive and reciprocate, to live the life from the Living Lord God.

     That, of the Life of God-Man, for which the man himself can furnish ramental spheres and particles as a veiling, covering, infilling, that he prepares himself to be adjoined to, that, even that, will be by God-Man eternally as it were, appropriated to him. And the pulses of the life and joy and power thereof, he, in his measure of formed recipiency, reciprocity, he, even little he, can live.

     Such is the Universe! Such the possibilities God-Man prepares for His image-creature, man, when He frames the seed of him,--when He bodies him forth in his mother's womb. Such is the place, the responsibility of the natural degree and kingdom of the human life, wherein God-Man gives the human recipient race, initiament, and let, and have, and substance, and impowerance to shape, each for himself, an eternal natural human, eternally to body, contain, define, condition, finite, the soul, and the mind-lives of him, and his sensitive reciprocative appropriation of the fullness of the three degrees of the Infinite God-Man-Life, everlastingly.

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HOW THE WORD HAS BEEN PRESERVED 1908

HOW THE WORD HAS BEEN PRESERVED       VENITA ROSCHMAN       1908

     The history of the Word involves much of the history of every nation, and particularly that of the Jewish nation. But before beginning the outline of its history, I will say a few words about the Ancient Word.

     The names of generations given in the tenth chapter of Genesis represent nations of different genius. They had different forms of worship, but together formed one church, the Ancient Church or Noah. This was a spiritual church founded on traditions from the Most Ancients, and instructed by direct revelations from heaven. But when it declined, and its people fell into idolatry, perception of heavenly things was lost, and they had to be taught by means of written words. Then the Ancient Word was given them. The art of writing became necessary, and from this time developed gradually. The effect of this Word was widespread; all heathen and pagan peoples had some traditions from it, which we find traces of in mythologies, and ancient sacred books. That the first eleven chapters of Genesis were taken from the Ancient Word we are told in the Doctrines. This would seem to indicate that it existed in Egypt or Midian, because Moses must have had access to it in one of these countries. We know nothing of its history except what is told us in the Doctrines; that is, "Seek for it in China and perhaps you will find it there among the Tartars."

     More is known about the Israelitish Word or the Old Testament, the first five Books of which are called the Law or the Books of Moses. The Ten Commandments which Moses afterwards copied into the twentieth chapter of Exodus, was the earliest part of this Word. It was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, for the Jews, after their deliverance from the Egyptians. Every one is familiar with the dramatic circumstances attending: the giving of the Ten Commandments, with the miracles which were done by means of it, and its magnificent resting place.

     The Tabernacle with the Ark was a great work wrought by the Jews, for the honor and safety of the two tables on which the Ten Commandments were written.

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The riches which the people had brought from Egypt, and the crafts which had been learned there, all were employed in the building of this shrine, which was to take the place of their sacred tent of meeting. Skilled women wove beautiful curtains, and workmen molded gold, silver, and copper, and carved wood. The whole camp was employed in the making of the Tabernacle.

     When the tribes of Israel reached the center of the land of Canaan, Joshua read to them the laws which Moses had written. This is the first we know of the Laws of Moses; but before going into this subject, let us trace the two tables up to the time of their destruction. At the time of the great judges, the Philistines seized the Ark in war; and because it worked them evil, they took it to the house of an Israelite in Kirjath-jearim, where it remained for twenty years, after which time, David built a new Tabernacle for it on Mount Zion. The great holiness of the Ten Commandments had been forgotten during these years, and on carrying it to the top of the mountain, a layman touched it, and was killed. The new Tabernacle was now the important place of worship, but the first one was still in existence, and not entirely forsaken; for many years there was divided worship between the two shrines.

     During David's reign God commanded that a temple should be built; David and Solomon collected much rich material for its building, and on its completion the Ark containing the Ten Commandments was placed in it. As early as Solomon's time, national morals were on the decline, and became worse steadily during the time of the kings, until God was forgotten, and idols were placed in the Temple. People were unwilling to give money for its repair, and frequently its gold and silver were taken for political purposes, now, unlike olden times, separate from religious purposes. When King Josiah came to the throne, he had men take away the idols, and made an attempt to restore some of the old ritual. In doing this, he came across the Books of Moses, and again they were read to the people. The Temple was repeatedly plundered by invaders. Finally when Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Jews, he took away the vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and burned the Temple. Probably the Ark and the Tables of Stone were destroyed then.

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The Jews had been driven from their native land by the Babylonians, but in the reign of Cyrus the Persian, the Babylonians were conquered by him, and the Jews were granted the privilege of returning to colonize their native land. They built a new Temple, and Cyrus had their sacred utensils restored to them. They no longer had the Ark with the Two Tables of Stone, but they had the Laws of Moses, of which the Ten Commandments were the epitome. The guarded these Books jealously, for they believed them to be holy, and they were the history and literature which belonged distinctly to their nation. But again in 70 A. D. the Jews were molested. The Roman troops stormed the Temple and made a Roman structure of it, which was repeatedly the scene of conflict between the Romans and the Jews, and finally was burnt by the Jews themselves on the same month and day on which the first Temple perished. The Romans seized the sacred utensils, the golden table, the candlesticks, and the Books of the Law, and displayed them in triumph at Rome. Jerusalem now belonged to them, and the Jews were persecuted and sold into slavery.

     But to go back. From about 300 B. C. to 500 A. D., a code of Jewish laws and opinions, called the Talmud, was forming. It has been called a library in itself. In some places its meaning is clear, and its spirit modern, and in others, there are quaint and even grotesque fancies in which inner meanings are perhaps involved. It contains poetry, philosophy, mysticism, writings on medicine, mathematics, botany, astronomy, archaeology, ethics and many other subjects. It was written for the purpose of explaining, enlarging and commenting on the Laws of Moses, which were gradually losing their application to the people.

     In the Talmud Rabbi Judah makes a full statement of the Books of the Old Testament and their authors. Many commentaries do not accept his ideas on the subject, for various reasons; one being that Samuel's death is described ill his first Book; and so also in Joshua. Little is known about the authorship and history of these Books, and it is of little real importance to New Church people, but might be interesting in this connection of the Word's history. Rabbi Judah had the following ideas: The Books having men's names were for the most part called after their authors, and I will not mention these.

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Moses wrote Job; Samuel Judges and Ruth, David the Psalms, Jeremiah Kings and Lamentations, Hezekiah and his friends Isaiah, Proverbs, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; the men of the great Jewish synagogue, Ezekiel; twelve wise men, Daniel and Esther, and Ezra the Book of Chronicles. The latter also is said to have compiled all of the Old Testament. The Jews divided the Book into three parts, the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa or Holy Writings, in which are included all of the Books that are not a part of the Word, but have been kept with it.

     In the Divine Providence these Books have been preserved to the world in a wonderful way. One of the most important means of their preservation was the work of the Masorites, a class of learned Hebrews who collected the different Books of the Old Testament, and were so zealous for their preservation that in making transcriptions they counted the verses, words, and even letters of the Books, and noted their results on the margins of manuscripts, so that "one jot or one tittle should in nowise pass from the law." It is not known when their work began, but at the time of the greatest Greek influence, when Alexandria was at its height, there were many scribes, doctors, prophets, and learned Jews teaching, writing, and probably adding to the Talmud at the great synagogue in Jerusalem. The Hebrew literature had been treated with contempt by the civilized world, but Ptolemy Philadelphus on founding the Library at Alexandria, set his heart on having this Jewish literature. Before asking this favor of the Jews he had to pacify them by liberating all the Jews who were in slavery in Egypt. It is said that he then sent a splendid embassage to Jerusalem with presents; and the Jews sent seventy-two learned elders to Alexandria to translate the books into Greek. These men were separated to do their translating, and on comparing their manuscripts, they were found to all agree exactly. The Greek Old Testament is called the Septuagint from this legend of the seventy-two men. These Books which for so long had been kept closely by the learned Hebrews, soon were circulated throughout the Greek and Roman world, and regarded as interesting books of history and traditions, but not as holy Writings.

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     When the Lord came into this world the Jews did not believe in Him, and crucified Him. But the doctrine which He taught was circulated by His disciples and apostles, and Christianity spread rapidly. Then the Christians as well as the Jews believed in the Holiness of the Hebrew Word, and as time went on and monasteries came into existence, friars and monks guarded the translations of it as zealously as the Jews did the original. Still the Jews were hated with a deeper hatred than before, because they had crucified Christ, and because they slandered the Christian religion. Their race always had been hated by the peoples, because of its disagreeable manners and miserly characteristics; and now this feeling was intensified, and the Jews were persecuted by all peoples and nations.

     The external sense of the New Testament is the life of Christ on earth, written in Greek by the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who lived at the time of Christ. There are many skeptics at this day who believe that the Apostles based their Writings on two documents, one of which is unknown, and another called the Logia. But we choose to believe that they were written by the four Apostles, who heard and saw what they wrote. In the first chapter of Luke is written:

     "It seems good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all these things, from the very first, to write unto thee in order, O most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of these things wherein thou hast been instructed." Also in Revelations we read: "I, John, heard and saw."

     As in the Old so in the New Testament, there are books not belonging to the Word, but which were written at the same time, and have been kept with the New Testament up to this day. These are Acts, Romans I, and II., Corinthians, Calatians, and several more, probably written by men who lived near the time of Christ, and heard and saw what they have written.

     About 1300 A D., the Jews were an important factor in the development of Europe, but they were despised as always, and were required to wear a peculiar badge or cap, which exposed them to insult constantly. They were excluded from the guilds existing then, and naturally turned to money lending. In the time of Philip Augustus, many of them were driven out of France into Spain, where with the Moors, many settled in Grenada.

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They were forced into Portugal and Germany by the Inquisition at the time of Ferdinand and Isabella. Spain was left in a weakened condition by the loss of the Moors and Jews. Many of the latter went to Germany and taught Hebrew to the Christians, but the most learned of them went to Portugal where they tenaciously preserved the Hebrew Word, which is a great treasure to the New Church; for no translation is so valuable as the original, and besides we are told in the Doctrines that Hebrew is much like the heavenly language, of which every letter has a meaning. Jewish books were treated with contempt in the Middle Ages; one Pope ordered every Jewish book in the world to be burned. This was attempted in Spain, and Emperor Maximilian was about to actively co-operate in Germany, when he was persuaded by a learned influential Hebrew scholar, Reuchlin, that the destruction of these books would be a great loss to Christendom. A few centuries, earlier in France, the Talmud and other writings were condemned after a four days' trial, and cart loads were seized and publicly burned. When the Hebrew Word came to be respected by people outside of the Jewish nation, a Hebrew renaissance was brought about, and the great Hebrew scholars came into prominence as teachers and writers.

     Monks and friars of the Middle Ages preserved the Word as a whole, and spent much time and labor in studying and making manuscripts, which they illuminated with colored symbolical designs. Some of the most common were the fish, various representations of the Trinity, the sign of the cross, the crown of thorns, besides many others. The Irish development of this art was one of the earliest. Men of the Church made elaborate illuminations in all books used in connection with worship; learning, literature and art centered around monasteries, and in earlier times around the Word. Books were few and worth a small fortune, because of the long labor involved ill their transcription and in the art lavished on them. There are some curious Celtic traditions about various valuable holy books being lost in deep waters for years, and then washed ashore or found in some wonderful way, and not weathered in the least, but as beautiful as ever.

     In 1400 A. D. the Turks took Constantinople, and the scholars, of the East became scattered over Europe, bringing new learning with them.

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In the next century printing was introduced, and by means of it and the eastern scholars, the Word was spread over Europe, and translated into all languages. The Vulgate, a Latin translation, was the first that was made, and though a poor one, was of importance in Medieval times. As early as about 670 to 800 A. D., Caedmon, Aldhelm, and Cede, learned religious men, introduced parts of the Word into England; but the influence of their works was not widespread; centuries later Wyclif made the first full English translation of it, from the Vulgate. Others, based on this poor Latin version, followed this, and were used in England and on the Continent, until the reign of King James I. of England, who, at the suggestion of church leaders, employed fifty scholars to make a translation from the original tongues. This is what we have today. There are now one hundred and eight translations of the Word, and eighty Bible societies publishing and distributing millions of copies over all the world, in every language; writing of savage tongues has been invented, so that the Word may be taken among all people. The necessity of a translation by New Church men has long been felt. There is at present a body of men working upon such a translation.

     And now in conclusion, I would say the Word has been preserved to the world throughout the ages, and in the Divine Providence has always been held sacred by some peoples. Its holiness is now being fast forgotten by the Christian world, and its safe keeping will now be entrusted to the New Church. May it there be loved with a heavenly love and guarded with a noble spirit.

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ISAAC WATTS 1908

ISAAC WATTS       WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1908

     On November 23, 1748, being two days after Swedenborg had taken lodgings in London, whither he had specially journeyed to arrange for the publication of the first and after volumes of the Arcana Coelestia, there died at the home of a pious knight-patrons* in Stoke-Newington, an English clergyman of the Independent body, who is still famous for his religious poems and hymns. Howbeit his memory, as to his other worthy accomplishments, is in some danger of undeserved extinction. Indeed, some candid and equitable biography of Dr. Isaac Watts as he was, and not as his literary executors desired him to appear, is a pronounced want in the realm of letters.
     *Sir John Hartcopp, of Abney Park.

     The atmosphere in which the early classical studies of the precocious Watts were developed, was that of the second Stuart tyranny, when the fortunes of English religion oscillated on a needle-point, and a crowd of sane and insane pamphleteers had so hotly revolted against the theologic fantasies of the day that all doctrinal and controversial sermons were tabooed by king's orders, and a stern Church commission--headed by the infamous Jeffreys,-was created to take charge of the fermentation. Watts, whose father had already been imprisoned for religion's sake, would absorb much that would develop his love for rational truth, and increase his singularly direct way of declaring his religious beliefs. Yet he was no embryonic South, or mad Sackeverell; but a quite modest and pious-minded student of those Scriptures on which other men profanely based their self-willed creed and falsities. Indeed, as a divinity student, he so permanently damaged his body with the intensity of his theologic applications, that his after-history inevitably became as calm and tranquil as his quality of mind.

     After working for several years in Abney Park as a private tutor, Watts,--a small, fragile man of twenty-four years,--definitely entered the Independent ministry.

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His first position of pastor's assistant in a distinguished chapel of the Independents in Mark Lane, London, enabled him, in 1702, to succeed to the pulpit on the pastor's death. Here he nominally remained for the rest of his life; though, actually, his ill health soon compelled him to retire from the active side of his ministerial duties.

     Hence, the major part of his life was providentially occupied in theologic studies, and in the production of those remarkable hymns--some six hundred in number--which fell as an unreckonable boon into the hands of his fellow dissenters, whose hymnologies had been badly stunted by Calvin's rigorous church orders.

     His Horae Lyriae (1706) got him into Johnson's Lives of the Poets. Southey prefaced a memoir to an edition of his poems. And many of his hymns are today counted as among the finest in the English tongue. Such titles as "Before Jehovah's Awful Throne," "Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come," "O God. Our Help in Ages Past," will be easily recognized. Watts is represented, of course, in the new liturgy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem.

     Despite certain faults of style, due chiefly to the limitations of custom and public taste, (he once naively remarked that "it was hard to sink every line to the level of a whole congregation, and yet to keep it above contempt"), many of his poems will continue to endure in use and memory.

     But his prose writings, though now considered mediocre, contain some peculiar elements of interest for the New Church. For, as might be expected of a man of his nature and training,-being as he was, a practical and scriptural preacher of charity, industrious in life, and liberal in faith,--he was frequently accused of heterodox leanings. His simple and ardent desire for Truth, expressed in certain doctrinal treatises published about 1722-4, led to unjust charges of Arianism; and even the Unitarians claimed him as their champion. Indeed, Jennings and Doddridge, who were appointed as Watt's literary executors, and edited his works in 1753, were "wise" enough to suppress much that they reckoned might impeach the dead man's popularity among the orthodox.

     In those specific treatises he is understood to have attempted to restate the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in such a manner as to arouse no little storm; and he afterwards published a definite and larger work on the "Doctrine of the Trinity," (1726), which contained much in common with other pamphlets to which we shall presently refer.

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     The titles of some of his prose works are distinctly instructive: "Treatise on the Love of God, and on the Use and Abuse of the Passions" (1729); "Essays towards a Proof of a Separate State for Souls" (1732); "Essay on the Freedom of the Will" (1732); "Essay on the strength and weakness of Human Reason" (1737); "Glory of Christ as God-Man unveiled" (1746); "Useful and Important Questions concerning Jesus Christ" (1746); "A faithful Enquiry after the ancient and original Doctrine of the Trinity" (1745)*
     * All the copies of this edition, save one, were destroyed by Watt's executors.

     The clergyman's clear and moving exposition of his thoughts is at times very suggestive. He frankly admits that his enquiring mind was "embarrassed by the many difficulties and darknesses that hung about certain important doctrines of the Christian Religion." "I am very sensible (he says) that, in our present age, the spirit of God is so much withdrawn from the Christian Church in all its operations, that a man exposes himself to the censure of wild enthusiasm and a heated fancy if he ventures to discourse at all upon such a theme as this" (i. e., the "extraordinary witness of the Spirit").

     Nor was he at all unconscious that Divine Revelation was hidden from those who had been blinded by an unbelief, like the Jews. In his curiously hortatory work on Logic--received in the universities,--he remarks that "though persons might be assured of their own inspiration by some peculiar and inexpressible consciousness of the divine inspiration in their own spirits, yet it is hard to make out this inspiration to others, and to convince them of it, except by some antecedent or consequent prophecies or miracles or some public appearances more than human."

     As to the states of life hereafter, (his favorite theme), he is positive that God designed men's habitation in flesh and blood and passage through this world only as the means to fit them for various stations in the next world.

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"The souls of men having dwelt many years in particular bodies, have been influenced and habituated to particular turns of thought, both according to the various constitutions of those bodies, and the more various studies, and businesses, and occurrences of life. . . . We may reasonably imagine each sinful spirit that leaves the body, to be more abundantly influenced with the particular vices which it indulged in here. . . . Their various forms of punishment may arise from their own variety of lusts, giving each of them a peculiar inward torment. . . . And why may not the spirits of the just made perfect have the same variety of taste and pleasure in that happy world above, according as they are fitted for various kinds of sacred entertainments in their state of preparation?" (Works, Vol. 2, p. 388). The earth-Church, he asserts, is but a training school for the heaven-Church. There will be preaching in heaven, lectures of Divine Wisdom given to younger spirits, philosophical inquiries by spirits in unraveling knotty controversial points. As to the spirit, it must be in a human form, and bear a resemblance to the body it has left. A spirit is plainly distinguished from an angel.

     Rejecting the doctrine of infant damnation, he believed that all the heathen might be saved. Whilst some few souls were actually predestined for heaven, and must be saved, yet all might be saved who chose to accept salvation,--surely a very free rendering of the Calvinistic predestination. As to the absolute necessity of Charity for salvation, and also as to the sanctity of the Word, he was unflinching, although, judged by the religious conventions of the day, he was distinctly lax as to the observation of the Sabbath.

     In many other respects Dr. Watts's views present a peculiar contrast to the teachings of his time; and, both as to their intrinsic worth, and as betokening the struggles of his mind in the sphere in which he found himself, they are worthy of note, if space permitted.

     As the titles of his treatises will betray, his special interest appears to have centered in the current doctrine of the Trinity and its alleged relation to the One God of the universe.*

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Undoubtedly this had a strong fascination for Watts; for, from his earliest theologic efforts, we find him returning to it again and again. And, in this connection, there is one particular matter which might find here a useful place, as providing at least a review of certain past speculations, and possibly opening the way to some fresh light.
     * See especially the "Enquiry" of 1755, last reprinted in 1829.

     Some eleven years ago the attention of the New Church was directed to a little pamphlet, entitled "The Trinity in Unity. Anonymous." [Originally printed in 1729. William Newberry, London, 1839.]* The appearance of this document, which seemed to be compiled from an as yet unknown work, and which tellingly appealed to the rationality of its readers regarding the monstrosity of a three-headed God, and the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ was the true God in the form of Man, gave rise to the sanguine verdict that its statement of the doctrine concerning the Lord was, so far as it went, practically identical with that announced by Swedenborg twenty years later in the first volume of the Arcana Coelestia.
     * See New Ch. Review, 1896, p. 257.

     Three months after the contents of the above pamphlet had been reprinted, it was announced* that an English friend had examined, in the library of the British Museum, a little four-penny pamphlet which proved to be the significant original edition of 1729. The title of this quaint document read: "Trinity in Unity. In answer to a great and Ingenious Lady, that asked, How she might have an Idea of the Divinity of Christ without a Notion of Two Gods." [London. Printed for J. Roberts, near the Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane, MDCCXXIX.]
     * See New Ch. Review, 1896, p. 440.

     Shortly afterwards, still another noteworthy pamphlet was unearthed, whose title ran: "Some Plain and Short Arguments from Scripture proving the Lord Jesus Christ to be The Supreme God, or One and the same God with the Father, notwithstanding his acknowledged Inferiority to the Father, with respect to his Human Nature and Mediatorship." [The Third Edition. London. Printed for Richard Hett, at the Bible and Crown in the Poultry. Price Two Pence.]*

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This cheap pamphlet was "Designed for the Use of honest, plain Christians who have not time to read large Discourses, nor, it may be, capacity to judge of nice Disputes; but being willing to found their Faith on their Bibles, may perhaps be glad of such an Help as is here offered them." Then followed fifty purely Scriptural arguments arranged concisely to support the proposition. "As for any (says the preface) who dislike the following Arguments, they are desired to take Notice, that an insolent Air, a disdainful Reflection, a fine Witticism, a critical Evasion, or a popular Harangue, will not pass for an Answer to them."
     * See New Ch. Review, 1896, p. 561.

     The original source, however, from which the above publications were plainly compiled by unknown adapters, proved to be a little book of 116 pages, brought to light in 1899, and entitled: "A System of Religion, Treating of the following Heads: I. Of the Nature of God, and that Jesus Christ is the Only One and True God. II. Of the Trinity, in a manner wholly differing from either the Athanasians or Arians, nearer to the plain literal Text of the Scripture, and less liable to philosophical Objection." [Faithfully collected from a curious Manuscript found among the Papers of Tho. Tompkinson, Gent. London: Printed in the year 1729.]*
     * See New Ch. Review, 1899, p. 537.

     Although including some chapters of theologic reasoning of the current orthodox type, the book sustains a candid and singular argument in favor of the early doctrine that "in Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." "Many of those (it says bravely) who pretend to Christianity have mixed their own carnal Reason with the Scriptures, and thereby corrupted the Meanings of the Texts, and resisted the Truth, yet this doth nothing avail, for Antiquity and Tradition cannot make Error and Falsehood Truth, notwithstanding Custom and Practice may have for a Time established them; for there have been wrong Principles ever since Cain."

     The style and duality of the arguments used, seem, in several ways, to be so strikingly interwoven with the personality of Dr. Watts, that it is hard to believe that this MS. was not yet another very early systematic attempt made by him to establish, on Scriptural and philosophical grounds, the true doctrine of the God-head and the Trinity.

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Why the manuscript awaited publication until its discovery by some curious person, or whether it was lent by Watts to some friend in his fashionable congregation, and afterwards suffered for some reason to lie in abeyance,--must remain problematic questions until further evidence is forthcoming.

     At any rate, that "important sentiments of the New Church"* were advocated by Dr. Watts;--that he was a man of benign and rational piety, eloquent, practical and Scriptural in his theologic searchings,--that there was no bitterness in his dissents, and no reigning love in his life more powerful than his love of saving souls;--all seem to be well authenticated. The evidence is strong that he worshipped the One God, and dimly apprehended certain things which gave his character a likeness to those early Christians who worshipped in the subterranean churches of Rome. And, assuredly, such modern minds as seek for the explanation of the religious unrests and turmoils of this generation, might do far worse than study the successful life of this man, in its odd contrast to his environment and surprising "heterodoxies."
     * See Intellectual Repository, 1827, P. 105.

     To affirm, however, that Isaac Watts was "an undoubted member of the New Jerusalem Church," or to claim for him anything more than he actually claimed for himself, would be an impetuous and purely sectarian desire to support the bulwarks of the kingdom of God by using as buttresses the names of men. That method would doubtlessly have obtained Mr. Watts's frank and complete opposition.

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     The accompanying illustration of the "Resuscitation of Plants" was finished too late for our July number. Readers will please insert it at p. 430 of last month's issue.



     The Academy's annual Journal of Education will hereafter be published as a supplement to the New Church Life in order to secure wider circulation of its important and interesting contents.
The Catalogue and Prospectus of the Academy Schools is published separately and will be furnished free on application to the Rev. C. E. Doering, Bryn Athyn, Pa.



     "New Church Life is after us again." So read the opening words of an editorial in the Secular Church for July, which continues: "This time it thinks it sees that in our recognition of the church universal, coupled with the fact that Secular Church does not stand 'for the propagandism of any particular church,' that logically the policy of Secular Church is that of laissez faire; that is, that one's church connection being the best for him, the propagandism of any special form is uncalled for and undesirable." To this the editor replies: "On the contrary we hold that there are vast degrees in the desirability of various religions, and that the advocates of each should proclaim it to the world. Our point was that that is not the mission of Secular Church."

     Of course, Secular Church is the sole one to decide upon the mission which it will undertake. But, to us it appears, that this mission is both vague and inconsistent with itself. Secular Church holds that the "advocates of each religion should proclaim that religion to the world." Does the editor except himself from that duty of religious "advocates?" For surely he is a Newchurchman, a believer in the Second Coming and the Crown of the Churches! But instead of "proclaiming" his religion to the world, he does--what? He "advocates that the Church of God embraces every religion on earth!"

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ISSUES OF LIFE AND DEATH TO THE CHURCH 1908

ISSUES OF LIFE AND DEATH TO THE CHURCH              1908

     Under this heading there appeared in our May issue, (p. 300), an editorial review of a contemporaneous discussion, in the columns of Morning Light, on the question of the distinctiveness of the New Church. Conspicuous among the contributors to this discussion was the Rev. W. T. Lardge, who openly attacked the growing practice, on the part of the Conference ministers, of joining the local Free Church Councils. Mr. Lardge's letter brought forth a rejoinder from the Rev. W. R. Horner, the young minister of the Liverpool Society, who maintained that "a man may be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church (etc.) and still be a member of the New Church:" and to this he added that the cause of the slow growth of the New Church was
the putting of worship before missionary effort.

     The editorial review which we have thus briefly noticed, has led Mr. Lardge to address to the Life a communication in which he writes, "Mr. Horner's conclusions (in Morning Light) were so outrageous that, personally, I felt in duty bound to reply to his attacks. That reply, however, has not appeared. Why, I do not know. But your readers, with your permission, shall see that reply. The issue raised in Mr. Horner's letter is so important that for me to be silent would be nothing less than treacherous. In fact, my heart sometimes bleeds at the things said and done in the name of the Church. At the same time I am perfectly sure that frequently some of those who do thus offend 'know not what they do.' Nevertheless, the gravity of this question is so great that I felt compelled to turn to someone; and so I have decided to turn to you, since other possible New Church avenues seem to be closed to me on this matter."

     Mr. Lardge encloses a copy of the letter addressed by him to Morning Light, but which has not yet appeared in that journal. It is hardly necessary to print the whole of this letter in the Life; the following summary will sufficiently present the straight-forward and courageous attitude assumed by Mr. Lardge against the sentiments of almost all the Conference ministers.

     Mr. Horner's letter is characterized as approaching "perilously near a gratuitous insult to the Church," and as being "a serious reflection on the writer's ordination vows."

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"Indeed, (Mr. Lardge continues), I do not hesitate to say, that, had I been concerned in a candidate for ordination and he had made the same statement concerning the Roman Catholic community, etc., and other relative nonsense, I should have failed him a dead failure. And in so doing should have felt that I was exercising on behalf of the Church the highest form of charity. . . . I shall, of course, be called 'narrow,' etc., etc. Be it so! But to call people 'sectarian' and 'narrow' because they desire order in the Church is mere bluff not argument."

     Mr. Lardge then condemns the idea of the New Church being in any sense a "sect." Such an idea is wholly opposed to the Writings, by which alone he is willing to be led "and not by any man's self-derived wisdom, however smart that may be. I have witnessed enough of the latter in the Church to satisfy me for the rest of my sojourn here." The logical outcome of the position that "a man may be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church," etc., (he continues), is that we "might just as well enter any one of the numerous sects of the Old Church, and it will really make no difference. Nay! that it is in the nature of a mistake for us to unite together as a distinctive body of worshipers, and that the 'inmost, (of the Church), where the Lord is acknowledged,' is, well--nowhere!"

     The teaching is referred to, that the New Church and the Old "cannot possibly dwell, or worship, or be together. . . . We are indeed taught that such practices, where they obtain, are distinctly harmful, and that there can be no inward and real spiritual peace, wherever such fantasies are indulged." For the simple to worship in the false church, is not harmful, for they know no better. "But for those who are in the light to persistently join with others in a perverted worship is, indeed, a sin. This is no hair-splitting matter. On the contrary, it is the gravest question we shall have to consider in the near future. Where the Lord's Human is acknowledged as alone Divine, there the New Church is an eternal, spiritual fact. It may be composed of one individual soul only. No matter! Yet, if that solitary individual, with a clear and conscious acknowledgment of the absolute and sole Divinity of the Lord's Humanity in his mind, persisted in joining in public worship with a community whose fundamental teaching and avowed object--as expressed in its creed--is the worship of three or even two Gods; or again, where the deity of that Humanity is absolutely repudiated, then, sir, all I can say is, that such a spirit and attitude is nothing less than rank profanation and blasphemy.

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And it is surely the ministers' office, duty and privilege to warn their people, and the Church as a whole, of this possible and dangerous pitfall, which is more subtle today than at any previous time in the history of the Christian world!"

     This does not, of course, mean any despising of those who are not of the New Church. "No Newchurchman, with any gumption, desires to monopolize and appropriate to himself or to the 'organization,' the Lord's good and truth. Such teaching would be intolerable, and would savor too mud? of the proverbial Yorkshireman's prayer--'Bless me and my wife, my son Jack and his wife, us four and no more. Amen.' What we ought to try to keep before our people, however egotistical it may appear, (with that we have nothing to do), is the fact, that our 'organization' is the New Church, so far as we know the New Church, in its specific, visible form. We have a distinctive message to impart, which has been given to us from the 'Lord Himself, through His Servant, Emanuel Swedenborg, to the end that we may be instrumental, if possible, in leading mankind out of the gross materialism in which the New Church knows them to be."

     Mr. Lardge concludes with pointing out one of the most obvious lessons of the history of the New Church. "Mr. Horner's methods and suggestions, (he says), have been tried in the Church for the past fifty or more years. It is now time we learned the true way if only the Church is willing to learn. It has, surely, had some trying and painful lessons on the old and defunct lines; let us now turn, if to the slower, yet the truer, way, and the Lord will bless us abundantly."

     It is hardly necessary to add to the above, that Mr. Lardge has the hearty support of the Life in his earnest endeavor to uphold the distinctiveness of the New Church, and to point out the sad condition to which the lack of such distinctiveness has brought the Church in England. What the results of his efforts will be we know not.

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But in the Truth is all power, and no man can stand up in defense of the Divine Truth now revealed, no man can champion it against the ideas and persuasions of perverted thought, without his work making for the genuine growth of the New Church on earth.
KRAMPH WILL CASE 1908

KRAMPH WILL CASE              1908

     The Kramph will case will go down in the history of the New Church as one of momentous significance to the life and growth of the Church. Commencing with a claim by the Academy of the New Church for a legacy left by Mr. Kramph to be devoted to a New Church University, it has developed into a trial of the doctrines of the New Church themselves

     Mr. J. F. Kramph, a merchant tailor of Lancaster, Pa., a member of the Central Convention, and a warm, personal friend of Bishop Benade, in his will drawn up in 1554 provided that the residue of his estate should be given to a New Church University, to be founded in the City of Philadelphia, for the purpose of universal New Church education, according to the doctrines of the Honorable Emanuel Swedenborg. The sum thus bequeathed was not to be given until the university itself commanded an annual income of $4,000.00, irrespective of buildings and equipments. For the purpose of carrying out this provision of the will, Mr. Kramph named seven trustees to whom was given authority to elect successors; but the will provided that in case the contemplated university was established, and fulfilled the necessary requirements prior to the final settlement of the estate, then the bequest should be paid by the executors directly to the trustees of said university. Among the trustees named by Mr. Kramph were the Reverend Messrs. W. H. Benade, R. L. Tafel and N. C. Burnham, three of the subsequent founders of the Academy; and two of these gentlemen, as well as the remaining four trustees were, at the time, members of the Central Convention, a body formed in doctrinal opposition to the General Convention. These original trustees were succeeded by Messrs. J. Pitcairn, McGeorge, Sewall, Worcester, Seward and two gentlemen of Lancaster, Pa.

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     Under Mr. Kramph's will the Academy claimed that with the final settlement of the estate, which became due in the present year, its directors were de facto trustees, to whom the executors should pay the money, now amounting to about $38,000.00, bequeathed by Mr. Kramph; and that, in view of the nature of the Academy and its establishment prior to the final settlement of the estate, the alleged successors to the original trustees appointed by Mr. Kramph had no duties to perform, and, therefore, no legal standing.

     The Academy supported its claim on the ground:

     1. That it was a New Church University, founded in the City of Philadelphia.

     2. That it was in possession of an annual income of $4,000.00, and

     3. That it taught the doctrines of Swedenborg.

     The Academy's claim was opposed by Mr., William McGeorge, Jr., acting for a majority of the alleged successors of the trustees appointed by the will; but for a majority only, as Mr. John Pitcairn's claim was that the Academy was entitled; and Dr. Frank Sewall had written that, in his opinion, the Academy was the beneficiary.

     The matter was then taken into court and the contending parties were heard before Judge Smith, sitting in the Orphans' Court of Lancaster county, Pa., on July 1, 8 and 9, 1908.

     For the alleged trustees it was claimed that the Academy, not being now located in Philadelphia, did not comply with the terms of the bequest. But the main effort of their lawyer was directed to the attempt to show that the Academy was not teaching the doctrines of the Honorable Emanuel Swedenborg, and that, if it was so teaching, then those doctrines were themselves immoral and contrary to the statutes of the State and to public policy. The Reverend Messrs. W. L. Worcester and S. S. Seward were put on the stand, in order to show that the Convention did not hold the alleged immoral views of the Academy, the object being to show that the Convention was the authoritative body of the Church and was, therefore, competent to declare what were the doctrines of Swedenborg; but both gentlemen were forced to admit that no man and no body of men has any right to lay down, as authoritative, any interpretation of the doctrines.

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     In support of its case the Academy contended that the question of the quality of Swedenborg's doctrines was not germane to the issue; that authority to teach those doctrines had been legally granted by a charter issued by the Commonwealth, and could not be weakened by a collateral attack. It, therefore, rested its case on the manifest intention of Mr. Kramph, as shown not only in the will, but also in letters, which were put in evidence, wherein Mr. Kramph expressed his full and entire sympathy with Mr. Benade's educational and church ideals. In view, however, of the position taken by the opposing claimants, the counsel for the Academy did not confine the presentation of their case to showing the fulfillment by the Academy of the requirements of the will, but it also put in evidence the work on Conjugial Love, a Declaration drawn up by the Bishop and endorsed by the Joint Councils of the General Church, together with other matter showing the position with respect to the latter part of Conjugial Love, of ministers of the Convention.

     In addition to the Academy and the alleged trustees, a third claim was presented by the heirs of Mr. Kramph, who contended that the doctrines contained in the work on Conjugial Love were immoral and contrary to the laws and to public policy, and that therefore that part of the will which bequeathed money for the propagation of those doctrines was null and void, and that the money should, therefore, revert to the heirs. As it developed, these last claimants gained the day.

     Judgment was given on July thirteenth, and, briefly summarized, was as follows: The alleged trustees were declared to have no standing, inasmuch as the duties which they were contingently appointed to carry out had been rendered unnecessary by reason of the qualifying of the Directors of the Academy as ultimate trustees, prior to the final settlement of the estate; and, moreover, even should the alleged trustees found a New Church University in the City of Philadelphia for the purpose of teaching the writings of Swedenborg, they would still not be entitled to the bequest, since the Convention did not teach the doctrines contained in Swedenborg's work on Conjugial Love.

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The Academy, on the other hand, was supported in each one of its contentions, as having perfectly fulfilled every requirement of the bequest, in that it was a New Church University, founded in Philadelphia; that it had an annual income of over $4,000.00, and that it taught the doctrines of Swedenborg. But because it did teach the doctrines of Swedenborg, it was disqualified from being awarded the money; or, rather, the purpose for which the money was left, namely, the teaching of Swedenborg's doctrines, was held to invalidate the bequest, since those teachings as given in Conjugial Love were held to derogate the laws of the Commonwealth and to be against public policy. The part of the will in question was, therefore, declared void, and the money was awarded to the heirs, as would be the case in intestate estates. Exceptions are about to be filed on behalf of the Academy; argument will then he heard on these exceptions; if the Orphans' Court does not modify its opinion, an appeal will be made by the Academy to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, where the contention of the lawyers representing Messrs. McGeorge, Seward and Worcester, that the teachings in the latter part of Conjugial Love are immoral, will be further passed on judicially.

     It is the Divine Doctrine itself that is now on trial, and it is on the truth and the power of that Doctrine that our firm reliance must be placed. But it should be known and understood that the burden of the charge against a work of Divine Revelation rests on the shoulders, not of professed enemies of the New Church, but of men who are members of that Church and also of the General Convention; for their argument before the Court was that the teachings of the Academy were immoral, whether opposed to Divine Revelation or not; that if these teachings were not in accordance with the writings of Swedenborg, then the Academy should be defeated as not having fulfilled the requirements of the will: but that if those teachings were in accordance with the Writings, then the Academy should be defeated as teaching what is immoral and opposed to law and polity. The judge took the latter of these alternative views.

     The case has received considerable notice in the Philadelphia papers, and has resulted in some scandalous charges and insinuations against the "Bryn Athyn Academy."

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Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     ABINGTON, MASS. A news-note in the May number of the Life recorded the resignation of the Rev. T. S. Harris, pastor of the Society at Abington, and nine of the members of the society, with the intention of joining the General Church. Correspondence had been had with Mr. Harris for several months, and it was thought best that a visit should be made to these friends who were the first in New England to come out for the Academy. Two weeks were spent in Abington and vicinity by the Rev. W. H. Alden in the early part of May. It was a genuine satisfaction to make the personal acquaintance of the little group of which Mr. Harris is now the head. Ten, including Mr. Harris, have joined the General Church, and several others are interested in the movement.

     Mr. and Mrs. Harris are Canadians, Mr. Harris was formerly a minister and a missionary among the Ojibway Indians of the Methodist Church. In the middle nineties he attended the Theological School of the Convention and became a minister of the Convention in 1907. He was pastor at Providence, R. I., for three years, and has been at Abington for eight years. He states that he read Swedenborg while missionary among the Indians, and then would have been quite prepared to receive the Writings as the Word of God. But this idea was effectually opposed in the Convention Theological School in which he learned to look upon Swedenborg as simply a great expositor, whose writings were to be regarded simply as the authority of a man, to be received if one's own reason approved. At that time, and till within a few months he had no knowledge of the principles or teachings of the Academy. Personal trials in his pastoral work preceded his being introduced to the Academy. Of these it is sufficient to say that they prepared his mind and the minds of those who follow him to appraise at their just valuation the slanders by which the minds of those in the Convention have been restrained from making any adequate inquiry as to the real nature of the Academy.

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     In the fall of 1907, Mr. Gladish sent a copy of the Assembly Life to Mr. Harris. It lay unopened for months. Some months later another copy of the Life was sent, and read to Mr. Harris by Miss Cox, an intelligent member of his society. She said, upon reading it, "Why this is the doctrine which I have always believed." She sent for a copy of Words for the New Church, which was read with great satisfaction by both of them and by others. It came to them in a time of sore need, when it appeared as if Mr. Harris would have to leave the New Church altogether and those who sympathized with him be compelled to leave the only body which they knew as bearing the New Church name, but which had become sadly discredited with them. Here was a body which professed the New Church as they believed in it. To some of the older ones who sympathized with Mr. Harris his later preaching, which he found in agreement with the positions of the Academy, reminded them of the earlier days of the Church, the days of the old fashioned preaching of the internal sense of the Word by the Rev. Joseph Pettee. With earnest rejoicing they found that there was a body of the New Church in the world with which they might conscientiously affiliate themselves. The result was the present movement.

     This movement is unprecedented in the history of the Church in New England, where, until now, the Academy has made no visible impression. The leaders in New England do not yet believe it. One of them said to me on the occasion of a recent visit: "There are no Academy people in Abington. My dear Mr. Alden, you know New England. You know that the thing is impossible. The situation is entirely personal. Mr. Harris found that he could no longer find work in the Convention and so has taken up the General Church. Those who go with him are his personal friends; that is all. As soon as they find out what the Academy is they will no longer desire to be connected with it." But personal intercourse has shown that this estimate is entirely wrong, and that the friends in Abington, in joining the General Church, have acted according to rational conviction.

     The Abington Society has fallen upon evil times. It has partaken in the falling off of membership and strength which is characteristic of the New Church in New England during the past thirty years.

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It once had a membership of upwards of eighty, and had in its membership the most substantial people in the town. For several years its membership has been something over fifty and not all these active, while it has been so weak financially that it has raised for the minister's salary only three hundred dollars which was supplemented with a like amount by the Missionary Board of the Massachusetts Association. The resignation of Mr. Harris and his followers leaves perhaps twice as many active members, with perhaps as many more who are not members, but who are of the congregation.

     It is an auspicious omen that the number of those who have resigned in order to initiate a new movement is the same as that with which the Abington Society originally began, shortly after the trial in the year 1820, Of the Rev. Holland Weeks for heresy, in that he had accepted the doctrines of the New Church.

     Services and Sunday School are held regularly every Sunday morning and evening at the house of Mr. McKenney. W. H. A.

     NEW YORK. The New York Circle celebrated the 19th of June on Sunday, the 21st, with the celebration of the Holy Supper, followed by a banquet at Carlo's restaurant. Although the weather was oppressively warm, there was an attendance of fifteen, and interest in the meeting was sustained throughout.

     The pastor reviewed the progress made by the society during the past season. Some business matters were discussed and disposed of, including the re-election of Mr. William Parker as secretary, and the election of Mr. Warren Potts as treasurer, the two offices being thus for the first time held by separate individuals. By vote of the society the sum of fifteen dollars was contributed toward the expenses of the pastor's trip to the Council meeting at Chicago.

     A collection for the benefit of the Orphanage Fund was taken up, $15.63 being contributed.

     Our building fund also received liberal attention.

     Several toasts were drunk and responded to by our members, and an innovation in the way of monthly meetings during the summer was also decided on to maintain interest and social life.

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     The meeting was a most delightful one and despite the hot weather it was after 5 o'clock before the friends separated. P. A.

     MIDDLEPORT, O. Our hearts have been cheered by an increase in the number of pupils in our Sunday School. We now have twenty-four children in four classes--just about double the number we have had the past year.

     The sending forth of the Apostles was celebrated by a banquet Friday night, the nineteenth, a Sunday School picnic Saturday and the Help Supper Sunday. At the banquet our men's Principia class gave a review of "Cosmology," Mr. Gladish reviewing the first two chapters, Dr. S. E. Hanlin the third and fourth, Dr. W. A. Hanlin the fifth and sixth, and Mr. F. G. Davis the final chapter. It was the best series of papers we have had on such an occasion, and, interspersed with songs and toasts, made a very pleasant evening.

     The ladies are at present having many social meetings in honor of the presence of Miss Francis McQuigg and Mrs. James Cooper, formerly of this place but now residing in Bryn Athyn.

     We hope soon to begin using the new Liturgy, and are looking forward to it with great pleasure. G.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. The Doctrinal Classes for the year closed with two symposiums, one on the subject of Natural Good, the other on that of Friendship.

     Sunday services, from the present outlook, will be continued throughout the summer months.

     The children celebrated Arbor Day in May not by planting of trees, for in this respect the park is well taken care of, but by transplanting several varieties of wild flowers, which had been taken from the nearest woods. This was done to the singing of appropriate music. In a few years we hope, in this way, to have the miniature woods in the park full of wild flowers.

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     The closing of the class in dancing which this year has been under the direction of Miss Vivien King, was marked by a delightful social at which many of the elders were present. Figures from the "German" and the popular "Barn Dance" were the chief features. The children have made good progress.

     Another notable event for old and young was the presentation of a little two-act play by the children. This was followed by a pretty fairy operetta in one act, under the direction of the singing teacher, Miss Vida Gyllenhaal. The costumes and scenery for this production were all new, or looked so, at least, and the spirit of the whole performance was charmingly sweet and innocent.

     Our 19th of June celebration lasted three days and opened with religious exercises on the afternoon of the 19th. This was followed by a banquet in the evening in which we were joined by many of the Sharon Church friends and several guests from abroad, including Rev. I. E. Bowers, Rev. William Whitehead, Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Lindrooth, of Denver; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ahlstrom, of Beloit, Wisconsin, and Mr. Otho Heilman. But how can one describe such an event in a few words? We can only say that the Academy spirit pervaded the whole, and that our readers may know what that means. On the 20th there was a service in the morning especially adapted to children. The words Adventus Domini in large gold letters were arranged in the chancel together with a profusion of fresh leaves and flowers, following the service the tables were placed in a long line in Lover's Lane in the park, for the picnic dinner. There were about one hundred and fifty present representing all stages of life from infancy to grand fatherhood. Truly it was a cheering sight, especially to those who had lived through the days of small beginnings to see the promise for the future of the Church expressed in so many interested and happy faces. There was goodly entertainment for the children all afternoon in the way of games, adventurous trips on the ever-favorite donkeys and boat rides.

     The celebration of the 19th closed with the administration of the Holy Supper on Sunday.

     Our Fourth of July celebration began with a parade of all the children and young folks, with a goodly sprinkling of adults. They marched around the park to the inspiring beat of the drum and the music of the concertina and guitar.

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At the school the flag was raised on its staff to the chorus of The Star Spangled Banner. Then there were speeches and recitations and a tribute to our former President Grover Cleveland, beloved and respected, who had died a short time before. In the evening there was given a series of open air tableaux, on historical subjects, which were unusually effective and striking.

     But the most marked feature of our church life was the meeting of the Council of the Clergy, which was held from June 23d to June 29th. Some accounts of these meetings will doubtless appear elsewhere in the Life, but it is proper to record the pleasure the members of the Immanuel Church felt in welcoming the ministers to the church home in Glenview. It is just ten years since this privilege has been ours. Most of the sessions were closed to the public, but there were two open meetings, in one of which the annual address was read by the Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist on the subject of Ancient Druidism. The other evening was given to the consideration of the subject of Externals of Worship, on which occasion Bishop Pendleton read an address, giving an account of the new Liturgy. The worship on Sunday was reminiscent of Assembly time. The Rev. N. D. Pendleton preached on this occasion. The social life of the meetings centered in a banquet at which one hundred and twenty-five were present. A paper by the Rev. J. E. Bowers on The New Church and Modern Progress, read at the beginning, suggested the theme of "The Growth of the Church," on which subject all the ministers present made speeches. Besides this, Mr. Acton placed before us in moving words thoughts on that theme which is old but ever new, Conjugial Love, and Bishop Pendleton impressively spoke of the uses of the Council of the Clergy, and his words coming near the close of a, useful and happy meeting of those held together by the fraternal bonds of a common use, were peculiarly affecting. The toast to the Academy was given special point on the occasion by the inspiring song of Vive L'Academie, sung by Mr. John Pitcairn, who also responded to the toast.

     Before the ministers left us there was a men's meeting presided over by Mr. H. L. Burnham, which, opening with a series of speeches on the Vanities of Human Life, which man is to shun, called forth toasts to their opposite virtues, and so led on to many spontaneous toasts and songs expressive of the love of the Church and brotherly love.

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     The presence of eleven ministers of the General Church, some of whom were before personally unknown to our members, was inspiring. Besides the social occasions mentioned there was informal visiting and conversation, which brought to us the sphere of their work and labor in the cause of the Church, so that we feel that our own work has received new strength and support through the benefits which they have brought us. Sessions were held morning, afternoon and evening of every day (including those of the Joint Council), so that the realization of the importance of such meetings and the knowledge that new questions are constantly coming before the Church for solution in the light of the Doctrines, was brought home to us more clearly, and, I think, strengthened the love and respect for the use, for the sake of which the ministers were assembled. K.

     DENVER, COLO. Although we have not reported our existence for some months, nevertheless we have been quite alive out here. We have had several enjoyable socials at the various homes, and our children's social at Mr. and Mrs. Tyler's.

     We celebrated the 19th of June at Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Drinkwater's home. The evening was a successful and enjoyable one, and the responses to the toasts good.

     The whole Lindrooth family has gone to Chicago for a few months' visit, and our minister has also deserted us for a visit to his home in Glenview.

     Services and classes closed on June 21st, and will not be resumed until September 6th. G.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The COUNCIL of MINISTERS of the General Convention held its annual meeting in Cleveland, O., from June 9-11. The Committee on Translating the Word reported the completion during the past year of the two books of Samuel. The discussion of this report brought out the relations existing between the English and American translation committees.

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The former has undertaken the translation of the Pentateuch, and has completed the first twenty-three chapters of Genesis; the latter has translated the Psalms, Joshua, Judges and Samuel, and will now take up the books of Kings. The actual translation in this country is done by the Rev. L. H. Tafel, whose work is revised by the Rev. Messrs. J. Whitehead and G. R. Dole, with whom the Rev. W. H. Alden co-operates. The co-operation between the English and American committees consists in a mutual submission of work done, for the purpose of criticism and revision.

     The time of the Council was mainly occupied with the reading and discussion of papers on the subjects of Divorce, Pragmatism, The New Church and Religious Progress, The New Church and Social Injustice, and Mental Healing. Considerable difference of opinion was manifested, but not much was brought out that was distinctively New Church.

     The annual meeting of the ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF THE Convention Theological School, which was held on the evening of June 10th, marked a departure from past customs. Instead of holding a public meeting the alumni sat down to a private banquet, which was followed by discussion. About twenty members were present, and some difference of opinion was expressed as to the advisability of dropping the public meeting. The subject of the evening was the Theological School and the necessity of encouraging young men to study for the ministry. During the discussion it was stated that the Rev. Samuel Warren had left his valuable library, including "many volumes of which there were no duplicates in the Church," to the Theological School. Following this statement the proposal was made and accepted, to appoint a committee to raise funds for the building of a fire-proof room or building for a library. The committee consists of the Rev. Messrs. C. A. Harvey, James Reed and John Whitehead.

     The eighty-eighth annual meeting of the GENERAL CONVENTION was held in Cleveland from June 13th-17th, with an attendance of forty ministers and sixty lay delegates. The report of then treasurer showed an increase by legacies, (mostly to be devoted to investments for special purposes), of over $80,000, but a deficit in the general account of over $2,000. The Board of Missions reported the receipt for investment of $2,000 from the estate of the Rev. Dr. Wright.

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The Theological School reported the election of the Rev. W. L. Worcester as non-resident President and Professor of Theology.

     Among the matters accomplished by the Convention at this meeting, were the granting of the request of the Michigan Association for the investiture of the Rev. S. S. Seward; the reception of the newly formed California Association, this action being taken with the understanding that it in no way impaired the standing of the old, (and practically invisible), Pacific Coast Association; and the re-election of the Rev. J. S. Saul as editor of the Messenger, his salary being now fixed at $2,400, in view of the fact that he is devoting the whole of his time to the work. Resolutions were also passed voting that a set of the Rotch edition de luxe of the Writings be sent, with a suitable letter of presentation, to the Kings of England and Sweden and the Emperor of Germany. A set was also voted for presentation to the English Conference.     A sum not to exceed $500 was voted to be sent to Mr. Alfred H. Stroh for the support of his work in Sweden.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The eighty-seventh annual meeting of the MISSIONARY AND TRACT SOCIETY was held in London on the evening of May 26th. The chairman opened the meeting with an address on the "'vast material progress" resulting from the Second Advent; "the world is emerging from the darkness of ignorance," and "nowadays people are much more willing to listen to the sweet reason of Divine Truth." The same theme was enlarged upon by the Rev. H. G. Drummond.

     Reports read before the meeting showed the receipt of two legacies aggregating $3,750, but there was a decline in subscriptions to the societies' uses, and also in the number of books and tracts sold. After some discussion on the causes of this decline, the Rev. Joseph Deans addressed the meeting on the subject of Our Work. He dwelt on the thought that it was possible to do too much missionary lecturing. This thought had led him to work more in the direction of stimulating interest in the Doctrines among the Societies of the Church. The London Societies, he averred, were "the very worst in holding regular doctrinal meetings," and he was trying to remedy this state of things.

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Societies must be built up on the basis of the Writings, and this was the work before the Missionary and Tract Society--to stimulate the people to the reading of the Writings and to a knowledge and love of the Doctrines.

     Mr. Deans was followed by the Rev. J. F. Buss, who noted that the Society was not only the publisher but also the proprietor of the books and tracts which it issues. The responsibility therefore rests upon it of seeing that those publications contain the pure teaching of the Writings. "As a matter of fact, (he said), much--at any rate some (suppose we put it as mildly as it possibly can be put) of so-called New Church literature contains such things as apologies for spiritism; some cast doubts upon the eternity of hell; some warn readers against what is called the fallibility of Swedenborg;' and in some cases Swedenborg is referred to as the 'Herald of the Lord's Second Advent.'" These views were not the views delivered in the Writings, and ought not to be proclaimed to the world in the publications of the Society.
Corrections 1908

Corrections              1908


     Announcements.



     On page 412 of the July Life, line 27, for "sublimary" read "sublunary;" on page 413, line 26, for "sicut" read "uti." [These corrections have been made in the electronic version of the text.]
NEW LITURGY 1908

NEW LITURGY        PENDLETON       1908



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NEW CHURCH LIFE.
VOL. XXVIII. September, 1908.           No. 9.
     A Liturgy for the General Church of the New Jerusalem, which has been in course of preparation for a number of years, is now in print and ready for use. It is divided into twelve Departments arranged in the following order, namely, Sentences of Scripture, General Offices, Antiphons, Psalter, Law, Gospel, General Doctrine, Prayers, Sacraments and Rites, Chants, Hymns, and Anthems. These are preceded by a Table of Contents, and followed by Indexes.

     The Sentences of Scripture are intended for use in the opening of Worship, in the Offertory, and on other occasions according to needs indicated. These uses are optional, as pointed out in the Rubric.

     The General Offices, twelve in number, are provided and arranged for the uses of the Sunday worship, each standing by itself as a distinct service. The first six are Offices of Humiliation, the five following are Offices of Glorification, and the last or twelfth is a short service.

     The first six General Offices are called Offices of Humiliation, because they look throughout to the confession of sin, and contain the Ten Commandments, which are to be read by the Minister while the congregation is kneeling, to which is subjoined a responsive prayer by the people. These six Offices are similar in structure from beginning to end, though the materials are for the most part different in each. They are arranged on a plan similar in general to the printed Service which has been in use of late in some of the Societies of the General Church. The five General Offices following, which are called Offices of Glorification, are Offices of adoration and praise, and are arranged for the introduction of the Antiphons, which latter may also be called Offices of Praise.

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The Offices of Glorification are also similar to each other in structure, but with some variation and difference of material in each, as in the Offices of Humiliation. The twelfth General Office is a short Service, intended to meet the needs of small congregations, and for general use in the summer months. It may be used also for an evening Service, or on other occasions according to conditions which may arise.

     In this liberal provision of General Offices for the Sunday worship, and in the latitude given in the Rubric, variety in usage is provided for, tending to the avoidance of a too frequent repetition of certain portions. Some things are, however, common to all the Offices, as will be seen on examination.

     It will also be noted that certain Prayers and Responsives precede and follow the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. This is based upon the teaching concerning the Law of the Decalogue, that it is the most holy thing of the Word and of worship; and we may conclude that the Lord's Prayer is in like manner holy. The principle has, therefore, been followed, that in worship sudden and abrupt approach to that which is holy should be avoided, and also abrupt departure from it; that such approach and departure should be through intermediate stages or graduations. This is our justification for the proposed use in the General Offices of the Prayers and Responsives to which we have referred.

     The Rubric in the Offices provides for three Lessons. The old custom provided for two, the first lesson from the Old Testament, and the second from the New. A third Lesson from the Writings is now added. This introduces an actual recognition of the threefold Revelation given us, under the form of the Law, the Gospel, and the Doctrine. Arrangement according to this threefold order has been followed as far as practicable in the new Liturgy. Experience of a number of years has justified the use in worship of a third lesson from the Writings, a new feature in worship which arose after the Academy movement was inaugurated.

     Great variety and latitude has been allowed in the Rubric, and much is left to the discretion of the Minister, providing for freedom of choice is adaptation to conditions.

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The Minister while avoiding the love of innovation, or yielding too much to individual preference, idiosyncrasy or prejudice, should use his judgment freely in accommodation to the actual needs of his congregation. The forms of worship should he pliable and adaptable to conditions as they exist; and by variety in application, provision is made and the way is opened to progress and advancement in the future, as the result of experience. The Church is as yet far away from forms that may be considered as fixed and final. At present we cannot expect to make more than a beginning, or do better than provide some materials that may be of use in the future.

     The Antiphons, or special Glorifications, or Offices of Praise, are twenty in number. Each Antiphon is classed under a general Doctrine, according to the plan of the Offices in our former Liturgy, known as the Academy Liturgy. The Minister reads a passage from the letter of the Word containing the Doctrine, and the People read or sing in response. The Antiphons are each divided into three portions, making sixty portions in all, each beginning and ending with Chant music. A portion of an Antiphon may be introduced into any part of the Service, after the manner of a Chant or Hymn. Some of the places where these may be used are indicated in the Rubric; but, as has been said, the General Offices of Glorification have been especially arranged for this purpose, and in these Offices one, two, or three portions of an Antiphon may be brought into a given Service. The term Antiphon has been applied to these special Offices, as the most suitable to express their mode and use.

     The use of the Psalms for the purposes of a Psalter, or for the alternate reading of Minister and People, is well established, and needs no comment here. It has not been practicable to introduce the entire Book of Psalms; but a number more have been selected than were in the former Liturgy, which, together with suitable passages from the Prophets, are thought to be sufficient to meet the needs of our worship.

     In the Department of the Law are included various forms of the Commandments, the Great Commandment, the Two Great Commandments, and the New Commandment.

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Any one of these may at discretion be substituted for the abbreviated form of the Commandments which has been placed in the Offices of Humiliation. There are in addition passages from Deuteronomy and elsewhere in the Old Testament, hortatory in character, one of which may be occasionally read by the Minister in place of the Commandments in the Service; or it may be read after the Commandments following the responsive Prayer of the People, or elsewhere in the Service, as indicated in the Rubric. The Selections from the Gospel and Book of Revelation are similar in character to those under the Law, and have a similar use.

     The General Doctrine is mostly a compilation following for the most part the language of the Writings. The language, however, is sometimes put into a simpler form, as being better adapted to the use of worship. The General Doctrine is divided into two portions; the first is in the form of General Confessions, any one of which is intended to serve the uses of a Creed, or for the unisonal reading of the Minister and People at the appointed place in the Offices. The second portion of the Doctrine is uniform with the Antiphons, following the same subjects and the same order. They may be introduced into the Service when the Antiphons are used, and are intended to be read by the Minister alone, as indicated in the Rubric.

     An abundant supply of prayers has been furnished, the need of which has been much felt in our worship in past years. There ought to be no question as to the use in worship of prayers, other than the Lord's Prayer; and I believe there is no doubt on this subject in our own body. It is hoped that the prayers in the Liturgy will be of use, not only in public worship, but in family and private devotions.

     The Sacraments and Rites include Baptism, the Holy Supper, Confession of Faith or Confirmation, Betrothal, Marriage, Ordination and the Burial of the Dead. The Sacrament of Baptism is provided for in a two-fold Service, one for the Baptism of Children and the other for the Baptism of Adults. The Service for the Sacrament of the Holy Supper is also divided into two parts; the first may be used when the Supper is administered, or on some previous occasions as a preparatory Service. The second portion is for the administration of the Supper itself, and follows closely the lines of the old Service with some additions and improvements.

501


The Rites which follow speak for themselves, and their character may be seen by examination of the Rubric.

     We have not introduced as many Chants as held place in the old Liturgy. This is on account of the Psalmody, which has been in use for many years, and which will no doubt continue to be used by our congregations for many years to come. Some of the short pieces of the Psalmody have been placed among the Anthems for convenience in use; but the fifty Psalms have been left untouched, and very few of the Psalms of the Psalmody have been used in the Chants or in the Psalter. The music of the Chants, Anthems, Sanctuses and Hymns, has been selected with great care, and presents unusual merit; and this, together with the beautiful music of the Psalmody, exhibits and provides for the New Church a body of sacred music, such as perhaps cannot be found elsewhere.
Much labor also has been devoted to the selection and revision of the Hymns, and we have admitted but little that does not rise to the highest known standard of religious poetry.

     No Calendar of the Christian year, as hitherto devised, appears to be suited to the uses of worship in the New Church, and it may be many years to come before a satisfactory plan will be developed. The Antiphons of the new Liturgy, however, may be considered as presenting the basis for a tentative Calendar. We have in the New Church adopted two of the Christian Festivals, Christmas and Easter. In our body we have added a third, the Nineteenth of June. The Antiphons, each under a leading Doctrine, may be so arranged as to connect and include these leading Festivals, providing a course for the entire year, following the order of the Doctrines as placed in the Liturgy. This order would begin with the Advent of the Lord at Christmas, using about two Antiphons each month. This would introduce the Glorification at Easter, and the New Church on or about the Nineteenth of June. Omitting the months of July, August and September, the order could then be resumed, bringing in the Unity of God and Creation in October; Providence and Thanksgiving in November, Love, Charity and Works, and Eternal Life in December, previous to Christmas. The General Offices of Humiliation would thus be brought into alternation with the Offices of Glorification throughout nine months of the year.

502


It may be remarked that the Thanksgiving Antiphon may be introduced in any month of the year, according to the fixing of the date by national authority

     No regular services have been prepared for the four Festivals mentioned, since abundant material for them will be found in the Antiphons. Any one of the General Offices of Glorification will become a Festival Service by the insertion of the Antiphon suitable for the day, and by the introduction of appropriate lessons and doctrinal and musical selections.

     No effort at a new translation has been made. There has been, however, some revision of the Psalter and Chants, in order to preserve a degree of uniformity with the old Liturgy, in which a radically new translation was made. It was necessary also to correct some of the manifest errors of the common version; but it is believed that the time has not come for a new translation of the Word for the New Church. A translation made for the uses of worship, and not merely for doctrinal study, must necessarily adhere closely to the style and language of the King James version. This purpose has been kept in view in such revision as has been made. There has been no revision of the translation in the Documents of the Law and the Gospel.

     A brief and general statement of the Internal Sense has been placed over the Chants and the Psalms of the Psalter. This has been taken for the most part from the Summary Exposition of the Prophets and Psalms, but occasionally from other parts of the Writings. It was thought best not to make a literal transcription of the internal sense from the Summary Exposition, as was done in the Psalmody, since many particulars are confusing to the worshipers, and introduce too much of a didactic sphere, which should be subordinate at this period of the worship. It is well, however, to avoid the other extreme of having nothing at all, as in the case of the old Academy Liturgy. It is certainly of use for the worshiper to have in his mind some idea of the internal sense of that which he is singing or reciting. We have therefore endeavored to meet this need, avoiding both extremes, by placing a simple statement of the subject of the internal sense over each Psalm or Selection from the Word.

     The Indexes have been carefully prepared, and will doubtless give satisfaction.

503


Besides the usual line Indexes, and the Indexes of Sources, Authors and Composers, we have introduced a complete Subject Index of the Psalters, Prayers, Chants and Hymns. This Index is intended especially for the assistance of Ministers, and its use will contribute to the unity of the Sunday Service. The doctrinal features are in harmony with the Antiphons and General Doctrine. It may be remarked here that in the Antiphons, in the General Doctrine, in the Subject Index, and in the brief statements of the Internal Sense for the Chants and Psalter, the principle has been kept in view of setting forth, and bringing into the sphere of worship, the generals of Doctrine, or what is called in the Writings the doctrine of genuine truth, by which the Word is opened. For that by which the understanding enters into the internal of the Word is the same as that by which it enters into the internal of worship, namely, general truth and the affection of general truth.

     Chanting the actual words of Scripture is and ought to be an important part of our worship, and uniformity of usage is desirable in the congregations of the General Church. A chapter on Chanting has therefore been prepared, and follows the Indexes near the end of the book; and we bespeak a careful perusal of what is there set forth on this subject.

     In addition to the Rubric placed in the text of the General Offices and Antiphons, and in the Sacraments and Rites, two pages of Rubric notes have been added. It is not usual in Liturgies to present so much in the way of Rubric as has been done in our new Liturgy; but the circumstances of the case seemed to call for it. In general it may be said that ritual in the New Church is in its experimental stage, and no form can as yet be regarded as fixed and final, or more than temporary. Without doubt better things are yet to come; and in order to open the way to things that are better, forms should be expansive and yielding, giving room for a wide experience in application to varying conditions, which a too great rigidity would hinder and retard. It is well, therefore, to leave much to the discretion of Ministers in charge of congregations, that the New Church as an organization may gradually discover by trial and experiment the forms that are best suited to express the states and conditions of its worship.

504


We have already indicated, however, that experiment should be conservative, especially with those who have not given much thought to the subject of ritual; and it is but fair that the main line of the forms prescribed should have a fair trial, before branching out into new and untried fields. It is not intended, therefore, in this new Liturgy to prescribe fixed forms for the worship of the New Church; but, in addition to the purpose of meeting present needs, the intention has been merely to provide some materials for the future students of ritual, who will know far better than we how to make use of them.

     A final word should be said about the work itself, which is now complete and ready for use. The plan, compilation, and arrangement have been under the general charge of the writer of this report; but he has received valuable assistance and suggestions from a number of the ministers and members of the Church. The music of the Liturgy has been selected and adapted by Professor George A. Blackman, whose skill and intelligent labor will be appreciated when the Liturgy is in use, and the superior quality of the music chosen comes to be known. Mr. Blackman was ably assisted by the Rev. W. B. Caldwell, especially in the selection of the Chant music, and in getting all the music ready for the printer. Mr. Caldwell also rendered valuable aid in all the departments of the work, having composed nearly half of the Prayers, and supervised the editing of the entire work while the plates were being made. It is on account of the hard work of these two gentlemen and the able business management of the Rev. Charles E. Doering that the Liturgy is now in print and ready to be introduced into the active uses of worship.

505


WORD 1908

WORD       Rev. WILLIAM HYDE ALDEN       1908

     For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if arty man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy. God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Rev. xxii. 18, 19.

     The book of the Revelation of John is the final book of the Bible; and this warning at the very close of this book has been commonly understood to voice a prohibition, under dreadful penalty, of adding to or taking away from anything of the book of the Sacred Scripture. So we remember that we understood it as a child, and there was then in mind the awful thought of the completeness of the Lord's Word as contained in the Bible. The Bible was not like other books. It stood alone. In whatever form or size, edition or binding, in itself, it was always the same, unchangeable, perfect and complete. Nothing was to be added to, or taken away from the sacred volume.

     Such also in former times was the idea of the Church. For what else is the old teaching respecting verbal inspiration, the doctrine that every word of Scripture was dictated by God, and therefore inerrant, whether regarded in its historical, scientific or spiritual aspect? A world's chronology was based upon it, which you will find recorded even today in the Teacher's Bible.

     But the child grows, and while the form of such acceptance of the Bible still endures in some creeds, the intelligence of the modern world no longer can receive the Bible after this fashion. Especially since the Last Judgment freed the minds of men, scholars have been investigating the human origin, nature, and content of the books which constitute the Bible. The child learns that the Bible, which, at first, appeared like one book, is, in fact, made up of sixty-six different books, written in three different languages, prepared over a long period of time by many different authors, and widely different in the character of their contents.

506


Far indeed from the ideas of the child that the Bible came down from heaven in the form in which it is given him to read, the Bible is found to be a growth, in which many ages have had each a part. And scholars find, or seem to find, that since the first giving of these several books to men, especially since the earlier portions of it were given to men, that it has been subject to various editings, to the vicissitudes attendant upon the transmissions of manuscripts, to the machinations of its enemies, to the glosses of its friends. Far indeed from the Bible being the mechanical production of some specific stated time, and its preservation mechanically perfect since the time its several books were first written, modern scholarship declares it to be a living organism, built up in and upon, and palpitating with the life of thousands of years of humanity's touch with God. So far from the warnings against the adding to it, or the taking from it having been carefully observed, the Bible has been, in the very making of it, subject to additions from age to age, and to changes in its form and content, through the edicts of councils, and through the pronouncements of scholars upon its manuscripts. In the New Church itself is a notable illustration of the taking away from the literal content of the Bible, in the declaration made in the Writings, that approximately one-half of the books of the Bible do not belong to the inspired Word,--a declaration which has led to the charge by the enemies of the New Church that she rejects the Bible.

     But the teaching of the New Church is that the Word of the Lord has been preserved in its integrity since the time when it was first written, and the verses of our text are cited in confirmation of this teaching. (Last Judgment No. 41.) Because of this teaching in the Word of the Lord in His New Church there has seemed to some to be a danger in opening the mind even to the consideration of the work of modern scholarship, whose results seem to contradict the dictum of the Heavenly Doctrines. But such counsel betrays lack of trust in those very doctrines. We need have no fear that any truthful findings of science, of higher or lower criticism of the Bible, can do other for the reverent and instructed mind, than confirm the revelation which is from the Lord.

507


The New Church indeed has in the Writings a new criterion and principle by which to determine the truth of science. That science is true which confirms Divine Revelation. (Ap. Exp., So. 507) If it does not confirm Divine Revelation it is not true science. With this purpose in mind I ask your attention to the teaching of the Writings respecting the integrity of the letter of the Word and to the consideration of the relation of this teaching to those findings which scholarship declares to be the facts respecting the sacred books. This, it may be said at the outset, is not the essential, the spiritual teaching of our text, but will, I believe, be found of service in removing difficulties liable to confront any thoughtful mind. We may, indeed, refuse to consider these difficulties, the mind dwelling upon a higher plane than that in which they appear, but this is the refuge of the simple rather than of the wise. In the light of the truth revealed to the New Church the difficulties cease to be difficulties, and that which at first appeared a difficulty takes its proper place with other scientifics in offering the praise of its confirmation of spiritual truth to the Lord.

     The teaching respecting the nature of the letter of the Word and the integrity of it, is found in various places. In the Doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures we are taught as follows:

     "Jehovah Himself, who is God of heaven and earth, spake the Word through Moses and the Prophets. The Lord, who is the same with Jehovah, spake the Word with the Evangelists, many things from His own mouth, and the rest from the spirit of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit." (No. 2.)

     "The style of the Word is such, that it is holy in every sentence, in every word, yea, sometimes in the very letters." (No. 3.)

     "There is not an iota or point of a letter, or little horn in the letter of the Word, that does not contain in itself the holy Divine--therefore, under the Divine Providence it has been effected, that the Word, especially the Word of the Old Testament, has been preserved as to every jot and point from the time when it was written." (A. C., No. 7349)

     "It is to be known that in the spiritual sense all things cohere in continuous connection, to which connection every word in the sense of the letter, or natural sense, conduces; wherefore, if one little word were taken away, the connection would be broken and the coherence perish, therefore, lest this should be done, it is added at the end of this prophetic book, that not a word should be taken away." (S. S. 13.)

508




     And again we read the teaching regarding the Book of the Revelation. "Each thing there, nay, every word, contains within it a spiritual sense, and the all of the Church as to its spiritual state, from the beginning to end, is fully described in that sense; and because every word there signifies some spiritual thing, therefore not a word can be wanting without the series of things in the internal sense thereby suffering a change. On which account, at the end of the book it is said: If any one shall take away anything from the words of the prophecy of this book, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the Holy City and out of the things which are written in this book. It is the same with the books of the Old Testament; in them also every thing and every word contains an internal spiritual sense, wherefore neither can one word be taken away from them. Hence it is, that of the Lord's Divine Providence those books have been preserved entire to an iota, since the time in which they were written, and this by the care of many who have enumerated their minutest particulars; this was provided by the Lord on account of the sanctity which is within each iota, letter, word, and thing they contain." (L. J. 41.)

     But in the Apocalypse Revealed we find another explanation to the words of our text:

     "If any one shall add to these things, God shall add unto him (the plagues which are written in this book)...signifies that they who read and know the truths of doctrine of this book, now opened by the Lord, and yet acknowledge another God than the Lord, and another faith than that in Him, in adding anything by which they destroy these two, cannot otherwise than perish from falsities and evils, which are signified by the plagues written in this book." And it is added: "That this is what is meant, and not that God will add the plagues described in chapters xv. and xvi. upon him who adds anything to the words of the book of this prophecy, any one may see from his own judgment, for this the innocent may do, and also many may do from a good end, and also from ignorance of what is signified." (A. R. 957.)

509




     Both these explanations are in the Word of the Lord to the New Church, and both are true. The Word of the Lord abideth sure, even in the letter of it, because God hath written it, but it is likewise true that the warning of the Apocalypse is not a warning against adding to or taking from the words of the letter of the Revelation, or of the Old or the New Testament, but a warning against adding to or taking away from the Heavenly Doctrine by which the Lord is known and obeyed.

     We have two distinct subjects for consideration. The one relates to the nature and integrity of the letter of the Word; the other to the internal danger which lies in the perverting the Heavenly Doctrine now opened by the Lord from His Word. The first subject is external; the latter internal and vital. Let us address ourselves first to the more external theme.

     It is to be observed that while it is said several times that the Word was dictated by the Lord, and while it is taught that every syllable is holy, there is yet a difference as to this between the Word of the Old Testament and the Word of the New Testament. What is said of the holiness in the very letters applies peculiarly to the Word of the Old Testament, for this alone is written in the language to which such a description would be applicable. A difference also is to be noted in the fact that the Word of the Old Testament is specifically said to have been dictated as to the very words to the Prophets, while of the New Testament it is said that it contains, in part, the very words of the Lord, and that, in part, it was written by the spirit of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit. Again it is said especially of the Old Testament that it has been preserved as to every jot and tittle, and the means by which this has been done are also mentioned, namely, by the exceeding care, even to the counting of words and letters, which was exercised by the Masorites. The Old Testament then was dictated, the New Testament was written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit; and, to go a step further, the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem by which the earlier revelation is fulfilled and opened, was given through the rational powers of a man chosen and prepared for the purpose, to whom the spiritual sense of the Word and the Doctrine of the New Church could be given as he read the Word, and who could publish these things by the press.

510




     A difference, not in the holiness of the different parts of the Word, but in the method of its expression, is also taught. The holiness of the Word, it is said in the work on the Sacred Scripture, lies in every verse, in every word, in some cases, in the very letter. The holiness of the Word reaches down most fully, even to the very letter, in the Old Testament; not so fully into these external forms, yet into every word and verse of the New Testament, and in the Word of the Writings of the New Church it lies not so much in words as in the rational truths which are revealed.

     The Old Testament is representative; the New Testament is personal; the revelation to the New Church is rational.

     It is the same Word which has come to men in these several ways; but the Word is more than any or all these, considered merely as human books. We are taught indeed that the Word in the letter would have been other, if it had been written among another people, or if that people had been of a different quality. The Word in its essence is the Divine wisdom. The book or books which are the Word in the letter, form the physical point or fulcrum where the inner Word, which is the Divine wisdom, impinges upon the consciousness of men, and by which it takes hold upon their affections. The Word in the letter is the Word in its fulness, in its holiness, and in its power, not because the Word in the letter is larger than the spiritual truth or the Divine wisdom which is contained within it, for this cannot be said of any possible volume which could be written in the language of men. The Word in the letter is made up of a definite number of words, containing a number of external ideas which can be definitely comprehended and measured. The Word is in its fulness, its holiness, and its power in the letter, because it is there that the spiritual powers which are within the letter, reach the minds of men and act upon them.

     We may illustrate this thought by consideration of the relation of a man to his soul. The body of man contains the soul of him, and yet, assuredly the body is not larger than the soul. The body is made up of so many pounds of the various elements of matter having certain qualities which wonderfully adapt it for being the abode of the soul which uses it during its abode in the natural world, but the soul abides within, in the realm of the spirit; in its several degrees it reaches up to and touches not alone the three heavens one within the other, but at the inmost has an habitation in which abides the very infinite One Himself.

511


The body is the ultimate in which the man is in his fulness and power, but it is because the man abides within it, and the Lord Himself abides at the heart of man, that the body has such power, or any power at all.

     So the power of the Word, as the power of the man, is from within. There is no holiness in the materials out of which the Word in the letter is composed. The Jews were a most external people, and their history is a most dreadful one. But we are taught that the Word having its origin in the Lord, passed through the celestial heaven and the spiritual heaven, and so came to man by whom it was written. Wherefore the Word in its first origin is purely Divine; this, when it passed through the celestial heaven was Divine celestial, and when it passed through the spiritual kingdom of the Lord was Divine spiritual, and when it came to man was Divine natural. Thence it is that the natural sense of the Word contains the spiritual sense and this the celestial sense, and both the sense purely Divine, which appears not to man or angel.

     The Word is the Divine truth, in which is the Divine Love, which is the Lord Himself. This cannot be measured by the compass of a book of so many chapters, pages, words. It may truly be affirmed of the whole of the Word in the letter, as it is affirmed by John, in closing his Gospel. "There were also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books which should be written." As we read also in the inspired words of the prayer of Solomon: "Can God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have builded." Nevertheless His glory is the fulness of all the earth. His love inspires, His wisdom irradiates, shines forth from the letter of the Word, so that by it, the Lord Himself, in His fulness. His holiness. His power, is brought down to the apprehension of men.

512




     The Word in the letter has always been complete, has always been perfect. The command not to add to or to take away was given long before the last book of our present canon was written, even so far back as the giving of the law in Deuteronomy, where we read "Thou shalt not add to the word which I command thee this day, neither shalt thou diminish from it." (iv. 2; xii. 32.) Nevertheless Jeremiah, after the book of his prophecy had been destroyed by the wicked King Jehoiakim, wrote the book again, and it is said, "added to it many like words." From the day of Ezra down to the time of the Second Coming of the Lord the canon of Scripture has been subject to consideration and change. Textual criticism, active as it has been in recent times, is by no means a modern invention. Evidence is not wanting that it played an important part in the building up of the Old Testament into the form in which we now have it. The work of the Masorites and their predecessors stereotyped the form of the Old Testament two thousand years ago. Prodigious study and comparison of manuscripts of the New Testament have resulted in revisions of very recent date. Common Version, Revised Version and American Revised Version of our English Bible differ not alone in translation, but as to the texts accepted as the basis of translation. Only within the past one hundred and fifty years have the reasons for maintaining the Word in the letter in its integrity been revealed by the Lord, and since they were made known the results of scholarship have apparently been undermining the very foundations of the Sacred Scripture. The modern documentary theory, with the notion of successive editings to which it is conceived the Bible, or more properly the books of the Bible, were subjected through a thousand years, according to the higher critic has made of the Old Testament a patchwork composition, and, with the New Testament has resulted in the apparent disproof of many of the Gospel statements upon which rest the vital doctrines of the Christian religion. If we follow the critics, the result is largely confusion, and with the churches of the Christian world this confusion has gone far to discredit the very Divine Oracles.

     The Newchurchman stands amid this wreck of old theological foundations, serene and sure.

513


Taught by the Lord in His Second Coming, he knows that the Word, even in its letter, abideth sure; that, whatever may be the appearance to those who look only to appearances, the Word of the Lord has been preserved unmutilated since it was first written. This assurance does not depend Upon any finding of the scholars, but upon revelation from Him who gave the Word in the beginning; and the assurance is that there is a God, even the Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine Humanity, that He is the Rock, whose work is perfect, and that therefore the Word which is from Him by whom the heavens are made, cannot fail to accomplish His pleasure, nor to prosper in the thing whereto He sends it. No man has power to add to or to take away from that which is the Lord's alone.

     The questions as to who wrote the Pentateuch; whether there were two Isaiahs; in what age this or that book or chapter was written, may be decided by the scholar this way or that, may be decided by one scholar in one way and by another,--quite as positive that he is right,--in another way; it matters not to him who is guided by the doctrine of the New Church. The Lord uses many men in many ages. The result alone concerns us. The Word of the Lord in the letter has been written; it has been preserved by the wonderful providence of the Lord by whom it was given; it exists today in completeness and perfection even to the least iota of it, and it shall stand forever.

     The warning not to add to or to take away from the Word, does not refer to the words of the literal Scripture. Men cannot add to these; nor can men take anything away from them. Let us now think of the more interior and vital lesson of our text. What is the spiritual significance of the warning not to add to or to take away?

     There are two things which it is the purpose of Divine Revelation to give to men, which can be given to men in no other way, and which men cannot discover for themselves. To these all things of Divine Revelation point, and in them they find their central theme. These two things are the acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as God in His Divine Humanity, and faith in Him, which is life from Him, life according to His precepts. These things must be learned from the Lord and from Him alone. With them the thought and affection of man must meddle not. Upon them man must not lift up any tool of iron.

514


The essential things to which we are not to add, and from which we are commanded not to take away, are the Divine truths in the Word now opened by the Lord, all of which relate to love to the Lord and to faith in Him. This command or warning is specifically addressed to the New Church, for it is to the New Church and for the establishment of the New Church that these truths have been opened.

     In one sense indeed, no man can add to these Divine truths, for they are infinite, nor can any man take from them, for they are from the Lord, are indeed the Lord Himself and infinitely beyond the reach of harm from man. The adding to these truths then, or the taking from them, has reference, not to the truths as they are in themselves, but to their relation to human minds. We add to the Divine truth of revelation, when we bring into the reception of them anything of our self-intelligence, by which their power or authority for the salvation of men is overlaid and blunted. We add to the Word of prophecy when we overlay the Word of Divine truth with some principle of worldly expediency, or yield to such a principle the place which should belong to the Divine truth; we add to the Divine of Revelation when some principle of life which is not from the Lord, is obeyed. We may further incur the danger here warned against by allowing the example of other men or of some leader of men to overrule the truth which we have ourselves received from Divine revelation, or by permitting ourselves to be carried along in the stream of party, whether in the church or state, in such fashion that the Divine truth does not come to us with its own Divine force and authority, but is made subject to principles which are not from the Lord, and which do not lead to him, nor to the obedience which is due Him. It is adding to the book of prophecy to receive direct instruction from spirit or angel, which destroys faith in the Lord and makes obedience to His precepts unnecessary. A forbidden addition to the words of the book of prophecy is an edict of councils, which is promulgated throughout the Church, with insistence or implication that in the light of it the Divine truth of revelation must be interpreted.

     In general, any appearance induced by self-love or self-intelligence, by which any principle of Divine truth is overlaid and thus invalidated, is an addition to the book of the prophecy which is forbidden.

515




     One who permits such additions to be made to the authority of the Divine truth with him, by which the clear and single flame of the Divine oracle is overlaid and darkened, becomes subject in the degree that he does it to the condemnation written; upon him are visited the plagues which are written in this book. He is himself destroyed by falsities and evils.

     He who takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy is not one who takes away from the literal Word; but is he who takes away anything of the Divine truth now opened and revealed in the Word, by not acknowledging its Divine authority over him. He who believes or teaches that a certain doctrine or book among the Writings of the New Church is not to be received as authoritative for the Church, thus not acknowledging the Lord in it, nor His precepts of life in it, cannot really receive and other Divine truth in the Heavenly Doctrines. In his rejection of one portion of the Heavenly Doctrine, he rejects all, for he acknowledges another Lord than the Lord, and another faith than faith in Him. He suffers the penalty, if he persist: his name is removed from the Rook of Life, for the Word thereby ceases to be the book of life for him. Nor can he be received into the New Jerusalem, for he will not receive the truth of the New Jerusalem into himself. Nor can he be received into the kingdom of the Lord on earth nor in heaven, since in essentials he denies the rulership of the Lord over His Church and in His heaven.

     Not to guard against the adding to or the taking away from the letter of the Word were the words of our text written, for either of these is beyond the power of man. But by these words the man of the Church is warned against any adding to or taking from the power of the Word of Divine Truth over his own affection and thought. He must see to it that he say in the words of Kalaam the prophet to Dalak the king. "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the Word of Jehovah my God, to do less or more." (Numb. xxii. 18.)

516


NEW CHURCH NOT ONLY FOR THE EDUCATED 1908

NEW CHURCH NOT ONLY FOR THE EDUCATED       Rev. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1908

     The opinion is often met with that "the New Church doctrines can only me apprehended by highly educated persons," that they are "beyond the common people." Also that they will not be more widely disseminated until the masses are better educated and trained to do more abstract thinking and concluding.

     There are many appearances to support this conclusion, as, for instance, the statement that "the New Church must begin from the universities," and also the teaching that this revelation is addressed to the rational, and that the New Church is to be an internal or spiritual church, wherein each man is to share the light of interior truths and not to be led persuasively. Other statements might be noted, but above all looms the fact that only the more intellectually inclined have been able, so far, to break the power of Old Church persuasions, and accept the Second Coming of the Lord. Moreover, the most learned of us is at times overwhelmed with a sense of the utter inadequacy of his training, in the presence of some great philosophical work of Swedenborg.

     On the other hand, it is not credible that the crown of all the churches will remain the privilege of any class of the people, or even of any race, whether "educated" in our sense or not. For the life-giving truths of Revelation are of the Lord's own providing, and intended for all,--and being so intended they are written in adaptation to this need, being simple for the simple and children, and containing ever deeper truths for those able to delve for them. Thus there will always be two classes of men in the church, i. e., men of the internal church, who add to a genuine affection of truth the particulars gleaned by education; and that other, normally much larger class, who share in some degree the affection and thus the general perception of truth, but lack the particulars.

     It is therefore evident that the New Church must begin with the learned, and indeed from centers of learning, such as the universities are. But this is only to be for a time, in order that a new center of light may be formed in the world of spirits, and thence in this world.

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After such centers are established, we are told, the Lord will add great numbers of the "simple," who are still flocking sheep-like after the blinded leaders from old centers. For it is still true that "what the universities believe today the people will believe tomorrow." When our friends note that the common people do not readily grasp our doctrines, they forget that the same is true of any other interior truths. It is not intellectual grasp or rational conviction that keeps the mass of so-called "Christians" in the train of the old universities, which are now no longer true stars of Biblical light, but rather comets, leading the Old Church, priesthood first, away from the Bible, and from every truly spiritual belief. The fact is that the great majority of mankind will continue to be led largely by those of the learned in whom they have come to have confidence; and it takes a long time to wean such an inert mass from old leaders and old ideals. Much more is to be hoped, say the angels, from some new stock, beginning with a remnant, who can be culled out and brought up more or less apart from the prevailing persuasions. The teaching of the Writings upon the power of spheres gives the true key to the situation. Only the few, the educated mainly, can and will break the ground, gather the material, find the new roads, or rather rebuild the old lost highways, and begin the rearing of a new civilization, inspired with a new spirit, as did the pioneers in this country. After them will come a steadily increasing number, children and the "simple good," who will have confidence in them and thus be able to share in the fruits of their labor. It is worse than useless to try by mere argument to draw them over before this time comes. The appeal which will succeed will address itself to their remains of good and sense of right, and will have to undermine and brush away much of their obscure foundations, which are after all not rational convictions, but persuasions held in shape by affections which must themselves be reached and shaken. This is a work which only the Lord can do, but we are to co-operate, awaiting His time for bringing our efforts to their full fruitage. Meanwhile there will always be some fruit, here one, and there one, as may be needed to maintain the chief work of preparation and the gradual orderly development of a new center.

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INSPIRATION OF SWEDENBORG.* 1908

INSPIRATION OF SWEDENBORG.*       Rev. JAS. F. BUSS       1908

     * A paper read before the New Church Theological and Philosophical Society, on Friday evening, March 28th, 1908. Reprinted from the pages of Morning Light for May 30 and June 6 and 13. See New Church Life for July, p. 436.
     
     The importance of the subject we have met to consider can hardly be over-stated. Indeed, I do not hesitate to say that it is the grandest and sublimest theme, with the single exception of the Glorification of the Humanity of the Lord at His First Advent, that can engage the thoughts of men. For, is it not intimately and vitally connected with His making of His Second Advent?

     On a clear recognition, moreover, if not on a true and adequate understanding, of Swedenborg's inspiration, on the part of the when and women of the New Church, depends all hope of a just estimate of the character of the Writings in which her Heavenly Doctrines have been given to the world; of those doctrines themselves; and of the Church that rests upon them. Are those writings merely Swedenborg's, or, in some true and distinctive sense, the Lord's and not Swedenborg's-a real Divine Revelation! Are the doctrines they proclaim, the opinions and findings of a man; or, are they verily Divine Truths, given by the Lord, and, consequently, coming to us, with not any man's, but the Lord's authority' And, is the Church which founds upon those doctrines at liberty to pick and choose among them, and to say: We believe this, and do not believe that; we accept this as true and rational, but we reject that as neither rational nor true. And, consequently--for this is "consequently"--is the New Church a New Church or merely a new sect, or "denomination," among the multitude of such that constitute the Old Church, or the Christian Church at large, and thus forming "one Church" with them? Such are some of the radical and vital issues that hang upon the truth respecting the inspiration of Swedenborg.

     And, in view of the facts (among others), that, not many years ago, one of the foremost ministers of the New Church in this country, wrote to a provincial newspaper, some letters (afterwards reprinted in one of the New Church journals) indignantly repudiating the horrible accusation that New Church people believed that Swedenborg was inspired; and that, quite recently, another of our ministers has been reported (falsely, I would hope) to have stated to a representative of the Press, that New Churchmen only believed those teachings in the Writings that they can rationally accept--in view of these things, it is evidently requisite, first of all, to deal with the question of fact: Is there such a thing as "the Inspiration of Swedenborg?"

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Was he inspired?

     That point settled, I propose to consider, next, the exact duality of the Writings of the Church, and, consequently, the standing they ought to have among us; and, lastly, to investigate, as far as time will allow, the special states characteristic of Swedenborg in the performance, under the Divine auspices, of the duties of his mission.

     It is, perhaps, necessary to premise that I know nothing on any of these subjects, of myself. Neither I, nor any other man, can know anything about them, except what he learns from Swedenborg. This is the nature of the case. It cannot be otherwise. And, consequently, neither my opinion, as such, nor your opinion, nor the next man's, nor the opinion of the whole of the professed New Church throughout the world, even were it absolutely unanimous, would be worth the breath with which it was uttered, as bearing upon the facts in question. Only Swedenborg himself knew anything at all about his own states; and only his testimony, consequently, has any pertinence, or even standing, in the case we have to judge. I shall now apologize, therefore, for making this Paper little more than an attempt to place before you what Swedenborg has to tell us, on the questions in which we are here interested.

     And, firstly: Was Swedenborg inspired?

     Gjorwell, the Royal Librarian of Stockholm, in his testimony concerning Swedenborg, at a certain point in his narration, writes: "About all this he spoke with perfect conviction, laying particular stress upon these words: '. . . When I think of what I am about to write, and while I am writing, I enjoy a perfect inspiration, for otherwise it would be my own; but now I know for certain, that what I write is the living truth of God" (Documents, ii., p. 404.).

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Nothing could be more explicit than that, though it has the disadvantage of not coming to us under Swedenborg's own hand. That being so, it would, of course, carry no weight whatever, unless confirmed by Swedenborg himself. The next evidence, however, is in this regard, unimpeachable.

     Writing in the "Adversaria," on the inspiration of the Word, Swedenborg says: "That (in the Word) there is not the least of a word, not a jot, which is not inspired, I--who am inspired--can asseverate" (iii. 6,965).

     Not only, however, does he, on occasion, thus assert his inspiration; but things written by him were utilized, in the other life, as a means of enabling spirits to understand the inspiration of the Word. We read in the S. D., for example, "Some that were raised up into heaven (temporarily) saw, particularly, that the things written in God's Word are inspired; for there appeared to them the manner, and also the great abundance, of what flowed into the things that were written by me: yea, not only what flowed into the meaning, but even into the particular words, and into the ideas of the words. . . . This, also, it was given me formerly to perceive, by a spiritual idea--yea, even to, as it were, feel--namely, that (there is such an influx) into every smallest thing of each little letter that I wrote. Hence, it appears, in clear light, that the Lord's Word is inspired, as to each letter." (D. 2270.) This was written in June, 1748, at the time Swedenborg was writing the first volume of the "Arcana," the contents of which were, doubtless, "the things written by" Swedenborg, from which the spirits in question were able to obtain an intelligent idea of the inspiration of the Word.

     Now, it is perfectly evident, that, unless the things written by Swedenborg had been "inspired"--and thus Swedenborg himself, in writing them--they could not possibly have furnished these spirits with an idea of the inspiration of the Word; nor, even, unless their inspiration had been similar in kind--whatever difference there might be in certain respects--to the inspiration of the Word itself. This last is an important point that we shall need to bear in mind when considering the nature of Swedenborg's inspiration. Our present point is, however, that this passage establishes, beyond all doubt, for those who accept Swedenborg's testimony, the fact that he wrote under inspiration.

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     Finally--for this point--there is the well-known solemn declaration given in the chapter in the T. C. R. on "The Consummation of the Age and the Second Coming of the Lord": "The Second Coming of the Lord takes place by means of a man, before whom He has manifested Himself in Person, and

     FILLED WITH HIS SPIRIT

to teach from Him the doctrines of the New Church by means of the Word. . . . a man who is able, not only to receive the doctrines of this New Church in the understanding, but also to make them known by the press. I testify in truth 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 introduced me into the spiritual world, and granted me to see the heavens and the hells, and also to speak with angels and spirits, and this now continually for many years; and, likewise, that from the first day of this call, I have not taken anything relating to the doctrines of that Church from any angel but from the Lord alone" (T. 779). Could a stronger or more certain way be devised of asserting that a person was "inspired," than to say that the Lord "filled him with His Spirit" in order that he might teach the doctrines he was to teach "from Him" and not from himself, or from any angel even, although he was admitted to intercourse with the angels' I confess that I cannot conceive of any stronger or more unmistakable terms in which to make such an announcement. What else, and what more, can "inspiration" be than the Lord "filling a man with His Spirit, so that what he learned and taught was from no other source than "the Lord alone?" And yet, there have been those who publicly deny, in the name of the New Church, that Swedenborg was inspired!

     We note, also, that the actual, as well as the intended, effect of this "inspiration" was, that the man who was the subject of it himself received "nothing whatever relating to the doctrines of the New Church" from any other source than the Lord alone, and that, in teaching them, he taught them "from Him."

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What is so "received" and so "taught," carries with it, in the nature of the case, the completest Divine authority; and that Is, therefore, the "authority" with which everything whatsoever "relating to the doctrines of the New Church" in the Writing of Swedenborg comes to us.

     On the assumption that there is a possible distinction between everything "relating to the doctrines of the New Church," and the Spiritual sense of the Word, on the one hand, and the disclosures concerning the Spiritual world and the life after death, which form so large a portion of the Writings of the New Church, on the other, it is well to inform ourselves that they, also, are authenticated in precisely the same way.

     Respecting the things "heard and seen" in the Other Life, in the imparting of which, angels and spirits, both good and evil, frequently bore an instrumental part, we have Swedenborg's comprehensive assurance, "the things which I have learned in representations, visions, and speech with spirits and angels, are from the Lord alone," brought home to our understanding by the following explanation of how this was effected: "Whenever there was any representation, vision, or speech, I have been held interiorly and inmostly in reflection upon it, as to what was useful and good, thus as to what I might learn from it. Thus have I been instructed, consequently, by no spirit, nor angel, but by the Lord alone, from Whom is all good and truth" (S. D. 1,647). Even such as were presented by evil spirits were in precisely the same case: "Evil spirits are held in speaking (i. e., are compelled to speak) those things which are to be observed by me; but they are unaware of it. . . . A perception was also given (me) as to what was to be observed. . . . From which it was evident that the things also, which I had learned through evil spirits, I have learned from the Lord alone, although spirits spoke" (D. 4034.). The contents of the work, "Heaven and Hell" moreover, which are the same in scope as the things we are here concerned with, are heralded, in the introductory number of the book, as an "immediate revelation," the giving of which constitutes "the Coming of the Lord." "Such immediate revelation is now given, because this is what is meant by the Coming of the Lord" (H. 1).

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While, to crown all, a certain English Bishop, who in the world had calumniated this very work, "Heaven and Hell," for the purpose of raising a prejudice against it, and so preventing its being read, was rebuked on that account, in the spiritual world, after his death, on the ground that the book (to use Swedenborg's words), " was not my work but the Lord's, who purposed to reveal the nature of heaven and hell and of man's life after death" (D. 6101) by means of it.

     "Even the "Memorable Relations" carry the same authentication. Not only did Swedenborg inform Count Hopken that he "was commanded by the Lord to publish them" (see Documents, i., 66, ii., 414-416) ; but they are expressly stated, twice over, in the Writings themselves, to be "revealed by the Lord." Once, in the spiritual world, Swedenborg was asked by some angels. "What news from the earth?" and replied, "This is new: that the Lord has revealed such arcana as, in point of excellence, surpass all the arcana revealed from the beginning of the Church down to this time." He subsequently enlarged on the various things the Lord had revealed (in the Writings), and then continues: "besides many memorable relations and wonderful things from the spiritual world, by which many particulars, teeming with wisdom, have been revealed from heaven" (T. 846; C. L. 532-7). As regards, next, the Spiritual Sense of the Word, so far as that is given in the "Apocalypse Revealed," the reader of that work is admonished in its preface: "Think not, therefore, that anything here given is from myself, or from any angel, but from the Lord alone."

     The following, evidently, covers everything of the Spiritual sense, wherever given: "I have discoursed with spirits and angels now for many years: nor has any spirit dared, nor any angel wished, to tell me anything, still less to instruct me, concerning anything in the Word, or concerning any doctrine from the Word, but the Lord alone has taught me; who was revealed to me, and has since appeared constantly, and does now appear, before my eyes, as the Sun (of Heaven) in which He is, in like manner as He appears to the angels, and has enlightened me" (D. P. 135) And how the Lord "taught" Swedenborg the Internal Sense of the Word, as well as the doctrines from the Word, is stated in these very explicit terms: "That the Internal Sense is such as has been expounded, is evident from everything that has been explained; and especially from this, that it has been dictated to me out of heaven" (A. 6597).

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     This passage brings us to the question of the nature of the "Inspiration," the reality and certainty of which has been now, we trust, sufficiently established: it was a "dictation out of heaven."

     In what way are we to understand this expression "dictated to me out of heaven?" Not, in the first place, as an audible dictation of the very words we find in the Writings; for Swedenborg tells us, in another place (Adv. iii. 3,764). "The things which have been written here have manifestly been divinely inspired, for the very words, although not dictated, have still been sensibly inspired. All the other things which have happened in connection herewith, are more, and are more holy, than can be here revealed. Still, I sacredly confess this: that not a syllable, or the smallest bit of a word, of these things, is from me." And similar evidence is furnished in many other places. What is meant, is shown in this statement: "That these (words) signify such things, has been wonderfully revealed to me. Without revelation such things cannot by any means be understood. It was dictated, but marvellously in the thought; and the thought was led to the understanding of these words, and the idea held fixedly in each of the words, as if detained by a heavenly force: thus this revelation was effected sensibly." The "inspiration," in a word, by which the Spiritual Sense of the Word, given in the Writings, was "dictated" to Swedenborg "out of heaven," was in the thought, in such wise that "the thought was left to the understanding" of what was to be written.

     In order to realize what this involves, it is necessary to take cognizance of the fact that revelation assumes two forms: "All revelation is either (a) from speech with angels through whom the Lord is speaking; or (b) from perception" (A. 5,121). It is at once evident that the "dictation in the thought" by which Swedenborg received the Spiritual Sense of the Word "out of heaven," constituted this second form of revelation "from perception." His description of the way in which it operated, places that beyond doubt.

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Now, "it is to be noted that those who are in good and in truth thence, and especially those who are in the good of love to the Lord (i. e., those regenerated to the Celestial degree) have revelation from perception; whereas those who are not in good and thence in truth, may indeed have revelation, yet not from perception, but by a living voice heard in them, thus by means of angels from the Lord: this latter revelation is external; the former is internal" (ibid.). What is here called "revelation from perception," is evidently the same thing that is elsewhere called "enlightenment" (or, to use the old-fashioned term, "illustration"), and is enjoyed by every regenerate person, in a measure determined by the extent of his regeneration, and is strictly according to "the knowledges that are already with him" (see T. 208). This enlightment, or illustration, or revelation, from perception, or this "internal revelation"--call it what you will--Swedenborg certainly enjoyed, for his regeneration extended to the celestial degree. Of this we are certified by the fact, disclosed in a passage we have already had before us (D. P. 135), that, after the time of the Lord's manifestation to him before sending him on his office, "the Lord constantly apeared before his eyes, as the Sun in which He is, in like manner as He appears to the angels"--which is the case only with those who have been regenerated as to the Celestial. (H. 118.)

     But, though Swedenborg, in common with all men who are regenerated to the necessary degree, enjoyed this enlightenment, he enjoyed more. The "enlightment" by virtue of which the Spiritual Sense of the Word, for example, was revealed to him, was of a kind which regeneration alone does not confer. For, concerning the Spiritual Sense of the Book of Revelation, given in A. R., he tells us, in the preface, "every word of it (the Book in question) contains arcana which could never be known without a unique enlightment, and thus revelation; wherefore, it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit and to teach (me);" and this indispensable "unique enlightment" which Swedenborg enjoyed, and which ordinarily enlightened men do not, is, we note, associated with "the opening of the sight of his spirit." That, also is an experience which others besides Swedenborg have had. The seers of the Word, for example, had it, in a way; but, regarding this, Swedenborg states, in T. 157, "This is the state in which I have been for twenty-six years--with this difference: that I have been in the spirit and at the same time in the body, and only sometimes out of the body"; or, as he puts it in another place (D. 722), "as it were, separated from the body, and yet at the same time conjoined with it." "Intromission into the spiritual world," says he (in Inv. 52) "has not been granted to anyone in the same way as to me, since the creation.

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The men of the Golden Age, did, indeed, speak with angels; but it was not granted to them to be in any other light than natural light, but to me, to be in both spiritual light and natural light at the same time. By this means, it has been granted to me. . . . to be among angels, as one of them (i. e., not as an outsider, or a mere visitor, but as a native, in the same state as their own), and at the same time to imbibe truths in light, and thus perceive and teach them; consequently, to be led by the Lord." Evidently, the peculiarity of the kind of intromission into the spiritual world which distinguished Swedenborg's case from that of any other human being from the Creation onwards, was one of the factors that entered into his Inspiration: it enabled him not only to be among the angels in a way in which no other man ever was, but also "to imbibe truths in light,* and thus to perceive and teach them"; in a word, "to be led by the Lord," in, manifestly, a quite peculiar manner. And the precise nature of his peculiar endowment in this respect, is obtained when we learn from the Summary of the "Coronis" ("Lastly, on Miracles," IV.,") that the separation from the body in the natural world already mentioned was "only as to the intellectual part of his mind; not as to the voluntary part." This implies, too, of course, that there was, with Swedenborg, a certain separation (of the nature of transcendence) of his intellectual part from his voluntary (which was not separated from his body); the effect of which clearly was that he was capable of being enlightened by, and thus of receiving revelation from, "the Lord alone," to an extent not limited by the state of his regeneration. This is what, in this respect, differentiated Swedenborg's case from that of any other person that ever lived; and this it was that capacitated him for enjoying that "unique enlightenment, and hence revelation," without which he tells us the things of the Spiritual sense of the Word could never have come to human knowledge (A. R. Preface).

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     * Or, as expressed elsewhere, to be "in enlightenment there, through immediate light from the Lord" ("Coronis," Summary, "Lastly about Miracles," IV.).

     Another of his special endowments was a certain "double thought," which appears to have capacitated him for taking cognizance of what was transpiring in his internal mind at the same time that he was in the full activity of his external mind; and this, in both his spiritual-world and his natural-world experiences. "I have been endowed," he says in his S. D. (484) "with a double thought, one more interior and the other interior; so that, while I have been in the company of evil spirits, I was also able to be at the same time in the company of good spirits, and could thus perceive of what quality the spirits were who desired to lead me." It was this faculty that gave him the power of adjoining to "reflection" upon "the representations, visions, and conversations with spirits and angels," which entered by his spiritual senses in the other life (which he calls in one place "sensitive reflection," (A. 5171), a "perception" from his interior thought," that enabled him to separate what, of all that was thus presented, was from the Lord, from what was from the proprium of the spirits and angels, and to accept the former and reject the latter, and thus to be taught "by the Lord alone," in it all. He was also able to perceive, he tells us, when he himself was "in proprium and when not in proprium," and thus to reject, when writing, the things that were from himself. Without this gift, clearly, neither he, nor we, could be sure, that, although he had given nothing from angels, or spirits, he had also given nothing from himself. The result would have been that we should have had no reliable revelation through him; for his own dictum on the subject, which our sure knowledge must endorse, is: "When in proprium I am fit for nothing; and, therefore, I have been led out of it by the Lord, as far as that could be done" (D. 5,464) To have kept him utterly out of his proprium would have been, of course, to obliterate his individuality, that is, to obliterate him altogether. But, "as far as it could be done" it was done; and it could be done to a sufficient degree to bring it about that he has given in the Writings nothing from himself, any more than anything from spirits and angels.

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     By virtue of his "double thought," a faculty of thinking on two planes at once, while engaged in the difficult task of transferring the spiritual ideas, in which the internal sense of the Word and its spiritual doctrines were "dictated" to him by the Lord in his interior thought, into ideas of external thought for expression in human language in writing his books, he was able to think from his interior perception, or his spiritual ideas, at the same time that his external mind was engaged with the natural ideas to which the spiritual had to be brought down, for expression in words in his books, and so to perceive, still, when writing, what was from the Lord, and what from spirits, angels, or the infirmities of his own proprium, and to keep out all the latter, and to write down all, and only, the former. For, by means of this gift, conferred upon him for the sake of the transcendent use to which the Lord had called him, he was able, when writing, to perceive the sources of the enlightment, or inspiration, that came to him in the act: "I have been permitted," he states, "to see this enlightenment, and from it to perceive distinctly what comes from the Lord, and what from angels; what is from the Lord has been written, and what is from the angels has not been written." (A. E. 1,183.)

     It was, doubtless, in virtue of this fact, and in this sense, that Swedenborg was able to use, in the fragment, "A Sketch of an Ecclesiastical History of the New Church," the remarkable expression, "The books that have been written by the Lord through me, from the beginning to the present day, are to be enumerated." It was by reason of this, that the English Bishop in the Spiritual world was told that "Heaven and Hell" was "not Swedenborg's work, but the Lord's," and by reason of this that "on these books in the spiritual world, on all of them, was written, 'The Lord's Advent.'"

     It is only on such grounds--namely, that the books are, in some very real sense, the Lord's and not Swedenborg's, the product of a true and efficient Divine inspiration--that we can understand, that we can even really credit, what Swedenborg tells us of the stupendous and extraordinary effects in the spiritual world, by which their completion, or publication, in the natural, was signalized. "When the Brief Exposition of the Doctrines of the New Church was published," he relates, "the angelic heaven from the east to the west, and from the south to the north, appeared of a deep scarlet color, with the most beautiful flowers. . . . At another time, it appeared beautifully flamy" (Ecclesiastical History of the New Church. 7).

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On any other grounds, how can we understand why--how, indeed, can we rationally and truly believe that--"When this work (the T. C. R., the last of the published works given by the Lord through Swedenborg) was finished, the Lord called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world, and the next day sent them into the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigneth, whose kingdom shall be to ages of ages" (T. 791)--the same "Gospel" that those works were preaching, and were for ever thenceforth to preach, in the whole natural world--thus inaugurating the New Church in that world, preparatory to its subsequent establishment in this? In no other way. It is incredible that the publication of any merely human production, should be signalized by such an irradiation of the sky of the angelic heaven as Swedenborg testifies to, and especially so that, on the completion of the writing of the entire series, the Lord Himself--as though He had been waiting for that great moment to do it--should do as he did on the ever memorable 19th of June, 1770. Know, understand, and acknowledge, however, that the works were "not Swedenborg's but the Lord's," worthy on that account, to be inscribed, in the spiritual world, with the wonderful phase, "the Lord's Advent," and such accompaniments of their publication, and especially of their completion, become so easily credible and intelligible, as hardly to awaken astonishment.

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     It is reported in the Messenger that a Chicago mail order house, in no way connected with the New Church, has been advertising some of Swedenborg's writings, and has sold a number of copies. Two whole pages of its catalogue are given to a description of Heaven and Hell.



     Mr. M. R. Bhatt, of Bharnagar, Gujerat, India, has published a translation into Gujerati of portions of the work on Heaven and Hell. Mr. Bhatt is now making a translation into the same tongue of a portion of the Arcana.



     During the past year the possessions of the London Swedenborg Society have been enriched by some interesting and unique gifts. One is a fine oil painting of Robert Hindmarsh. Another is a group picture, beautifully colored, of Dr. Kahl, Dr. J. F. Im. Tafel, Harle, and Le Boys des Guays. There is also a fine portrait of Dr. Wilkinson, and last, but not least, a lock of Swedenborg's hair. The latter, the existence of which, so far as we know, has never previously been brought to public notice, was presented to the society by a granddaughter of Charles Augustus Tulk who had received it from the wife of Swedenborg's friend and physician, Dr. Messiter. The gift included the original note sent by Mrs. Messiter in her presentation to Mr. Tulk.



     Messrs. J. M. Dent & Co., the English publishers, have announced their intention of including Swedenborg's work on Heaven and Hell in their "Everyman's Library." Everyman's Library, which is on sale in all English speaking countries, is deservedly a most popular series, owing not only to its contents, but also to its low price and the excellency of its "get up." The publication of Heaven and Hell in this "Library" should give considerable increase to the popular knowledge of that work. The London Swedenborg Society have offered to Messrs. Dent the use of "a new and popular rendition" of the work which Mr. F. Bayley, M. A., has undertaken to make.

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     In the present issue of the Life we publish our promised reprint of the excellent article on The inspiration of Swedenborg, by the Rev. T. F. Buss, which appeared in issues of the Morning Light for June and July. But while the article is a reprint, it should be added that it has received from the author several important corrections, which make it conform with the original copy.



     When sending his corrections Mr. Buss takes the opportunity of commenting on a statement made by a correspondent in our July issue, page 436. Mr. Buss writes: "Mr. Ball is not correct in attributing opposition to the paper [on The Inspiration of Swedenborg, to two Conference ministers present. Only one was hostile--the Rev. A. Wilde; the other--the Rev. W. A. Presland --expressed his agreement with the paper, passages and conclusions alike, although, for reasons stated, he did say that he thought it unfortunate that we had not some other word than 'inspiration' by which to designate Swedenborg's unique gift. Personally, I do not concur in this view; but, in the circumstances, it would be manifestly unjust to Mr. Presland to represent him as advocating falsities on account of it."



     In the course of a recent sermon on the subject of the Second Coming the Rev. W. T. Lardge calls attention to the "striking difference between the first and second advents, which, so far as he knew, had never yet been noticed, namely, that it was given us to locate the place of the First Advent, but not the precise date; whereas we could positively tell the date of the Second Advent, (T. C. R. 791), but not the place, except, of course, by saying that it took place in the spiritual world." We can hardly subscribe to Mr. Lardge's conclusion in as much as it involves that the Second Advent was confined to June 19, 1770. The Second Advent is the appearance of the Lord in the inspired Writings of the Church, and this appearance commenced with the opening of Swedenborg's spiritual eyes. The Nineteenth of June, 1770, is not the date of the Second Advent, but it is the day when, the work of preparation having been made by the Lord, a nucleus of the new heaven having been formed, the disciples were sent forth to proclaim the Advent to the universal spiritual world.

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It is comparable, not to the birth of the Lord, but to His sending forth of the Apostles at Pentecost after the resurrection.



     The following passage from the recent decision of the judge of the Orphans' Court of Lancaster County, Pa., against the Academy of the New Church is noteworthy as typical of the trend of modern thought:

     "The doctrines of the New Church rest upon the fundamental principle that Jesus Christ is the only God,--not God in the Christian sense as being with the Father and the Holy Ghost of the Trinity, but some other kind of a God. While recognizing Jesus Christ as superior to all men born of women, and reverently worshiping his divine nature, the tendency of modern thought, the so-called higher criticism, is to question his divinity. While many gratefully acknowledge the soundness of the morals and purity of the ethics taught by him, and profoundly revere the man, nevertheless, though conscientious, honest, thoughtful students, they have not been given the power to escape the influence of a seeming conflict between science and the idea of his divinity.
The thought movement is not towards a dedication of even the Christian's Christ, the second Person of the adorable Trinity, much less the Swedenborg God."



     In one of the current issues of Morning Light some interesting information is given respecting the trial of a "new method" in the prosecution of missionary work. The experiment was made last March and its denouement is strongly suggestive of Aesop's "Mountain and the Mouse." The "new method," which was the idea of the committee of the London Swedenborg Society, consisted in the means adopted to attract strangers. Mr. Deans was appointed to give a lecture in the rooms of the Society, on the subject of Swedenborg; and in order to "ensure an audience" 1,000 engraved invitation cards were sent out to residents in the W. C. and W. districts whose names were secured from the directory.

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These included 300 ministers, 200 lawyers, 200 doctors, and 300 names selected from the court section. Each invitation was accompanied with a stamped post card for reply. Of the thousand persons to whom these invitations and postcards were sent 285 made replies, 253 declining, and 32 accepting! The lecture itself was attended by less than 70 persons, of whom "about half" were strangers! This lecture was meant to be the first of a series if the attendance justified. There has been no second lecture.
HOMER AND THE HIGHER CRITICS 1908

HOMER AND THE HIGHER CRITICS              1908

     An interesting article on this subject by the Rev. William W. Everts, of Boston, Mass., appears in the Bibliotheca Sacra for July. The design of the writer is to indicate the parallel between the now exploded "higher criticism" of the Homeric epics and the present similar "higher criticism" of the Pentateuch.

     Up to the year 1795 the whole learned world had no other idea than that the Iliad and the Odyssey were the products of one mind. But the publication in that year, by Wolf, of his celebrated Prolegomena rudely assailed this belief and inaugurated a long period during which the majority of Greek scholars openly rejected it. The "historical principles" which led Wolf to the writing of his Prolegomena, were, in brief, the mere assumptions that Homer could not write, and that all primitive poetry was composed in lays; and a false deduction drawn from "Cicero's vague remark that Pisistratus gathered the Homeric poems together," and from "Josephus' intimation that the Iliad was committed to memory. He concluded, therefore, that, before Pisistratus, there was no Iliad but merely a mass of separate lays by different authors, and that Pisistratus was the real maker of the Iliad. In the Prolegomena he then attempts to separate Homer's epic into its component parts by a microscopic search for the breaks, the differences and the contradictions not wholly concealed by Pisistratus and his editors.

     Published at a time when skepticism and doubt were commencing to be the main recommendations for judgment and learning, Wolf's work produced a revolution of thought.

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His theory was taken up and enlarged by his successors; editions of Homer were published with the "lays" composed by the different "poets" marked by variation in type; attempts were even made to identify the "poets" who contributed to the work. In short, Wolf's theory prevailed and seemed destined to remain.

     But from the beginning doubt and opposition had been expressed. Commencing with poets and literateurs who were afterwards joined by the great philologists and Greek scholars, this growing opposition is traced by Mr. Everts to the close of the nineteenth century, and finally he shows that the discoveries of archaeology have now given the death-blow to Wolf's theory.

     The article concludes with a parallel drawn between Wolf and Wellhausen, the latter being the author of the Prolegomena which inaugurated the "higher criticism" of Moses. "Both begin with philologists who scorn theology; both start with a large supply of assumptions. . . . Both broke with ancient and universal tradition; both invented editors and redactors, one in the age of Pisistratus, the other in the age of Ezra. . . . Both divided and subdivided the text and proclaimed interpolations and contradictions in a subjective, arbitrary and self-contradictory manner. Both furnished editions with the original documents distinguished by different type. Both excelled in the use of the concordance and the mechanical tabulation of words. Both obtained control of the chairs of universities and boasted that the scholarship of the world was with them. Both had to face the difficulty of accounting by their hypothesis for the fame of the book and author. . . . Both faced . . . the impossibility of tracing step by step how the idea of one author arose, how gradually the manifold origin was forgotten, and when the original parts appeared. Finally both were overwhelmed by the discovery of ancient literature, a discovery which traversed every position that they had taken. The friends of Homer have silenced the higher critics of the Iliad; the friends of Moses may silence the higher critics of the Pentateuch, if they will."

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THE LOVE OF COUNTRY AND REFORMS 1908

THE LOVE OF COUNTRY AND REFORMS        GEO. E. T. STEBBING       1908

Editors of New Church Life:

     Having read Mr. Elphick's letter in your February issue I feel moved to send you the following notes on Love of Country in case you might think them useful:

     The Love of Country is one of the degrees of love to the neighbor. It is greater than the love of the individual communities which make up the nation, but it is less than the love of the communities of nations of which one's nation is a unit, and still less than the love of the Church; but, of course, the greater includes the lesser. It is the desire to promote the welfare of the national community in which one dwells. Obviously, therefore, one must know what national welfare is and how to attain it.

     The importance of the individual interest in civil affairs advocated by Mr. Elphick is shown in H. D. 68-9: "It is our duty to do good to our country from a principle of love according to its necessities, which principally regard the sustenance and the civil and spiritual life of its inhabitants. The man who loves his country when he comes into the other life loves the kingdom of the Lord and he who loves the kingdom of the Lord loves the Lord Himself."

     The love of country like every other good has truths through which it acts, and these are the truths which show in what national welfare consists and how it may be promoted. These truths are collectively known as political economy.

     The love of country must, to exist, be active, (a passive love is a paradox). The patriot must do something for his country according to his light. He must first see whether his light is light or only comparative darkness; then having acquired a true light he must use it for the enlightenment of others. As we read in H. D. 74: "Every man ought also to provide for the necessary requirements of his mind, that is, to store it with such things as will raise it in intelligence and wisdom and thus qualify him for being of service to his fellow citizens, to his country, to the Church and thus to the Lord."

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     It is truly said that a community gets the government it deserves, and, although a few wise and upright individuals cannot reform a government, yet the deserts of the community increase with the multiplication of such individuals in its midst.

     It is as easy as true, to say, that if every man looks to his own improvement the world is sure to be improved; but this is an argument of selfishness. So many men will not improve themselves, perhaps not seeing the necessity, or not knowing how. It is necessary therefore that those who are improving themselves should devote some of their spare time to arousing others to the necessity and means of improvement, thus creating a healthy public opinion.

     A man cannot do his duty to his country and his neighbor unless he knows what his duty is and how to do it, and this not merely in a general way but in some detail, as it affects every single act of his complex societary life.

     All truths regulating societary life constitute political economy. The New Church has new teachings on the duty to the neighbor, therefore it has a new political economy, and a Newchurchman should learn its laws. The Writings teem with information on the subject, the easiest passages for preliminary reference being in "The Doctrine of Charity," particularly no. 62 to 78.
     GEO. E. T. STEBBING,
          87 Thornycroft Road, Liverpool, Eng.
OPTIMISTIC VIEW OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION 1908

OPTIMISTIC VIEW OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION       FRANKLIN JACKSON       1908

EDITOR New Church Life:

     In the June number of the Life a number of statements were made in the article by the Rev. J. E. Bowers on Fishermen becoming Disciples, which appear to me to be so manifestly incorrect and unjust that I desire with your permission to make a brief reply.

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     On page 354 it reads: "On the one side it is held that the Writings were given by Divine Inspiration, and on the other side, (referring, as it states in the article, to Convention), Swedenborg is regarded more as having been a good commentator."

     It has been my privilege to have been a member of the New Church all my life and acquainted with a large number of New Church people and a reader of the New Church periodicals, but I have never known a person calling himself a Newchurchman and of no organization, large or small, holding such a view of the Writings.

     Further on it states that the views of the two bodies concerning the Writings are essentially opposite,--the one regarding them as a Revelation of truth but not the Word of God,--the other, the General Church, holding that the Writings are a Revelation of Divine Truth, the very Word of God to the men of the New Church.

     It was my great pleasure to attend the recent Convention at Cleveland, and in all the papers read and discussed, with but one exception, and in all the sermons, the Writings were always spoken of as the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, Divine Revelation, Revelation of Divine Truth; and the President of the Convention laid especial emphasis that they were the Lord's Writings and not Swedenborg's, as this tended to the worship of Swedenborg the man. Again the article goes on to state that the opposition to the distinctive New Church is more cunning in its methods and more dangerous and deadly than ever before. This without some proof or evidence seems to me a grave slander against this body of the Church, and one to be deplored. The number of New Church edifices that have been erected over the country the past year, notably two at Cleveland, and one each at Pittsburgh, Pretty Prairie, and by the German Society in Brooklyn, the increased activity and aid to the smaller societies to make them self-sustaining distinctively New Church Societies,--these are witnesses to the fallacy of such a statement. For if there is such opposition as is contended by Mr. Bowers, why have any societies at all?

     These and many similar statements appearing so often and reiterated in the Life for the past six years,--and the gloomy accounts depicted by W. H. Alden, appear to me to present an erroneous conception of the true condition of the General Convention and only tend to promote a feeling of enmity rather than one of brotherly love, which as it seems to me should exist between the two bodies of the Church working for the same end.

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It is like a person looking through a kaleidoscope from the wrong end and finding everything in disorder. If you will only look through the kaleidoscope from the right side, a different and beautiful view will be presented to the eye.

     Convention was to me an inspiration and acted as a stimulant for greater love and zeal for the Church and removed from my mind the despairing accounts depicted in the Life at different times.

     The many able papers read and discussed dissipated the accounts of any suppression of free speech.

     The adoption of a graded system of lessons for the Sunday Schools, the revision of the Magnificat so that it will more perfectly express the New Church Doctrines and have the music more correct, the activity of the Young People's League in the study of the Doctrines, the animated discussion of and great interest in the missionary work, the great work being done by the publishing houses, are indications to me that the General Convention and its allied bodies are earnestly striving to promote the descent of the New Jerusalem, and I doubt not but the illumined Seer would approve of its methods could he but come to earth again.
     FRANKLIN JACKSON,
          Atlanta, Ga., July 29, 1908.
PALINGENESIS.* 1908

PALINGENESIS.*       CHARLES E. BENHAM       1908

     * See editorial on this subject in New Church Life for July, p. 427.--ED.

EDITOR New Church Life:

     Sir Kenelm Digby read a paper at a meeting of the Society for Promoting Philosophical Knowledge in 1660 on the Vegetation of Plants, in which the palingenesis process was fully described. The alleged experiments are well known to every literary student, and are amply dealt with in Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature. The following quotation from Digby will show what were the kind of experiments to which Swedenborg undoubtedly alluded, though his reference to water and shaking indicates a slight variation of the modus operandi.

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There were many different methods set forth by the old chemists. Kenelm Digby says: "Quercetanus, the famous physician of King Henry IV, tells us a wonderful story of a Polonian doctor that showed him a dozen glasses, hermetically sealed, in each of which was a different plant; for example, a rose in one, a tulip in another, a clove gilly-flower in a third, and so of the rest. When he offered these glasses to your first view you saw nothing in them but heaps of ashes at the bottom. As soon as he held some gentle heat under any of them presently there arose out of the ashes the idea of a flower and the stalk belonging to those ashes, and it would shoot up and spread abroad to the due height and just dimensions of such a flower, and had perfect color, shape, magnitude, and all other accidents as if it were really that very flower. But whenever you drew the heat from it, as the glass and contracted air and matter within it grew too cold by degrees, so would this flower sink down little by little till at length it would bury itself in its bed of ashes. And this it would do as often as you exposed it to moderate heat and withdrew it from it."

     Digby then goes on to say that he had tried the experiment without any success, but be had completely succeeded in other kindred experiments, one of which was to calcine some nettles, to make a lye with these ashes in water, filter this solution, and expose it to freezing temperature In the ice there appeared "abundance of nettles." No greenness accompanied them, he says; they were white, but it would have been impossible for any painter to delineate a throng of nettles more exactly. As soon as the ice was melted all these ideal shapes vanished, but as soon as the water was congealed again they presently appeared afresh.

     It need hardly he said that the most probable explanation was that Digby fancifully interprets the ice crystals as reproductions of nettle leaf forms. He narrates, on hearsay and from experiences of his own, too, various similar experiments with calcined cray fishes, etc., but his writings are unfortunately so crammed with false observations and superstitious fancies that unless we are prepared to accept such assertions as those he makes about his "powder of sympathy," (which, when applied to a knife, healed the wound it had made), we can hardly give much credence to his palingenesis experiments which have been abundantly tested and proved to have no foundation whatever in anything but the admitted and well recognized resemblance of some crystallized salts to the plant forms.

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The calcined cray fish experiment was different. The distilled lye was exposed to light and air and animalcula appeared which were taken to be baby cray fish.
     CHARLES E. BENHAM.,
          Colchester, England, July, to, '08.

     P. S.--It is worth noting that Kenelm Digby held, as Swedenborg did, Aristotle's theory of color, as "light mingled with darkness." Kenelm Digby also uses the terms discrete and continued in much the same sense as Swedenborg uses discrete and continuous.



     [We are grateful for Mr. Benham's interesting communication, published above, as it throws some contemporary light upon the mystery of the "Resurrection of Plants out of their Ashes," but we are by no means satisfied that the experiments to which Swedenborg refers "have no foundation whatever in anything but the admitted and well recognized resemblance of some crystallized salts to plant forms." The experiments are referred to so often and so seriously in illustration of the resurrection of the soul, not only in the scientific works but in the inspired Writings, that they cannot be thus summarily dismissed; and, moreover, Swedenborg himself was too careful and scientific an observer to have permitted himself to be misled by merely accidental resemblances.

     The experiments with the "cray fish" are of interest as having some connection, possibly, with Swedenborg's statement in the little work on the Mechanism of the Soul and Body, (n. 45), that "it had been observed in crabs that from every part of them, when roasted, cooked, and prepared, a crab will proceed,"--a dark saying, indeed, if correctly translated! We have looked in vain in Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature for any reference to the experiments of which our correspondent speaks.--ED.]

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ACCOUNT OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY AND OF THE JOINT COUNCILS OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1908

ACCOUNT OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY AND OF THE JOINT COUNCILS OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       F. E. WAELCHLI       1908

     The Council of the Clergy held its annual meeting this year at Glenview, Ill., from Tuesday, June 23d, to Monday, June 29th. The meeting was one of the most delightful the Council has ever held, and this was due in large measure to the kind hospitality of the Glenview people and to the beautiful surroundings. The sessions were held in the club house, morning, afternoon, and evening. One of the pleasant features of the meeting was that, by arrangement on the part of the Glenview Society, the ministers each day took dinner together.

     In the course of the meetings a resolution was passed that hereafter the Journal of the Council be not put into public print, but that the secretary may prepare for the pages of New Church Life an account of such portions of the proceedings as shall be determined upon by the Council. In accordance with this resolution the following account is given:

     There were present at the meeting: Bishop Pendleton; Pastors Bowers, Waelchli, Pendleton, Rosenqvist, Acton, Doering, Gladish, Klein, and Cronlund; Minister Gyllenhaal.

     The Reports of the Ministers were read, all indicating progress in the various departments of the work of the Church.

     The first topic taken from the Docket for consideration on Tuesday morning was The Two Kingdoms and the Three Heavens.

     Mr. Waelchli stated that it has been generally understood that the three heavens are as three planes, one above the other, and the two kingdoms are in each heaven; just as in the body there are the head, the trunk and the extremities, and in each of these the kingdom of the heart and the kingdom of the lungs.

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The subject is presented thus by Dr. Burnham in his work on Discrete Degrees. Of late, however, the teaching has been given that by the celestial and the spiritual kingdoms is meant the same as by the celestial and the spiritual heavens, and that the natural heaven is the external of these. It is certainly true that there are many passages in the Writings which bear out this idea; nevertheless, the fact that the Two Kingdoms and the Three Heavens are made the subjects of separate chapters in the work on Heaven and Hell, would seem to indicate that there is more of a distinction between the kingdoms and the heavens than this idea presents.

     Mr. Acton said that he had given considerable study to these two chapters. He had consulted every reference to the Arcana contained in them, and had found that in every case where the celestial and the spiritual kingdoms are spoken of in Heaven and Hell, the celestial and spiritual heavens are treated of in the Arcana. The term "heaven" is used to indicate those who are specifically in a certain state; the term "kingdom" is a universal term applied to all the societies of heaven. Those in the celestial heaven are par excellence in the celestial kingdom, but the term kingdom involves a universal extension; it involves the celestial principle throughout the heavens. So with the spiritual heaven and the spiritual kingdom. The matter can be illustrated by human communities since these are in the human form. For in every country we have two universal kingdoms,--the ecclesiastical and the regal; every person in the country is in one of these kingdoms. Again we have three general states, or classes of people,--those in the interiors of the ecclesiastical function, those in the interiors of the regal function, and those who are in the exteriors of these two functions. With regard to the latter, it might be noted that we are taught that those who are natural go to the natural heaven, or to the borders of the superior heavens. The illustration of the division of the Gorand Man into two kingdoms and three heavens, could, of course, be given as stated by Mr. Waelchli, and indeed is so given in the Writings; but a more complete illustration is afforded by considering the interiors of the body. Thus if we contemplate the heart and lungs, it will be seen that there is the kingdom of the heart and the kingdom of the lungs, and these are present everywhere in the body.

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In the mind also there is the kingdom of the will and the kingdom of the understanding, and these are everywhere present in the act. These illustrations give a more complete idea of the two kingdoms and the three heavens.

     Mr. N. D. Pendleton: Dr. Burnham's division presents a superficial view. The truth is that there is a relation between the three kingdoms and the three heavens. Three kingdoms are spoken of in the Writings, the celestial, the spiritual and the natural, and the three heavens are in the spheres of these kingdoms

     Mr. Acton: In the passages where the natural kingdom is spoken of, what is meant is the kingdom of this world.

     Mr. Pendleton: I think it means more than that.

     Bishop Pendleton: The doctrine can be best illustrated in the human body. The heart is one thing, but its kingdom is another. It is in the breast, but its kingdom is throughout the body. The distinction is as between what is specific and what is general. The celestial heaven has its kingdom even in the natural world. The same is true of the lungs, or the spiritual kingdom, and this extends upwards even into the head or the celestial. The heart and lungs each have their specific heaven, and the kingdoms are thence, even into the natural. Each heaven has its kingdom extending out of itself.

     Mr. Acton: In every country we have the priestly and the royal functions, and these extend in various forms to all men and societies of men in their various functions. In thinking of the order of the other world we are apt to be limited by ideas of space. The natural heaven often means all in a natural state of thought throughout the entire heaven. Every society has all kinds of men, celestial, spiritual and natural. If we limit our thought of the order of the other world by ideas of space, we will come into great difficulties. For example, certain societies of women are spoken of. This does not mean that there are societies made up only of women, but that women in heaven are associated in certain uses.

     In the afternoon a paper sent by the Rev. C. Th. Odhner, on The Resuscitation of Plants out of Their Ashes, was read. This paper has already been published in the Life.

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     In the evening an enjoyable social gathering of the ministers was held in the club house, and the time was spent in conversation on various topics.

     On Wednesday, the sessions, morning and afternoon, were taken up by the study of the new liturgy.

     The evening session was a public meeting, at which the Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist delivered the annual address. His subject was "The Druidism of Ancient Britain."

     Mr. Acton asked whether there was with the Druids anything of sun worship; also, whether there is truth in the report that they had human sacrifices.

     Mr. Rosenqvist: So far as the manuscripts go, from which I have drawn my information, they worshipped the sun only representatively, and not as a deity. As to human sacrifices, it is probable that they had them. This was likely in later times, when Druidism had sunk to its lowest level; and such sacrifices were confined to criminals or prisoners.

     Mr. Klein: Most of what we know concerning the Druids is unfavorable, probably because history presents them to us only in their state of decline. Many things in their worship and customs were similar to those of Egypt. No doubt Druidism was a derivation of the Ancient Church.

     Bishop Pendleton: The articles in The New Church Repository, of which Mr. Rosenqvist speaks in his paper, were written by the Rev. Thomas Wilks, who was a Welshman, and who, according to Bishop Benade, made a study of this subject, and wrote a work upon it, which was never published. Mr Benade saw the manuscript and considered the work a very valuable one, and on several occasions spoke of it with the hope that it would be published. He said that the last he knew of it was that it was in possession of Mr. Howells, father of W. D. Howells. It is to be hoped that it will come to light some day. As to human sacrifices, it can be said that it was the existence of this that led to the end of the Britons as a nation. When a nation comes to an end, there is some ultimate evil that needs to be wiped out. In many cases this evil has been the presence of human sacrifices. Examples of this are the Hindoos, the Aztecs, and the early inhabitants of the Land of Canaan.

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     Mr. Rosenqvist stated, in reply to a question, that the manuscripts referred to in the paper are regarded as authority in the learned world. They exist in private families in Wales, and are carefully guarded.

     Mr. Acton: The paper has opened up a field that is new to most of us. There is no doubt that Druidism came down from the Ancient Church. Every nation, of which we have an account, can be seen by its traditions to have had the origin of its religion in the Ancient Church. In these traditions can be seen something of the wisdom of that Church. This wisdom was thus preserved in many quarters, and this because the Jewish Church was a mere shell of a Church, and something more was needed among men on earth in order that there might be a connection between mankind and heaven.

     The session on Thursday morning was again given to the study of the new liturgy.

     In the afternoon another paper sent by the Rev. C. Th. Odhner, entitled Some Cosmological Questions, was read. This also has been published in the Life. In the discussion which followed it became evident that there was considerable variety of view on the subject of the paper.

     At the evening session the subject considered was Communication with Spirits.

     The Rev. N. D. Pendleton read a paper in which he quoted the following numbers: A. C. 597, 7802; E. U. 135; S. D. 2541-2; H. H. 246, 249, 250, 252, 254; S. D. 1622, 378; A. E. 1183; D. P. 134-5. From these he drew the following conclusions:

     1. Open converse with spirits and angels was the orderly mode of receiving revelation in the Most Ancient Church.

     2. This ceased when men became evil, after the fall, when the written Word was given.

     3. Such converse did not cease at once, but it became more and more unreliable, more and more fraught with danger.

     4. It appears that the Lord even now leads men through the instrumentality of spirits and angels, but that this is an unconscious leading by adjunction with the affections.

     5. It further appears that it will not again be given to spirits and angels to teach by such open intercourse.

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For the Lord alone is the Teacher, and He teaches by means of His Word, which is the Divine of the Lord on earth. Men must now hear Moses and the Prophets in the Word of Divine Revelation.

     6. And this means that man must now learn truth, not by spirit or angelic dictation, but by internal perception when reading the Word.

     7. Spirits or even angels may now occasionally speak to a man a few words, but never teach, never indoctrinate, never interfere with man's freedom of thought or reason. Such speech is therefore of no moment to the man, nor yet to the Church in general, save as it may serve to gently lead and prompt the affections of that man.

     8. Therefore with spirit-speaking the Church as such has nothing whatever to do, nor it with the Church. The duty of the Church is accomplished when its members are duly instructed and warned.

     On Friday morning the subject of The Universal Church was considered.

     Mr. Waelchli: Formerly it was commonly believed that the Universal Church, consisting of all who are in good, is the Universal New Church, within which the Specific New Church is as the heart and lungs. But some years ago there appeared an article in the Life in which it was held that the Universal Church cannot be called the Universal New Church. The same idea has since then been presented several times in the Life. In the recent May number, however, there was an article by Bishop Pendleton which seemed to present the former idea, although it did not use the expression "the Universal New Church." I can see no reason why we should not use this term. In the True Christian Religion, 307, we read: "In the celestial sense, by mother [in the third commandment] is meant the communion of saints, or the Lord's Church spread throughout the whole world." Then follow Scripture passages in proof of this, in all of which the New Jerusalem is mentioned, and it is added: "The New Jerusalem means the New Church, which is at this day being established by the Lord; this Church and not the former is the wife and mother in this sense." Here the Universal Church is spoken of as the New Jerusalem, the New Church.

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The Specific Church seems to be treated of in the number which precedes, giving the spiritual sense of the Commandment.

     Bishop Pendleton: The New Church exists where the doctrine of the Church is received. Still we cannot separate it from the Universal Church. The two are related as the heart and lungs are to the body. We can speak of the Universal Church as the Universal New Church, but must be careful not to fall into the idea prevailing in the Church at large that the New Church is everywhere. The Universal Church is associated with the New Church, and as such is the Universal New Church, certainly not the Universal Old Church.

     Mr. Klein: We cannot say that the members of the Universal Church are Newchurchmen.

     It was suggested that the expression "the communion of saints," in the number read, means those of the specific New Church, spread throughout the world. But two other passages from the True Christian Religion, nos. 15 and 416, in which "the communion of saints" is also mentioned, were read, and were seen to have reference to the Universal Church.

     Mr. Acton: The teaching in number 307 becomes clear when we bear in mind that it presents to us the celestial sense of the Commandment. The celestial think of the descent and establishment of the New Church, not in any limited sense, but universally as the renewal of life with all throughout the world. For the life of the Universal Church is renewed by the New Church. The state of the Universal Church is not the same now as before the institution of the New Church. Still we must be careful as to the use of the term Universal New Church. We cannot say that every good man is a good man of the New Church. It is better to retain the term The New Church and The Universal Church.

     In the afternoon a series of three subjects was considered: 1. The Temptations of the Young. 2. The Cultivation of Piety with the Young. 3. A Book of Private Devotions for the Young.

     With reference to the first of these subjects, it was shown that the teaching that man is not permitted to enter into temptations until he arrives at years of maturity, has reference to spiritual temptations, but that before that time he has natural or moral temptations, such as arise when there is the endeavor to live according to the natural sense of the Ten Commandments.

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They who do not experience such temptations during youth are not likely to enter into spiritual temptations in after life. Bishop Pendleton stated that those who become regenerated to the celestial degree enter into something of spiritual temptation in early life; according to the doctrine that the celestial man comes into charity in childhood.

     In the consideration of the subject of the cultivation of piety with the young, some of the ministers favored having worship for children at stated times, with sermons adapted to their state.

     The Rev. Alfred Acton was appointed to deliver the next annual address to the Council.

     The Rev. Emil Cronlund, in behalf of the Olivet Church, of Toronto, extended an invitation to the Council to hold its next annual meeting in Toronto.

     On motion, Mr. Cronlund was requested to express the thanks of the Council to the Olivet church for its kind invitation.

     On motion, the question of the place of the next annual meeting was referred to the General Council

     On Friday evening the Joint Meeting of the Council of the Clergy and of the Executive Committee opened with a public session, at which Bishop Pendleton read his Report on the New Liturgy.

     At the conclusion of the reading of the Report, the Bishop said: Worship has not had as important a place with us as it should have. So far social life has been our principal external of the life of the Church. The question is whether worship should not now fill this place. We are told in the Writings that internal worship consists in charity, or the shunning of evil, and the honest performance of one's daily use. This is practical, everyday worship, and without it there can be no salvation. External worship is the ultimate of this internal worship, by which ultimate the internal is strengthened and confirmed. External worship ministers to internal worship. Care must be taken not to exaggerate the importance of external worship. But there seems to be no danger of this with us. We need to give it a more prominent place, so that the worship of life may be brought down into the ultimates of worship. In external worship, internal worship is ultimated even to the taste and the touch in the Holy Supper.

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Therefore in the Holy Supper the Lord is most completely present. Worship every Sunday is a preparation for the Holy Supper. Worship is spiritual recreation; social life is natural recreation.

     Mr. Acton: The Report called to my mind the teaching respecting the four steps of regeneration. We are told that man's duty is, first, to examine himself; second, to see evil in himself; third, to make supplication to the Lord; and fourth, to begin a new life. Supplication is a most important Part of regeneration, and this is one of the main features of external worship. The development of external worship has not had a very prominent place in the New Church in the past. Of course, there has been devout worship with individuals, but the Church, as a rule, has not been directed to the development and cultivation of the devotional in external worship. Hindmarsh and his associates saw that a new worship was necessary for the New Church. But since that day not much has been done to develop and beautify the externals of our worship, though there have been individual efforts, like those of Dr. Sewall. In the General Church we seem now to be entering on an era in which there will be more cultivation of external worship. We can, perhaps, see the reason why the development has been so long delayed, namely, that the internal might first be well established, and the external from it. In the beginning there was the work of establishing the recognition of true doctrine; and in this work there was strife. Then, in the Academy, an effort was made in the development of external worship, but it proved a failure, and we went back to the old forms. We were not yet ready for a new worship. But the Academy principles have now been well established, and there is a sphere of external peace. In this state the new liturgy is given us. The most striking thing about it is that it satisfies the desire for devout supplication. It brings a sphere of worship that is peculiar to the New Church. It will stand as the form of worship of this Church doubtless for many years, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the Bishop for the labor,-the many years of loving labor,--which he has given to this work.

     Mr. N. D. Pendleton: The new liturgy enables us to make an appeal to the world such as we could not make before,--an appeal to the affections of men, whereby the simple good can be reached. One thing all philosophers say is that any truth, however true, so long as it is only a rational truth, will appeal little to the people.

550


The New Church has hitherto made an appeal to those of a rational cast of mind, but not much to the simple good. Some ultimate appeal, reaching the senses of man, must be made, and this can be done by a harmonious, beautiful ritual. The new liturgy has an evangelistic side. This is certainly true with respect to children. They receive impressions which they will carry with them throughout life. In worship those of the Church form a choir which is representative of a more internal choir or chorus. The sphere of the Church is made up of many truths believed in the Church, which form an internal choir, and worship is an expression in ultimates of that choir. In worship is therefore given the external means of introduction into the internal choir. Every spirit going into the other world must be introduced into a choir, and similar things must take place in the Church. The liturgy will enlarge and perfect the choral work of the Church, internal and external, and this means more to us than we are disposed at first to realize.

     Mr. Acton: I am glad Mr. Pendleton has brought out that point. It is most true that the movement to make worship beautiful means more than we realize. There is involved in it the spread of the Church from the few to the many. We are told that the New Church will grow among a few in preparation for its spread among many, and there is no doubt in my mind that an important part of this preparation is the development of a devout and beautiful external worship. The sphere of such a worship will affect the simple and be a means of bringing them to the Church.

     Mr. Rosenqvist: Mr. Acton's idea puts me in mind of the state of the simple in Sweden, belonging to the State Church. The only books they have in the house are the Bible and the liturgy, and both are usually well worn. Next to the Bible, the liturgy is the book most used. Many know large portions of it by heart. Children learn much from it at school, and add to this knowledge throughout life. The idea that the liturgy will be instrumental in the spread of the Church from the few to the many is right. The simple can be reached by such a liturgy as we now have. I hope it will be introduced as a missionary work.

551


It presents an opportunity to learn something on all things of the doctrines of the Church. The revival of worship seems to be a sign of progress in the Church. There was a time when school work was the all, and worship was in a secondary place. This may have been necessary then, but is not now. The time has come for something better. We should be thankful to the Lord for this great gift to the Church, given by the Lord through its priesthood.

     Mr. John Synnestvedt: The Bishop said that spiritual recreation ought now to succeed natural recreation. I should like to hear more on this point, and how it will work out in practice.

     Bishop Pendleton: The first thing necessary for spiritual recreation is proper forms of worship. The liturgy we have used hitherto was really prepared for the General Convention. Hence in a few years we outgrew it, and needed something more.

     Mr. O. Heilman: By worship being in the first place instead of social life is not meant, I suppose, that we shall cultivate social life with less enthusiasm, but worship with more.

     Bishop Pendleton: In the early stage of life, social life has the first place, as with young people. So it is also in the young state of the Church. But love of spiritual recreation should come in adult age, with the individual and with the Church. As the spiritual mind is opened there is need of spiritual recreation. To remain in a state, which should lead to a higher state, is to pervert it. Social life should not remain as the chief thing of our Church. Often to the young worship is something of a burden, while the opera, the theater, and the like, is something attractive. But ritual is the chief of the fine arts, and should be the most attractive. It is not the idea to do away with social life; but to make it the first thing is not a state to live in forever. We need to come into the recreation of spiritual life, which is worship. It has been said that the new liturgy may be the means of the spread of the Church from the few to the many, from the intelligent to the simple. I have often thought hat this spread of the Church cannot take place until the Church becomes powerful in many things, among these in ritual. The Catholics are wise in this. They know how to reach the simple by means of ritual. The Church must become powerful in its ultimate forms of expression.

552




     Mr. Acton: I hope that what has been said in regard to the spread of the Church will make no false impression. We do not expect that now that we have the new liturgy, the Old Church will crowd into the New. Many developments are necessary, interior and exterior and in both worlds, before there can be much spread of the Church, and it may take many generations. But a beginning has been made in the right direction for the more general spread of the Church, and this beginning is especially shown by the interest taken in this work of perfecting our forms of worship.

     Mr. Hugh Burnham: Many of us have thought that the new liturgy would be an improvement in many ways over what we have had. But what has been said to-night has impressed me that it is something that means a new life for the Church. There should be with us all a feeling of delight that we have a Church in which there can be such things, and a priesthood by which they can be given; and this should cause us to be more thankful to the Lord for all the good things of His Church.

     At the meeting of the Joint Council on Saturday there were present, besides the ministers, the Messrs. John Pitcairn, Hugh Burnham, Seymour Nelson, Charles Doering and Paul Carpenter.

     The Report of the Secretary of the General Church was read.

     The Executive Committee reported that it had decided to continue the support given to Mr. Bowers and to Mr. Gladish.

     A resolution similar to that of the Council of the Clergy in regard to the publication of the proceedings of the meetings, was passed.

     The Bishop read a Declaration of the attitude of the General Church towards the work on Conjugial Love and the chapters on Fornication and Concubinage contained therein; whereupon after due consideration, the following resolution was unanimously passed.

     Resolved, That the Joint Council has heard with pleasure the Declaration in regard to the work on Conjugial Love, and accepts the same as the expression of its view of the doctrine concerning Fornication and Concubinage.

     On motion of Messrs. Acton and Pitcairn, it was unanimously Resolved, That the thanks of this Joint Council be extended to the Glenview Society for their kind hospitality.

553


The secretary was requested to communicate this resolution to the Glenview Society at the banquet to be held in the evening.

     On Saturday evening the members of the Joint Council were the guests of the Glenview Society at a most delightful banquet. But as an account of this event will no doubt appear in the news columns of the Life, we shall not here duplicate it.

     On Sunday the Council worshiped with the Glenview Society and listened to a sermon by the Rev. N. D. Pendleton. On Sunday evening a short service was held, at which the new liturgy was used.

     On Monday morning another session of the Council of the Clergy was held.

     The chief subject of consideration was the question: What is the Harmony between the Teaching concerning the External State of the Pre-adamites, given in the Arcana, and that concerning the Interior Wisdom of the First Man, given in the Worship and Love of God?

     Bishop Pendleton: The teaching in the Arcana is that the first men lived like wild beasts, and in the Apocalypse Explained it is said that they were in dense ignorance and in falses; also, in the Arcana, that they were as wild animals, but with a living soul, just as is the case with an infant. In a number in Divine Providence it is indicated that they crawled on all fours, but looked upwards. This reminds us of what is said of the inhabitants of Jupiter. In the Spiritual Diary it is said that they were in a very obscure state, and now constitute the hair of the Gorand Man; also,--and this is an important addition,--that there are men like them on earth at this day. But in the Worship and Love of God the first man is described as being in interior wisdom. I am disposed to start with the Writings, and to view in their light the teaching in the Worship and Love of God. So doing, I have interpreted what is said in the latter work thus: That the work begins with the description of how man is born from a tree, and then, passing over an intervening time, saying nothing of it, speaks of the Adam state, or the Most Ancient Church. The statement in the Writings that there are men like the Preadamites on earth now, probably refers to men in Africa.

554




     Mr. Klein: In studying the Worship and Love of God I came to the same conclusions as those stated by the Bishop. The work is not to be taken as a literal statement of fact. It is allegorical, and in it mental characteristics are personified. Still we can conclude that the principles are true. That the work cannot be taken literally is evident from the fact that it is said that the child walked in three or four days, which is not according to the doctrine given concerning the Pre-adamites. It teaches that man was born from a tree, and I find no difficulty in accepting this. The creation of the first man was a miracle, any way we take it.

     Mr. Bowers: The work is poetical, yet its teachings are literal facts. What is taught concerning the creation of the first pair is in accord with the true laws, which apply to the creation of every man at this day. The description of the development of the pair is no doubt poetical.

     Mr. Acton: My conclusion as to the harmony of the two teachings differs somewhat from that which has been presented. It seems to me that Swedenborg, after describing the creation of the first man, immediately proceeds to describe man's essential character, as he is in his perfection, that is, such as he is as to his soul. It is when this is ultimated and comes in touch with external things, that imperfection arises. He describes what man is to become in time, when the external comes into harmony with the internal.

     Mr. N. D. Pendleton: The book is a representative work. In speaking of the first man Swedenborg calls him "the first man or Adam." He is describing Adam, and what he says concerning him is in agreement with what is said in the Writings concerning Adam. But in the Writings he goes further and tells us concerning the Pre-adamites. The Pre-adamites had a human soul, and in the Worship and Love of God we are told of all that is to be evolved from that soul. I would not take the work as a narrative of facts, but as a representative picture of the Church Adam.

     Mr. Acton: The work presents man as to all that is involved, which was afterwards to be evolved.

     It was decided to retain the subject on the docket.

     At the close of the meeting the docket was revised and the following subjects were retained for future meetings:

555




     1. The interpretation of S. D. 222.

     2. What is the correct interpretation of the passage concerning the friendship of love? T. C. R. 446.

     3. What is the harmony between the teaching concerning the external state of the Pre-adamites, given in the Writings, and that concerning the interior wisdom of the first man, given in the Worship and Love of God?

     4. The introduction of another man into the third degree of the priesthood.

     5. A New Church Canon.

     6. A calendar for the Christian Year. F. E. WAELCHLI.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1908

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       C. TH. ODHNER       1908

     1) The membership of the General Church of the New Jerusalem numbers 859 persons, showing a net increase of 25 members over the membership, reported in June, 1907. Altogether 46 members have been received since the last report, while, on the other hand, 5 persons have resigned their membership, 5 names have been dropped from the list, while 11 members have removed to the spiritual world.

     2) The following have died:

Mrs. Lutie T. Lechner, of Pittsburgh, Pa., July 12, 1907.
Mrs. Anna Gunther, of Baltimore, Md., July 24, 1907.
Mr. Frederick Elphick, of London, July 25, 1907.
Mr. Henry G. Stroh, of Bryn Athyn, Oct. 23, 1907.
Mrs. Mary Fogg, of Salem Center, O., Nov. 30, 1907.
Mr. Joseph Carlon Semple, of Middleport, O., Dec. 25, 1907.
Mrs. Sarah S. Hanna, of McConnellsville, O., Jan. 17, 1908.
Mrs. Margaret Kuhl, of Berlin, Ont., January 19, 1908.
Mr. John Gustafson, of Rockford, Ill., February 22, 1908.
Mr. Douglas W. Hart, of London.
Mr. Ellis T. Kirk, of Allentown, Pa.

3) The following have resigned:
Rev. Walter E. Brickman.
Mr. James M. Cresap.
Miss Helen T. Cresap.
Miss Minnie V. Cresap.
Mrs. D. L. Ashton.

4) The following new members have been received since the last report:

     Abington, Mass.
Rev. Thomas S. Harris
Mrs. Eva M. Harris.
Mr. Burton Reed Freeman.
Mrs. Emma A. Freeman.
Mr. John Dingley McKenney.

556



Miss Susan B. Robbins.
Miss Ida H. McKenney.
Miss Mary R. Cox
Miss Ellen E. Taylor.
Mrs. Alice C. Caldwell.

     Berlin, Ont.
Miss Clara M. Scott.
Miss Laura Deppish.

     Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Miss Christine Frydenborg.
Miss Eleora Pendleton.
Mr. William Whitehead.
Mr. Wilfred H. Howard.
Mr. Arthur B. Wells.
Mr. Valentin Karl.
Miss Margaret Bostock.
Miss Miriam Smith.
Mr. Royden H. Smith.

     Camden, N. J.
Mrs. J. K. Robinson.

     Center Bridge, Pa.
Miss Gwendolyn Nathans.

     Chicago, Ill.
Mr. Thos. F. Pollock.

     Cleveland, O.
Mr. Roscoe B. Kendig.

     Colchester, England.
Mr. Alwyn J. Appleton.

     Denver, Colo.
Mr. Albin Bergstrom.
Mr. B. F. Drinkwater.
Mrs. Anna B. Drinkwater.
Mr. Percy R. Allen.

     Glenview, Ill.
Mr. Alvin G. Gyllenhaal.
Miss Florence M. McQueen.

     Irene, Montana.
Mr. Thomas Stigen.

     Jasper, Mo.
Mrs. Fanny S. Laughead.
Mr. Carl Laughead.

     London, England.
Miss Margery Waters.

     New York City.
Miss Rebecca E. Sullivan.

     Philadelphia, Pa.
Miss Elsa M. Miller.

     Renovo, Pa.
Mr. Joseph R. Kendig.

     Spokane, Wash.
Mrs. Ida B. Osborn.
Mrs. Hattie C. Daniels.

     Staunton, Va.
Mr. Rowland Trimble.

     Toronto, Ont.
Mr. Francis Wilson.
Mrs. Emily M. Wilson.

     Warrior, W. Va.
Mr. Robert Harold Buell.

     Wheeling, W. Va.
Mr. Julius Pollock.

     The clergy of the General Church numbers at present twenty-two ministers and three authorized candidates.
     Respectfully submitted,
          C. TH. ODHNER,
               Secretary.
ORPHANAGE FUND OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1908

ORPHANAGE FUND OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM              1908

     Statement from June 15, 1907, to June 12, 1908.

Cash balance, June 13, 1907                          $655.81

     1907
June 16. Mr. Louis Werckle, N. Y. City                5.00
" 27. Walter C. Childs and family                     5.50     

557



Sept. 26. Mrs. Ida A. Campbell                     5.00
Nov. 27. Parkdale Society                          10.95
Dec: 30. Children's Christmas Festival, Pittsburgh      7.60
Jan. 6. Mrs. Janet Pitcairn                          10.00
" 6. Miss Agnes Pitcairn                          5.00
" 6. Baltimore Society, Christmas Offering           3.50

"     23. Berlin and Waterloo Societies, Christmas Offering     5.86
" 23. Mr. Richard Roschman                          2.00
March 20. Mrs. Camilla W. Peters                     50.00
May 1. Dorothy and Alpha Reynolds                     1.00
"     22. Parkdale Society                          8.25
June 11. Mr. Walter C. Childs and family               5.00
Jan. 18. A friend, per Rev. Alfred Acton               1.00

     Collections for fiscal year by Rev. Charles E. Doering, Bryn Athyn, Pa:
June 11. Miss A. E. Grant                    $0.25
" 11 Miss H. S. Ashley                         .35
July 3 Miss A. E. Grant                         .50
" 8 Miss H. S. Ashley                         .35
" 16 Mrs. Glenn and family                    5.00
" 20 Mrs. B. Peters                         50.00
Aug. 3 Miss H. S. Ashley                    .35
" 5 Mrs. M. E. Bostock                         1.00
Sept. 3 Rev. G. G. Starkey                    1.00
" 9 Miss H. S. Ashley                         .35
" 9 Miss Ann Hachborn                         1.00
" 25 Miss A. E. Grant                         .25
Oct. 4 Miss Ann Hachborn                    1.00
" 4 Miss A. E. Grant                         .25
Nov. 8 Miss A. E. Grant                         .25
" 8 Miss Ann Hachborn                         1.00
" Miss H. S. Ashley                         .70
" 8 Mrs. M. E. Bostock                         1.00
" 25 Mrs. Glenn and family                    5.00
Dec. 6. Miss A. E. Grant                     .25
" 6. Miss H. S. Ashley                     .35
" 18. K. Knudsen                               2.00
" 20 Mrs. W. S. Howland                     10.00
25. Bryn Athyn Church, Christmas Offering      35.00

     1908.
Jan. 1. Mrs. Sylvia Tyler                     1.00
" 1. R. B. Caldwell, Jr.                     1.36
" 1. Wm. Evens                              1.00
" 10. Miss A. E. Grant                         .25
" 10. Miss K. S. Ashley                     .35
" 10. Miss C. A. Hobart                         .50
" 15. Rev. G. G. Starkey                     1.00

558



" 17. Colchester Society, Christmas Offering      5.74

Feb. 14. Miss A. E. Grant                     .25

" 14. Miss Ann Hachborn                     3.00
" 14. Miss H. S. Ashley                         .35          
" 27. Bishop Pendleton and family                4.25

March 6. Miss A. E. Grant                     .25
" 6. Miss Ann Hachborn                          1.00
" 7. Miss H. S. Ashley                     .35

April 10. Miss A. E. Grant.                    25
" 10. Miss H. S. Ashley                         .35
" 18. Mrs. M. E. Bostock                     1.00
" 27. Mrs. Glenn and family                     5.00

May 8. Miss A. E. Grant                     .25
" 8. Miss H. S. Ashley                          .35
" 15. Mrs. W. S. Howland                     16.00
" 29. Rev. G. G. Starkey                     1.00
                                                  162.05

     Total                                         $942.52

     Disbursements.
1907.
June 24. Rev. C. Th. Odhner, for Hugo Ljungberg $50.00
Sept. 9. Mrs. Mary Hyatt                    84.00
Oct. 22. Mrs. Louisa Elphick                    100.00
Dec. 30. Mrs. Mary Hyatt                    112.00

     1908.
Feb. 27. Rev. C. Th. Odhner, for Hugo Ljungberg 15.00
March 3. Mrs. Mary Hyatt                     48.00
May 27. Mrs. Mary Hyatt                         68.00
                                                  477.00

     Balance in bank June 12, 1908                     $466.52

559


Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     WASHINGTON, D. C. The first services of the General Church in Washington were held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest J. Stebbing, on Sunday evening, July 19th, the event being occasioned by the visit of the Rev. and Mrs. Odhner, of Bryn Athyn. Sixteen persons were present, and arrangements have been made for quarterly visits from Bryn Athyn.

     BALTIMORE, MD. The congregation of the General Church in this city was visited by the Rev. C. Th. Odhner, who preached in the hall at Exeter and Gay Sts. on July 12th and August 9th. The services will henceforth be conducted at 10:30 on the first Sunday of each month, instead of in the evening, as for some time past. The Sunday School, under the superintendence of Mr. Peter Knapp, with the assistance of Mrs. Coffin and Mr. Reynolds, is held in the same hall, each Sunday morning. The gentlemen's "Circle," which meets twice a month, has concluded reading the work on Conjugial Love, and is now deeply engrossed In the True Christian Religion. The ladies, meeting once a month, are studying Bishop Benade's Conversations on Education. A very successful Sunday School picnic was held in July at Gwynn Oak Park, and was attended by 49 persons, including 30 children. The friends in Baltimore are delighted at the return of Mr. Price Coffin, with wife and four children, from Pittsburgh. The prospects for the coming season seem very encouraging.

     BERLIN, ONT. Usually during the summer season, the Sunday services are almost the only active life in the Carmel church. But this year is an exception. We have with us quite a number of visiting young people from other centers, and as a consequence there have been many socials, dances, and picnics. There have also been weekly meetings for the study and practice of the new liturgy.

560




     On Sunday, August 2d, the new liturgy was used for the first time in worship, and, although the service did not flow quite smoothly, the general sentiment was that it provides us with a ritual superior to anything we have ever had. No doubt as we become more familiar with it, its beauties will become more and more evident. There is, however, one criticism, and it is being rather emphatically made on all sides,--the paper is too light. W.

     LONDON, ENGLAND. On June 19th we sat down to a banquet spread on beautifully decorated tables to celebrate the birthday of the New Church This year the only paper presented was our pastor's, and this fact gave us all the more time to appreciate and discuss that.

     It has at last dawned upon us that our climate, unlike that of America, does not necessitate the suspension of regular socials during, what, according to the calendar, should be summer months. So we have been having fortnightly literary and social "summer meetings," at which each person present is supposed, when called upon by the chairman, to be prepared to entertain the company with a paper, song, recitation or in any other manner, for about five minutes. A regular feature is the reading of a portion of "The Rise and Progress of the New Church." So far these meetings have been very successful and much enjoyed. At the last one much excitement and delight were caused by the arrival of the new liturgies.

     One evening recently we had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Stroh and hearing an account of his work in Sweden. He also showed us a large collection of most interesting photographs.

     At a recent Sunday service two young ladies and a gentleman received the rite of Confession of Faith. W. R. G.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. At the closing exercises of the THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL of the General Convention, Mr. Charles E. Ritter received "a certificate of three years' faithful attendance at the School."

     The NEW YORK German Society closed its services for the summer months with the celebration of New Church Day.

561


An address on the sending forth of the Apostles in 1770 was made by the pastor, the Rev. W. H. Schliffer, and was followed by doctrinal papers by members of the Bible class, the proceedings being closed by a song specially composed by the pastor.

     The Nineteenth of June was also celebrated by the BALTIMORE (Md.) Mission in a meeting on June 26th, which was attended by thirty-two persons including members from the other New Church societies in Baltimore.

     The Rev. A. B. Francisco has accepted the pastorate of the Humboldt Park parish of the CHICAGO, ILL., Society, and will enter upon his new work on September 1st.

     Mr. Paul H. Seymour, of Chicago, has been chosen to be head master of URBANA University, in place of the Rev. Dr. Gustafson. The religious instruction will be under the charge of the Rev. Russell Eaten.

     The Rev. F. L. Higgins, until recently the pastor of the Toronto Society, has entered upon the pastorate of the society at PRETTY PRAIRIE, Kansas.

     At a special meeting of the Los ANGELES (Cal.) Society, a resolution was passed to the effect that owing to financial embarrassment, the services of a minister be dispensed with for an indefinite time, and that the pastor, Mr. Collom, be informed to that effect, that he may obtain a charge elsewhere.

     THE GENERAL CONFERENCE.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The GENERAL CONFERENCE held its one hundred and first meeting in Southport from June 15-20. As in previous meetings where the sessions have covered June 19th, no notice was taken of the significance of the day.

     Among the reports read it was noted that there is some improvement over past years in attendance at the Holy Supper, though all the societies do not yet have quarterly celebrations. This lack of attendance at the Communion in the English New Church is very remarkable, and has been reported to the Conference at more than one of its past meetings.

     The Magazine committee reported a continuance of the slow but steady decrease in paid subscriptions which has obtained for the past few years.

562


The paid circulation now averages 571 copies per month, and there are in addition 474 copies per month presented to libraries, etc., which is also a decrease from last year.

     The committee on the translation of the Word reported the completion of Genesis 1-42.

     At the very outset of the sessions Conference was called upon to face, on a smaller scale, the burning question which militant women have been forcing on the unwilling attention of the British Government. The suffragette movement made its appearance and presented its claims in the person of a lady delegate from the Liverpool Society, and the president, the Rev. H. G. Drummond, was at once asked whether, under the rules, she was entitled to sign the roll. "There are some rules," he replied, "which have never been written." For one hundred years Conference had observed the custom of male delegates, and he could allow no departure in this respect until Conference itself had acted on the matter, which could not be done without due notice of the question having been given in advance. This ruling closed the incident, but at the end of the meeting a motion was passed to the effect that a legal opinion be obtained as to the admission to Conference of women delegates;

     Following the president's ruling, an invitation to the freedom of the floor was cordially extended to Mr. Alfred H. Stroh, who was present at the meeting. Responding, Mr. Stroh expressed his delight at being present at a meeting "with the successors of the New Church giants of a hundred years ago." The New Church, he believed was one Church, the various organizations being different parts of this one. Differences were inevitable, depending upon characteristics and temporary conditions, but, he believed the bond which was to unite all parts of the one Church more and more was the fact that the whole of the Church was in one use and this the greatest use she had to perform, namely, the preservation and publication of Swedenborg's works. With the works published the truths would take care of themselves.

     Mr. Stroh's remarks on this occasion were reprinted by the Messenger from Morning Light.

     The principal matter of general interest which was discussed during Conference sessions was in connection with a proposal made by one of the councillors of the New Church College, that, for the more economical use of the college funds, theological students be supported in some university near their home, instead of becoming resident students in the London New Church College. The proposal excited considerable discussion.

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The Rev. W. T. Lardge thought that any advantage to be derived from residence in a university center would be outweighed by the disastrous effect on the students' distinctive New Church life. Many of the students were but youths and needed safeguarding. The distinctiveness of the Church from the Old Church must be maintained, and he believed that there was serious danger now before us in this respect Mr. Lardge was supported by Mr. Speirs, who maintained that if our students are to become teachers of New Church theology there must be a center in which that theology is taught. The Rev. W. T. Stonestreet hoped that at some day the college would be transplanted to Oxford or Cambridge that it may not only educate men for the ministry but may also make some impression on the world of letters. The college, he believed, was originally intended not for ministers but for the instruction in the doctrines of our well-to-do young people. The Rev. C. A. Hall spoke along the same lines. He thought proper precautions could be taken against the students being led astray by university teachings, and if, despite this, they were so weak as to have their convictions shaken, then the best thing for them was a perambulator and a nurse. The Rev A. E. Beilby also appeared to favor the proposition under discussion. He noted as a regrettable fact that few of the students of the college had a university degree. Mr. Clowes Bayley stated that the College Council was fully alive to what was required. If it was desirable that a student should obtain a university degree they would not insist on his going to the New Church College, but would aid him financially. Mr. A. H. Stroh made the second and last of his speeches before the Conference in this connection. He referred to his own education as having been wholly in the New Church, including eight years in the Academy Schools at Bryn Athyn. Distinctive New Church education, he continued, was the most important practical question before the Church at this time.

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It should not be confined to students for the ministry, but should commence with the parents in the home and go on to the university. The testimony of graduates of New Church colleges showed that the education of students for the ministry should be conducted in a place separate from the city or university. The place for activity is indeed in the world, but the place for preparation is where the student can be in quiet and away from the atmosphere of the Old Church. Why should the college of the New Church be placed in an atmosphere where it will be destroyed, and which the doctrines condemn. It was this very thing, namely, the prevailing Unitarian atmosphere which, in the opinon of some, had increased the difficulty of the work at Cambridge in America, and the speaker concluded by expressing the hope that the American experience of the past thirty years would be carefully looked into before any action was taken in respect to moving the London College. The Rev. T. Moss and Mr. F. A. Gardiner both defended the distinctiveness of the New Church College, the latter adding that to give up training our ministers in our own college would be a fatal mistake. The Rev. W. A. Presland, principal of the college, maintained that the college was in a position to educate its own students. The Rev. Isaiah Tansley insisted that the college should be in London, and that it should be distinctive. With all its disadvantages it had a New Church atmosphere, and its teachers were New Church ministers,--nothing of this could be had at Oxford or Cambridge. The discussion was closed by the Rev. J. Deans, who pointed out that in the universities the student would perpetually hear materialistic theories. Materialism is characteristic of the great bulk of learned teaching at this day, and the young student, looking up to his professor, as he naturally would, is bound to be impressed. To counteract modern influences there must be a New Church centre of learning. As to the university degree, if it came to choosing between giving up practically the whole of one's time to studying for a degree, and giving the time to studying our theology, he would say let it be the theology, for without that the student will be of no use as a New Church minister.

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     THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY.

     The ninety-eighth annual meeting of the SWEDENBORG SOCIETY was held in London on the evening of June 9th. In his opening address the chairman, the Rev. Joseph Deans, stated that the main feature of the evening was the visit of Mr. A. H. Stroh, whose work for the past two years had been and would be of such use to the cause the Society had at heart. He urged the members to be brief in their speeches in order that Mr. Stroh might have "a good fling." Subsequently in the meeting, Mr. Stroh addressed the Society on the subject of the "Revived Interest in Swedenborg's Works and Swedenborgiana." His paper, which was published in Morning Light for June 20th, deals with the work on the scientific writings, carried on by the Swedenborg Association in the forties, the movement for photo lithographing the MSS. at Stockholm, and the most recent revival inaugurated in 1898 by the establishment of the Swedenborg Scientific Association

     The report of the Secretary of the Society was as usual an interesting document. The number of the Society's publications that have been delivered is over 15,000, with a total value of nearly $7,300, only $1,600 Of which, however, were sales. Among the gifts are 13 sets of Vols. II and III of the Photo typed Diarium Spirituale, presented to British libraries; over 1950 sets of the Four Doctrines and Divine Love and Wisdom. These latter were made a special offer to all teachers of religion in Great Britain and Ireland as a correction to the "new theology" promulgated by Mr. Campbell; including last year the total acceptances thus far received is nearly 10,000. The Society was not so successful among the Japanese; for the same offer was made to 594 native Japanese Christian ministers, but only two acceptances were received last year, to which the present report adds seven more. Evidently, as the report says, "a satisfactory method by which to reach the Japanese is yet to be found." The committee, however, is still earnestly working for the introduction of the Doctrines in Japan, and for this purpose it has authorized a Japanese translation of Heaven and Hell. Steps are being taken through Mr. George Sale looking to the securing of a "sympathetic as well as competent translator."

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     The publications of the Society include a new translation of True Christian Religion by the Rev. Isaiah Tansley, and The Scripture Confirmations which has been "reprinted after some further revision." This work is the translation of the Dicta Probantia,--a translation which was very unfavorably reviewed in the Life. What the "further" revision means is not apparent, but it is to be hoped that the revision, whether "further" or not, is sweeping and thorough.

     Information is given respecting a number of undertakings now in hand, or which are contemplated in the immediate future The revision of the English translation of the Principia, (a work commenced some years ago by the Swedenborg Scientific Association and sent to England for co-operative revision), "has not advanced during the year, but as co-operation with America in its revision has been found impossible, this conclusion being at last reluctantly brought home to us, the English revisors have been instructed to proceed quite independently, so that not much further delay--unnecessary delay, at least,--will occur in the issue of the work." To the members of the Swedenborg Scientific Association this putting of the case will, we fancy, come as somewhat in the nature of a surprise; for it has hitherto seemed to them that it is they to whom the conclusion has been "at last reluctantly brought home" that co-operation with the English revisors is impossible. The imminent publication of the Principia is becoming such a standard feature of the Society's reports, that it will be sadly missed when the work is at last issued. But our grief at this loss will certainly be tempered by the gain of the book itself.

     The photo typing of two volumes of the Index Biblicus has been "practically completed."

     By way of experiment, the committee has authorized an Esperanto translation of the Doctrine of Life. The work will be done by Mr. H. B. Mudie, who will give his services free of charge.

     Among the acquisitions of the Society we note twenty-five copies of the Swedish Academy's edition of the Scientific works, two volumes of which have already been received. A set of these first volumes, handsomely bound, has been presented to Count Wrangel, the Swedish minister to London, and another to Pastor Lindskog, who officiated on the occasion of the removal from London of Swedenborg's remains.

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The committee has "approved the proposal that the volumes be translated and issued in English." We hope this will be done without unnecessary delay as the works, and particularly the Swedish portions, are now sealed to the majority of would-be readers. Their translation will be a fitting sequel to the great work now being done by the Royal Swedish Academy.

     In this connection it might be noted that at a meeting of the committee held subsequent to the annual meeting of the Society, the subscription to the Royal Academy's publications of Swedenborg's works was increased from 25 to 125 copies of the entire series of seven volumes. This subscription alone will absorb one-half of the proposed edition.



     The Flodden Road (LONDON) Society, which is now under the pastoral care of the Rev. W. E. Hurt, celebrated New Church Day on Sunday, June 21st, by a tea followed by conversation on the subject of the day, and, later, by the usual evening service. There was also a children's flower service held in place of the afternoon Sunday School.

     The Kensington Society also observed New Church Day on the same date. Special sermons appropriate to the occasion were preached morning and evening by the pastor, the Rev. J. F. Buss.

     A preliminary meeting of members of the New Church in WALES was convened at Swansea on Thursday, June 25th, for the purpose of organizing a body to include all Welsh Newchurchmen. The meeting was presided over by the Rev. William Rees, of Llechryd, and the attendants included persons from Aberavon, Ynysmeudwy, and Swansea. The result of the meeting was an agreement to form a body to be known as the New Church Missionary Society of Wales with funds to be raised by a minimum annual subscription of 25 cents per member. Officers and a committee were appointed, and all New Church ministers were declared ex-officio members. Further action was left to be taken at a meeting to be held in Ynysmeudwy in July. This meetings was duly held on Sunday, July 19th, when the action of the preceding meeting was confirmed and power given to the committee to go forward with the work.

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CORRESPONDENCES OF CANAAN 1908

CORRESPONDENCES OF CANAAN       Rev. C. TH. ODHNER       1908


     Announcements.


     


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NEW CHURCH LIFE.
VOL. XXVIII. October, 1908.          No. 10.
     CHAPTER I.

     THE LAND OF CANAAN.

     1. The land of the Word and the Church. The land of Canaan is, above all other regions of the earth, the land of the Word of God and the land of the Lord's ancient churches.

     Here was the cradle of mankind. Here was the Garden of Eden, where the celestial men and women of the Golden Age lived in the happy and innocent days of the infancy of our race. Here the Ancient Church, the Church of Noah, arose after the Flood. Here the Hebrew and Israelitish Churches flourished and declined. Here, as a citizen of this land, the Creator of the Universe, the Savior of mankind, assumed and glorified the Human. Here He taught and founded His Christian Church. And here the Word of God was written.

     The study of this land is, therefore, nothing but the study of the Word of God and of the Church. If we can succeed in having the map of Canaan thoroughly impressed upon our sensories, and if at the same time we can form distinct ideas of the spiritual significance of its contours, we shall have enriched our mind with a map of the Word, a map of the spiritual constitution of man, a map of the Lord's Church in every age, and a map of His Heavenly Kingdom.

     2. The land of Canaan representative throughout. Universal nature is a theater representative of its Creator and His spiritual kingdom. The effect cannot but bear the impress and similitude of its cause.

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     All nature is the Word of God, written by His own hand in the sun, the stars, and all things of the earth. "The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge."

     To the men of the Golden Age the Book of Nature was the Word of God, and they had no need of a written Revelation. They enjoyed open communication with Heaven, and the things in the natural world were to them nothing but the external and perfectly intelligible signs of the spiritual and celestial things which they beheld and heard in the angelic world. Hence they had a clear perception of the internal meaning, significance and correspondence of every single thing on earth. Mountains and valleys, lakes and rivers, plants and animals,--all were grasped by them in spiritual ideas, and named by them in correspondence with their heavenly prototypes.

     3. The origin of its representatives. The most ancient people lived in the land of Canaan and round about, and they spoke a language formed from Heaven and in many things similar to the ancient Hebrew tongue. Hence every place and natural feature of that land originally received its name from Heaven and in harmony with its correspondence to things in Heaven and in the human mind. These names remained long after their true meaning had been forgotten by the degenerate descendants of the people of the Golden and Silver Ages, and thus it came to pass that the Land of Canaan was more suitable than any other country to be the theater in which the spiritual drama of the Israelitish Church could be enacted and the Word of God written in types of heavenly things. Not that Canaan was actually more representative than any other country. Pennsylvania is just as much the handiwork of God, and just as representative of spiritual things, but the names of places here were not given immediately from Heaven, and their signification has not been revealed.

     4. The general representation of the land. As to the generally representative character of the land of Canaan, we have the following teachings in the Writings of the New Church:

     By the land of Canaan is signified the Lord's Kingdom, thus the Church; thus all things of love and faith; and hence all things which were in the land of Canaan were representative as to situation, distance, boundaries, etc.-A. C. 3923.

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     The external representatives of a Church commenced with the Israelites after they came into the land of Canaan; for this was the very land itself where the representatives of the Church could be represented. For all the places there, and all the boundaries, were representative from ancient times.--A. C. 4289.

     From the most ancient people who dwelt in the land of Canaan, all the places there became representative and significative, according to their situation, distance, boundaries and quarters.-A. C. 3708, 4447, 3923.

     The significance of places in the land of Canaan was from the ancient Word.-T. C. R. 279.

     The reason the Israelitish nation was introduced into the land of Canaan was that the Church had been in that land from the most ancient times, and because the Word could not be written anywhere but there, for all the places in that whole land and around it,--the mountains, valleys, rivers, forests, and all other things,--had become representative of celestial and spiritual things.-A. C. 10559.

     From the most ancient times all the places there,--the provinces, cities, mountains and rivers,--were representative of such things as are of the Lord's Kingdom; and the very names given to them involved such things; for every name which is given to any place or person from Heaven, involves what is celestial and spiritual; and when it has been given from Heaven, it is perceived there.--A. C. 6516, 9340.

     5. The comprehensiveness of its representation. The land of Canaan possesses so universally comprehensive a representation in the letter of the Word that it would be difficult to state what it does not represent. A few passages from the Writings will illustrate this comprehensiveness:

     The land of Canaan signifies various things, because it signifies that which includes so many things. For it signifies the Lord's Kingdom, and it signifies the Church, consequently also the man of the Church; and as it signifies these things, it also signifies the celestial of the Church, i. e., the good of love; and also the spiritual of the Church, i. e., the truth of faith: hence, everything religious which is of the Church.--A. C 5757.

     The land of Canaan in the supreme sense signifies the Lord in the relative sense Heaven and the Church, and in the particular sense the man of the Church.--A. C. 4447.

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     Land, especially the land of Canaan, signifies the Church in the whole complex.--A. R. 194.

     When the sons of Israel represented the Church, the other nations represented infernal things; and thus the land of Canaan represented every state ire the other life.--A. C. 6306.

     The land of Canaan, in the supreme sense, i. e., when predicated of the Lord, signifies His Divine Human.--A. C. 4108, 3038, 3705, 4112, 4240.

     6. Resume. From these and innumerable other teachings we may draw up the following resume of the general and particular representations and significations of the land of Canaan:

I. The Lord's Kingdom, i. e., the Church.
a) in the individual man.
b) in the whole complex.
c) in the other life, i. e., the Heavenly Canaan: or the opposite of all this:
d) the perverted man of the Church.
e) the Church perverted and consummated.
f) the kingdom of falsity and evil in Hell.

II. Every state of religion, in this life and in the other.

III. The Lord Himself.
a) as to His infirm Human.
b) as to His victorious Human.
c) as to His Divine Human.

     CHAPTER II.

     THE NAMES OF THE LAND.

     7. The Land.--(Ha-arets. )--This is par excellence the designation most frequently used in the Word, and this expression nearly always means nothing else than that particular region which is known as the land of Canaan. This was the land, the land of lands, to the people who inhabited it,--as is every land to its own inhabitants. But in this case it was called the land from something more than mere pride of patriotism.

     When a land or a country is mentioned in the Word, it never means the mere soil of the ground,--for there is nothing of spiritual or eternal importance in dead matter. In the Old Christian Church many have the idea that the very soil of Canaan is holy, and an orthodox Jew can conceive of no greater posthumous bliss than to be buried in the "land of his fathers,"--the soil which is mingled with the dust of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This veneration of the material soil is clearly founded on an association of ideas of living things,--the idea of the persons who have inhabited the soil, and the idea of the principles which they represented.

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     When we think of "our country," we are not thinking of the mere dirt and stones, but of our nation, our institutions, our principles of government and freedom, etc. And thus also, in the Word, whenever a "land" is mentioned it signifies, first, the people who live in that country; next, the peculiar and distinctive characteristics which make that people what it is,--its civil and moral good and truth; and finally, in the internal sense, the spiritual principles, the religious doctrines and life of the Church with that people, which lie at the foundation of all national development.

     But the land of Canaan signifies "the Church" more especially than any other land, since from the beginning of the human race it had been the home of the purest form of the Church,--the home of the worship of the one living God. As the center of Monotheism, the Church in the land of Canaan had for ages been the center of spiritual light and life, the heart and lungs of that worldwide "Church Universal" which, in more or less obscurity, exists among all races of mankind. Hence, when various countries are mentioned, such as the land of Egypt, the land of Edom, the land of Moab, etc., Canaan is simply mentioned as "the land,"--meaning the Church, where the Lord is worshiped and His Word acknowledged in purity of heart and doctrine.

     8. The Holy Land. This designation originated during the Middle Ages, as expression of the pious veneration with which pilgrims and crusaders looked upon that country in which every mountain and stream was consecrated by the memory of Jesus and His twelve apostles. 'The Holy Land" is still the most common name for Canaan, and one frequently hears stories of visitors to the "Holy Land" kissing that precious soil which had been pressed by the footsteps of Jesus and which had been moistened with His blood. But this is mere idolatry. The Lord is present in America just as much as He ever was in the Holy Land, and the blood that He shed was part of that merely Jewish human which He rejected at His resurrection. The soil of Canaan is, if anything, less holy than that of other parts of the earth, having been defiled, for thousands of years, by the worst of all nations, and now largely desert, sterile and useless. (A. C. 1438, 6516) "The Holy Land" is therefore an expression which we may well leave to the sentimental in the Old Church.

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     9. The Land of Promise. Thus the land was called when spoken of as the inheritance which the Lord promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,--a land ardently longed--for by their descendants, a land "good and broad, flowing with milk and honey." These terms, indeed, do not apply to the dismal region now known as Palestine, but in ancient times this country was literally a paradise. The now bare and forbidding cliffs and wildernesses were then covered with fruitful loam and smiling verdure, a land the most favored of all by its situation, climate, and resources, the highway between Egypt and Assyria, protected by mountain-ranges, cooled by the Sea, semitropical in climate, well watered, productive of everything the oriental heart could wish for,--a land of promise, truly. And this most blessed region was but the faint similitude of a still more glorious "Land of Promise,"-the Heavenly Canaan which is promised as the everlasting inheritance of all who follow the Lord.

     10. The Land of Canaan,--(Kenaan,)--This name, we may say, is the most distinctive and proper designation of the land. It is to be observed that this name of the Land is not derived from Canaan, the son of Ham, as is generally supposed, but, on the contrary, the Hamitic people known as Canaanites took their name from the land, after they had entered into it from southern Chaldea. For we are taught that the country was named Canaan from most ancient times, (A. C. 4453), long before the time of Noah and his descendants, and that "it was so named from 'merchandise' or 'trading,'"--in Hebrew kana,--and this because it was the central home of the Most Ancient Church and afterwards of the Ancient Church, from which all the other nations roundabout received their spiritual merchandise, that is, their knowledge of good and truth.

     History strikingly confirms this teaching, for from prehistoric times the nations inhabiting the land of Canaan have been devoted to the love of trade. Here was the home of the ancient Hittites,--the gentle descendants of the Most Ancient Church, who even in the time of Abraham are referred to as merchants. Here, also, dwelt the Phoenicians, who, for some two thousand years, controlled the entire trade of the civilized world,--their little ships penetrating every nook of the Mediterranean Sea, visiting the North Sea and the Baltic, and even circumnavigating Africa.

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And the Jews, finally, though originally a pastoral people, after their conquest of Canaan developed that intense love of trading which to this day has remained as their most distinctive national characteristic. We are told in the Writings that even after death they continue their favorite occupation of trading in jewelry.

     Whence came this unbroken love of trading among the inhabitants of Canaan, if not from their first ancestors who, in the days of the Golden and Silver Ages, were the teachers of all mankind,--spiritual traders who ardently loved to communicate to the rest of the world the blessings which the Lord had bestowed upon them, the heavenly jewels and garments of genuine doctrine, the goods and truths which they had derived from that inexhaustible treasure-house which had been revealed to them by celestial perceptions, and in the pages of the Ancient Word? The earliest Canaanites were the great missionaries of ancient times who went forth, as did the Apostles in the dawn of Christianity, to spread the light of the Word to distant and gentile nations. Afterwards, when the Ancient Church became corrupt in the land of Canaan, it is easy to see how the missionaries began to work for their own gain instead of the salvation of others, and how they gradually took to natural instead of spiritual merchandise. The love of trading remained, but had now become worldly instead of heavenly.

     It has been the same with more modern nations. Whenever the Word has been received and missionary zeal has been kindled, natural trade has followed in the foot-steps of the evangelists. It was so in Italy, during the Renaissance, when the Word again began to be studied, and when Venice, Florence, and Genoa became the trading centers of the world. It was so in Holland, after the Reformation had won its cause in the Low Countries. And it was so in England after the English had gained free possession of the Bible. Englishmen became and still remain the most zealous missionaries, as well as the most successful traders, in the world.

     The derivation of the name "Canaan" from kana, to trade, though self-evidently reasonable, is not recognized by the learned world. In all modern lexicons the name is derived from another root, kana, to be low, but this etymology does not seem rational, inasmuch as Canaan as a whole is not a lowland, but most decidedly a highland.

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It is true, however, that the people of Canaan, after the Church had become corrupt among them, from being the highest became the most "low" and degraded of all civilized nations.

     11. Palestine.-- (Peleshetk.)--This is a name derived from the "Philistines," whose name, again, is derived from a root signifying to "emigrate." It is never used in a favorable sense in the Word itself, but always refers to that small but rich strip of coast-land where dwelt the most immediate enemies of the Israelitish nation. The name "Palestine" came into use especially during the age of the Crusaders, and is now the most common official designation of the country on all maps.

     12. Es-Shem, and Syria, are the names by which the modern inhabitants, mostly Arabs, call their country. The former means simply "the land of the Semite," and the latter is derived from ancient Tyre, the capital of Phoenicia.

     CHAPTER III.

     THE SPIRITUAL GEOGRAPHY OF CANAAN, A GENERAL VIEW.

     13. The central location of the land. In a most literal sense the land of Canaan is truly "set in the midst of the nations and countries round about her." (Ezech. 5:5.) Such is the statement in the letter of the Word, and in the Writings of the New Church we are told that "the land of Canaan represented and thence signified the Church; for that land is in the central part of the whole of our world, having Europe in front, Africa on the left hand, and Asia behind it, and on the right hand." (Cor. 52.) This unique situation has also been observed by geographers, as by Dr. George Adam Smith, who describes it as "a land lying between two continents,--Asia and Africa; between two primeval homes of men, "e valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile; between two great centers of empire,--Western Asia and Egypt; between all these, representing the eastern and ancient world, and the Mediterranean which is the gateway to the western and modern world." (Hist. Geog. p. 6.)

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We may add to all this the fact, that the land lies exactly midway between the Equator and the Polar Circle. Thus in every way it is most centrally located,--in fitting correspondence to the spiritual situation of the Lord's specific or spiritual Church as the life-giving center, the heart and lungs, of the Church Universal.

     14. Its isolation. Very significant, also, is the peculiar isolation of this land, which is surrounded on the east and south by enormous and terrible deserts,--the Arabian desert and the wilderness of Sinai,--while the Mediterranean Sea separates it from the whole western world, and the rugged Lebanon mountains from the regions of the north. This isolation represents the distinctiveness of the Church from the world, from all that is not of the Church. For the Lord's Spiritual Church must by all means be distinct in order to be protected from the influence of worldly and selfish loves and ideas. When a Church loses its distinctiveness, it loses its reason for being, its purity of doctrine and life, its means of serving the Lord in the work of Salvation. As an illustration we may point to the early Christian Church after Constantine had made it the state religion. The Church was then supposed to have conquered the world, but in reality it was the world that had conquered the Church. The primitive Christian brotherhood was dissolved; the love of the Savior as the only God of the Church had vanished; the love of worldly power and gain took possession of the ruined temple; and intolerance and the persecution of brethren followed, and the introduction of tritheism and other pagan doctrines.

     15. Its means of communication. Though thus isolated, the land of Canaan nevertheless possesses means of communicating with the entire world. The only natural approaches, however, are from the west and the north: from the west by the broad highway of the Sea; and from the north by the narrow valley between the two Lebanon ranges. This, also, is profoundly significant. The west is Faith, and the Sea is the Word. The entrance into the Church is by means of Faith in the Word of the Lord. Again, the north is ignorance, and the Lebanon valley, like all Syria, is knowledge. No one can from a state of ignorance enter into the Church except through the acquisition of knowledge respecting the Doctrines of the Church.

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Thus, in Nature itself, the Creator has inscribed the lesson that no one can enter into the Church and become a regenerating man by any immediate influx from Heaven, but only by the narrow and laborious road of learning the Divine Truth from the Word and its Doctrine.

     This lesson, also, is inscribed upon the very body of man in the remarkable isolation of the heart and the lungs: beneath these central organs there is the broad expanse of the diaphragm, and around them are the ribs and the various plexuses. The only approach to the heart is by the Vena Cava, and to the lungs through the wind-pipe.

     At the same time, while the Church is not of the World, it must necessarily be in the world, in order to serve the world with the means of salvation. And for this purpose it must possess means of communicating with the world. There must be means of trading, spiritually, with the Science and Philosophy of the world, even as the land of Canaan was in communication with Egypt and Assyria by means of well-beaten highways and caravan routes across the deserts, or as the heart and lungs communicate, more indirectly, with the rest of the body through arteries and veins and all sorts of membranes.

     16. The size and extent of the land. In view of the enormous importance of the land of Canaan, historically as well as spiritually, its very limited extent cannot but excite astonishment. From Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south there is a distance of only 170 English miles,--a little further than from Philadelphia to Washington. Again, from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea there are but seventy miles, while from the Sea of Galilee to the Phoenician seaboard there are only forty miles. The whole country includes 7150 square miles, and in size and outlines greatly resembles the state of New Hampshire.

     This limited area stands as an eternal lesson that the importance and influence of a country or a Church are not to be measured by its natural size or its multitude of inhabitants and members. Canaan was one of the smallest of the countries in the ancient world,--and yet, what a part it has played in the history of mankind! So, also, the Lord's New Church is at the present time numerically one of the most insignificant among all religious bodies, and yet it is the only Church in the wide world that worships the Lord Jesus Christ as the only God,-the only true Christian Religion,--the only medium of influx from Heaven,--the only Church that is spiritually alive and life-giving.

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We mean, of course, especially the new Divine Revelation which has been given to the New Church, but we mean also the members of the Church in so far as they receive this Revelation and live according to it. Their numerical smallness signifies nothing. "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." (Luke 12:32.) It is the duty of the New Church to take possession of that Canaan which has descended from Heaven in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem,--to conquer the foes which oppose the entrance,--to live in the land and cultivate its glorious fields and gardens. If the Church is faithful in this work, the Lord will gift it with such increase and such riches that the whole world will need to live on its heavenly meat and drink.

     17. The Boundaries of Canaan. In considering this subject, it is necessary to remember that the boundaries changed at various times, but that, in general, two distinct sets of boundaries must be described.

     In a most extended sense the land of Canaan included all the region between the Nile and the Red Sea, on the south, and the river Orontes and the Taurus mountains on the north; and between the Euphrates and Tigris on the east and the Mediterranean Sea on the west. These are the boundaries of the Garden of Eden as described in the second chapter of Genesis, and we are taught in the Writings that the Garden of Eden was situated in Canaan, nay, included all that land. These boundaries, in the reign of David and of Solomon, again became the limits of the larger Canaan, but remained as such only for a few years. (A. C. 4451; A. E. 654)

     In a more limited sense, the southern boundary of Canaan, strictly so called, was an imaginary line drawn from the southeastern corner of the Mediterranean to Beersheba and the southern end of the Dead Sea, and thence across to and along the river Arnon. The eastern boundary line ran in the Arabian desert along the thirty-sixth longitude, from the river Amen to Mt. Hermon.

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The northern line ran from Mt. Hermon and Dan along the southern spurs of Mt. Lebanon to the Sea, just south of Tyre; and the western boundary was the Mediterranean shore. These were the boundaries throughout the greater part of Israelitish and Jewish history.

     As to the general signification of these boundaries we are taught that all things outside the land of Canaan signified such things as are of the natural man.--A. E. 569

     What was beyond the boundaries of the land of Canaan represented those things which are outside of the Lord's kingdom, which things are falsity and evil.--A. C. 4815

     The land of Canaan signifies the Church; the region beyond the Jordan signifies the External Church, and the region on this side of Jordan, the Internal Church.--A. E. 434, 440.

     By the last boundaries of the land of Canaan are signified the ultimates of the Church which are knowledges containing the cognitions of truth and good.--A. E. 514.

     The ultimates of Heaven were represented by the two seas and the two rivers which were the boundaries of the land of Canaan. The two seas were the Sea of Egypt, and the Sea of the Philistines where Tyre and Sidon were, and the two rivers were the Euphrates and the Jordan, but the Jordan was the boundary between the internal and the external of the Church.--A. E. 515.

     And, in reference to the Human of the Lord, "all things which were in the land of Canaan were representative; the things in the midst of the land represented the Lord's Internal man, as Mt. Zion and Jerusalem; those places which were somewhat remote therefrom, represented those things which are somewhat remote from interior things; and those which are ultimate or at the boundaries, represented the external man." (A. C. 2973)

     (To be continued.)

581


HOW THE LORD DEFENDS HIS CHURCH 1908

HOW THE LORD DEFENDS HIS CHURCH       Rev. J. E. ROSENQVIST       1908

     And the serpent cast out after the woman out of his mouth water as a flood, that he might cause her to be swallowed up by the flood; and the earth helped the woman: and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. (Apoc. 12.15, 16.)

     It is said in this, the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, that "when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth a son," which in the spiritual sense means that the dragonists in the world of spirits, after being cast down thither, immediately began to infest the New Church on account of its doctrine. By the dragonists those are understood who are in faith alone from the love of self and the love of the world, and by the woman the New Church is meant, and also those in the spiritual and natural world who are in faith from charity, and thus are actuated by love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; the male child which the woman brought forth is the Doctrine which teaches what man should believe and how he should live.

     Without doctrine it would be impossible for man to do either, and still doctrinal things are by some regarded as of little or no value. Doctrine is of little or no value when regarded as sufficient by itself, but it is of the greatest value as the only means through which man may be led to think and believe and do the right thing. And this is the use of all things of doctrine.

     This even the dragonists understood and understand. Therefore they burn with hatred against the Doctrine of the New Church. They know that life depends upon doctrine, and, therefore, when attacking the life of the New Church they do it by attacking its doctrine, knowing that if they can succeed in destroying the doctrine of the New Church they will at the same time destroy the Church itself. It was, therefore, the dragon that stood before the woman, who was about to bring forth a son, that he might devour him, for the woman represented the Church and the Son the Doctrine of this Church.

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The truth about the Doctrine of the New Church is, that the members of the New Church cannot do without this doctrine any more than a man can do without the air he breathes; it is absolutely essential to his life, and the destruction of it in him means spiritual death to him. The dragonists are busy in their endeavor to destroy the doctrine of the New Church in those who have received it. They inflow by means of the love of self and the love of the world which they find in us; our love of self appears in our inclination to let our own so-called intelligence over-rule the teachings of the divine wisdom as expressed in the Doctrine of the Church, and our love of the world gives evidence of its presence in us, in the desire we sometimes feel of being thought well of in the world as persons of broad and liberal views, not bounded by any sort of revelation or doctrine. The doctrine of the state of the Christian world and the teachings concerning Conjugial Love are two of the most common stumbling blocks to many members of the New Church. But lest the dragon and his crew should be victorious in this endeavor to destroy the Church the Lord in His love and wisdom protects it, and He does this by giving to it means of protection, which should be used by those who are of the Church. This is meant when it is said in this chapter: "And there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place," which words in the spiritual sense signify the Divine circumspection for the New Church and protection which it is pet among a few. Every true member of the Lord's New Church has from the Lord received wings wherewith to escape from the assaults of the dragonists. These wings are the spiritual intelligence and discernment derived from the spiritual sense of the Word, which enable him to rise above the sensual and merely natural interpretation of the Word which the dragonists employ to deceive the simple good, that is, those who are willing to be led by the Lord. These are like eagles flying aloft, whereas the merely natural and sensual dragonists are like serpents who creep on the ground, and see the eagles above themselves; they are also in our text called serpents for this reason. The understanding of truth is also understood by the wings of an eagle.

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Nowhere else but in the New Church is there a true spiritual understanding of truth. The understanding of truth is given by the Lord to all who are in the affection of truth, in order that they may be protected from evils and falsities. We are all assailed by the dragonists. Were it not for the wings of an eagle, the spiritual understanding of truth given us by the Lord, we would not be able to escape their assaults, and if we do not use these wings, if we do not exercise the faculty which should serve for the reception of truth, if we do not habitually permit the truths revealed in the Writings of the Church to raise us up above the natural and the sensual, to what is spiritual and heavenly, we are in very great spiritual danger every moment of our lives. The wings were given to the woman that she might fly into the wilderness to her place. The understanding of truth is given to the man of the New Church that he might, by elevation into what is spiritual, be protected from what is merely natural and sensual. This is the place or the state in which the New Church can grow in him, where it can "be nourished," as we read in this chapter, "for a time, and times and half a time from the face of the serpent," whereby is signified, that thus the Church grows and comes to its fulness. "The reason why it is said a time, times, and half a time, is because time in the singular signifies the state of good, times, in the plural the state of truth, both as to their implantation; and the half of time signifies the holy state of the Church." (A. E. 761.) The Church in man is then in its fulness when good is conjoined with truth in intention, thought and life. The growth of the New Church among many in this world is also involved in the spiritual meaning of the words under consideration. What New Church man is there who does not look forward to the time when the New Church will be among the many instead of, as is now the case, among the few? But do we at all times remember that the growth of the New Church in this world largely depends upon the growth of the Church in the hearts and minds of the very few who now profess to be members of this Church? No amount of money, no amount of external propaganda, no amount of prayer will avail, if the internal Church in the minds and hearts of the members of the Church is not nourished and made to grow by intelligent study of the doctrine of the Church and by cheerful obedience to the same.

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     Men's minds are the recipients of the New Church as it comes down from heaven. The influx grows stronger as there are willing minds to receive this influx. And as true members of the Church leave this world and pass over into the spiritual world, the Church grows stronger there, and as it grows stronger in that world it can grow stronger here, if there be but men willing to receive the influx. And through men the truths of the New Church are brought to the notice of other men, who, if willing to receive it, can again in their turn become instrumental in bringing the truth, in which they believe, and which they endeavor to obey to others. Personal influence is, however, often over-estimated. No one, be he ever so sincere a member of the New Church, can possibly save another, or, in other world, bring another person into the New Church, all appearances to the contrary; but as an angel of light, as a bearer of light, as a messenger from God Himself, he cannot but communicate the light, for the light of truth shines in his thoughts and in his speech and in his actions, and all this through his person, and, therefore, his contact with others, who are willing to receive this light, can produce only good results. This internal growth of the Church in each individual is, therefore, the most important means towards the establishment of the New Church among many. It is vain to think that if we had money enough, and magnificent temples, like those of the Old Church, and eloquent preachers, and more men and women of social influence among us, that then the New Church would grow more rapidly. Externally it very likely would, but internally, no. There is not money enough in the whole world to convert a single soul to the New Church. There is no temple now, that can be built, nor could any such temple ever be built, that would induce a single soul to accept the truth of the New Church in spirit and in truth, because of its being preached in it. Not the eloquence of celestial angels could make a single soul a true receiver of the Heavenly Doctrine, if he were not willing to receive it from the mouth of the humblest man or woman. The influence of kings and princes could never cause a simple soul to become a true member of the New Church. The truth alone, the Lord alone, in the form of truth, can do this under any and all circumstances and conditions, if the man to whom it is offered is willing to receive it.

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     With the wings of the eagle, that is, with the assistance of spiritual intelligence and a rational spiritual understanding of the Word and of the things of the Church, the man of the New Church flies from the face of the dragon as we have seen. Still the Church in man is by no means left in peace, for her truths are continually infested by reasonings from falsities which endeavor to destroy the good and the truth in man. This persecution is both individual and general; it cannot be otherwise, because the individuals of the Church make in one sense the Church in general. This continual persecution is signified by these words of our text: "And the serpent cast out after the woman, out of his mouth water as a flood, that he might cause her to be swallowed up by the flood." Water signifies in the good sense truth, and a hood of water signifies in this sense an abundance of truth; but in the evil sense, in which it is employed in our text, a flood of water signifies an abundance of falsities, because it is said to come out of the mouth of the serpent, which signifies the merely natural and sensual in man which destroys truth and perverts it into falsities. When truths are received by the merely natural and sensual man he begins to reason about them, whether they be true or not, and this reasoning is from appearances only, not from intellectual light from the Lord, and when the truth is reasoned about from mere appearances and the fallacies of the senses it is destroyed and turned into what is false. How dangerous it is to be ensnared by the false reasonings of the dragonists is evident from the following words of the Lord's servant, Emanuel Swedenborg: "This I can declare that those in the Church who hereafter confirm themselves in faith alone, cannot recede from it except by serious repentance, because they conjoin themselves with the dragonists who are now in the world of spirits, and are greatly excited, and from hatred against the New Church infesting all there whom they meet; and because they are conjoined with men on earth...they do not suffer those to recede from them, who have once been caught by their reasonings; for they hold them as bound with chains, and then shut their eyes so that they can no longer see any truth in the light." (A. R. 563.)

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     So strong is the power of falsity and so seductive the reasonings from the senses, that all of us would speedily be swallowed up by this flood of death did not the Lord in His mercy supply the man of the Church, who wants to be protected, with truths and rational arguments stronger and more powerful than the false reasonings of the dragonists. These defending truths with the rational arguments from them the Lord supplies through His Church. This is understood by these words of our text: "And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth," the spiritual sense of which is, that "the reasonings from falsities in abundance put forth by the dragonists fall to nothing before the spiritual truths rationally understood, which the Michaels, of whom the New Church consists, bring forward." (A. R. 564)

     When we read that the earth helped the woman, and then are told that the earth signifies the Church, this may seem strange, because the Church is represented by the woman in the first place. This is true, but the New Church here signified by the earth is the New Church as to Doctrine, whereas the woman represents the Church as to life. Life has relation to good or love, and doctrine has relation to truth or wisdom. It is most comforting to read in the explanation of the spiritual sense of this verse the following words: "By the Michaels the men of the New Church are meant; by Michael the wise therein, and by his angels the rest." (A. R.564.)

     When now it is said that the meaning of the words, "and the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth," is, that the reasonings from falsities in abundance put forth by the dragonists fall to nothing before the spiritual truths rationally understood, which the Michaels, of whom the New Church consists, bring forward, and when we are expressly taught that all true members of the New Church are either Michaels or his angels, then it becomes very clear, that the Lord in His good pleasure makes use of us who are of the New Church to protect the Church against the dragonists both in ourselves individually and in others in general. Our attention is drawn to this self-evident conclusion in order that we, each and all of us, may realize this our great privilege and holy duty to the Lord, His Church and our neighbor.

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But in order to do this work well, in order that we might fight successfully under the Lord's leadership against the falses of the dragonists, it is necessary for us to equip ourselves with the only weapons that will avail in this fight, and these weapons are, as we read, "Spiritual truths rationally understood," which we should bring forth whenever opportunity offers, and especially at all times when the doctrine of the New Church is assailed by the dragonists.

     The thought sometimes comes to some of us, which raises a question in the mind, whether after all it is so important to study the Doctrine of the Church, seeing that we are not able to live up to what we already know. This sounds at first plausibly well. But, apart from the consideration that every new truth will help us to live the truths we already know, if we really learn them for the sake of life--a fact which alone proves that we can never learn too many truths for the sake of life,--apart from this weighty consideration, can we afford to meet the enemy of the New Church. the Dragon and his crew, with less effective weapons than we might possess, if we for the sake of use, by study, acquire an abundance of spiritual truths, which we then can bring forth, and before which the falsities, which the dragonists put forth in great abundance, might fall to nothing?

     As loyal members of the Lord's New Church, as true soldiers in the great army of Michael, as defenders of the woman, our spiritual mother, the Lord's Pride and Wife, we cannot go unarmed, we cannot procure enough of spiritual truths rationally understood, by which alone the enemies of the Church can and will be conquered.

     The New Church signified by the woman is also helped in another way less known to all members of the New Church. We notice that the dragon poured out the flood of water from his mouth in order to drown the woman while she was hiding in the wilderness in a place prepared for her there. The woman is the New Church and the wilderness the Old Church. In the Old Church are the dragonists, but not all persons in the Old Church are of his crew. We now consider the subject from a different viewpoint. The earth, which helped the woman, considered from this point of view, is the Old Church with reference to all those there who are not dragonists.

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While the dragonists pour forth their flood of falsities against the truths of the New Church, the simple good in the Old Church refuse to accept the false doctrines of faith alone and a belief in three gods, and thus they help the New Church. There is evidence of this in the world if we want to see it. There are many simple good in the Old Church who help the New Church by refusing to believe in the false reasonings of the leaders of the Church; who, in spite of the teachings of faith alone as the only means of salvation, nevertheless endeavor to live according to the commandments of God because of salvation, and thus the earth, the Old Church is made to serve the New Church through those in her who are not dragonists. This teaching is not given in the Apocalypse Revealed where they first mentioned explanation is found, but in the larger work, entitled the Apocalypse Explained (no. 764) When both explanations are considered together they are found to be in full agreement, and the whole subject, how it is to be understood that the earth helped the woman, becomes clearer when looked at from these two different points of view.

     The first helps us to realize our duty as members of the New Church to equip ourselves with spiritual truths rationally understood that we may help the Church by defending its doctrine against the flood of falsities which the draganists put forth in order to destroy her. The second points out that the New Church is also defended against the dragonists of the Old Church through the refusal of the simple good to accept the false doctrinals of the dragonists.

     May we thank God for this double means of defense for our beloved Church, and may we be led to the humble acknowledgment that, though we of the Church are permitted to fight and defend her against the dragon in active combat, still there are those who, intermingled with the dragonists in a passive, negative or unconscious way, help the Lord's Church by not receiving the false teachings of the dragonists. May we do all in our power to bring these now passive defenders of the truth into the Church, so that they together with us may actively fight and overcome the enemies of the Lord's New Church. Amen.

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LOVE OF THINGS INTERNAL.* 1908

LOVE OF THINGS INTERNAL.*       Rev. ANDREW CZERNY       1908

     * An address delivered at the Seventh Annual Meeting of the British Assembly, General Church of the New Jerusalem.

     The end and object for which we are organized into a body of the New Church is to co-operate with the Lord in the establishment of the Church on earth. The Lord has called us to His Church, and has given us to see that our salvation depends upon it,--and not alone our salvation, but the preservation of the whole human race. Our responsibility, therefore, is great. We map not always be fully conscious of this fact. It may not be as prominent in our thought as it should be. For we all have tendencies to external states, and are, moreover, surrounded by a sphere of opposition to Divine and spiritual things. Hence it requires constant vigilance on our part lest we be unduly affected by that sphere, and our progress and that of the Church be retarded thereby.

     The Writings teach that "men in themselves do not constitute the Church, but the Lord with them." It is the Divine with man, and in man that constitutes it. And this is received in proportion as what is contrary to it is removed. We are also taught that the Christian Church came to an end because external loves began to have dominion; or, what is the same, because the Divine was not received by men. When external loves rule, external things are regarded as essential, and not internal things. Most men, at the present day, regard internal things as of little moment. Hence the ignorance that reigns in the Christian world relative to spiritual things. This attitude toward spiritual things is also the cause of the utter lack of perception as to what constitutes the right and the wrong in matters civil and moral. It is likewise the cause of that absence of a recognition of the Divine in the science of the present day. In a word, men have lost the capacity of distinguishing between truth and falsity, and between good and evil,--the one following from the other.

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And this inability arises from no other cause that this, that external loves have closed the minds of men to the influx of light from above. For as already observed, external things are regarded as the only things worth man's attention. Things internal are left to those whom people generally are pleased to style visionaries and dreamers.

     How much those err who so think is evident from the teaching that spiritual things are the only real things, because the Divine is in them. Moreover, they are the only things that endure; and what is lasting is manifestly more real than that which is transitory.

     To a merely natural man external or natural things alone seem to have any existence because his mind is open only to that plane. To perceive the existence and reality of spiritual things the mind must be elevated above the natural plane. For this reason the Lord created man a two-fold being, natural and spiritual; or, to state it more correctly, the Lord created man natural with the capacity of becoming spiritual. The means to this are not wanting. The Lord has provided them in abundance. These means are knowledges of good and truth. By them man's mind can be elevated into the light of heaven.

     It is known in the world that knowledges are the means by which the mind can be elevated. But it is not known that elevating the mind is the same as opening the interiors. This is unknown in the world, because it is unknown that the human mind is distinguished into degrees. These degrees are opened one after the other, beginning with the lowest. Each is opened by knowledges proper to that plane. Hence we have the teaching that "all instruction is an opening of the way, and as the way is opened, influx takes place." (A. C. 1495.)

     This statement has, of course, to be taken in connection with other teaching. The mere acquisition of knowledges does not open the mind. The mere possession of knowledges concerning spiritual things, for instance, does not make a man spiritual. More is needed to effect this. All that the teaching in the above passage implies is, that knowledges are the means to the opening of the mind; and that it cannot be opened without them. Knowledges, even the most interior, may be merely lifeless things stored up in the memory.

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In order that they may become the means of opening the mind there must be a love of internal things. Such a love desires and seeks the means whereby it may be perfected, and these means are knowledges of things internal; or, what is the same, knowledges of good and truth.

     Hence just as the natural mind is opened and perfected by knowledges pertaining to ifs plane, so the internal mind is opened, and the mind is elevated by knowledges pertaining to its plane. External things cannot elevate the mind above their own plane. On the contrary, if no love for internal things can be excited in the mind, external things close the mind; that is to say, the love of external things closes it. For the teaching is, that externals, separate from internals, close the mind toward the interiors. And externals are separated from internals, when there is no love of internal things; thus when external things have the dominion.

     Order requires that the higher should rule the lower; the internal mind the external; spiritual things, things natural. Order is inverted when the lower rules the higher. Order is, in fact, destroyed in the latter case, as may be seen from the fact, that when the internal mind rules the external, it does not interfere with the functions of that mind. On the contrary, it imparts greater powers of perception to that mind, whence result greater delights and enjoyments,--whereas, when the external mind rules it prevents the internal from ultimating itself, and thereby deprives it of life, as it were.

     This is the reason (and truly a sufficient reason) why man should not permit externals to rule with him. In other words, he should not permit them to occupy his thoughts and affections to the neglect of higher things. Man can prevent their closing his mind by resisting the tendency to dwell on them more than is necessary. And what will most assist him in doing so is the consideration that external things are transitory and, being so, do not deserve such a prominent place in man's thought and affection as so many men accord to them. There is also this further consideration, that an immoderate love of external things dulls the perception of things internal; and unless checked in time, will destroy it altogether. External things draw the mind down if they are allowed to dominate it.

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     These considerations show sufficiently how necessary it is for man to cultivate a love for things internal. But the necessity for doing so becomes still more apparent when we consider that, as the teaching is, the Church consists essentially in things internal. And in order that these may be received by man, his interiors must be open. In other words, the Church is established in man in the degree that externals give way to things more essential. That the Church is established with man in the degree that this takes place, is clearly shown in the following teaching. We read:

     "The Church cannot be established with any people, unless their interiors are open, by which there may be communication with heaven. And the interiors are not open, except with those who are in the truths of faith from the good of life from the Lord." (A. C. 10629.)

     In another place, in treating of the Church with the sons of Israel, it is stated that the minds of that people were closed because corporeal and terrestrial loves ruled. (A. C. 10396.)

     From all this it is evident that the opening, as well as the dosing, of the mind is determined by the ruling love.

     Now, true order requires that things internal should occupy the higher place in the mind. This is not the case when the love of external things rules the mind; for that love places external things above things internal. It is the nature of every love to go out toward those things that correspond to it and to draw them to itself. And it naturally places them above all other things, as it derives its inmost delight and enjoyment from the same. To establish the order that should reign in the mind, man must restrain this love, and subordinate it to higher principles. It must not be supposed, however, that this love, (that is to say, the love of external things), is to be destroyed; an error held by some in the Christian Church; particularly in former days. It is not to be destroyed, but to be so tempered and restrained as not to close the way to the interiors and shut out the influx thence.

     The love of natural things, when under proper control, is a useful love. Without it man's natural mind could not be formed and cultivated. For by things external are not only meant the things that affect the senses, and are of service in their development, but also the things that are of service in the formation of the higher degrees of the natural mind,--the scientific and the natural rational.

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In a word, all the things by which the natural mind is formed, and by which it is prepared for the performance of uses in the world, and from which it derives its enjoyments and delights. All these are meant by external things. All these are so many means to the formation of the lower planes of the mind upon which the interiors rest, and continue to rest to all eternity.

     The great service an orderly love of natural things may perform, may be seen from the fact that the internal of every man, spirit and angel rests upon his external, the higher degrees upon the lower; thus all upon the lowest or ultimate degree of the mind. And not only do they rest upon it, but flow into it, and are modified by it. Let me repeat this important statement. The internal or spiritual man does not only rest upon the external or natural mind, but flows into it, and is modified by it. This is taught in the following:

     "The end of regeneration is, that man may be made new as to his internal man, that is, as to his soul or spirit. But he cannot be made new or regenerate as to his internal man, unless also as to his external. For although man after death is a spirit, he nevertheless has with him in the other life the things appertaining to his external man, namely, natural affections, and also doctrinals and scientifics. In a word, all things of the natural memory, for these are the planes in which interior things are terminated. As these, therefore, are disposed, do interior things become, when they flow in, for they are modified therein. Hence it is evident that man ought not only to be regenerated, or made new, as to his internal or rational man, but also as to his external or natural man; and unless this is effected, there is no correspondence." (A. C. 3539.)

     The ultimate plane of the mind, that man carries with him after death, is rendered quiescent, we are taught elsewhere. But although quiescent, the interior things of man's mind continue to flow into it, and, as taught in the passage just quoted, are modified by the things contained in it, and this according to their disposition in that mind.

     And what is it that disposes the things in man's mind?

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The answer is: The ruling love. This disposes both the affections and scientifics into a certain order. It disposes those things that are in harmony with its natural nearest to itself thus in the center of the mind; for the ruling love has its seat there. The rest it arranges further off, toward the circumferences; assigning each its place, according to its quality, i. e., agreement or disagreement with the things that occupy the center. Hence it comes that the things which a man does not love rarely come into his thought; whilst the things that he loves are constantly in his thought. And this is the case whether the ruling love is internal or external, spiritual or rational, good or evil.

     Thus it is the ruling love that forms the mind. It arranges the things that flow into it into a certain order. If the ruling love is an internal love, it disposes the things in the mind into the heavenly form. It places internal goods and truths in the center. Around these it arranges goods and truths of an inferior order. Evils and falses it rejects to the circumferences, and thus deprives them of the power to influence the mind. If, on the other hand, an external love rules, it disposes the things in the mind in an inverse order. What should serve, rules; and what should rule, serves. The latter condition makes a Church impossible; for the Church, as we have seen, consists essentially in things internal. It consists in the celestial and spiritual things proceeding from the Lord. And these are received as external loves become subservient to higher principles. For when man begins to think and act from such principles, the Lord opens the interiors of his mind. Internal things, then, flow into his external mind, as into their common plane, and present themselves perceptibly to man. (A. C. 7442.)

     Such are the effects when external loves have been reduced to submission. Affections of good and truth are then first felt. They are not felt before, because they cannot come to man's perception until the obstacles, that prevent their appearing and manifesting themselves, are removed. These affections, with the goods and truths corresponding to them, are the internal things in which the Church essentially consists. It consists in the love of good and truth. And this is from the Lord, and is the Lord with man. All other things that are of service in teaching and leading man how he is to prepare himself for the reception of that love, are merely instrumental.

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They do not constitute the Church. Such means are the Word and doctrine thence; such are the ministry and external worship. Such are also all the means above referred to, that are of service in the formation of the external mind. In short, all the things that the Lord has provided for man's use. They are all so many means to the formation of man's mind into the heavenly form. And what reduces them into that form, is the love of things internal.

     This love is unknown in the world. It cannot be given where external things are looked upon as the only real things, and things internal are regarded as imaginary entities. The New Church has been raised up by the Lord for those who can be led to see and perceive, that the exact opposite is the case, namely, that internal things are the only real things, and are to be sought after, and loved above things external.

     As this love grows, internal things become more perceptible to man. The Church descends more fully into his interiors, and from these into his external mind, (the seat of man's consciousness), and manifest themselves there. He will then see and feel things never seen and felt before. Let us, therefore, strive to come into the state more and more fully in which the perception of these things can be given us in ever fuller measure.

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     An Australian correspondent sends us the following clipping from the Sidney Daily Telegraph for August 3, 1908: "Shire employees working on Brown Mountain, near Bega, a few days ago, burst open a huge solid rock by the roadside, and found a live frog in a smooth round cavity, about a foot wide in its center. The frog hopped about for a little time, but died when exposed to the sunshine." Compare with this the teaching concerning "Spontaneous Generation" in the Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 342.



     The Monitor, a Roman Catholic journal of Newark, N. J., commenting on the hue and cry raised by certain Protestant papers on account of Mr. Taft's Unitarianism, remarks that "Taft may be a Unitarian, but that fact will not keep a catholic from voting for him. The dominant Protestantism of our day is unconfessed Unitarianism. Protestantism is logically the rejection of Christ as God." So also is Catholicism, from which the Protestants inherited the doctrine which divides the Godhead into three persons and Christ into two natures, thus destroying the Divinity of the whole.



     Sir Oliver Lodge, writing in the August Harper's on the reality of spirit communication, observes that "Even when the evidence enables a hidden thing to be discovered, of whom no one living possessed the secret,--as in Swedenborg's discovery of the dead burgomaster's private papers,--deferred telepathy is sometimes adduced as preferable to what must then seem to most, as it did to Swedenborg, the only rational explanation." Sir Oliver evidently has read Swedenborg's biography in haste; the "burgomaster" here referred to was the Dutch Ambassador, Marteville, and Swedenborg, by the way, did not "discover" the missing receipt.

597






     Mr. Albert J. Edmunds, in the Open Court for August, gives an account of the history of the "Bible Christian" Church in Philadelphia, which was founded in 1817, by the Rev. Wm. Metcalf, a follower of the Rev. William Cowherd, who, in 1809, split off from the New Church and established a sect of his own on vegetarian and total abstinence principles. The Philadelphia "Cowherdians," who still claim affinity with the New Church, put up their first church in 1823 on Third street, above Girard ave., and in 1891, erected a new building on Park ave. their former property having been bought by-a pork butcher!



     The New Church Magazine for August brings the surprising news that the venerable Archdeacon Wilberforce, in a sermon in Westminster Abbey to a visiting delegation of German pastors, called attention to Swedenborg's doctrine of correspondences. "Emanuel Swedenborg," he stated in his opening remarks, "who probably owed much of his inspiration to his sojourn in Germany on his way to England, initiated the thinking world into the outline of correspondence." The Archdeacon, of course, is very much mixed as to his facts, but he is reported as stating, in brief, "that there is a doctrine of correspondences, and that expositions of Scripture and of nature are not left to mere fancy or imagination, but that Swedenborg supplies a key by means of which the spiritual contents of the Word and of universal nature can be obtained." It appears, however, that "unfortunately the preacher had not fully grasped the doctrine of the Lord as clearly demonstrated by Swedenborg." Without this Doctrine, indeed, an idea of "correspondences" will prove of but little value,--is, in fact, a most dangerous possession.



     "George Washington was the first Newchurchman born in America." Such is the startling assertion of the Rev. Willard G. Day, of Baltimore, in a letter read at the late Convention in Cleveland, and he based his theorem on the fact that Washington was a close friend and neighbor of Lord Thos. Fairfax, of Alexandria, Va., who, as is well known, was one of the first receivers of the Heavenly Doctrine in Virginia. This, however, proves nothing.

598


There is no documentary evidence of George Washington being interested in the Writings beyond a statement made by a member of the Washington family (and reported by the Rev. Philip B. Cabell in the Messenger, vol. 62, p. 75), that the "Father of our Country" in his last years was a leader of the Writings. The members of the Baltimore Society, on January 22, (Washington's birthday), presented to him a copy of the True Christian Religion, together with all address, assuring the President of their exalted esteem. To this Washington returned a reply, expressing appreciation of this testimonial of confidence, referring all glory to the over-ruling Providence, and concluding with good wishes for the signers. (Aurora, vol. I, p. 52.) It is said that just after Washington's death a copy of Heaven and Hell was found open on the parlor table at Mt. Vernon, and that this was the last book read by him. (N. C. Life, 1897, p. 189.)



     "All the power the Church possesses to perform its mission it derives from the Lord. This is known and acknowledged by every intelligent member of the Church; but it is not known by all that the power of the Church to do its legitimate works resides in, and is exerted by, its organization.

     Proof.--A regenerate man, or one who is being regenerated, is a Church in its least form; but the power of the Church in him resides in, and is exerted by, his bodily organization. Apart from his body, the Church in him would have no existence, that is, no "standing out," on the natural plane: he could give no expression to one true thought, nor to one holy desire.

     What is true of the Church in its least form is also true of it in its larger and largest forms. Hence, for the New Church at large to exist on the natural plane, it must have a body organized on the natural plane.

     It is true that 'doctrinals alone do not constitute the Church;' but 'a life according to doctrinals' does, and if the doctrinals be false, a life according to them will be false, and the Church will not be a true Church; that is to say, it will not be the Church of the 'Lord's Second Advent.'" (Rev. T. K. Peyton in Morning Light for Aug. 1.)

599




     Mr. Gerrit Barger, of The Hague, has completed an article on the New Church which he was commissioned to write by the publishers of a series, entitled Kerke en Sehfe (Church and Sects). This series, which is edited by a theological professor of the University of Utrecht, will comprise a number of booklets, each of 35 pages, treating of the doctrines and government of different churches, each article being written, when possible, by a follower of the religion described. Mr. Barger's paper will be included in No. 3, which is entitled "Various Mental Currents," and includes descriptions of Mormonism, Spiritism, Christian Science, Theosophy. etc., Mr. Barger's name, however, is enough assurance that here, at any rate, the proverb "Evil company corrupts good manners," will not apply. Still the "evil company" is to be regretted.



     Anent the recent centenary celebration of the society at Kearsley, Lancashire, England, the following amusing anecdote is told of Mr. John Crawshaw, a man who subsequently became a highly esteemed, but somewhat peculiar member of the Church. A friend met John one night after he had been to a public meeting, and, inquiring whether the meeting had been interesting, was assured that it had been a grand one. "What was the subject?" asked the friend. "It was all about Simon Tailyeur's ordther," was the reply. "And what kind of an order is that?" "Well," said John, "there are two soarts of ordther; there's one where one thing follows another, and that they cawn successive ordther; and then there's another where they aw act together, and that's Simon Tailyeur's ordther." "Oh," said his friend, "you mean simultaneous order." "Oh, that's what you cawn it," said John, "I thot it war caw'd Simon Tailyeur's, and that it war an ordther some Simon Tailyeur fundet, but it's a grand ordther."



     In answer to enquiries made by Mr. George Trobridge, with a view to a new and enlarged edition of his Life of Swedenborg, the Borough Surveyor of Finsbury, (London), gives the following information respecting Swedenborg's residence in London; "Great Bath street was built in 1725, and I cannot find any record of the streets having been re-numbered.

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I have no doubt, therefore, that the No. 26, as it now exists, is the house that in 1771 was occupied by Shearsmith, a peruke-maker." Swedenborg was Shearsmith's lodger in this house at the time of his death. In a later letter, the same gentleman writes: "No. 26, Great Bath street, is still used as a shop, and from its present appearance I should think there has been but little alteration made in the front since Swedenborg's time." The Borough Surveyor also informs Mr. Trobridge that "No. 26 Warner street, (formerly No. 4 Great Warner street), where Swedenborg resided at an earlier date, has not been rebuilt, and therefore remains much as it was when the latter lived there." Writing the above particulars to Morning Light, Mr. Trobridge suggests that commemorative tablets be affixed to these two houses.



     In an excellent and timely editorial in a current number of the Messenger the modern discoveries of psychical research now coming to be regarded even by scientists as some proof of a future life, are thus ably contrasted with the revelation of the spiritual world made through Swedenborg: "Swedenborg was introduced into the spiritual world by the Lord. He was protected from error and the malign and deceptive influences of evil spirits. The doctrines and instruction given were not from himself but from the Lord. They were, in fact, the revelation of new truth from the Lord through the Word. The knowledge of the spiritual world is an essential factor and part of this truth. These doctrines constitute the Second Coming of the Lord to the world. "It is these affirmations scattered all through Swedenborg's Writings which differentiate his teachings from those of the psychical researchers and others. They stand in the world as a revelation. The facts of psychical research stand as facts of observation.... It is this affirmation that these things are a revelation from the Lord which causes many to pause in their testimony.... Revelation is a necessary means to the opening of the spiritual mind and the beginning of the work of regeneration. Men will accept things as natural truths, the product of the unaided powers of human acceptance of Swedenborg's minds, when they will not accept them as truths of revelation; because in the one case, they are held as mere opinions which have no binding force, in the other they come with a demand for a new life."

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     How necessary, then, to preach the doctrines, even to strangers, as a Divine Revelation! But how rare!



     LA DOGMARO PRI LA VIVO is the title of the Esperanto translation of the Doctrine of Life, recently published by the London Swedenborg Society. It is, we believe, the first of Swedenborg's Writings to be printed in the "universal language." The translation was made by Mr. H. Bolingbroke Mudie, whose services were given to the Society free of charge. Mr. Mudie is said to be "the most capable, popular and facile Esperantist in England." The work is prefaced by a brief biography of Swedenborg (also in Esperanto) from the pen of Mr. James Spiers, and altogether comprises a neat little book of eighty pages.



     The Manchester Tract Society has also added to the beginnings of an Esperanto New Church literature by the recent issue of numbers three and four of its Esperanto Tracts. The tracts are published under the general title Folietoj pri La Nova-Eklezio Vero. Number 3 consists of extracts from the True Christian Religion on the subject of the Lord, and number 4 of extracts from the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine on Resurrection and the Future Life. This Esperanto literature may well be recommended for distribution to students and proficients in the new language, and will doubtless serve to bring the truth to some receptive minds. Similar to the work now being done is the work of Sir Isaac Pitman soon after the invention of the Pitman system of phonographic writing. By his transcription of Heaven and Hell and of portions of others of the Writings, Mr. Pitman was the means of bringing quite a number of people into the New Church.



     In an article, in The New Church Magazine for August, on The Publication at Stockholm of Swedenborg's Scientific Works, Mr. Alfred H. Stroh, after reviewing the more recent developments that led to the publications referred to, outlines their projected scope, as follows: "So many subscriptions have now been promised in England and America, that the three folio volumes of the Opera Philosophica et Mineralia, being the Principia, the works on Iron and on Copper, will probably be included in the edition as Vols. IV. to VI.

602


The subsequent volumes include the first work on the Brain, the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, the second work on the Brain, and the Animal Kingdom; a final volume has also been planned to contain historical, bibliographical, and critical notes for the whole series, together with the indexes. A few historical notes in English are to be added to each volume, and the finest portraits of Swedenborg will be included."

     According to this plan the edition by the Royal Academy will comprise ten volumes of Swedenborg's own writings, instead of seven as originally contemplated, the additional volumes to contain Parts I. and II. of the Principia, (Part III. being already printed in volume II.), and the works on Iron and Copper. It is gratifying to note that there is thus a prospect of obtaining the whole of the Principia instead of the third portion only to which it was originally intended to confine the reprint. But it is to be hoped, and we would urge it upon the attention of those having the matter in charge, that the projected publication of the works on Iron and Copper will not delay the publication of the anatomical works; some of the latter are accessible at present only in the Photolithographs; and all of them are of paramount and present importance.

     This beautiful and scholarly edition of Swedenborg's scientific works will be one of the most valuable literary contributions that has ever been made to the knowledge of Swedenborg's doctrines and New Church students of those doctrines will not be lacking in grateful acknowledgment of the work of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, of Professor Retzius, and of Mr. Alfred H. Stroh, who are so generously and ably supporting and carrying on its production.

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GREETING FROM AUSTRALIA 1908

GREETING FROM AUSTRALIA              1908

     A NINETEENTH OF JUNE SOUVENIR, 1908-138-9. This is the title of a handsome booklet in royal octave received from Mr. Richard Morse, of Sydney, Australia. The work is evidently intended to take the place, so far as possible, of the now suspended monthly, True Christian Life, by keeping up a public propaganda for the acknowledgment of what has been known as Academy principles; and, as though to emphasize this use, these "Principles," as given by Bishop Pendleton some years ago, are reprinted on the last page of the Souvenir. Mr. Morse hopes to continue this publication as an annual, but whether this will be done will, we judge, depend somewhat on the support and reception which the present number receives. "Financial support towards the work represented by the Souvenir is solicited of all in sympathy therewith. Though that already received has been liberal, it is insufficient to cover cost of publication."

     The Souvenir contains two fine illustrations and interesting reading matter,--the latter practically all devoted to championing the cause of the Authority of the Writings. The illustrations comprise a picture of "the first known Newchurchman in Australia,"--Mr. Thomas Morse, the father of the editor; and a photograph of a plaster cast in bas-relief of Swedenborg. The latter was the work of Mr. John Worrall, and "is probably the first attempt in Australia to produce a cast" of Swedenborg's head. Even with the caution "to bear in mind that it was modeled by an amateur in a limited time" to be ready for the Nineteenth, the work will be seen to be quite well executed, though the expression of the face is somewhat unfamiliar.

     The articles include a "Nineteenth of June Sermon" by the Rev. John Whitehead, reprinted from the Life, for 1891; two short papers by Mr. Morse on "Denial of the Writings" and "The Worship of Swedenborg;" extracts from Bishop Pendleton's paper on Conjugial Love and the Love of Offspring; and a story, entitled "A Dream," written by Miss Emeline Carswell (Mrs. A. Acton), and printed in the Life for May, 1891. There are also editorial notes and Sydney news.

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Altogether, the paper impresses one with the thought that the Writings do not lack a champion in Australia, and that the "Conflict of the Ages" has by no means died out there.

     A remarkable coincidence in this Souvenir is the appearance in its pages, in more than one way, of a defense of the Work on Conjugial Love. The editor could not have known of the attack on that work which characterized the Kramph Will Case, and yet much that he writes seems as though inspired by this case. Short extracts from the work are printed under the heading "Truths from Conjugial Love." The state of the Christian world in regard to this love is set forth in another extract. Then there are the portions from Bishop Pendleton's paper, referred to above, and finally a report of Mr. Morse's speech at the celebration of the Nineteenth. After referring to the unending conflict waged in the New Church over the Divinity of the Writings, he points out that "from the very first this conflict raged about that wonderful book, Conjugial Love, which was confiscated by Bishop Filenius in 1769. Later on (he continues) in the early days of the great East Cheap Society. London, the same book brought the Rev. Robert Hindmarsh without the pale of the organized New Church of which he was the founder. And right on from those early days Conjugial Love has been regarded as the 'skeleton in the New Church closet!' " He then tells of the attitude of some New Church (?) persons in Australia. "One of the preachers in the Auckland Society, New Zealand, told me he had not read Conjugial Love, as he hardly thought it a fit book to read,"--a New Church preacher, forsooth! Again, "one of the members of the Thomas Street (Sydney) Society wrote telling me that he had burned the book, as he considered it unfit to come under the notice of his children." In answer to this letter, Mr. Morse in just indignation wrote to the gentleman in question, that he regarded his action "as a crucifixion of the Lord in His Second Coming,"--which is no more than the exact truth. Mr. Morse continues, "Still another instance of the bitter antagonism of the hells to this work was given in the article on 'The New Church in Australia,' by the Rev. Percy Billings, published in the New Church Messenger of May 8th, last year. In it Mr. Billings stated that 'the new Society in Sydney (the Society led by Mr. Hellberg)... emphatically disagrees with the Academy attitude, and interpretation on the Conjugial Question,' which is equivalent to saying that it repudiates Conjugial Love, for the Academy has no interpretation outside of it."

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     When such is the attitude of professed Newchurchmen to the Divine Book of "Morals," is it a wonder that the attitude comes out in a public attack on the work? But after all, such attitude and such attacks are but a phase of the underlying denial of the Writings as the Lord Himself in His Second Coming.
SWEDENBORG'S COSMOLOGICA 1908

SWEDENBORG'S COSMOLOGICA              1908

     EMANUELIS SWEDENDORGII OPERA. VOL. II. COSMOLOGICA. This, the second of the Swedenborg publications of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, will be especially welcome to students of Swedenborg, because of the fact that it contains important matter never before printed. We allude to the preliminary work on the Principia, generally known as The Lesser Principia, which fills more than one-half of the volume before us. It is followed by the Argumenta quaedam in Principia Rerum Naturalium, treating largely of the nature of the First Natural Point, (12 pp.), the Surnmarium Principiorum Rerum Naturaliurut, being Swedenborg's summary of the printed work, (54 pp.); and finally, by the whole of the Third Part of the Principia. The volume opens with an English Introduction, "Emanuel Swedenborg as a Cosmologist," by Professor Arrhenius, (12 pp.), and closes with five pages of English notes on Swedenborg's cosmological works, by the editor, Mr. Alfred H. Stroh.

     It was with considerable surprise that we first learned that the third part only of the Principia was to be included in the Cosmological volumes of the present series. For, though there may be differences of estimation in regard to the value of a past author's writings, still when a learned Academy proceeds to the publication of his works on any given subject, literary good taste and historical accuracy would seem to demand that the whole of his writings on such subject be printed. However, as noted on another page of our issue, we are given to understand that the omission of parts one and two of the Principia in this, the second volume of the Cosmologica, will be remedied in a subsequent volume.

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     The present omission is due doubtless to a question in the minds of the committee of the Royal Academy, which has the matter in hand, as to the value of Swedenborg's doctrines respecting the Point and the four atmospheres resulting therefrom; and, owing to this doubt, they decided to confine the Principia to that part which deals with the material aspect of the work of creation. The presence of such a doubt seems to have led to a rather cursory examination of the doctrines taught by Swedenborg in the first two parts of his Principia, with the natural result that they are not fairly understood. Such seems to be the case so far, at any rate, as the present Introduction is concerned. For the writer, speaking of the Principia in its treatment of the Point, the Finites, and the Elementaries, characterizes this section of the work as being "not of particular interest." Such a judgment, of course, is a matter for individual determination, but it is unfortunate that, in the Introduction, the judgment is given after a general presentation, as Swedenborg's teachings, of a theory with which the doctrine of the Principia is at fundamental variance. Tracing the connection between Swedenborg and Descartes, the Introduction says: "Descartes . . . supposed that originally there was only one kind of material particles. By their striking each other their corners were knocked off, so that there were formed particles completely round and transparent which were called 'particles of the second kind.' Out of the knocked off corners there was formed a fine dust of 'particles of the first kind' which formed the fixed stars. They corresponded to the fire or light particles of those times. By their condensation there were formed opaque grosser 'particles of the third kind' which occur in the sun spots; and by their further condensation were formed 'particles of the fourth kind' which constitute the earth's crust." After thus presenting Descartes's views the writer continues: "In Swedenborg's work no other change is made in these conditions than that the number of particles is increased and an attempt made to derive all of them from the mathematical point." Such a presentation of Swedenborg's teaching is so at variance with the first two parts of the Principia, that to students of the latter it is unnecessary to point out the fact.

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Swedenborg does indeed deduce all from the Point, but he does not thence commence with "material particles," nor "corners" to be "knocked off." Indeed the first two parts of the Principia, as he himself teaches, do not treat of the material world at all, but only of the Elementary world, or world of Elementary particles, which are wholly distinct from matter.

     It is unfortunate for those who have not read the Principia that the whole of the work was not presented to the reader of the Introduction, though, to be sure, the Argumenta and the Summarium to some extent take the place of the omitted portions. Despite the inaccuracy to which we have alluded, and one or two others of minor importance, the Introduction is an interesting and instructive document. It presents in brief and concise form the various cosmological hypotheses propounded by Swedenborg's predecessors and contemporaries, and contrasts them with the views of later writers, pointing out where the latter have approached Swedenborg and where they have departed from him. The Introduction gives one the atmosphere in which Swedenborg worked, and gives us glimpses of the varied suggestions that came before Swedenborg's mind in framing his great scheme of Cosmology.

     But most valuable of all are the Philosopher's own writings. The magnificent edition before us cannot but awaken in the reader a recognition of the munificence of that Academy which honors itself in thus honoring the greatest Philosopher of the world.
"THE NEW FORM OF MISSIONARY LITERATURE." 1908

"THE NEW FORM OF MISSIONARY LITERATURE."       W. H. A       1908

     SWEDENBORG ON THREE VITAL POINTS, by the Rev. Wm. L. Worcester.

     This booklet is issued by the Philadelphia Tract Society in response to a request made to them by the Literary Bureau of the General Convention "to get out an attractive booklet for wide circulation, as a sample of the new form of missionary literature."

     It is beautifully printed, not voluminous, and small of page, and, as the advertiser has it, "appropriate for summer reading."

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It is admirable as a first example of a new missionary method long contemplated by certain leaders of Convention. All appeal to authority is carefully eliminated. The writer expressly disclaims any intention of making endeavor to convince his reader (p. 2), but treats what his title calls "vital points," "The Lord," "The Bible," "Death and Resurrection,"--merely as "matter of general information." One might say that these great subjects are dealt with as matters of comparative religion, but for the fact that all are most carefully labeled as Swedenborg's opinions. We quote the opening paragraph as tersely sounding the keynote of the whole:

     "If you have read an account of the life and character of Emanuel Swedenborg, you have seen the man intent on being of service to mankind, at first bending his powers to the study of nature, passing on from mathematics and chemistry, mining and engineering, to the study of the human body and the human mind; and then, as he believed, under the direct call and illumination from the Lord, applying himself for the last twenty-seven years of his life to the study of the Scriptures, and to writing from the standpoint of Scripture and of reason upon matters relating to the spiritual welfare of mankind." "As he believed!"

     All through, the teaching is Swedenborg's. "The universe, in Swedenborg's philosophy, is not God." (p. 4.) "Swedenborg thinks of God as Divine man. (p. 5.) "To Swedenborg the Gospel narrative was the simple truth." (p. 6.) "Does Swedenborg believe in a trinity in God? He does. Not in a trinity of persons but in a trinity of Divine elements in one person." (p. 15.) "The faith which saves, is not, with Swedenborg, any mere verbal profession; it is no mere intellectual belief in the Lord. Such belief, such faith, Swedenborg says, is belief with only half the mind." (p. 21.) The italics are ours.

     And so on, the information given in this little work,--and there is much and valuable, if only it might have been put forth with its own proper imprimatur,--is all put before the reader as the opinion of Swedenborg; the fact of his Divine mission is spoken of simply as a matter of his opinion or belief.

     It is but just to say that the final chapter of the book is less subject to this criticism than the earlier parts.

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Here the writer has quoted Swedenborg's very words, and he speaks of the other world as if he really believed in it himself. "'How resuscitation is effected,' he writes, 'has not only been told me, but shown by living experience." He then relates how, for his own instruction and for our instruction, too, he was permitted by the Lord to pass through almost the experience of a dying person."

     This method, which puts the man Swedenborg before the revelation of which he was the human instrument in the giving of it to men, is not always careful to declare frankly what Swedenborg himself declares. It sometimes substitutes what seems to be true to the writer, if that seems preferable to Swedenborg's own statement. Thus on p. 36, after referring to the language of Scripture as a kind of universal nature language, the author asks, "But have we lost the nature language, and so has God's book become a sealed book, a hieroglyph without a key? It has been largely so. Yet we have not wholly lost it, it has in all ages been the poet's gift." This is not Swedenborg's affirmation. He states emphatically that the language of correspondences has been utterly lost since the days of the Ancient Church and whatever the apparent likeness or relation, which figurative language, or human parable, may hear to the doctrine of correspondence, this statement must stand,--if we allow Swedenborg to speak for himself.

     On the fundamental question as to the relation of Swedenborg to the second coming of the Lord the writer again substitutes his own opinion for Swedenborg's affirmation. "To Swedenborg" (he says) "the unfolding was not his, but the Lord's work. He felt it so, and as the new knowledge of the Lord and the new sense of His presence shone from the Scriptures into his mind, and through him into the minds of others, he felt that this was the Second Coming that had been promised." (Bible, p. 26.) How weak this appears beside Swedenborg's own words: "That this second coming is effected by means of a man. . . . The Lord has manifested Himself before me His servant, and sent me on this office. . . . I have not received anything which pertains to the Doctrine of the New Church from any angel, but from the Lord alone, while I read the Word." (T. C. R. 779.)

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     To the writer of this little book, and there is reason to believe that in this he leads the thought of the Convention, the Lord's Second Coming is simply the stronger influx of His spirit, first into Swedenborg and then into all who will be the Lords' disciples. What other thought can underlie such words as these; "We believe that the new knowledge of the Lord, shining from His opened Word, with new light and influence from heaven, will be a power for blessing in the world such as has never been known. It will awaken men to the fact of the Divine Human Lord standing patiently and unnoticed in the world with all power to save.... We believe that it is the power of this second coming of the Lord which is working so tremendously in the world of science and in the world of social and industrial life." (Bible, p. 28.)

     If we think for a moment that his new light shining forth from the Word is to be found in the Writings of the New Church, we seem to be contradicted in this idea by the assertion, "What need to make His presence visible again to finite sight when we have the Gospel record of His earthly life as the sufficient interpreter of the inward Divine presence." (P. 27.) If Gospel letter be "the sufficient interpreter," what place have the Writings of the Lord's servant?

     To what purpose is all this care to avoid the very essential affirmations of faith in the doctrine of the New Church? To gain the ear of the world. "Hold," the apostle of this method of propaganda seems to say "let me tell you what Swedenborg believed and taught; I would not urge you to receive it as a New Revelation, but I would simply ask you to look upon it as one of the various solutions of the religious enigma which have from of old been attempted by the sons of men. I will not hold you long. I will not surprise you with strange doctrines. I speak of the Bible as you speak; the Gospel is sufficient interpreter of the Lord. I bring you no new Gospel, no new Word from the Lord; nay, the old is good enough." And the careless world neither listens, nor cares, but considers this as it considers the other thousand opinions of men as to religious faith. "It is all opinion, this matter of religion, and one opinion is as good and no better than another." The starving soul who would fain know God but is disturbed in the world's increasing atmosphere of denial finds not in this pseudo-New Church gospel the "Thus saith the Lord," for lack of which he famishes.     W. H. A.

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THREE VIEWS OF "CORRESPONDENCES" 1908

THREE VIEWS OF "CORRESPONDENCES"              1908

     Three distinct attitudes or tendencies have been noticeable among members of the New Church in regard to the use of the science of Correspondences. Some have been in the effort to make a practical use of it in the worship and life of the Church, carefully confining themselves to such correspondences as have been revealed in the Writings, and avoiding fanciful interpretations and applications. Their whole purpose has been to bring down to earth some of the well known laws of order in Heaven, so far, at least, as concerns the most essential features of worship and of life. In this effort they may, at this infancy of the Church, now and then have made a misstep, they may have erred, occasionally, in judging of circumstances and necessities and possibilities, but nevertheless their tendency has been in the right direction; it has been an affirmative attitude, an effort looking towards the distinctiveness of the New Church in external form as well as in internal faith and love.

     Others have found in the Science of Correspondences an unlimited field for purely intellectual exercises without regard to actual use either in worship or in life. While they would not care whether the house of worship faced east or west, or whether the priest wore white or black garments, or whether the wine of the Holy Supper were wine or unfermented grape juice, they would permit their imagination to run riot among symbols and analogies, filling volumes with "correspondences" of their own invention. Judging from merely superficial resemblances of form, without regard to the uses of things and the revealed teachings of the Writings, they would pronounce instantly the exact correspondence of anything under the sun, from a potato and tomato to Algiers and Venezuela, with the inevitable result that the sacred science of correspondences was brought into ridicule and disrepute among the weaker brethren.

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     The third tendency, reacting against the other two, is strikingly illustrated in an article by the Rev. Adolph Roeder in the Messenger for September 9th. Mr. Roeder is nothing if not radical. Instead of trying to solve the problem as to the application of correspondences, he simply cuts the Gordian knot by the startling declaration that "the only safe and sane way for a New Churchman to handle the science of correspondences is to adhere entirely to the Word and make no use of it whatever outside the Word at all, and to bear in mind the rule: 'In the Word a brick signifies falsity. Outside the Word a brick is a brick.'"

     Just what the writer means by "outside" the Word may be puzzling to those who are accustomed to look upon the Word of God as an infinite ocean of Divine Good and Divine Truth. Outside the Word means outside the Infinite, an hypothesis involving an impossibility.

     Mr. Roeder illustrates his new doctrine by the correspondences of alcohol, bricks, and clerical vestments. "The word 'alcohol' is not used in the Word of God. It has no internal sense. Alcohol does not signify or stand for anything but alcohol, and all reasoning about it should be based on the two [?] sentences 'alcohol is alcohol.'" In view of this downright pronunciamento it would seem that nothing further could be said on the subject, but this to the contrary notwithstanding the writer finds that "alcohol stands for an evil thing mentally," viz., "that element of the human mind which preserves its attitude no matter how wrong it may be," and this because "alcohol used to preserve an anatomical specimen is fulfilling its appropriate use." The fact that the Heavenly Doctrine teaches that alcohol stands for "wisdom purified," (C. L. 145), is of course of no moment.

     Having thus disposed of alcohol, (with the usual lucid argument of prohibitionists as to "fermentation being a process of degeneration," etc.), the writer next turns his attention to the subject of "bricks." These man-made stones signify falsity, he admits, (but only within the covers of the Word), and he waxes merry over those who on this account would prefer stone or wood in their church buildings. "A brick is a brick," he announces, as though the fact had not been known for some time.

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"It has no internal sense." And similarly a clerical robe: "It has no internal significance whatever. If it had, I would wear a blue coat to show the world that I had the truth in my heart, which would be very pleasant, if it were so."

     All these conclusions are based upon the discovery or invention of the general principle that "Swedenborg reveals to us the basic outlines of two sets of correspondences, the one a science of correspondences which applies to the Word of God and to that only, and cannot be used outside the covers of the Book. The other a Doctrine of correspondences, of which he gives an outline applied to the structure and functions of the human body, and which has no reference to the Book; nor does Swedenborg use it for his interpretation of the internal sense except by way of rare and occasional illustration, so far as I know only in three instances, eyes, heart, and ears." This, of course, simply shows how tightly a professed student of the Writings can shut his eyes when reading the books. Those who have read with open eyes are aware that the Book of Nature is also the Word of God, written by the same Divine Finger that wrote upon the Tables of Stone. There is but one "set" of correspondences,--those of Nature and life. The things written in the Scriptures are but the significatives of the real correspondences found in the Lord's Universal world.

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SEVENTH ANNUAL BRITISH ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1908

SEVENTH ANNUAL BRITISH ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       W. RAY GILL       1908

     The first meeting of the above Assembly was held on August 1, 1908, at 99 Holland Rd., Brixton, London, under the presidency of the Rev. A. Czerny. After introductory services the meeting was declared open. The minutes of the last Assembly having been read and adopted, reports were received from the London, Colchester and Carshalton societies. The last named society having only recently been formed, and this being the first report received from it, the president expressed his pleasure at the event. The society was inaugurated on December 1, 1907, and has since received eight pastoral visits, on which occasion the average attendance has been sixteen. On the intervening Sundays reading meetings were held with an average attendance of thirteen.

     The reports having been received, the president read his annual address.

     Mr. Waters remarked on the great usefulness of the address as arousing our affection for the Church, and directing our attention to the acquisition of truths, and their application to the uses of life. There is always with the natural mind a tendency to make everything subservient to the loves of self and the world. The truth needs to be pointed out from time to time that we may be delivered from such a condition. If we search the Writings and the Word for the purpose of training the mind in a true and proper way in order that we may know the things we should do rather than the things we should like to do, we shall be directed by the Lord Himself.

     Mr. Wm. Gill, after expressing his gratitude for the paper, said he especially appreciated that part which dealt with our responsibilities as members of the Church, the Church being the foundation upon which Heaven rests.

     Mr. Appleton spoke of the great need of cultivating a more interior knowledge of those states which are within ourselves.

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There is a conflict going on within us all through life as to which shall be the ruling force within us. Our minds are built up by the reception of the truth, and it is by means of truths that the life of Heaven and of the Church can dwell within us.

     Mr. Howard referred to the application of the truth to one's individual life as being the true way by which, in time, we must make some impression on the world.

     Mr. F. Cooper said the great thing that struck him in the address was that the Church really grows on the plane of the internal and that it does not always appear to grow externally. It is often discouraging to see the small numbers attending church; also to see what a bad lot we all really are when we come to know each other. (Laughter.) The Church will grow externally as we apply the principles we have to life.

     Mr. Ball remarked that it was a good thing to have come to the point where we can see that we personally are bad lots. One of the fundamentals that we have to realize is that we form a very little part of the Church. The more we read the Writings the more difficult it is to see where the mere man comes in at all. The appearance is that man is a divine being and the Lord a creature of his imagination; but if the Church is to grow it must be built upon the foundation that we are recipients of life and not life itself. It is man's self-pride which stops the Church's progress.

     A paper on "Inspiration," by Mr. Appleton, was next read.

     Mr. Czerny said Mr. Appleton's chief point is that it is not necessary that more be revealed, but that progress consists in the more interior understanding of that which has already been revealed.

     Mr. Waters thought there must have been a certain amount of "inspiration" to have enabled Mr. Appleton to write such a paper. When one's perception is opened so that the Lord can flow in, it would appear that he is inspired with knowledges from the affection of truth. There should be this kind of inspiration in the Church; but man does not give forth these knowledges from himself, but they are those which the Lord has given him.

     Mr. W. R. Gill said he was especially interested with that part of the paper which referred to Swedenborg's mind containing correspondent natural truths into which spiritual truths could flow.

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In the July number of New Church Life it was shown that several distinctive New Church doctrines had already been published in the philosophical writings of Swedenborg; and we can see that unless there had been correspondent recipient forms in his mind he could not have been used as a medium for the revelation of spiritual truths.

     Mr. Howard noted that the teaching that the New Church is the crown of all the Churches, involves that its revelation must be the crown of all revelations, and final.

     Mr. Ball said that truths as revealed to the New Church are not old ones supplemented by some illumination, but they are absolutely new. The New Church is the crown of all the Churches, even transcending the Most Ancient Church.

     Mr. Czerny spoke on the point as to whether or not there is to be any further revelation. There is no definite teaching on this point, but the fact that there is an absence of any statement in the Writings to the contrary, would lead us to suppose that there is not to be another revelation; all previous revelations having been promised beforehand. If a man should arise and claim to have a revelation from the Lord, the test to be applied would be to see if his teaching were in accordance with that which has already been revealed. But we ought not to worry as to whether there will be another revelation; there is plenty in what has already been made to last us forever. As the paper truly said, progress in the New Church will not consist in learning more but in understanding more interiorly what we have now.

     The meeting was then adjourned in order that the members of the three societies might practice together the music to be used at the service on the morrow. Refreshments were served and toasts were offered to the New Church at large and to the General Church of the New Jerusalem in particular.

     The service on Sunday, August 2d, will always be a memorable one in the history of the General Church in this country, for we then used the new liturgy for the first time, the service chosen being that of the Holy Supper. A most delightful sphere was present, and all were deeply impressed with the beauty of the new order of service.

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The congregation numbered seventy-four, and the communicants forty-three.

     The second session of the Assembly was held on Sunday evening. After a brief opening service, Mr. Gill read a paper on "The New Church: its Difficult Reception and Slow Growth."

     Mr. Rose said the subject had especially interested him; it is one that is constantly before us. The New Church has been in existence 138 years, and is apparently stationary, but only apparently. We are beginning to see more and more what is considered in the Writings. The New Church in the past has taken the more general doctrines and been satisfied with them. One obstacle to the growth of the Church is that we all receive by heredity the faith of the world. Another is that there is such ignorance of spiritual things that we can hardly present our doctrines to the apprehension of an outsider. The world at large is not prepared for the Doctrines, and we are not prepared to treat with the world at large.

     Mr. Waters was particularly struck with the thought expressed in the paper as to how necessary it was that we should consider the means of obtaining a state of mind wherein the New Church can exist. This can only be done by providing a genuine education for our children. The growth of the Church depends in an ever increasing degree upon the way in which our minds are formed for its reception.

     Mr. Appleton said the subject of education is one which urgently demands our attention, and it is a point which has been particularly attended to in the Academy and General Church. We must not expect the growth of the Church to develop from without, but from within; hence the effort to establish New Church schools, that children may be formed into vessels to respond to and receive truths. Where there are no vessels nothing can be received. The greatest good that we can do is to sustain this most important use.

     Mr. Cooper dwelt on the statement in the paper that we should not be discouraged by the slow progress of the Church We should not be at all discouraged by any small disturbances which may arise, for they come about with the permission of the Divine Providence. We must endeavor to combat our own evils; if evils are not seen they are hidden, and it is far better for them to be revealed.

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We should take courage and be sure our Church is making stable and real progress.

     Mr. Howard said the paper had the right ring about it. The Church must first commence with individuals. Mr. Waters extended this idea when he said our children should be brought to the Church, and thus to God and heaven.

     Mr. F. Cooper remarked on the importance of the subject of the paper to the young men of the Church. The schools prepare the way for the Church and it is left to the children to make use of the preparation received.

     Mr. E. J. Waters, speaking on behalf of those present who had received an Academy education, expressed their gratitude to parents and teachers for the advantages thus given them.

     Mr. W. R. Gill said the use of schools is a most important one, inasmuch as in childhood our minds can readily be molded into any form. It is noticeable that there are hardly any people who have once been confirmed in Old Church principles who enter the New Church. After confirmation it is almost impossible, even physically, for the brain to think in any other way than that to which it is accustomed.

     Mr. Czerny expressed particular pleasure with Mr. Cooper's remarks that we should not be discouraged by the slow growth of the Church. The work which will greatly determine the rate of its growth rests with the laymen. The priest can instruct but the layman must read for himself. The building up is the Lord's, and He will lead those to the truth who can receive it, and will keep away those who cannot. In the Writings it speaks of a remnant who suffer themselves to be kept in a salvable state but who yet are not prepared to receive the truth while in this world. Thus we cannot tell whether the Church is growing rapidly or slowly. The Church will, however, first be among a few until preparation is made for it to be among many. The Lord gathers all into the Church who can receive Him in themselves, and the Church grows as rapidly as possible.

     A paper by Mr. Derick Elphick on the subject of "Charity was then read.

     Mr. Gill remarked that he agreed with the writer in all but his attempt to disassociate all forms of war from patriotism.

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At the present day this could not be done. Patriotism might, for instance, include preparation against attack by others. We should hope our country may never see war, but it is not right to leave all forms of war to others.

     Mr. Ball thought it should be the effort of every member of the Church to recognize that war and all its surroundings comes from hell. Wars must be the outcome of conflicts in the other world, but let those take part in them who know no better.

     Mr. Appleton said he felt very much encouraged and thankful to see what a sound foundation must have been laid to enable one of our young people to present us with such a paper. Wars although they seem very dreadful are used by the Divine Providence to remove evil states. We are taught that conflict must exist on the spiritual plane between truth and falsity. These conflicts take form in the world in the shape of wars.

     Mr. Rose said the subject of war is always of interest to a Newchurchman. War comes from evil men and worldly states. It exists for the removal of greater evils than we know of. It is a Newchurchman's duty to do his best for his country if war does break out.

     Mr. Waters remarked that the paper seemed a correct statement of the teachings of the Doctrine on the subject. We should strive to see what is good and useful to the world at large and our country in particular, and should war be forced upon us we should defend ourselves to the best of our ability.

     Mr. Czerny said the love of country is inferior to and comes next in order to love of the Church: nevertheless it should by all means be cultivated. We are taught that those who love their country in this world love the Lord's Church in the next. The Writings speak of charity with a soldier and with a commander; therefore it can not be wrong to go to war in the defense of one's country, but aggressive warfare is always wrong. The angels attack no one, and the Lord, while in the world, never attacked the hells. The attack came from them.

     Mr. Rose's paper on "The Relation of Evil Spirits to the Gorand Man" was then read. As little time remained for the discussion of this paper, it was suggested that it would be most useful to hear what our president had to say on the subject.

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In the course of his remarks Mr. Czerny referred to the teaching, that whatever is not performing a good use is outside the Gorand Man. Evil spirits can perform uses to, but do not constitute part of the Gorand Man. They correspond to impurities. In a sermon by the Bishop, recently published in New Church Life, he explains that evil spirits, while in the performance of uses, are in the Divine sphere, and in that sense are said to be "the least in the Kingdom of Heaven." Thus it is the use they perform in tempting man, and thus making his regeneration possible, that places them temporarily in the sphere of the Gorand Man. The Gorand Man is from angels and the Gorand Monster from evil spirits. The Monster acts against the Heavens and equilibrium is thereby produced.

     Mr. Gill now proposed sending by our pastor, not only a message of goodwill to the Church in America, but also a special message of thankfulness to the Bishop for the use he has performed in placing the new liturgy in the hands of the people. It was a perfect store-house of doctrine, and we very, very deeply appreciated the fact that it had been used in the service that morning.

     Mr. Appleton had pleasure in seconding this motion, and thoroughly echoed Mr. Gill's sentiments. He was specially grateful for the uniformity the new liturgy would introduce into the services of the societies of the General Church.

     The motion was unanimously carried.

     The 47th Psalm was now sung, and the Assembly adjourned till August, 1909.

     During the two sessions held sixty-three members and visitors signed the roll.

     The weather throughout the Assembly was perfect, and on Monday, August 3d, we gathered to the number of ninety-one in a large grassy field, well shaded by trees. The field is used as a volunteer drill ground, and the colonel of the regiment most kindly granted us the exclusive use of it for the day. Games and races were indulged in and most of our friends had their luncheon in al fresco fashion on the ground. Music, vocal and instrumental, was provided by Mr. Anderson's phonograph.

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     Tea was served at 99 Holland Rd. (which adjoins the field), the charming waitresses being young ladies of the London Society. During tea the Bishop's message to the Assembly was read, and gave great pleasure. Mr. Czerny was entrusted with the delivery of our thanks for the same to the Bishop. Our sympathy was also sent by the same bearer to the Bryn Athyn Society in particular on the occasion of the recent law suit. After tea our pastor read to the men a full account of the judge's finding in the case.

     At dusk a most enjoyable concert took place, after which we all joined in singing our Church songs, and a large number of toasts were honored, amongst those deserving special mention being one to "New Church Life." and one to the ladies of the London Society for their splendid and most successful work in providing for the Assembly. Mr. Anderson gave a much appreciated reply on behalf of the ladies. We also most heartily wished our pastor, who is spending his exceedingly well-earned holiday in America, a very happy time.

     The evening's proceedings seemed to gather together and concentrate all the spheres of affection and happiness which had been present throughout our Assembly. Thus came to an end what, by unanimous consent, was voted the most successful, useful and enjoyable Assembly ever held in this country, and our happy family dispersed already looking eagerly forward to their next reunion.
     W. RAY GILL,
          Hon. Sec.

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ANOTHER VIEW OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION 1908

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION       WILLIAM HYDE ALDEN       1908

EDITOR New Church Life:

     The letter from Mr. Franklin Jackson, which appears in your September issue with the title, "An Optimistic View of the General Convention," I have read with interest. As my name is associated with the criticisms of Convention of which complaint is made, I venture a word of reply,--not in defense of Mr. Bowers; for he can speak for himself,--nor to take up the several points of the letter, for the readers of the Life will not need it; but for counsel.

     I would suggest first that our friend in Atlanta is a bit hasty in his conclusions. He has attended one meeting of the Convention and is convinced from the surface indications of brotherly good will and interest that the "gloomy accounts" which he has found in the Life are "erroneous." Those who make the criticisms have attended many Convention meetings, and through a long series of years have been intimately acquainted with Convention leaders and Convention activities; some of them know well from personal experience of the suppression of freedom of speech by the Convention. They have known the Convention and the Academy from within and from without. They have given their testimony; and the evidence upon which their opinions rest may be found in abundance in the pages of the Convention periodicals as well as of the Life. Is our friend in Atlanta, with his limited experience, qualified to judge of these things as well as they?

     Our friend quotes Mr. Bowers as asserting that "the opposition to the distinctive New Church is more cunning in its methods and more dangerous and deadly than ever before." If this is so, and I believe that it is, can we expect that the opposition will appear in the open, in the avowal of the leaders, whether in print or in public Convention meeting?

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Shall we not the rather find that the "deadly cunning," which has its origin in the spiritual world in the antagonism of the dragon, will give loud expression to earnest asservations of loyalty to the Writings, by which the simple good may be held to their allegiance, even as we know is done in the imaginary heavens of the spiritual world. But the dragon, while he cunningly inspires his instruments to speak great things which might deceive, if it were possible, the very elect, cannot refrain from also inspiring utterances of thinly veiled unbelief. The leaders of the Convention do indeed make emphatic affirmation of their loyalty to the Writings, and declare them to be of equal validity and authority with the Word. But with this affirmation, they are careful to point out a difference, which is not consistent with the assertion of the equality of the Word and the Writings. They declare the sole authority of the Word, (see New Church Review, 1905, p. 490), speak of the Writings as chief "among the writings which acknowledge the infinite glory of the Scriptures, and humble themselves before it," (ibid. 1902, p. 491) ; declare that Swedenborg, "least of all authors,...claims that the products of his pen are entitled to be placed on a level with the Word," (ibid. p. 487); condemn the calling the Writings the Word as bordering on sacrilege, (ibid. p. 549) All this and more. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.

     We believe that our friend is open minded and sincere. Let him wait, look and listen, and he will not mistake the signs of the times.
     WILLIAM HYDE ALDEN.
          Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The summer in Bryn Athyn has certainly been dull-the dullest in our history--owing chiefly to the unparalleled exodus. For those who complained of the social whirl of last spring, it must surely have been very satisfying.

     The only excitement was during the trial at Lancaster of the Kramph Will case, with its accompanying flurry of newspaper notoriety. The scandalous headlines of certain newspapers and the scurrilous insinuations of the enemies of the Lord's Revelation, were indeed hard to bear, especially as we agreed with our lawyers, that it would not do to reply, even to defend ourselves, until the courts have spoken their last word. But the sympathy of our friends and neighbors under this attack, was all element of no little comfort.

     Aside from this historic case, which is not yet closed, and the two fires, (the Cairnwood barn and the toll-gate house), there is little to chronicle except vacation wanderings.

     The Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist spent some weeks in Rockford, Ill., preaching to the earnest little circle of Swedish New Church people there, who are connected with the General Church.

     The Rev. Homer Synnestvedt spent the summer with his family in a charming spot near Renovo, where they were joined later by the family of Mr. Chas. S. Smith and by Mrs. Bellinger and Miss Bellinger. Services were held each Sunday in the district school house, and were attended by our friends from Renovo. Weekly doctrinal classes were held during part of the time, and Sunday School on Sunday afternoons.

     Vermont again welcomed the Potts family and Miss Olive Bostock, while Miss Beekman dwelt upon a neighboring height, where she was visited for a time by Mrs. A. Acton.

     The whole Pitcairn family, together with Miss Madeline Glenn, have been summering in Switzerland, whence they returned only at the last hour before school opening, bringing Miss Rosalba de Anchoriz with them.

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     Miss Venita Pendleton, our history teacher, is enjoying a half year's leave of absence in Europe, where she will extend her travels as far as Greece and Egypt, in the interest of her use.

     Prof. R. W. Brown visited Spain and Morocco, bringing back much interesting material for his classes.

     Miss Hogan, Miss Falk, Mrs. Dr. A. E. Farrington and Miss Alice Grant, Principal of the Girls' Seminary, spent the summer traveling in Northern Europe, going as far as North Cape. Upon their return they crossed Norway and Sweden to Stockholm, that Mecca of so many Newchurchmen, where Mr. Alfred Stroh showed them around.

     There must have been quite an "old home reunion" in Berlin, Canada, this summer, some eight of our folks having migrated thither in a body.

     Our kindergartner, Miss Ashy, accompanied by Miss Phoebe Bostock, spent the summer caring for some two score of little cripples at a benevolent institution upon Long Island Sound.

     Prof. Price and his family, followed by Prof. Doering and his boys, went camping in the mountains near Allentown. Prof. Price subsequently paid a flying visit to Illinois and Canada. Dr. Bairiki and family visited the Yellowstone.

     Prof. Gyllenhaal, accompanied by Mr. Wm. Whitehead, spent the summer in special studies at the University of Chicago.

     Miss Rita Buell visited Detroit and Pittsburgh,--not to mention quite a few others who visited the sea for longer or shorter periods. But perhaps I would save time by telling who did not go away.

     The Rev. A. Czerny, of London, was with us a few days.

     The hammer chorus is in full swing upon the new houses of Dr. Bairiki and Mrs. Colley. This kind of "knocking" is always a welcome sound in Bryn Athyn. So is the scrunching of the wheels bringing up the trunks of the assembling students. The Girls' Dormitory has fourteen guests so far, and the Boys' fifteen (three of them teachers).

     The attendance at the Bryn Athyn New Church Schools includes, this year, three students in the Theological School, four in the Normal School, thirty-five in the Girls' Seminary, twenty-three in the College, four in the Intermediate department, fifty-six in the Preparatory School, and twenty in the Kindergarten,--altogether one hundred and forty-four, the greatest number of pupils ever recorded in the history of the Academy.

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Such, then, is the immediate fulfillment of the hopeful prediction of Mr. Wm. McGeorge that the Kramph will contest "will probably Prove the death blow of the Academy." (Philadelphia Evening Bulletin of July 16, 1908.) H. S.

     PHILADELPHIA, PA. The regular morning services of the Advent church were resumed on September 6th. During the summer the pastor has visited Rockford, Ill., where Sunday services were held in Skandia Hall, on Seventh street. The friends and members of the General Church are few but earnest, and they appreciated the work done among them. Seven children were instructed during the week, and informal meetings were held on Sunday nights. The average attendance at the morning services (all conducted in the Swedish language) was twenty. The desirability of having a minister permanently at work in Rockford was expressed on several occasions, and the members of the General Church there are looking forward to the time when this desideratum can become an accomplished fact.

     The pastor of the Advent church, who, for the last four years, has been preaching to the Baltimore congregation in the evening of the first Sunday of each month, has discontinued this work, as morning services in Baltimore have been found more desirable.

     After having lived in Bryn Athyn and Huntingdon Valley, Pa., for the last four years, the pastor has now moved to Philadelphia. His new address is: Joseph E. Rosenqvist, 119 N. Yewdell St., near 54th and Market Sts., West Philadelphia, Pa.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The close of the first year of the ALMONT Summer School, under the presidency of Mr. Seward, brings the report that the school "was both a success and a failure. It was a failure in point of numbers, but a success in the spirit that animated it.

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There were but few visitors from abroad, and not the usual number of those from the immediate neighborhood. Reasons were suggested for this state of things, but it is not worth while to enter into them." Why this latter is not "worth while" is not apparent. It is both wise and customary to enquire into the causes of "failures" in order to guard against their recurrence. But the reason for this failure, if we can judge from the report itself, does not seem to be altogether hidden.

     The Almont Summer School was started eight years ago by the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, the central idea in its institution being the education of New Church children. During his previous visits to Almont Mr. Schreck had gradually drawn together the children and grandchildren of the New Church families in the neighborhood, and, seeing the urgent need of giving more than ordinary Sunday services, he resolved, in 1900, to institute a two weeks' term of day school. The instruction was imbued with the spirit of the New Church and was specially adapted to the needs of children. The doctrines, the Life of Swedenborg, Hebrew recitation and music were among the principal subjects taught. A school song and school flag (red and white) were adopted, and the custom inaugurated of having a closing dinner with toasts on the subject of the New Church. In 1901 Mr. Schreck was assisted by the Rev. J. Whitehead and Mr. J. R. Hamilton; Miss Beekman also took some part in the work this summer. The school was opened with "Our Glorious Church," and the scholars were distinguished by red and white badges. The spirit of New Church education and of affection for it seems to have characterized the school during the whole of Mr. Schreck's management, which extended, practically, from 1900 to 1909. In 1906 Mr. Whitehead became head of the school with the Rev. Thos. King as assistant, and this witnessed the culmination in the growth of the number of students, which had increased from about fifty to 106 in 1909. Comparatively large sums of money had been raised during this time, and two acres of land had been donated for the use of the school. In 1906 Mr. Schreck entirely ceased connection with the school, and the Rev. S. S. Seward was appointed as a second assistant to Mr. Whitehead. During this and the preceding year the reports give hardly any information with regard to the studies.

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Hebrew appears to have been dropped, and the reports reflect less of the spirit of the earlier years. Attendance at the closing dinner, however, increased, the highest number, 158, being reached in 1906. In the following year, Mr. Whitehead was no longer connected with the school, being succeeded by Mr. Seward as president, assisted by the Rev. Messrs. King and Landenberger. The changed personnel in the management of the institution, without any other indication, would sufficiently indicate the probability that its ideals have changed from the spirit of distinctive New Church education to the usual "missionary spirit." But we are not left in doubt on this subject. Mr. Seward's own report to the Messenger indicates the actual change plainly enough. For he writes: "It (the Almont school) seems to me the most efficient missionary effort that the Michigan Association can carry on. The school was started with the ruling idea of distinctive New Church education, and its prevailing spirit seems to have been one of loyalty to the Divinity and Authority of the Writings. While this idea reigned, the school grew in spirit, in numbers and in prosperity. But with change in management has come a change in ideals. It is now a "missionary effort" and--the attendance has decreased. It is "both a success and a failure."

     The Rev. E. W. Shields, who, during the past summer, has been doing missionary work along the MISSISSIPPI RIVER, using his boat as a base, library and preaching room, writes in his last report to the Messenger: "If I get nothing else out of this trip, I will have a little experience, anyhow. I am now glad that none of the New Church ministers came to my relief, for I feel that very few would have been willing to have made the necessary sacrifice, without getting any financial support, as people positively will neither buy any of the books, nor contribute money. They do not understand our doctrines, and very few come to investigate; yet, I believe that every place that I have stopped at I have planted seeds that will grow." This gloomy report, it should be noted, comes at the end of a trip in which Mr. Shields has had very good audiences.

     At a special meeting of the O'Farrell St. Society (SAN FRANCISCO), called to consider the suggestion of the pastor, the Rev. Wm. de Ronden-Pos, that "some appropriate and distinctive name" be adopted for the place of worship, it was unanimously decided that the name of the church edifice be, "'The Church of the Open Word,'--supplemented, when necessary, by the explanatory sentence, 'as revealed by the Lord through the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.'"

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     The doctrinal classes of this society are reported as being unusually well attended, even to the extent of requiring larger quarters. The classes are preceded by a supper, commencing at 6:30, and the meetings close at 9 p. m. Owing to the growing interest it has now been decided to change the time by commencing half an hour earlier and closing half an hour later.

     GREAT BRITAIN. June nineteenth was celebrated by the Argyle Square (LONDON) Society as "New Church Thanksgiving Day." The day was observed on Sunday, June 21st, but nothing specifically pertaining to the day seems to have characterized the "observance."

     The KEARSLEY Society has recently celebrated the hundredth anniversary of its foundation. The celebration commenced on Wednesday, September 9, and included exercises on six other days, ending with a ball on September 21. The church building will be enriched by a new organ, costing $4,000, to which Mr. Andrew Carnegie has promised a second contribution of $1,500. The president of the Centenary Committee was Mr. F. T. Woodman, son of the first pastor of the society, the Rev. Woodville Woodman. The Kearsley Society started with the meeting of a few friends some years prior to 1808. They were presided over by Mr. Thomas Seddon, whose son, the Rev. James Seddon, became later the minister of the Frankford, Pa., Society. Mr Seddon and his friends met in a room at "Top o' the Hill," near Kearsely, and were visited every six weeks by the Rev. John Clowes. From this circumstance they were known locally as "the Six Weeks Folk." In 1808 a baptismal register was kept, the first entry being dated September 28, 1808, and from this date is recorded the formal beginning of the Kearsley Society.

     The ACCRINGTON Society reports a membership of 543, inc1uding 89 non-residents, and a Sunday School of 707 scholars with an average morning attendance of 138 and afternoon attendance of 380 With over 700 pupils, even if only half of them attend, what an opportunity for the growth of the New Church from the young, if only the instruction were in the line of the distinctive life and thought of the New Church.

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But, as it is, how many of these 700 will marry in the Church? How many even remain in the Church? The history of the immediate past offers little hope for the future.

     Among the ministerial changes which seem to be continually going on ill England, we note that the Rev. Arthur Stones has closed his ministry at ASHTON and STOCKPORT, Where he has served for somewhat over two years; the Rev. G. W. Wall has commenced his ministry to the HEYWOOD Society, which has a membership of 260, including 44 non-residents; and the Rev. W. Westall, who, for twenty-nine years has been the pastor of the MIDDLETON Society, has resigned his charge, the resignation to take effect next fall. This latter society recently celebrated its 107th anniversary.

     JAPAN. It may be remembered that nearly two years ago the American Swedenborg Society inaugurated missionary work in Japan, by publishing a fifty page pamphlet, consisting mainly of extracts from The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine. "Selected for use in Japan" (N. C. Life, 1907, p. 37) The work was issued in English (on the recommendation of Mr. Sale, of Yokohama), on account of the difficulty of obtaining a reliable Japanese version, and of the growing else of English in Japan. The publication was sent by mail to all Protestant preachers, native and missionary, and to all the Roman and Greek missionaries resident in Japan; in addition, a large number of copies were placed in Yokohama for free distribution. From a current number of the Messenger, we now learn that these efforts have produced "very little apparent result,"--the only tangible results being, "perhaps, half a dozen letters of thanks or criticism; the latter from missionaries, the former from Japanese.

     The society seems, however, to be in a position to prosecute the work in Japan by the distribution of the Writings in the native language. At the last meeting of the Board of Missions of the General Convention a resolution was passed asking the American Swedenborg Society to undertake this work, beginning the translations with the little book of selections, already referred to Dr. Sewall, who moved the resolution, also gave the name of "an intelligent and reliable translator who has offered to do the work, being a well known Japanese scholar and educator in Japan not unacquainted with New Church literature."

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This gentleman, Mr. Nobuta Kishimoto, took "high honors in his philosophical studies at Harvard University some years ago," and is personally known to both Dr. Sewall and Mr. Carl Spamer.

     The latter gentleman has been residing in Tokyo, where he has been conducting a Bible class for Japanese boys.

     AUSTRALIA. The little circle led by Mr. Morse, whose members separated from the SYDNEY Society some three years ago in order to worship in the sphere of a faith in the Divine Authority of the Writings, continues to maintain its weekly services at Queens Hall, Pitt street, with Sunday and Wednesday evening meetings at the home of one of the members. Despite the internal conflict through which the circle passed about a year ago, in consequence of which its members were greatly diminished, Mr. Morse reports that the past gives "strong reasonable hope that much spiritual growth has taken place," though, he adds, "the absence of the Holy Supper is much regretted." The hope is confirmed by the report of the second celebration of June nineteenth, which, like the first, seems to have been pervaded with the spirit of loyal devotion to the Writings and with that distinctive social sphere which is known to the New Church alone.

     The celebration was held in the evening of the nineteenth, when the members took supper together at the home of one of their number. Among the decorations of the room was a plaster cast bas-relief of Swedenborg, modeled by one of the members who is an amateur worker in this line. The proceedings were opened by the singing of the hymn, "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken," from the new Liturgy,--"a hymn considerably altered for the better, from the wording in the English Conference Hymnal, as also are others." After reading from the Word and prayer, the members sat down to supper, which was followed by the reading of a "Nineteenth of June" sermon by the Rev. John Whitehead, from the Life of June, 1891. Toasts were then proposed and responded to, among the responses being a speech by Mr. Morse on the work on Conjugial Love, which we notice in our editorial columns.

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     It is stated in A Nineteenth of June Souvenir, that the circle under the leadership of Mr. Hellberg, which separated from Mr. Morse some years ago, was "practically disbanded."
PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1908

PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1908


     Announcements.



     The Sixth Philadelphia District Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem is called to meet this year at Bryn Athyn during the Thanksgiving holidays, November 26th to 29th, inclusive.

     We should be glad to hear from all members or friends who have any hope of coming, in order to provide for their entertainment. Further particulars will be given in the November Life.
     HOMER SYNNESTVEDT,
          Secretary.
PITTSBURGH DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1908

PITTSBURGH DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       N. D. PENDLETON       1908

     The Pittsburgh District Assembly will be held in the city of Pittsburgh on Friday and Saturday evenings, November 20th and 21st.

     The Holy Supper will be administered on the following Sunday afternoon.

     Visitors are cordially invited. All communications should be addressed to Mr. S. S. Lindsay, 353 Stratford Ave., E. E., Pittsburgh.
     N. D. PENDLETON,
          Secretary.
CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1908

CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       DAVID H. KLEIN       1908

     The Eighth Chicano District Assembly of the General Church will be held at the Immanuel church, Glenview, Ills., November 6th to 8th. Visiting members and friends who expect to attend will please notify Mr. W. K. Junge, Glenview, Ills., who will make provision for their entertainment.
     DAVID H. KLEIN,
          Secretary.
NEW YORK SOCIETY 1908

NEW YORK SOCIETY              1908

     The place of worship of the New York Society is now 225 West 58th Street, near the Columbus circle station of the Subway. Services are held on the first and third Sundays of the month, commencing with a doctrinal class at 10:30 a. m.
MEANING OF NEW CHURCH DAY.* 1908

MEANING OF NEW CHURCH DAY.*       GLENDOWER C. OTTLEY       1908



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NEW CHURCH LIFE.
VOL. XXVIII. NOVEMBER, 1908.     No. 11.
     * An address delivered on the 19th of June, 1908, at Burton Road, Brixton, England.

     Every great and momentous event in history has its day of rejoicing associated with it, and the appropriateness of this is admitted by those who enter sympathetically into the ideas called forth by the day. But what day, in the history of mankind, can compare in importance, m spiritual, yea, Divine significance, with that day known to Newchurchmen as the "Nineteenth of June?"

     For what does that day stand? It stands for the eternal fact that the Creator of the Universe and the Redeemer of men, the Lord, God in the heavens, had completed His Second Advent by a Revelation of Divine Spiritual Truth, His Word, pure and simple, a Revelation which, as stated in the Invitation to the New Church, "exceeds all the Revelations" made since the world began. And is not the reason of this obvious to the well informed Newchurchman? It is because this final and crowning Revelation embraces more, contains or includes more, and reaches out more fully and thoroughly to all die wants of man's nature, now and for all ages to come, than any previous Revelation ever did, however grand in its nature or scope, or sublime in its aspect. The secret of its power, the guarantee of its Divinity, lies in this stupendous fact.

     But this Revelation which, as also stated, is to be the means of re-establishing an unceasing communication between angels in heaven and men on earth, was given through the inspired mind of Emanuel Swedenborg in order that it might further be the potent means of restoring spiritual freedom to men on earth. In what now does this kind of freedom consist,--a freedom which is differentiated from the merely external or "natural freedom" which man, even when immersed in the worst of evils or states, can enjoy, as is shown by the history of the world, and in particular of Greece and Rome?

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It consists in being able to see, with an eye opened towards Heaven, the truth of Divine Revelation.

     If such be the fact, the momentous question ought now to be asked on an anniversary of the Nineteenth of June,--how far this "spiritual freedom" which is heaven's greatest boon and blessing to us, i. e., the power to see spiritual truth in its own Divine light, has shown any signs of existence in our midst, in the work of the Church or its establishment in our own hearts? If I mistake not, its existence has been seen by our desire, (amid all our evils, our infernal Old Church propensities, inherited and acquired), to be obedient to the voice of that Truth of the Second Coming, the Word of the Lord as it is in heaven, to ultimate its teaching when seen and acknowledged by the understanding. It is in this particular way, if I can venture to say so, that the Academy movement has been distinguished from any other development in the New Church at large.

     And what fruit has this borne already? While almost everywhere dissolution and decay are at work, while on all sides in England, America, Sweden, Australia and Africa--in other words wherever the Church has had an external existence--indifference to the Church and its teachings have been painfully on the increase, a state admitted even by those who differ in toto from us in our attitude toward the Doctrines, the Academy movement has shown signs of vitality, of permanence that cannot be gainsaid. It may be true that our increase in mere numbers or the external growth of the Church does not appear to have kept pace with our strong intellectual affirmation of spiritual truth, the Truth of Doctrine as revealed from heaven; but that sign is not of so discouraging a nature as might appear at first sight, or on a superficial view of things.

     The Church, the true Church of the Lord, is a spiritual institution, and its progress must not be measured by a mere increase of numbers. It is a teaching familiar to all who are students of the Doctrines, that the Church as a real, organic, spiritual institution cannot grow outwardly until the evils which are opposed to its establishment are removed from the hearts of men, and these are not of easy eradication.

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Indeed they are so deeply seated, have their roots so low down in our inherited evil nature, that they can be removed only one at a time, "here a little and there a little," and consequently our slow external growth or progress may be taken to mean that while we have been endeavoring to be true to our spiritual, Divine ideal--the Heavenly Doctrines--our proprium and its activity within us has prevented that progress from being internally as great as it might have been. In other words, that the slow external growth of the Church has been the mere effect of the internal state.

     The marvel, however, to one who diligently studies the Writings, is not that the progress, internally or externally, is so slow, but that with such natures, choked, as it were, with the evil tendencies transmitted by many generations of merely natural and carnal minded people, we have been able to see a single truth of the Second Advent or ultimate its teaching in any shape or form. That is one of the marvels of the Divine Mercy.

     Why, it may be asked, when such a stupendous system of truth has been dispensed from heaven,--a system calculated to meet the mental needs of the philosopher of the first rank, as well as the elementary wants of the unsophisticated rustic, (so miraculously has this Divine Revelation been accommodated, once for all, to the mental states of all men, white or black, living on this planet), --why have our best efforts to propagate the distinctive truths of the Second Advent been accompanied by results of a most depressing, discouraging kind? It is because, as intimated above, the Proprium which is our common inheritance is so all powerful at this day in so-called Christian lands.

     Speaking of the hereditary nature of the Jew. Dr. Wilkinson says: "In a constitution formed and hardened for thousands of years he is incapable of receiving spiritual truth, though now scarcely less capable than the Christians. His faculty is truncated by absence of interest in anything which is not of this world; the organ of the higher sight, its eyes, are shut in him." (The New Jerusalem and the Old, p. 106.) The analysis here offered of the Jewish mind is strictly based on what the Doctrines teach.

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In T. C. R. 521, it is Written: "Hereditary evil has so increased with the Jews that they cannot with a faith of the heart embrace the Christian religion. It is said, cannot, because the interior will is averse to it, and this will cause the inability."

     Now there are clear signs, at this day, that the vast majority of so-called Christians are actually immersed in those evils which must render them, as they have rendered the Jews as a whole, "incapable of receiving spiritual truth." Some idea of this may be formed by Perusing a few extracts from a remarkable article published in The London Magazine for March, 1908. The subject of the article is "The Future Man," by Harris Burland. Speaking of the tendencies in all Christian lands, he says:

     And what shall be said of our morality, using the term in the wide sense of preferring virtue to expediency! What shall be said of religion--any religion, any power that enables a man to realize that the spiritual part of him is more important than the material? One has only to look at the various aspects of modern life to see how small a part is played by either religion or morality. The latter is enforced to a certain extent by the law, the former is still a power in the lives of many thousands. But the majority of us are too engrossed in the struggle for money or fame to think of anything more than our material needs.

     To get money quickly--honestly if possible, but to get it at any cost, that is now the religion of the civilized world.

     To sell goods for more than they are worth, to praise the merits of worthless articles, to keep within the law of the land, but to transgress all the unwritten laws of the conscience: that is the latter day morality. Money! Money! Money. That is more the cry of the human heart; and all the devices of the chemists and scientists and engineers are for that single end,--to save time, to steal the hours, so that each one may yield a larger store of gold. Men no longer pretend to be Christians and secretly worship wealth. (See pp. 16 and 18.)

     The appearances of growing evil are indeed so great and numerous that we might be inclined to believe, had we not the infallible light of Divine Revelation to "lighten our darkness," that the establishment of the New Church was well-nigh impossible on earth as society is now constituted. We know, however,--and we have the Divine assurance for the belief,--that nothing will in reality stand in the way of its establishment, and that what is now in the ascendant in all Christian lands--in England, America and elsewhere--will not be permitted to work the ruin intended.

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     The fact is that the presence of a real Church on earth is the latent spiritual cause of all this up heaving on the natural, political, commercial and domestic planes. It is forcing quietly but steadily to the front the evils which have crept into the heart of the community; and those who have gone too far in the current of the day will, in the future, be carried away entirely and be heard of no more. In more ways than one will the problem be solved as it was solved when the Adamic Church came to an end and when its "entire posterity" perished. (A. C. 563) "The Nation," says Dr. John Shaw, of London, in a remarkable work published in 1907, "is truly faced with one of the most serious problems that can affect any people--the falling of the birth rate. It is a problem of vital importance, and year by year will increase in significance." (See "Medical Priestcraft--A National peril," p. 200.)

     In the Divine Providence this will no doubt be one potent means of stopping the mischief from going too far--the perpetuation of evil states by the indefinite multiplication of irreclaimable people, that is, of people "incapable of receiving spiritual truth."

     Secondly, diseases are now being sown broadcast by foul and disgusting means, the so-called preventive inoculations*--and

     Elsewhere in the same great work Dr. Wilkinson adds: "Every hereditary sewer opens up into every nursery, nay, into each infant's very heart. All ferments of disease are poured by the healing art through the physical nature of the people at the tenderest age. . . . This amazing act is the homicidal insanity of a whole profession." (pp. 29 and 36.)

these also may be expected to operate in the same direction; for it is incredible that wholesale pollution of the blood, chiefly of European and Christian populations, would be permitted--as it has been more or less permitted for a century--except for some very interior Divine, and hence really merciful, reason.
     * As some readers of the Life may not be aware of the fearful, permanent outcome of these insane inoculations so common at this day all over the civilized world, it may promote a use if I quote here the weighty words of the late Dr. Garth Wilkinson, who gave the closest study to the subject during fifty years or more. This is what he says in his great work On Human, Science and Divine Revelation: "Swedenborg has shown (the following) truths in his Animal Kingdom. Thus he says: 'The lymph is the true, purer blood.' (Vol. I, p. 219.) 'The cellular tissue is the emporium of the lymphatics.' (p. 289.) The cellular tissues, lymphatic, thoracic duct, mesenteric glands and receptacle of the chylet are all continuous and identical in use, structure and nature.' (p. 222.) 'The cellular coat is a lymphatic projected into a plane.' (pp. 222, 319.)
     "Thus the cellular tissue and the lymph which arises in it, pervade the constitution, and whatever modifies them produces universal visceral effects. Poisonous injection, therefore, of any kind communicated into the lymph goes always either to its own elective centers and peculiar seats, as in syphilis or consumption, or secondly, to the patient's weakest part, evoking his tendencies to disease, and aggravating his existing diseases. Hence vaccination, by putting animal and human virus into the 'true purer blood,' and into the universal arena of it, namely, the cellular tissue, 'the emporium of the lymphatics,' tends to distribute the disease of the constitution. So lymph poisoning is worse than blood poisoning, because the sphere invaded is higher and wider and deeper, the effects chronic; the means of elimination incomparably more difficult and often impossible. . . . This is blood assassination and like a murderer's life." (pp. 32 and 36.)

     Early in June at a public meeting held in London in connection with the "Cancer Research Fund" and presided over by Lord Cromer,--Dr. Martin, the head of that movement, publicly stated that, according to the present rate of deaths from cancer, one out of every eleven men, and one out of every eight women, was destined to die from that fearful disease at thirty-five! Apparently there is still worse in store for the nation, and doubtless for the world at large, in the future.

     "Madness," says the author of the article in The London Magazine, quoted from above, "not merely eccentricity, is so enormously on the increase that the prospect of the future may well fill the mind with terror. One person in every three hundred in this country is confined in a lunatic asylum, and doubtless many more are at liberty who ought to be under restraint." (p. 16.)

     If such be the alarming outlook, what will be the physical and mental condition of the British people in the middle, or at the end, of the twentieth century? Where, however, active and decimating diseases may fail to do their work of extermination, the growing luxury of the age with its attendant enervation, it may be assumed, will complete the work of destruction.

     "From rank to rank," says Mr. Lecky in his monumental work. Democracy and Liberty, "the standard of social requirement is raised, making society more cumbrous, extravagant and ostentatious, driving from it by the costliness of its accessories many who are eminently fitted to adorn it, and ruining many others by the competition of idle, joyless, useless display. It is a tendency which vulgarizes and materializes vast fields of English life, and is preparing great catastrophes for the future." (p. 327)

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     By such means, then, and others that the Infinite Wisdom of the Lord may permit, a cleaner plane will be formed for the relatively "few," (as in the case of Noah and his three sons--see A. C. 468), who will begin to find scope for their heavenly directed efforts, and heaven itself will draw near to men, once more, and do its beneficent, saving work on earth.

     "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I Jehovah will hasten in its time." (Isaiah 60:22.) "Fear not little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. (Luke 12:32.)

     But no man can tell when that day will dawn, for that day is known to the Lord alone; but come it will in accordance with His pledged word.

     Then, in that distant future, the "fruits" of the Second Coming as fully effected on the Nineteenth day of June, in the year 1770, will be seen in the lives of men regenerated by the living Truth given by the Lord to His servant, Emanuel Swedenborg, and in the hearts of those who acknowledge His sway He will reign as He reigns at this day in the hearts and minds of angels in Heaven.

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ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH 1908

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH       Rev. WILLIAM C. CALDWELL       1908

     For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth in Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John III., 17, 18.

     The Lord came into the world as the Word or the Divine Truth, which proceeds from the Divine Good as the Son from the Father. The Son of God born into the world is the Word which was with God, and which was God, and which dwelt among us. So also at His Second Coming the Lord has come in the Word or the Divine Truth, which is from Himself, and is Himself. On this men are to believe if they will he saved, and if they do not believe they will be condemned.

     At both His First and Second Coming the Lord performed a judgment, separating the good and evil in the spiritual world, and putting heaven and hell in order. At both His comings He raised up a New Church, established by degrees and by successive judgments. And these judgments in the spiritual and natural worlds are effected by the Divine Truth or the Word, and by the separation of those who believe from those who deny. "He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of only begotten Son of God."

     The end of the Divine Love and Mercy in coming to men is not judgment and condemnation, but the Redemption and Salvation of men. This is the ruling end in the judgments performed in the spiritual world and in the natural, and in the Church even until it is established. Freedom for those who can be saved cannot he restored without judgments. For the Lord says, "For judgment I am come into this world that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." (John 9:39) And thereby He taught that a separation is to be made between those who believe in His Divine Revelation, and who see the Truth there, and those who see but reject it in heart.

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     Nevertheless the Divine end in His Coming is not judgment and condemnation but mercy and salvation, for this is of His Divine Good of Love, and is effected with all who receive His Divine Truth in heart and life. "For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth in Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (John 5:22,24.) And in the text "He that believeth on Him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already."

     Those who are judged and condemned at the Lord's Coming suffer this because of their state of denial and rejection of the Lord in His Word. This denial, when it is from evils of life, condemns itself. It is this truth, involved in the test, that we would dwell upon today,--that denial of the Lord condemns of itself, while acknowledgment of the Lord is saving of itself; that the evil from which men deny the Lord is from hell, and is hell, and draws man down to hell when he is in it, but that the good from which men believe in the Lord elevates to heaven because it is from heaven, from the Lord through heaven. In other words, that good itself, because it is from heaven, saves; but that evil itself condemns because it is from hell, and that persons are saved or condemned because of the evil or good they receive by influx, and that the judgment is effected according to the laws of the Divine order, thus by the Lord Himself as the only Judge of all men, and this judgment of men to heaven or hell is not committed to the hands of any man or men. All good is from the Lord and all evil from hell, and thus good and evil are above and distinct from persons, even though good and evil are only in persons. This is taught in these words from the Divine Providence, 320. "If man believed, as is the truth, that all good and truth is from the Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, he would not an appropriate good to himself and make it meritorious, neither would he appropriate evil to himself, and make himself guilty of it." and this does not take away the truth that man does good and thinks truth as of himself, and is blest with the appearance of it as his own; nor does it take away the truth that man does evil and thinks falsity as of himself, and thereby makes himself guilty of sin.

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     But in the light of these truths we see that good and truth and evil and falsity are to be regarded apart from persons; that the judgments which take place at the Lord's coming, and in the Church after His coming, involve principles of truth and their opposite falsity, and of good and their opposite evil, apart from the persons who may be in them. Principles are involved, not persons,--eternal principles of truth, revealed by the Lord for the sake of the Church and man's salvation,--an end which is fulfilled only in the triumph of good and true principles over those that are false and evil.

     These principles are apart from persons, and yet they are ultimated only in persons who receive or reject them. The rejection itself condemns, the reception itself saves. But the principles, not the persons, are the important things involved, and are to be regarded by wise men apart from persons who embrace or deny. Neither can persons be judged by men as to their state of life, but the principles they avow or disavow are to be judged.

     The principles upon which the New Church is to be founded are derived from the Doctrine revealed for the New Church. It is important that men should see these Doctrines in the light of Doctrine, and not in the light of human intelligence, and derive in this manner the principles that are revealed for the establishment of the Church, seeking ever the Lord's way, and not the way of man, which cannot be prospered. To do this is to believe in the name of the only begotten Soil of God, who is the Word come to the Church.

     The Church can be established only by the Lord, and by means of His Word, and this is effected through the instrumentality of men who seek to be guided only by principles clearly taught by the Lord in His Revelation. The New Church can be established only in those who derive true principles from the Heavenly Doctrines, making them laws of Church order, and of daily life, binding themselves at first to an obedience to such principles, even until they have become habitual, confirmed, and spontaneous, making every sacrifice for the sake of these principles, and defending them against every attack.

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This individual work, and the judgment it performs in the individual, is the first essential in the establishment of the New Church.

     Principles are beginnings,--the beginnings of thought and action. Man thinks and acts from the principles he has acknowledged and imbued, whether true or false. When thinking and acting from himself in freedom, a man thinks and acts from his inmost will and thought, where are the beginnings, the springs, the principles of his life. The beginning of all the activities of a man's life are in the inmost of his will and understanding, so far as he is living in freedom, and there it is that good principles are implanted that he may speak and act from them in all his life.

     One of the essential means of storing up and confirming oneself in these good principles is meditation when one is alone,--meditation and reflection upon the inner thoughts and motives that actuate one in all one's relations with the fellow man, and in all the affairs of life. It is by such interior reflection that man is able, in the light of truth, to distinguish between good and bad principles, between what is right and wrong, true and false, evil and good, and to judge between the two in entire freedom, confirming himself in a purpose to follow high and true principles. It is then that a man may form a determination and intention to make such principles the ends and beginnings of his actions. This in itself does not store up principles of good in the inmost with him. Good intentions do not become of the inmost life until they are carried out in act, or until there is such an endeavor that they are carried out whenever opportunity offers. Good intentions store up good principles in the inmost spring and source of action when they really affect that inmost, for then they are done in act whensoever there is an opportunity.

     But the principles of truth are not implanted in life and made the beginnings of thought and action without a, struggle against false principles and against the evil inclinations which are the source and spring,--the beginnings of thought and action in the natural man. To follow a true principle, and make it of his life and habit, a man is obliged to resist continual assault.

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The hells will not leave him in peaceful possession of the principles of truth he has learned, and will not encourage him ill the intention and purpose to obey them, but they will ever be against him in that effort. They will tempt him through his own natural inclinations, and through every possible external allurement. He will be obliged to meet their assault not once but many times, and continually throughout life in this world, even to the end. He must defend true principles against his own natural inclinations, and against innumerable temptations to give in to those inclinations. He must resist the attack made by those who falsify the truth he would obey, and he must resist the opportunities that evil presents. This is the price he must pay if he would become a man of principle, a man of spiritual character, making the principles of spiritual truth the soul and end of his life.

     And there is nothing in the world nothing in human life, so supremely desirable, so highly esteemed among men and with the angels, so grateful unto the Lord, as character, manliness,--what is truly human. And this crown of life, the highest gift of the Divine grace, is within the reach of every man who will do as the Lord requires of him, embracing His revealed principles of truth earnestly, sincerely, unequivocally, sacrificing all else for them.

     It is in such spiritual obedience to true principles that the New Church is established men. Spiritual obedience we say, and by this we mean obedience of heart and soul and mind, of the inner life as the source of the outer life. True spiritual character is formed in the interiors of man, where he perceives the truth of Revelation in freedom and light, and where he wills to follow that perception even to purpose, intention, endeavor, and act, whatsoever may be the sacrifice. It is there,--in the interiors of the individual mind, that the principles of the New Church are to find lodgment before the Church can be truly established in the world.

     No New Church can be established without conflict, but the essential conflict is to be waged by the individual in himself,--the conflict whereby true principles gain the victory over false principles in him, and whereby he becomes a man of character before the Lord and before men.

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Here, if you will, in the quiet heroism of the every day conflict of the individual against the source of evil in himself, is the Church to be established. Without this, nought whatever is to come of heated argument and controversy, or of the loud proclamations from a thousand pulpits. But given this individual labor and effort, the conflict at large fulfils its true purpose, which is a good one, namely, the enlightenment of the individual in principles of truth, and the inspiration of the individual to defend the principles in himself and primarily against himself.

     This is the first and all important means of establishing a New Church, and of raising up a new race of men in the world,-the individual judgment, whereby the individual comes to believe in the Lord by doing what he teaches. For the New Church is to consist of those who are successful in their individual conflict, successful in making true principles the first, uppermost, and all essential things of life. And such men will be the most powerful means or establishing the Church with others. It matters not whether they proclaim the Church by word of mouth, for their lives speak.

     Indeed the individual who is most seriously engaged in the conflict whereby he hopes to establish the Church in himself and in his posterity may be the least able to devote directly great energies to the conversation of the world. He longs for this, it is true, but he believes he has adopted the most essential and potent means of effecting the conversion of the world, and is not willing to forsake this first essential for any secondary means.

     The first essential is that the principles of the true Church be established in the individual, and the second essential is that it be established in many individuals. This second is also essential, for one man cannot make a perfect Church; but it is a primary essential that the individuals who compose the Church have the Church in them. And hence it is that numbers are a secondary essential, and that the Church is not to bend its energies toward increase in numbers before it has given of its first efforts toward the quality of the individual. The first essential duly performed, the second will follow as a consequence of itself, and we are justified in the belief that the slow growth of the Church in numbers is a consequence of slow growth in quality with the individual.

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We need not be in the least deceived about this, and it must be acknowledged as a rational and logical conclusion in the light of the promise that the Church will be given to many when it has been established with a few.

     The truth is that the first missionary efforts of a Church proceed largely from those who are more concerned about the reception of the truth by others than they are about receiving it themselves. It is well known that the first inclination of the new receiver is to pass the truth on to others. This may not be altogether reprehensible, for it may spring in part from an unselfish joy in the possession of newly found light. But it s a first state, and if a receiver remains in this state the Church will not be deeply established in him. So, too, if the whole Church remains in this state, it will not be established in its fulness. It must progress, and in progressing it is to be established interiorly in the individual, and as it is so established, he himself rises above the proselytizing missionary spirit to the state of humble desire for his own regeneration, and the perpetuation of the Church in his posterity. Not that he ever loses the desire for the growth of the Church among many. This desire becomes even more ardent with him. But he ceases to regard it as the first essential when he comes to realize that he must sustain a conflict in himself if the principles of the Church are to become effective in his own life, and if he is to become truly of the Church himself.

     It is inevitable that in the beginning of the Church many will stop in the first state, and not progress interiorly in the understanding and life of her principles. They will abide in the knowledge of the new truths, and perhaps in a general obedience thereto, but will not be interiorly imbued with the principles of the Doctrines. It will be so with the children of the Church if they are not led forward in the life and understanding of the Doctrines when they grow up.

     This is especially true of the New Church, which is an interior Church, only established in the interior mind of the adult individual when he comes to see the truth for himself and to embrace it in heart if he will. And this brings to view the true cause of the slow growth of the Church in numbers, that the men of the Church have neglected to teach their own children, and to lead them forward when they begin to think for themselves--have neglected to follow the interior teaching that the offspring of regenerating men inherit inclinations to receive the things of the Church, which therefore can be easily cultivated with them.

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Examples are numerous of large families who have gone out of the Church, while the father has gone on to the end proclaiming the Doctrines to the unheeding multitude.

     And this was a natural result of the state of the Church when men were satisfied with a knowledge of the Doctrines and missionary effort, when they accepted the Writings only as the world of a man, and not as Divine Revelation, containing an infinity of Divine Truth for the establishment of an internal Church.

     It was inevitable, as we have said, that this should be the first stage in the beginning of the New Church. But it was also inevitable that the Lord should give some to see that this was not its last stage, and its appointed blessedness. Further, it was inevitable that those who were given to see this should eventually rise above it, even by a judgment and a separation,--a natural result or a spiritual division on essential principles,--a judgment not brought about by persons, but by the allegiance of persons to principles.

     And it is important that w-e should recognize now that this was primarily a judgment and division of principles, and not of persons. Principles survive all persons. So far as it was a judgment of persons, and a separation of individuals as to the spiritual states of their regeneration, it was known to the Lord alone. Of this no man can judge, but men can judge, in the light of Revelation, of the truth or falsity of principles, taking a firm stand, upon the principles they believe to be true, and defending them against principles they believe to be false.

     And these two principles have shone forth clearly to us, and do now shine, that so far as a Church is not established upon its Revelation as of Divine Authority it has no lasting basis; and furthermore, that so far as it is committed to the policy of growth by missionary work among adults, while at the same time it fails to preserve for the Church the children born within her borders, so far it is doomed to self-destruction.

     In the New Church the acknowledgment of the Divine Authority of the Writings involves perpetual growth in the interior understanding and perception thereof, and in the development of that interior light in the life of the Church.

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And the acknowledgment of the principle of internal evangelization as of primary importance involves the doctrine of the distinctiveness of the New
Church.

     Those who have once seen these two principles, and acknowledged them as essential to the establishment of the Church, will be in the effort to make them principles of life, the beginnings and endings of their thought and action, to make a sacrifice for them, and to defend them valiantly against every attack from within and without; but primarily against their own internal foes, their
own natural inclinations.

     And they will do this because they believe that they have been called to the Lord's New Church, and are privileged to do what is required of them that they themselves may be saved, and that they may be the means of establishing the Church in the world.

     And they will find that there is a delight attending every stage of their effort to conform their lives to principles of Divine order. And if at first there is something of the delight of merit in the knowledge of precious truths, and of glorying over others who are less fortunate,--something of delight in the judgment, the conflict, the triumph itself,--this, under the influence of their individual conflict, gives place to a more humble delight, attended with a merciful desire that others map be blest with light. And in this new state there is more strength and less weakness than
in the former. For the new state is a result of principles implanted in life, to which there is a spontaneous loyalty, and on behalf of which there is an ardent defense, tempered, however, with wisdom, and with the spirit of hope and desire for the reception of the truth by men. At the same time also there will be the rational belief that the everlasting principles of Divine Truth alone can establish the Lord's Church and save the world.

     For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

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CORRESPONDENCES OF CANAAN 1908

CORRESPONDENCES OF CANAAN       Rev. C. TH. ODHNER       1908

     CHAPTER IV.

     THE MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS OF CANAAN.

     19. The spiritual significance of mountains. Being the loftiest things on the earth, mountains correspond to the most sublime states of love and faith in Heaven, in the Church, and in the human mind. When we ascend a lofty mountain there comes a sense of rising above the earthly things of this world, above the obscuring clouds of sensual appearances, above the grosser atmosphere of worldly cares and loves. As we climb higher and higher, there seems to be a nearer approach to Heaven, to the beginning of all things, and as we stand upon the summit with the world at our feet, there is a feeling of the tranquillity of peace and of alone-ness with God, which comes from those who dwell alone with God upon the mountain-tops of the supreme or celestial Heaven.

     A mountain, therefore, in the highest sense signifies the Lord who is supreme above all things of Creation; and hence a mountain signifies those who are in love to the Lord, the highest of all human and angelic loves. And since the Lord is the Word, by a mountain is also signified the Word and the love of the Word: the top signifies the inmost or celestial sense; the sides of the mountain, the internal or spiritual sense; and the foot of the mountain, the external or literal sense. (A. C. 9422).

     Upon the mountains in the other life are those who are in celestial love; upon the hills, those who are in spiritual love; upon the rocks, those who are in faith; and in the valleys, those who have not as yet been raised up to the good of love and of faith. (A. C. 10438.)

     Upon the mountains dwell those who are in the highest light; below them in the same mountain dwell those who are in less light; and below these, those who are in still less light; and in the lowest part dwell those who are in darkness and thick darkness relatively to the light possessed by those higher up. Consequently, the heavens are in the higher part of the mountains, and the hells are in the lowest parts.

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In the hells which are beneath the mountains and in the rocks, entrances open either in the lowest parts of their sides, or through caverns from the valleys. (A. E. 410.)

     In the Most Ancient Church it was customary to worship the Lord upon the mountains, and thus mountains came to be associated with the idea of holy worship, adoration, and love of the Lord. When the Church afterwards became perverted and fell into idolatry, the worship on the mountains still continued, but it was now the worship of man-made gods. And thus mountains came to have also an evil significance, the very opposite to the celestial love of God, namely, the love of self, and especially the pride of self-exaltation, and the love of domineering over others.

     20. Canaan as a whole is a mountainous country; mountains and hills are found in every part of the land. And on this account Canaan could fitly represent the Lord's internal Church, in which the love of the Lord and the love of the neighbor are universal, everywhere producing interior perceptions of wisdom and lofty views of all things of life. In striking contrast with this elevated land were its neighboring countries. Egypt and Assyria. Egypt was one continuous low and narrow valley, the true type of the merely scientific mind; while Assyria was a far-reaching plain, representative of the plane of the natural rational mind, upon which the thoughts and reasonings dart to and fro, like the Assyrian horsemen with their bows and arrows. A great wilderness separated Canaan from Assyria on the one hand and from Egypt on the other. A wilderness represents vastation, and vastation always precedes regeneration. The conceit of learning, the pride of self-intelligence, the self-sufficient confidence in one's own natural powers of reasoning, these must he broken by various afflictions, by self-humiliation, by the confession that of himself he knows nothing and understands nothing, before the natural man can become a spiritual man. From the sensual and merely natural rational states there is road to the heavenly Canaan, except through temptation and vastation.

     21. Mt. Ararat. In studying the mountains of Canaan (together with those of the districts which were included within its most ancient boundaries), the first mountain to be noted is also the one first mentioned in the Word, viz., Mt. Ararat, in Armenia.

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It was here that the ark of Noah is said to have rested after the fountains of the deep had been stopped at the end of the universal Deluge of evil and falsity which had overtaken the degenerate descendants of the Church of Adam. Noah represents the new Church which then commenced,--the Church of the Silver Age; the journey of the ark upon the raging waters represented the first temptations of that Church; and the mountains of Ararat represented the first steady light that was given to this infant Church, after its long night of fluctuation, vastation, and temptation, the new light of the regenerate life. (A. C. 854) It is a significant fact that the name of the mountain is connected with the root 'or, which means light.

     22. The Lebanon mountains. The mountains of Armenia are continued into Syria through the Taurus and anti-Taurus ranges, and near the sea-coast from the famous mountains of the Lebanon and anti-Lebanon. The Lebanon runs for a hundred miles closely parallel to the sea, in an unbroken ridge of the average height of 7,000 feet, though some of the peaks rise more than 10,000 feet above the sea. The name means the White Mountains, and they are so called either from their snowy summits, or from their white limestone formation.

     The appearance of these mountains, especially from the sea, is beautiful in the extreme. "Along their base eternal summer smiles; and along their summits rest eternal snows. Between the two flourish the vegetation, fruit and flowers of all dimes." (Stewart, The Land of Israel, p. 107.) "The glory of Lebanon" is frequently mentioned in the Word, and is always associated with the mighty forests of cedars which in ancient times covered the sides of the mountain. From their geographical position, (as leading from Assyria to Canaan), from the appearance of their shining rocks, and especially from the character of the cedar trees, the Lebanon mountains always represent the loves and perceptions of the natural-rational mind. Having gained the "new light" represented by Mt. Ararat, the regenerating man must find his way into Canaan, or the internal Church, by passing through the Lebanon valley,--by using the gift of natural reason which the Creator has bestowed upon him. And he must then at the same time pass through Syria; he must acquire the cognitions or knowledges of the truths and goods of the Church, and store these in his rational understanding, thus breaking away from the false dogma of the Old Church that knowledge and reason have no part in faith, and that the understanding must be kept captive in obedience to blind faith.

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There is thus no room in the New Church for the maxim of St. Augustine: "Credo quia absurdum." The motto of the New Church is on the contrary: "Nunc licet intrare intellectualiter in mysteria fidei," (now it is allowed to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith), and this entrance is through the valley of Syria between the lofty ranges of the Lebanon and the anti-Lebanon,--through the road of learning the truths of faith, all along guided by the perceptions of the rational mind. (A. E. 650, 730.)

     The Cedar of Lebanon is the very image of perception founded on solid reason. Its fragrant wood is the most enduring of all trees. The majestic pillar of its stern, serving as support of the Temple, is the type of the rational truths upon which the genuine Church must be founded. Its upright stature, its straight, far reaching branches, its needle-like leaves,--all bear the natural semblance of the rational mind, with its straight thoughts and pointed arguments.

     On the other hand, the pride of the merely natural man, who would subordinate even Divine Revelation to the conceit of his own intelligence, is also typified by the Cedar of Lebanon, as in the words of the Psalmist: "The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon," (Is. 25:5), Which signifies the omnipotence of Divine Truth breaking down the false reasonings of the perverted understanding. This, however, does not alter the excellence of true reason when kept in subordinate service to revealed Truth. When in such service, "Asshur is a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature, and his top is among the thick boughs." (Ezech. 31:3.) And Of the Church of the New Jerusalem it was prophesied that "the glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary." (Is. 60:13) For in the Writings of the New Church there is a divinely revealed highway between Egypt and Assyria. True Science and true Philosophy are there united with true Religion.

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     THE MOUNTAINS OF GALILEE.

     Among the hills and peaks of Galilee few can properly be termed mountains, but there are some interesting eminences of historical importance. Among these are

     23. Mount Napthali, the highest peak of the Galilean range, now known as "Jebel Jermuk," which rises about 4,000 feet above the sea. "Naphtali" means wrestlings, the struggles of temptation. Having actually entered into the land of the Church from the natural-rational state, (= Lebanon), through the gate of acknowledgment (" Dan), the pilgrim at once finds himself in states of temptation, (= the dark gorges of the Naphtali mountains). The life of regeneration has begun.

     24. Mt. Tabor, a few miles east of Nazareth, in lower Galilee, is a shapely, symmetrical mountain, rising like a dome from the surrounding plain, and is thickly studded with trees. It is supposed by some that this was the scene of the "Sermon on the Mount;" by others it is supposed to be the mountain of the Transfiguration.

     25. The Plain of Esdraelon. This is the modern name, derived from the ancient Jezreel, a great triangular plain extending between the Jordan and Mt. Carmel, and separating Galilee from the mountains of Samaria. It is drained by the river Kishon and its tributaries, and is remarkable not only on account of its extent and fertility, but also and especially on account of its strategical and historical importance as "the battle-field of the Ages." Here the Egyptians under Thothmes III. vanquished the Hittites some 1,600 years before Christ. Here, in the time of the Judges, Barak overwhelmed the Syrians in that memorable battle when "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera," (Judg. 5:20). Here, at Mt. Gilboa, Saul and Jonathan were slain in battle against the Philistines, and here King Josiah was mortally wounded by the Egyptians under Pharaoh Necho. On this vast battle-field Cannanites, Midianites, Amalekites, Philistines, Israeliest, Syrians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders and Saracens have met and bled, and, as late as 1799. Napoleon here defeated a Turkish army. "Here dynasties have risen and fallen. Here kingdoms have been lost and won."

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     This district is also known as the "plain of Megiddo," so named from an ancient Canaanitish fortress which guarded the approach from the south, and it is usually identified with the "Armageddon" of the Apocalypse. Thus Dr. R. L. Stewart observes: "It is not strange that this 'valley of Megiddo,' with its long record of conflicts, from Thothmes III, to Napoleon, should have been selected as the typical representative of the last great field of conflict between truth and error, right and wrong." (The Land of Israel, p. 133)

     The commentators generally interpret the name "Megiddo" as meaning "a place of God," but the Writings of the New Church give a different, and, as we shall see, a far more scientific interpretation.

     "'And he gathered them together into a place called in Hebrew Armageddon,' (Rev. 16.16), signifies a state of combat from falsities against truths, and a disposition to destroy the New Church arising from the love of rule and of pre-eminence. By Armageddon is signified, in heaven, the love of honor, of dominion, and of super-eminence; and in the Hebrew language, also, loftiness is signified by Adam or Arom, and love from loftiness is signified by Megiddo in the old Hebrew tongue, as is manifest from its signification in the Arabic language." (A. R. 707; A. E. 1010.) And on looking into an Arabic lexicon we find that the word magada means "to swell up, lift oneself up, to be proud, arrogant, super-eminent." (Compare Heb. Meged.)

     The plain of Mediggo, or Esdraelon, as the most southern part of Galilee, and the northern part of Samaria, represents the inmost of the natural, i. e., the rational field with the man of the Church, and this is the plane on which all his spiritual battles take place.

     THE MOUNTAINS OF SAMARIA.

     The Mountains of Samaria, taken together, are usually known as Mount Ephraim, though these are not only in the old territory of Ephraim but also in that of Manasseh, and include a whole system of peaks and ridges, more rugged, rocky and irregular than the mountains of Galilee. The intervening valleys are not so large and frequent as in Galilee, yet abounding in fine pastures and rich crops.

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The special mountains of Samaria are:

     26. Mt. Gilboa, a ridge some ten miles long, to the southeast of the plain of Esdraelon. It was here that Saul and Jonathan were slain.

     27. Mt. Carmel, ("the vineyard of God"), a ridge eighteen miles in length, bordering the plain of Esdraelon on the southwest, and terminating in a bold headland on the coast, 1,730 feet above the sea. In the Old Testament we read constantly of the "excellence of Cannel," "the honor of Carmel," "the glory of Cannel," "like gladness and joy from Carmel," etc., and it must have been a place of exceeding beauty in ancient times, before its forests had been cut down and its terraced vineyards devastated. Even now, for one brief month in the year, Mt. Carmel is clothed in the beauty of a wonderful profusion of flowers,--orchids, cyclamens, lilies, tulips, etc., but on the whole, the mountain now presents a desolate aspect. This mountain was the scene of Elijah's contest with the prophets of Baal, who with mad and bloody rites called in vain upon their idol, while heavenly fire fell upon Elijah's altar. And from here was seen "a little cloud arising out of the seal like a man's hand," which grew until it overspread the heavens and refreshed the land with an abundance of rain after a three years' drought. (I Kings 18:1-46.) Mt. Carmel represents in general "the Lords Spiritual Church, because there were vineyards there." (A. C. 1971; A. R. 316; A. E. 730), and this fits in well with the representation of Samaria and of Ephraim, both of which refer to what is spiritual and intellectual, while Galilee refers to what is natural, and Judea to what is celestial.

     28. Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim are two short parallel ridges with rounded summits, in the very heart of the mountain district of Ephraim, with the narrow valley of Shechem between them, each about 31000 feet in height. These mountains were the scenes of some most notable events in Biblical history. Here Jotham, the son of Gideon, spoke the fable of the talking trees. (Judges ix:6-21.) Here the Law, which had been given to Moses, was rehearsed and ratified by the people, according to the prophetic command of the law-giver: six of the tribes should stand upon Mt. Gerizim to bless the people, after they had come into the land; and six tribes should stand upon Mt. Ebal to curse those who disobeyed the Law. (Deut. 27:12, 13.)

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     Here, also, the Lord spoke with the woman of Samaria, who said: "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, worship the Father." (John 4:20, 21.) As a matter of fact, this prophecy has not yet come true in the letter, as far as Mt. Gerizim is concerned, for an ever diminishing remnant of the ancient Samaritans still observe the Passover here as an annual festival. But the spiritual lesson of these words of the Lord is that in the coming genuine Church there would be worship "in spirit and in truth," and not from the love of dominion, as in Jerusalem and Rome, nor yet from the love of the world, as in Samaria and in the Reformed Churches.

     THE MOUNTAINS OF JUDEA.

     The Mountains of Judea are more wild and barren than those of Samaria, though in ancient times the now bare cliffs were carefully terraced and covered with soil. The mountains reach their highest elevation, (3,546 feet above the sea), to the north of Hebron, and slope thence gradually northward to the mountains of Ephraim; westward to the "Shephelah" or hill-country bordering on Philistea; southward to the deserts around Beersheba; while, on the east, they descend abruptly into the Dead Sea. The following peaks are the most noteworthy:

     29. Mizpeh, (a watch-tower, from tsaphah, to look forth), five miles to the north-west of Jerusalem. This is a peak nearly 3,000 feet in height, and affords a magnificent panorama over the whole of southern Canaan. By the Crusaders it was called "Mountjoye," as they here caught the first glimpse of the Holy City. Here the people of Israel often assembled, in the time of the Judges, to take counsel together, and to offer sacrifice for deliverance from their enemies. Here Samuel judged and was buried, and here the people ratified the selection of Saul as their first king. (For the spiritual significance of Mizpeh, see A. C. 4198)

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     30. Mount Yoriah, (Jehovah seeth, i. e., provideth). This was the mountain where Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, when a ram was providentially substituted, on which account Abraham called the place "Jehovah Jireh,"--the Lord will provide. Concerning this, we read:

     That the land of Moriah signifies a place of temptation, is evident from the fact that Abraham was commanded to go thither, and to offer his son there for a burnt offering, and thus to undergo the last of temptation. That Jerusalem, where the Lord Himself was to undergo the last temptation was in that land is evident from this, that on Mount Moriah the altar was built by David, and afterwards the temple by Solomon. (A. C. 2775)

     Here, on an area or platform of thirty-five acres, was Situated the only temple ever dedicated to the worship of Jehovah in the Israelitish Church,--the temple which was first built by Solomon, restored by Ezra, rebuilt by Herod, and destroyed by Titus. Here, for nearly two thousand years, was the center of the only monotheistic worship then remaining in the world; and here, in the beautiful Mosque of Omar, one God is still worshiped.

     31. Mt. Zion, (a fortress, citadel, from tsawah, to place, establish). A ravine 120 feet deep, formerly separated Mt. Moriah from its twin mountain, Mt. Zion, but is now largely filled up by the debris of ages. Mt. Zion is much broader and 120 feet higher than Mt. Moriah, and was the "acropolis" of Jerusalem, the "city of David," "the Holy City,"--which has been defiled with blood perhaps more than any other city in the world. Of these two mountains we read that Mt. Moriah, where the worship was conducted, signifies the Divine Truth, and thus also the Lord's Spiritual Church and Kingdom; while Mt. Zion, where the people lived, signifies the Divine Good, and thus also the Lord's Celestial Church and Kingdom. And since the celestial heaven is higher than the spiritual, the city of David was built on the higher eminence. "For Zion and Jerusalem were built as much as possible according to the form of Heaven." (A. E. 405:28.)

     32. The Mount of Olives, or Olivet. To the east of Mt. Moriah, separated from it by the Valley of Jehoshaphat, is a mountain, 2,682 feet high, which of all the mountains of Canaan has the holiest associations and the highest signification.

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     The reason the Lord so often ascended into the Mount of Olives, was that oil and olives signify the good of love, and so also does a mountain. The cause was that in the Lord, when He was in the world, all things were representative of Heaven; for by means of these things the universal Heaven was adjoined to Him; and therefore, whatever He did was Divine and heavenly, and the ultimates were representative. (A. C. 9780).

     Near Jerusalem was the Mount of Olives, and by it was signified the Divine love; and therefore Jesus was teaching in the Temple during the days, and at night He went out and abode in the Mount of Olives. (Luke 21:37; 22; 39; John 8:11.) And upon that mountain Jesus spake with the disciples concerning the consummation of the age, and of His Advent at that time. (Matth. 24:3, etc.; Mark 13:3, etc.) And from that mountain also He went forth to Jerusalem and suffered, (Math. 21:1; 26:30; Mark 11:1; 14:26; Luke 19:29, 37); and this according to the prediction in Zachariah xiv. (A. R. 493.)

     The Mount of Olives signifies the Divine Love; for that Mount was on the east of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem signified the Church as to Doctrine; and every truth of Doctrine is illustrated and receives light from the Lord in the east....     Moreover, the angels of the Third Heaven dwell in the east upon mountains where olive groves flourish more than all other trees. (A. E. 638:31.)

     33. The Wilderness of Judaea is a long and narrow district along the western bank of the Dead Sea, a dreary, barren region of jagged cliffs and savage gorges, uninhabited except during the rainy season when, for a brief space, "the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose," affording herbage for the flocks of wandering shepherds. Into this forbidding wilderness the "scapegoat" was driven with blows and curses, vicariously laden with the iniquities of the people, and here, probably, the Lord tarried during the forty days of temptation in the wilderness, in the east.

     THE WILDERNESS AND MOUNTAINS OF THE SOUTH COUNTRY.

     By the "South Country" we mean here the whole district south. By the "South Country" we mean here the whole district south of Canaan, including the region around Beersheba, the Sinaitic peninsula, and the lands of Midian and of Edom,--a desert table land, arid, wild, desolate, and silent. Among the special districts and eminences we note the following:

     34. The Wilderness of Zin, west of the southern end of the Dead Sea, and lust south of Beersheba. Here was Kadesh Barnea, where Miriam died, and where Moses struck the rock from which water came forth in abundance.

     It is to be observed that the term "wilderness," as used in the Word, is very inclusive, both as to its natural and its spiritual meaning.

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     I. A "wilderness" may mean a district entirely desolate, void of all water and vegetation, and inhabited only by wild beasts and lurking robbers. In this sense it represents the state of a church thoroughly devastated of all spiritual life, averse to all good and truth and open only to the influx of devils and satans. Such is the state of every Old Church at the time of the final Judgment upon it, and such is the permanent state of Hell. "In the Hells, also, there are deserts where there is nothing but what is barren and sandy; in some places rugged rocks in which are caverns, and in others, huts. Into these deserts are cast out those who have suffered the extreme things; their ultimate state is such a life." (H. H. 586.)

     II. On the other hand, a wilderness may mean any region which as yet is but little cultivated and inhabited, being either a desert possessing here and there a redeeming oasis, or else a land that can be reclaimed by irrigation and cultivation. An oasis represents a remnant of spiritual life, and a reclaimable wilderness denotes the state of the gentiles who possess but little spiritual life, yet long for more.

     III. In either case a wilderness signifies a state of spiritual want, obscurity, danger and suffering, to those who have to pass through it on their way to a better land, and thus in general it corresponds to a state of temptation in the life of the regenerating man. It was to represent this that the Israelites had to pass forty years wandering in the great Arabian desert, in "a land of solitude and the pit, a land of drought, and of thick shadow." (Jer. ii:6.) And it was to represent a whole life of supreme temptation-combats, that the Lord was tempted of the devil in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights.

     35. The Wilderness of Shur. This is the northwestern portion of the Sinaitic peninsula, adjoining the Mediterranean Sea, and reaching from the border of Egypt to the land of the Amalekites. Being close to Egypt it represents "the scientifics of the Church which have not yet acquired life, thus such things as would acquire life by means of temptations," (A. C. 8346), in other words, a state of temptations brought on by the infesting doubts which arise from the merely worldly knowledges of the sensual man.

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It was here that the angel of the Lord revealed the hidden well to famishing Hagar, and it was here that the Israelites, after departing from Egypt, went three days without water, until the murmuring host reached the bitter waters of Marah, which by a miracle were made sweet.

     36. The Wilderness of Sin was to the south of Shur, along the coast of the western gulf of the Red Sea, not far from Mt. Horeb. Here the Israelites at Elim found sweet water and an oasis of palm trees, and here manna and quails were first sent to them from Heaven. In a good sense this wilderness, on account of these blessings, "signifies the good which is from truth. But in the opposite sense, Sin, which was a city of Egypt from which the wilderness took its name, signifies the evil which is from falsity." (A. E. 8398.) "Egypt, Sin, and No,' (Ezek. 30:15), signify scientifics and fallacies which are of the natural man, which are obstacles to the reformation of man by means of truths from the Word." (A. E. 721:18.)

     37. Mt. Horeb is the collective name for a group of three mountains near the southern point of the peninsula, comprising Mt. Serbal, (6,712 feet), Jebel Musa, (or the Mount of Moses), which is the central peak; and Mount St. Catherine, where there is a famous monastery founded by the Emperor Justinian in the year 527. It was here that Tischendorf, in 1844, discovered the celebrated "Coder Sinaiticus,"--a manuscript of the Old and New Testaments in Greek, dating from the fourth century. Modern geographers and antiquarians usually consider Mt. Horeb was but another name for Mt. Sinai, but in the Writings of the New Church we are informed that "the whole extent of the mountain was called 'Horeb,' while the more lofty mountain in the middle of it was called 'Mt. Sinai.' Hence by Horeb is signified Heaven, or, what is the same, Divine Truth in the whole complex; the internal of it by Mt. Sinai; and the external by the mountainous parts round about it." (A. C. 10608, 10543.)

     38. Mt. Sinai, (probably so called from the wilderness of Sin), is 7,363 feet high. On the north side, close under its precipitous cliffs, is a great plain, over a mile in extent, where it is supposed that Israel was encamped while the Law was being delivered.

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     Since by Horeb is signified what is external of the Word, of worship, and of the Church, we can understand why it was that the Divine Revelation which was given to the Israelitish Church, commenced by Jehovah revealing His holy name to Moses upon Mt. Horeb, where He appeared in the flame of fire out of the midst of a bramble bush. The bramble represents the rough, almost uncouth appearances of Divine Truth in the letter of the Word, in the midst of which, nevertheless, the Divine Love--the flame of fire--descends out of Heaven to man. (A. C. 6830). On Mt. Horeb, also, the people had to remain, while the Law was promulgated on Sinai; by which is signified that the people were in external appearances, and could not approach the Divine Truth in its internal form. (A. C. 10543.) And on Horeb they made the golden calf for their worship, by which is signified that the worship of the Word among the Jews was merely external and idolatrous, as, indeed, it is among all who are not willing to acknowledge the presence of an internal sense within the Word. (A. C. 9391)

     Sinai itself, on the other hand, signifies the Divine Truth itself, such as it is in Heaven, and hence, while the Law was delivered, the whole mountain was enveloped in smoke, which signified that the internal of the Divine Revelation appeared in obscurity to the externally-minded people. (A. C. 8819.) As a whole, "Mount Sinai signifies the Law, or the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord, thus the Word. The summit of the mountain, where was Jehovah, signifies the inmost of the Law or of the Word; the rest of the mountain below the summit, signifies the internal of the Law or of the Word, such as it is in Heaven; and the parts below the mountain, where were the elders and the people, signify the external of the Law or of the Word, which is its external sense." (A. C. 9422.)

     39. The Wilderness of Paran. Ascending from the southern point of the Sinaitic peninsula, we come first to the wilderness of Paran, which reaches from the central portion towards the east, where it terminates in Mt. Hor and Mt. Seir.

     40. Mount Hor. Some 25 miles north-east of Kadesh-Barnea, on the north-western border of Edom, this isolated mountain rises from a barren plain to the height of 4,800 feet.

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It was inhabited, in ancient times, by the "Horites," an idolatrous tribe of the Nephilim who were driven out thence, and from the neighboring Mount Seir, by the descendants of Esau. (Gen. 14:6; 36:8,
20; Deut. 2:22). On this mountain Aaron died and was buried.

     41. Mount Seir, (rough, hairy, shaggy). This is the name of the whole mountainous region stretching from the south of the Dead Sea to the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, (the gulf of Akaba). Here was the home of the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, whose name, also, means "hairy" or "shaggy." By Esau is signified good in the natural, as by Jacob, (whose name means a heel"), is signified truth in the natural. By Esau, as also by Mt. Seir, in the highest sense, is signified "the celestial-natural good of the Lord's Divine Human," (A. C. 3527, 4240, 4384), while in the relative sense it signifies the Lord's Kingdom with those who are in simple natural good outside the Church,--thus, with the gentiles. (A. C. 4240.) Hence the illumination of the gentiles who are in darkness, but who in the fulness of time will receive the light of the New Church, is signified by the words: "He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night' Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye return, come." (Isaiah 21:11, 12.) For as the "morning" will come with ever increasing light to the simple good who receive the New Church, so the night will increase in the same proportion with those who remain in the falsities and evils of the Old. (A. C. 10134)

     THE MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS TO THE EAST OF THE JORDAN.

     Proceeding from the south to the north on the eastern side of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, we meet In unbroken chain of mountains, highlands, and plateaux, which is nothing but a continuation of the Anti-Lebanon range. Following the route of the Israelites in their forty years' wandering, we come, after crossing Mt. Seir, to the plateau of the land of Moab, a district at one time fertile and well cultivated, but now little better than a wilderness. As we approach the neighboring country of the Ammonites, to the north, the land becomes more and more mountainous, until we reach the culminating eminence.

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     42. Mt. Nebo, with its central peak, known as Mt. Pisgah. The former is the name of the whole mountain, which towers some four thousand feet above the northern end of the Dead Sea, just opposite to Jericho. The name, Nebo, is probably derived from the Chaldean god, Nebo, who, like Pthah of the Egyptians, was the scribe of the gods, the god of prophecy and revelation, and who also, like Pthah, is figured as a person lightly clothed, except as to his face and hands. Both represent the Word, which is clothed in literal appearances except as to its essential truths, which here and there appear through the clothing of its literal sense. It is significant that from this "mountain of prophesy,"-Nabi in Hebrew means simply "a prophet"--the Lord permitted His most eminent prophet, Moses, to gain a complete view of the promised land, toward which, during the forty years of wandering, he had faithfully led the murmuring people; nevertheless, on account of a moment of doubt, he was not allowed to enter the land, and here the wonderful mission of the prophet ended.

     43. Mt. Gilead, (strong, rocky, hard, or rough). The district known as "the land of Gilead" was one of the most favored regions of Canaan. It included a long stretch of beautiful highland, reaching from the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee, along the eastern bank of the Jordan. Though mountainous, it was exceedingly fertile, well cultivated, and abounding in forests, with trees of many kind, from the resinous gum of which were made the celebrated balsam and myrrh of Gilead. The highest peak of the land, "Jebel Osha," (3,597 feet), was probably the "Mount Gilead," from which a view could be gained "from Gilead, even to Dan." This magnificent region was divided between Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. Here was the home of Jephthah, the warrior judge, and of Elijah, the prophet.

     Situated beyond the Jordan, Gilead represents a natural and external state,--but, being still within the borders of Canaan, in a broad sense, it represents what is of the Church, a first and introductory state of the regenerate life. Being a fertile and beautiful region, it represents the good of such a state,--a good, or a delight, which can be appreciated when we think of the joy of the Israelites in arriving at the land of Gilead after their many years of privation in the wilderness, and with the Promised Land in full view across the Jordan.

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Spiritually, it represents the "honeymoon" state, as it were, of the regenerating man,--the first holy joy and love such as is first experienced by the man who, coming out of the shadows of the Old Church, gains a first general view of the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, together with a thorough conviction that this is, indeed, the Divine Truth itself. This delight is what is meant by "the balm of Gilead," and the recollection of this holy joy and early enthusiasm, will often act as a "balm" in subsequent states of internal temptations, just as the recollection of the honeymoon love, in states of conjugial temptations, will kindle anew the love of husband and wife, with the promise of an eternal honey-moon in Heaven. "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" (Jer. 8:22.) "The daughter of my people" is the affection of truth.

     43. The hills of Bashan, (fruitful). To the east of the Sea of Galilee there is a wide plateau, with a net-work of hills and low ridges, which, on account of its extraordinary fertility, was known simply as "the fruitful," and, in later times, "the granary of Syria." Here, in mighty forests, grew "the oaks of Baoshan; here were bred, and are still bred in teeming herds, "the bulls of Baoshan," and "the rams of the breed of Baoshan."

     Like Gilead, Baoshan represents external good, or the voluntary good of the external or natural man. (A. E. 405.) By "the lambs, and the rams, and the he-goats of Baoshan," (Deut. 32:14), are signified the "goods of innocence of three degrees," or good words done from a simple, but innocent love. (A. E. 314) On the other hand, Baoshan may also represent the conceit of the natural man, the self-flattering pride which such a man takes in his works, which then no longer are good, but evil within. (A. E. 410, 514) Such conceits will infest every regenerating man, even as they infested and tempted the Lord Himself, in His human, as is prophetically described by David in the words: "Many bulls have compassed me; strong bulls of Baoshan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and roaring lion." (Ps. 22:12, 13.)

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     45. Mount Hermon, (Chermon, = one breaking through, penetrating). Our survey of the mountains of Canaan concludes with this noble mountain, the highest and grandest of them all, at the northern boundary of the land. Rising to the height of 9,383 feet above the surrounding plain, to the south of the Anti-Lebanon range, its snow-covered, glittering dome may be seen, towering above ever-forming clouds, from every point of the Jordan valley. To the ancient Syrians it was, par excellence, a sacred mountain, and its sides and base are covered with ruins of many shrines and temples. To this day it is known as "Jebel esh Sheik," the Chief mountain, or the mountain of the Chief. This, according to the most generally accepted tradition, was the mountain of the Transfiguration, where Peter, James and John beheld the Lord in the ineffable glory of His Divine Human, attended by Moses and Elias,-that is, by the historical and prophetical Word, both of which had been "fulfilled" by the Word made flesh. But it was not with the eyes of the body that the disciples then beheld the Lord, nor upon a mountain in this natural world, but with the eyes of the spirit, and in a prophetic representation in the spiritual world. For on the one hand, it is said that the disciples were "heavy with sleep," (Luke 9:32); and, on the other, Moses and Elias were not then living in the natural world, and a spirit cannot be seen by the natural eye. And, finally, "Jesus was not yet glorified," and therefore could net be seen in His glorified Human, except through a prophetic representation, (T. C. R. 777).

     This, however, does not detract from the holy significance of Mount Hermon, which is forever preserved in the lovely, the Divine words of the Psalmist: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the dew of Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forever more." (Ps. 133) This verse involves remarkable natural facts, as well as still more wonderful spiritual verities. There is a remarkable and unchangeable current of air in the Jordan valley, which conveys the evaporations of the river, and of the Dead Sea, back to the top of Mount Hermon, where the everlasting snow converts it into rain and dew which spread over the whole of the land, reaching even to "the mountains of Zion," and every where bestowing "life forevermore." But, in its spiritual representation, this phenomenon involves the lesson of the continual reciprocation between Heaven and Earth,--the lesson of action and reaction, influx and reflux.

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For while we, who live on the earth, depend upon the angels of Heaven for our every thought and affection, they, in turn, depend upon us for our every word and deed. These return to them, and react upon them, as the vapor of the land of Canaan returns to Hermon.
ART AND THE TRINITARIAN DOGMA 1908

ART AND THE TRINITARIAN DOGMA       WM. WHITEHEAD       1908

     That the Arian controversy left a distinct impress on the religious art of the IVth and following centuries, is now acknowledged, in a casual way, by modern archaeologists.

     After the meeting of the great general council of bishops at Nicea, art at once mirrored the work which had been done. It was, of course, the desire of the Church that symbols of the new creed should immediately appear in all mosaics, frescoes and triumphal arches of the basilicas. The Trinitarian dogmatists, therefore, laid their hands upon art. And the artists, being under the necessity to live, piously submitted to their demands. The earlier frescoes, and the sculptures on the sarcophagi of the second half of the IVth century, bear witness to the new attempts to popularize immediate representations of the Trinity.

     But art soon found itself in a unique dilemma. Hitherto, when the earliest Christian artists had overcome the obvious reluctance to directly represent our Lord, they had naturally conceived of Him in no other form than that of the human form. The scanty but definite primitive representations of God as a Good Shepherd proved how strangely attractive such attempts could be But now the old usages had to be forgotten. The artists were now the servants of a dogma whose monstrous trinity of gods called for some adequate illustration. New forms had to be created to embody the new ideas. In an obedient and mechanical way, therefore, the artists endeavored to interpret the new authorized concept. And it was then seen that the impossible had been asked.

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     Being released from the traditional forms, they now produced monstrosities of such a frightful character as to startle and horrify the leaders of the Church. Yet the artists in most cases had but carried out their instructions with care and fidelity. In the place of one God in human form, they had simply pictured three gods, each of which was an exact repetition of the same form. Being unable to conceive of any form other than the natural human, they had simply multiplied the old idea by three. And when these crude simple craftsmen-who had yet scarcely emerged from the mere mechanics of art--put down their tools, they had done their best to adequately illustrate the impossible. But the leaders of the Church were insistent on some plausible treatment, though it is plain they were at a loss to decide what that treatment should be. Presently they resolved that the Holy Trinity should he as much a mystery in art as it had been declared to be in religion. A less logical and less startling symbol was demanded. But this decision was obviously easier to make than to carry out. For the craftsmen continued to supply quite unsatisfactory representations. And simultaneously with such attempts, it has to be noted that the unconscious ease and grace of primitive art disappeared. The lines had hardened. Stiffness had supplanted fresh simplicity. An artificial restraint had become perceptible; and a general decadence of art was made plain. This was the beginning of an artistic problem which has followed the Church down through all the ages.

     In the early part of the VIIIth century we see John Damascene, the last of the "Church Fathers," grimly driving himself to the determination that the "form of Deity should never be introduced by art save under the aspect of the Incarnate Son." A strong feeling even arose against any representation whatsoever. But local repressive enactments and individual measures soon proved insufficient to stifle the insistent problems. The troubles of the authorities with the artists appear to have grown. For in the year 787 the second Nicene Council felt compelled to make the definite general declaration that "it is not the invention of the painter which creates the picture, but an inviolable law, a tradition of the Catholic Church. It is not the painters, but the holy fathers who have to invent and dictate.

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To them manifestly belongs the composition, to the painter only the execution." Yet despite this energetic decree--imposing in its display of inhibitive force--the Church found itself unable to force its will upon art. There was something in art which always revolted against the literal embodiment of the "holy mystery" called the Trinity. And in the very first attempts to depict the similitude of the three equal gods there appears almost invariably, in some detail or details of the work, a tendency to individualize and distinguish between the three gods. To whatever cause we ascribe that tendency we are compelled to note its undoubted existence.

     An interesting MS. by St. Dunstan, dating from the latter part of the IXth century, portrays the three figures of the Trinity all attired in royal robes with crowns and sceptres. But whilst one holds the globe, the second has been provided with a cross, and the third is given the Word. In studying such examples, too, it should be remembered that the Popes had laid down a general practice, especially between the IVth and XIVth centuries, that the Supreme Being should be represented only symbolically, usually by a hand bearing a crown. The great series of sacred mosaics at Rome faithfully agree with this custom. Hence, such typical exceptions as above, derive an added significance.

     The XIVth and XVth centuries held peculiarly striking illustrations of the Trinitarian dogma. The celebrated breviary of Cardinal Grimani (by Memling) at Venice, contains a picture of the Trinity in which the Father and Son are made to appear in the Papal mantle and the triple tiara of the Vatican. In other and earlier instances the imperial rather than the papal idea predominates.

     Among the most flagrant of the monstrosities is a fantastic representation at S. Agata, Perugia. In this fresco the Trinity has three heads, or rather three faces, two in profile to a single head and body. Two deserted oratories in the same place contain blasphemous personifications of the Lord.

     Perhaps the fresco done in the XVIth century by the great Florentine, Andrea del Sarto, alone represents the dogma under conditions of indisputable high art. It is executed on the archway above the great Cenacolo at San Salvi (Florence).

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There, having a single head with three beautiful faces, this terrible caricature of Deity may be studied.

     It should be stated, however, that, as a general rule, the most offensive representations of the Trinity rarely betray a high order of artistic achievement. Judged solely from the evidence afforded by the history of art, there was that in the Trinitarian concept which carried with it its own artistic destruction. A high form of art seems incompatible with any presentation of the dogma.* The most accurate vehicles for the perverted idea were destitute of beauty, despite all the long and frantic efforts of the Christian leaders. Not even in a sensuous fashion could they be considered for their own sakes.
     * Far too much has been read into Rembrandt's etching, or the Rubens picture in the Munich gallery. Beyond the necessary perfunctory concessions to prevailing conventions the great masters have rarely expounded the dogma itself.

     Regarded in this light, there is little wonder that early in the XVIIth century, Urban VIII should decree that "all images presenting the ineffable Mystery of the Godhead" should be burnt. The Church was then plainly compelled to take the stand that the artistic symbolics of religion could only be understood and interpreted by a faith which asked no questions but was content to piously believe. Both artist and art lover had to be content with this ecclesiastical muzzle.

     It may be pointed out, however, that the representations of the Trinity of which the most numerous examples exist, are those contained in the so-called "Italian Trinity," which enjoyed a significant vogue between the XIIth and XVIIth centuries. A XIVth century panel picture in the Certosa, ascribed to Giotto, is typical of this style. In it the Father and the Son are depicted as being of the same age and almost identical in type, the First Person supporting the Second, who is seen on the cross. The Dove hovers between them. Other notable examples by Masaccio and Pesellino also disclose the character of this school. Such a type--being a kind of compromise between artist and priest-could not fail to be popular. Its influence has crept into the miniatures of practically every school, and especially into the school of Nuremberg, where many replicas and modifications of the "Italian Trinity" appear.

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A notable instance may be seen in the Albert Durer's painting, the "Adoration of the Trinity," now in the Vienna gallery.

     It is impossible in this short article to follow the dogma's influence in the art of the past two centuries. But it is not without meaning that the cruciform nimbus which was once pictured as encircling the Lord's head, in recognition of the Divinity of His Human, has now been wiped away as an arbitrary sign.

     The history of the religious world may, therefore, be seen in its art. And its art has gone wandering after the passing images of the world, so that it cannot be restored to its true place until it has consciously found itself in the New Church for whose sake it exists.

     Those who care to pursue the subject in detail should note that art historians are very silent about the matter. But the following works will be found worthy of close study: History of Mediaeval Christianity and Sacred Art in Italy, 2 vols., (Hemans), Florence, 1869; History of Our Lord, 2 vols., (Jameson), London, 1892; Life of Our Lord in Art, (Hurll), Cambridge, 1898.
"pragmatic" definition of Truth 1908

"pragmatic" definition of Truth              1908

     A "pragmatic" definition of Truth: "Th' truth is something that wurruks. If it don't wurruk, it ain't th' truth. When th' truth stops wurrukin' it's a lie, an' whill a lie starts goin', it's th' truth." ("Mr. Dooley on Philosophers," in the American Magazine, March, 1908.)

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     The journal of the General Convention for the year 1908 reports a membership of 6,336 persons, showing a decrease of 224 members. Since the year 1900 the body has lost 590 members.



     The American Swedenborg Society has just issued the ninth volume of its "Library Edition" of the Arcana Coelestia, (Nos. 6627-8032), revised, and virtually re-translated, by the Rev. John Faulkner Potts; and at the same time the "Library Edition" of Heaven and Hell, translated by the Rev. J. C. Ager.



     We learn from the Messenger that, at the request of a professor of Upsala University, Mr. Alfred H. Stroh attended the recent meeting of the International Philosophical Congress, which was held at Heidelberg, in order to present the results of his researches into the "Cartesian Controversy," which raged in the Upsala University just prior to Swedenborg's time. Two papers were read before the Congress by Mr. Stroh, both on September 3d, the titles being: "Relies of Descarte's visit to Sweden, especially a newly discovered portrait by David Beck;" and "The Cartesian Controversy at Upsala, 1663-1689, and its connection with Swedenborg's nebular hypothesis."



     In response to our note on "Palingenesis," on p. 540 of the September Life, Mr. Charles E. Benham writes: "The reference to Palingenesis in Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature is under the heading 'Dreams at the Dawn of Philosophy.' Swedenborg's statement as to 'crabs' almost certainly refers to Digby's experiments. Here are Digby's exact words: 'None of these ideas come so near the real Palingenesis as what I have done more than once upon cray-fishes. Wash them clear from any earthiness, and boil them very thoroughly, (at least two hours' space), in sufficient quantity of fair water.

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Keep this decoction and put the cray-fishes into a glass limbeck and distill all the liquor that will arise from them, which keep by itself. Then calcine the fishes in a reverberatory furnace, and extract their salt with your first decoction, which filter, and then evaporate the humidity. Upon the remaining salt pour your distilled liquor, and set it in a moist place to putrefy, and in a few days you shall find little animals moving there, about the bigness of millet seeds. These you must feed with the blood of an ox till they be as big as pretty large buttons. Then put them into a wooden pail of river water and ox-blood, changing the water and blood every third day, and so you may bring them on to what bigness you may please.



     Writing in the Messenger on his summer experiences, the Rev. Dr. Sewall thus notices a phase of the growth (or non-growth) of the New Church, that occasionally, but all too rarely, is brought to the public attention of members of the Church. "Another impression, (writes Dr. Sewall), and this is not as pleasant a one, is that of the large number of people to be met with who refer to the New Church as the church of their parents or grandparents, 'who were so devoted to the Writings,' but who, themselves, through marriage or some other cause, have become so alienated from the Church as to be almost entire strangers.... Is it a fact or only an impression that these people who have left the Church generally refer to the hotly as 'Swedenborgian,' and not as the New Church, as if their education in it had been as in some man-made sect, and not as in the veritable Holy City of the Apocalypse, the true New Church of the Lord?"

     Such is the lament,--a lament not unknown to the New Church journals, both in this country and in England. But the cause, alas, is either ignored or else not seriously enquired into. The drifting away of the young people still continues, and, so far as all public indications go, little, if anything, is being (lone to prevent it, except, indeed, along such lines as have been marked out by Old Church organizations to meet similar conditions, which they find among themselves. Dr. Sewall, and, doubtless, many others, recognize that the young have become alienated "through marriage or some other cause," that their education in the New Church seems to have been "as in some man-made sect;" but what effect has this recognition on the discussions and activities of the general body of the Church?

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The General Convention discusses social questions, slums, metaphysics, pragmatism, etc., but how often, either in the Convention or in its societies, do we hear the doctrine concerning Marriage in the Church proclaimed, or ever discussed? And, again, how often do we find proclaimed that the New Church is veritably the Church of the Lord, founded on absolute and Divine Revelation? Rather is that voice sounding louder which proclaims the increasing "light" and the growing "charity" of the Church that is totally devastated.

     While the causes continue, and, indeed, are cherished, the effects will also continue, and the future New Church man, like the present, will still meet that "large number of people who through marriage or some other cause have become so alienated from the Church as to be almost entire strangers."



     Those of our readers who are interested in bibliography may remember a series of two articles published in the Life for 1904, pp. 509 and 656, wherein Mr. Alfred H. Stroh gives some description of a set of the Arcana, in original edition, on the shelves of the Harvard University Library. This set is unique by reason of the annotations in Swedenborg's handwriting, which are found in several of the volumes. The set was presented to the library in 1794 by the Rev. William Hill, to whom it appears to have been presented or sold by the wife of Swedenborg's printer, Lewis. For in a pencil note in Vol. VI. we read, in reference to one of Swedenborg's annotations, "Whoever may have made this annotation, the information it gives shows that the [this] set of the Arcana was most probably used by Swedenborg at his printer's in London, for Mrs. Lewis was no doubt the wife of the John Lewis who was one of the printers of the Arcana." The conjecture thus made is fully established by Mr. Stroh's description of the annotations themselves. Volumes I. to II. contain no annotations by Swedenborg; in Volume III. there are one or two of some importance; in Volume IV. none; and in Volume V. one.

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But in Volume VI. are contained a great number; practically all of them are confined to the chapters on the Earths in the Starry Heaven, and they indicate many of the changes subsequently incorporated in the Earths in the Universe. From this it appears that this volume of the Arcana was used by Swedenborg in preparing for the publication of the latter work. And that it was at the time of the annotations or subsequently, in the possession of the printer, is sufficiently indicated by the note referred to above. But the Harvard set contains no annotations in Volumes VII. and VIII., although the chapters on the Earths in the Starry Heavens are continued through both these volumes. This curious fact has now been fully explained by a discovery made last July by Mr. Stroh, in the Library of the Argyle Square Society of London. Mr. Stroh there found a set of the original edition of the Arcana, in which, while the first six volumes contained no notes by Swedenborg, the seventh and eighth, on the other hand, were filled with notes and marks in writing similar to those found in volume VI. of the Harvard set. With very few exceptions, these notes were confined to indicating changes in the chapters on the Earths in the Starry Heavens, and those on The Doctrine of Charity, to be introduced in the reprinting: of these chapters, as, respectively, The Earths in the Universe and The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine. The notes themselves seem to conclusively indicate that the volumes VII. and VIII. of the Argyle Square Library together with volumes I. to VI. of the Harvard copy originally formed one set, a set used by Swedenborg himself in his preliminary preparation for the publication of The Earths in the Universe and The New Jerusalem. From some cause or other they became separated before leaving the hands of Mrs. Lewis, and were incorporated in different sets.

     Mr. Stroh devotes an article in the New Church Magazine for September to a full description of the annotations found in his latest discovery. In themselves they are of little value, but they are of interest from a bibliographical point of view, and especially as throwing light on Swedenborg's method of work, to say nothing of the sentimental and laudable interest which attaches to the reading of and knowing the books that Swedenborg himself has used.

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PRESSING USE 1908

PRESSING USE              1908

     Numerous calls have been received for literature setting forth the distinctive principles of the Academy. The literature is not at hand. "Words for the New Church" is too cumbersome; articles in the Life are not always available. There is real need for a series of pamphlets which shall speak out clearly and tersely the message which the Academy was organized to deliver. Subjects for such pamphlets, many of them, have been ably dealt with in "Words for the New Church" and in the Life. The Divine Authority of the Writings, the State of the Christian World, The Distinctiveness of the New Church, Baptism in the New Church, Mixed Marriages, The Prevention of Offspring, New Church Education, Freedom of Thought in the New Church, all these are live questions, for teaching upon which members of the New Church are looking to the Academy.

     A letter just received at the Bryn Athyn Book Room says:

     "Mr. gave me a little pamphlet, entitled 'The Principles of the Academy,' by Bishop Pendleton, which struck me as the best thing I have ever seen on this subject. If you have them Please send about five or six copies. I enclose one dollar to pay for same." But the little pamphlet is out of print, and the Book Room funds and the funds of the Academy and General Church are fully engaged in other uses. It will, therefore, be necessary, if this use is to be entered upon, that a special fund be provided. Contributions of individuals or societies for this use may be sent to the Rev. William H. Alden, who will have general charge of the work.

     The time for this use is now, if it can be done. Recent events have deeply stirred the New Church. Earnest thinkers are desirous, as they have never been before, to know truly what the Academy is, what it stands for, what it is doing, what it proposes to do. The question is, Shall we provide this information.

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IS CONJUGIAL LOVE ONE OF THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF THE NEW CHURCH? 1908

IS CONJUGIAL LOVE ONE OF THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF THE NEW CHURCH?              1908

     The recent decision of the Lancaster Orphans' Court in the Kramph Will case brings up again the question as to the authority of the work on Conjugial Love in the New Church. The attorney for the alleged "Trustees," made much of the statement by Swedenborg in one of his letters to Dr. Beyer, that the work "does not treat of Theology but chiefly of morals,"--obviously for the purpose of lessening its authority. The representatives of the Academy, on the other hand, vigorously affirmed their faith in the Divine nature and authority of Conjugial Love. On this work they took their stand and because of it alone they lost their case before this human tribunal.

     In view of these circumstances it seems timely to consider once more the ground for the faith that is in us; to review briefly the reasons why we believe the work on Conjugial Love to be an integral and indispensable part of the Divine Revelation given to the Church of the New Jerusalem, and why we cannot as Newchurchmen repudiate the work as a whole or any part or line or word of its contents.

     I. CONJUGIAL LOVE "DOES NOT TREAT OF THEOLOGY." AS to Swedenborg's statement to Dr. Beyer, it is manifestly unreasonable to base upon it alone the repudiation of so fundamental a work as Conjugial Love, without taking into consideration the circumstances during which that statement was made and the spirit in which it was written.

     The letter referred to, dated October 30, 1769, was penned in the midst of the great religious persecution against those earliest champions of the New Church, Dr. Beyer and Dr. Rosen. Foremost among the persecutors was Bishop Filenius, who had married a niece of Emanuel Swedenborg, and who for personal and also political reasons had become a most bitter and malignant enemy of his aged kinsman. Swedenborg had been accused of teaching an heretical system of Theology, especially in regard to the doctrine of the Trinity and the Atonement, and the case had been referred to the House of the Clergy of the Swedish Diet, where it hall been much discussed without ever reaching any conclusion.

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     In the midst of this discussion Bishop Filenius, without any authority whatever, ordered the confiscation of fifty copies of the work on Conjugial Love on their arrival at Norrkoping from Amsterdam. In his letter to Dr. Beyer Swedenborg states that "I had some dispute with the latter [Filenius] on the subject, who insists that the books be not delivered without an examination, and is unwilling to agree that the examination of this book, which does not treat of Theology, but chiefly of morals, is unnecessary." (Dec. 11:306.)

     From the historical surroundings it is evident, therefore, that Swedenborg in this statement used the term "Theology" in a strictly technical and we might say political sense,--from the point of view which Bishop Filenius, as a Lutheran theologian, was expected to take. Conjugial Love does not treat systematically of the doctrine of the Trinity, or of the Atonement, or of any of the doctrines involved in the controversy then raging, and the Bishop, therefore, had no right to interfere with it. In a technical sense the book certainly does not treat of Systematic Theology, as does the True Christian Religion, for instance, or the Doctrine of the Lord, or the Divine Love and Wisdom, but the technical sense is not the only sense in which to view any subject.

     2. CONJUGIAL LOVE IS NEVERTHELESS A THEOLOGICAL WORK. Granting that it does not treat systematically of Theology, the book nevertheless remains in a general sense a theological work, if we permit ourselves to view it from a higher, broader, and more universal point of view,--the point of view which a member of the New Church is expected to take.

     We must by all means distinguish between Theology as a systematic Science, and theological as a universal quality which enters into and qualifies other sciences. It is self-evident that a work map be artistic without treating of Art, logical without treating of Logic, philosophical without treating of Philosophy, and in the same manner it may certainly be theological without treating systematically of Theology.

     3. THEOLOGICAL THINGS ARE SYNONYMOUS WITH SPIRITUAL THINGS, according to the consistent definitions of the Writings:

     Everything of Religion has been banished from the sight of man by the dogma that theological things, which are spiritual things, are to be believed blindly. (D. L. W. 374.)

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     To be "drunken" signifies to be insane in spiritual things, that is, in theological things. (A. R. 721.)

Free nations, in relation to the spiritual things of the Church, which are called theological, are like eagles. (T. C. R. 815.)

     Divine things in Heaven are called celestial and spiritual, and in the world, ecclesiastical and theological. (A. E. 1100.)

     4. CONJUGIAL LOVE TREATS OF SPIRITUAL THINGS, AND OF NATURAL THINGS FROM A SPIRITUAL POINT OF VIEW. What is the whole book but an exposition of the Spiritual and Divine laws of order which govern the relation of the sexes in its heavenly, intermediate, or infernal forms? True, it treats "chiefly of morals," but since it is Swedenborg who teaches that "a moral life without a theological life effects no use, and does not purify from evils or alone conduce to eternal life," (S. D. 6073), we may be sure that Swedenborg the theologian, Swedenborg the inspired servant of the Lord, would not and could not have written a work on morals that would not at the same time be theological.

     Look at the Table of Contents of the book, and judge if the subjects there enumerated he not chiefly spiritual and thus theological subjects! The Joys of Heaven and the Nuptials there,-marriages in Heaven,--the State of married partners After Death,--Love truly Conjugial;--the Origin of Conjugial Love from the Marriage of Good and Truth,-the Marriage of the Lord and the Church and its Correspondence,--the Chaste and the un-Chaste,--the Conjunction of Souls and Minds by means of Marriages,--what are all the things described in these chapters but spiritual things and relations and conditions, things of the spiritual world and of the spiritual nature of man, things of the Church and of Heaven and of God, and thus in a supreme degree theological!

     And the rest of the book,--the chapters on the change of the state of life with men and women by means of Marriages,--the Universals relating to Marriages,--the Causes of colds, separation and divorce,--the Causes of apparent love, friendship and favor,--Betrothals and Weddings,--Repeated Marriages,--Polygamy,--Jealousy,--the Conjunction of conjugial love with the love of offspring,--the Opposition of scortatory love and conjugial love,--Fornication,--Concubinage,-- Adultery,--the Lusts of defloration, varieties, violation and seduction, the Correspondence of whoredoms, and the Imputation of both loves, scortatory and conjugial, after death,--do we not find on every page and in every paragraph a spiritual and thus theological treatment of these natural things, a treatment in every sense religious and truly Christian?

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     5. SWEDENBORG'S THEOLOGICAL WORKS INCLUDE MANY OTHER BOOKS THAT DO "NOT TREAT OF THEOLOGY."-On the last page of the original edition of Conjugial Love, Swedenborg for the first time published a list of "Libri Theologici hactenus a me editi," (Theological Books hitherto published by me),--a sentence which, in any modern book would read: "Other theological works published by me," thus including, though without mentioning, the book in which such an advertisement would appear. Any publisher or literary man will testify that the "hactenus" bears exactly this construction, and will, as a matter of course, include Conjugial Love among the other "theological" works of Swedenborg.

     Now, among the books mentioned by title in this list of his "Theological Books," Swedenborg includes books such as Heaven and Hell, the Last Judgment, Earths in the Universe and the Doctrine of Life,--neither of which treats of "Theology" in a strictly technical and systematic sense any more than does the work on Conjugial Love. If the latter work is to be ruled out from the Canon of the New Church Writings, simply because it treats "chiefly of morals," why not, by the same standard, rule out the Doctrine of Life and the Doctrine of Charity? What do these treat of but morals, the good of life, the life of charity? And if morals are to be excluded from things theological, why not throw out from the Decalogue as of no Divine Authority those seven Commandments which treat of the duties of man in his civil and moral life? (H. H. 531.)

     6. THE WORK ON CONJUGIAL LOVE IS INSEPARABLE FROM THE OTHER THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS. This is evident from the mere fact that Conjugial Love is frequently referred to in the other theological Writings that were written subsequently, to it, (as in the Brief Exposition, n. 55; the work on Influx, n. 2 and 11; the True Christian Religion, n. 19, 313, 607; Cartons, Trin IV, 5; and Coronis 36),--referred to in precisely the same manner in which Swedenborg refers to any other of his theological works,--always to direct the reader to this work for further and fuller information on some point of Doctrine discussed.

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Take for illustration simply the reference to Conjugial Love in the work on Influx, n. 2, where he refers to C. L. 326-329, to Show the nature of what is spiritual, and to n. 315 of the same work to show the nature of the human soul. Or take the passage in the Canons where in elucidation of that most important of all theological subjects, the Divine origin of the Lord's human, he says: "In confirmation this arcanum shall be mentioned: that the spiritual origin of all human seed is truth from good, yet not Divine Truth from Divine Good in its own essence, infinite and uncreate, but in its own form, finite and created. See the 'Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugial Love,' n. 220, 245." If this is not a reference to a theological subject, then what can possibly be more so?

     Or take, finally, the reference to Conjugial Love in the True Christian Religion, n. 313, where the natural sense of the Sixth Commandment is explained: "But more may be seen concerning these things in the work On Conjugial Love and on Scortatory Love, published at Amsterdam in the year 1768, which treats of the opposition of Conjugial Love and Scortatory Love, n. 423-443; of Fornication, n. 444-460; of Adulteries and their kinds and degrees, n. 478-499; of the Lust of Defloration, n. 501-505; of the Lust of Variety, n. 506-510; Of the Lust of Violation, n. 511, 512; of the Lust of Seducing Innocences, n. 513, 514; of the Imputation of each Love, scortatory and conjugial, n. 523-531. All these are meant by this Commandment in the natural sense."

     Here, then, the reader is deliberately referred to the work on Conjugial Love for further details, ampler statements, more complete Doctrine, on the subjects treated of in this chapter of that most distinctly theological work, the True Christian Religion,--a procedure which certainly shows the former work to be on the same plane and level with the latter.

     But, more essential than all these indisputable proofs is the fact that the doctrines taught in Conjugial Love are to be found throughout the whole series of the Writings of Swedenborg, and in everyone of the books.

     7. THE DOCTRINE OF A MORAL LIFE: IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF A GENUINE THEOLOGY.

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The efforts to separate Conjugial Love from the other Theological Writings of the New Church, because it treats chiefly of morals, is simply an effort of Faith alone to separate the doctrine of charity, which is the doctrine of life from the Religion of the New Jerusalem. For we are taught that

     The goods of charity are nothing else than moral goods (D. Wis. xi: 5), and "Moral truths are those which the Word teaches concerning the life of man with the neighbor, which is called charity. (Ibid.)

     A moral life, when at the same time it is spiritual, is the life of charity, for the reason that the exercises of moral life, and of charity, are the same. (T. 443, 444.)

     It is in the devastated Church that the doctrine of charity and of life has been separated from essential Theology, but is the same crime to be committed in the Church of the New Jerusalem?

     At the present day there is in the churches the doctrine of Faith, and not of charity. The doctrine of Charity they reject into a science called "moral Theology." (A. C. 8987.)

     The things belonging to good, i. e., to charity and its works, they cast out from the Doctrine of the Church into a lower doctrine, which they call "moral Theology," and which they make natural and not spiritual. (A. C. 9300.)

     The doctrine of charity has been rejected into a science which is called "moral Theology." (N. J. 257)

     The doctrine of life they call "moral Theology." (A. E. 789, 796.)

     But he who "separates what is spiritual from what is moral and civil, is neither a spiritual man, nor a moral man, nor a civil man," (D. Wis. xi:5), and this because "a moral life without a theological life, effects no use; it does not purify from evils, and by itself does not conduce to eternal life." (S. D. 6073) And thus, to separate the work on Conjugial Love from the rest of the Theology of the New Church, is to render the latter of no effect in the regeneration of man; it is to make that Theology neither spiritual, nor moral, nor civil,--of no earthly use!

     8. THE WORK ON CONJUGIAL LOVE IS DIVINE REVELATION WRITTEN BY COMMAND OF THE LORD. In his letter to the king of Sweden Swedenborg solemnly testifies that "Our Savior has visibly revealed Himself before me, and has commanded me to write what has already been written, and what I still have to write." (Doc. ii:375.)

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Is there any reason for excepting the work on Conjugial Love from the other works thus written by command of the Lord, or from those doctrines which the Lord caused Swedenborg "not only to receive with his understanding, but also to publish by the press?" (T. C. R. 779.) When writing this book, was he not "filled with His Spirit," as when writing the other books, so that "from the first day of his call he did not receive anything whatever relating to the doctrines of the New Church, from any angel, but from the Lord alone, while he read the Word?" If "the doctrinals of the New Church are continuous truths laid open by the Lord by means of the Word," (T. C. R. 508), are the doctrinals concerning conjugial love to be considered a break in this continuity? If this "Doctrine is Divine Truth from the Divine Good, consequently Divine throughout, (A. C. 2531), is not the Doctrine of Conjugial Love as Divine as the rest? If upon "the Books which were written by the Lord through me, from the beginning to the present day" there were inscribed the words "Adventus Domini,"--"upon all in the spiritual world,"--was not the same inscribed upon Conjugial Love as
well?

     But if these considerations be not sufficient, have we not the following testimonies referring directly to this particular work:

     In the True Christian Religion, n. 844, after having enumerated to the angels "the arcana which the Lord has revealed, and which in excellence surpass the arcana hitherto revealed since the beginning of the Church," and after having mentioned by title a number of the Writings, Swedenborg stated that "something further had been revealed in the world by the Lord. The angels asked, What? I answered, Concerning Love truly Conjugial and its Spiritual Delights." The same statement is found at the end of Conjugial Love, with this addition:

     The angels then said to me: Write concerning this love, and follow the revelation, and afterwards the book written concerning it will be sent down by us out of heaven, and we will see whether those things which are therein, will be received." (C. L. 534.)

     And in Conjugial Love, n. 43:

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     After this an angel appeared to me out of that heaven, holding in his hand a parchment which he unrolled, saying: "I saw that you were meditating on conjugial love. In this parchment there are arcana of wisdom concerning that love, which have never yet been disclosed in the world. They must now be disclosed, because it is important. These arcana are in our heaven more than in the rest, because we are in the marriage of love and wisdom. But I predict that no others will appropriate that love to themselves, than those who will be received by the Lord into the New Church which is the New Jerusalem." Having said this, the angel let down the unrolled parchment, which a certain angelic spirit took and laid on a table in a chamber which he instantly closed, and be held out to me the key, and said, WRITE!!

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ANOTHER REPLY TO MR. JACKSON 1908

ANOTHER REPLY TO MR. JACKSON       ROWLAND TRIMBLE       1908

EDITOR New Church Life

     With your permission, I would like to make a few remarks on the communication of Mr. Franklin Jackson to the September Life. It was of great interest to me, owing to the fact that I have been successively a member of the old Church (Episcopalian), the Church of the General Convention, and the General Church of the New Jerusalem.

     The entire subject matter of Mr. Jackson's letter, as well as Mr. Bowers' article, bears more or less directly upon their respective attitudes towards the Writings. As the particulars of this subject have been discussed for over a century, I will here express only a few general opinions. The very heart of the difference between the Convention and the General Church is the disagreement as to the nature of these Writings, all other differences being thence derived. The doctrine of their Divinity and the distinctiveness of the New Church go hand in hand; to maintain one and deny the other means the destruction of both.

     Like Mr. Jackson, I have never known of anyone who actually referred to Swedenborg as merely "a good commentator," but still I do not object to this description of the Convention's attitude towards the Writings because T can see no difference between their doctrine on the subject and one that would refer to Swedenborg as such. In substance they are the same. There are those of Convention who say that the Writings are a Divine Revelation of Divine Truth, and even that Swedenborg was so guided by the Lord in giving expression to these truths that everything he wrote is infallible. Yet they deny that they are the Word of the Lord. Hence the spiritual sense, as revealed in them, is not actually the spiritual sense itself, but some sort of a "guide book" by means of which we can see the real spiritual sense when we read the Word in the letter.

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Can Mr. Jackson make a rational distinction between such a book and a commentary?

     Those who talk of the Writings being Divine Revelation, saying that the truths contained in them are the Lord's, but that the words are Swedenborg's, (in other words, a Divine soul and a merely human body), deny the Divinity of the Writings. Anyone who will make a candid and fair examination of the opposing doctrines on this subject, and the meaning of the work "Divine," cannot but conclude that if the Writings are such as they are regarded by the Convention they are not worthy of being called Divine.

     Mr. Jackson takes offense at Mr. Bowers' reference to the opposition to the distinctiveness of the New Church. Now, I am well enough acquainted with the ministers of the General Church, as a body, to know that no one of them, in referring to this opposition as more cunning in its methods and more dangerous and deadly than ever before, intends a personal attack upon the Convention. The thing attacked is not that body, but the evil and its attendant falsity which leads those who succumb to it to combat the distinctiveness of the New Church. In the early days of this controversy, the attacks upon the Divinity of the Writings and upon this distinctiveness, were of such an intellectual caliber as these: that the stand of the Academy was false because the Rev. Mr. Jones said so, and since this gentleman was the pastor of "the largest and certainly one of the most intelligent New Church societies in America," his word on the subject was final. Also, that "nothing would have been more earnestly disclaimed by Swedenborg than his own inspiration, or that his Writings are the Word." Nowadays a negative assumption is made and then passages from the Writings are collected that seem, to those who have a smattering of these works, to confirm it. When so confirmed, it is taken as a "guiding principle" and invariably consists of some statement as to what the Writings are NOT. Everything is then interpreted according to this negative "guiding principle." The negative assumption is kept in the background, so that the unwary are often ignorant of its existence, and in consequence its effects are more deadly and dangerous than it would otherwise be.

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In this respect, it is like a spider concealed in a bunch of grapes, or a drop of poison in an article of food. In combatting the distinctiveness of the New Church, some passage is chosen, for example where it describes the nature of the "mixed crowd," which followed the Israelites out of Egypt, or the beneficial effects of the Last Judgment, and the appearances therein being substituted for the truth, the direct teachings of the Writings on the nature of the New Church and the death of the Old are interpreted according to them and so falsified.

     The fact that the Convention is active in constructing edifices for the purpose of separate worship is no more an indication that its members are maintaining the distinctiveness of the New Church than the activity of the sects of the Old Church in this respect indicates that it is alive. The distinctiveness of the New Church is more a matter of the religious, conjugial, and social life, than it is of separate houses of worship; although the latter are a necessary adjunct to these.

     There is, on no account, a feeling of enmity on the part of the General Church towards the Convention, but there is such a feeling towards the false principles which it adopts. It is the latter and not the former that are the objects of attack of Mr. Alden and others.

     As for the "kaleidoscope," I looked through the "right" end of it for four years,--thought everything was grand and lovely. Bye and bye I examined things with the naked eye; the result was that I joined the General Church.
     ROWLAND TRIMBLE.
          Baltimore, Md., October 7, 1908.

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BERLIN REUNION 1908

BERLIN REUNION              1908

     The twentieth anniversary of the establishment of a New Church School in Berlin, Ontario, Canada, was celebrated by a reunion of ex-pupils, on Sunday, September 6th, and Monday September 7th.

     It was on the third of September, 1888, that the school of the First New Jerusalem Society, of Berlin, was opened, with the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, as headmaster. In January, 1889, Miss Annie Moir was engaged as assistant teacher, and in September, 1890, also the Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist. After three years the Society discontinued the school, and for this and other reasons, a number of members of the Society separated and formed a new society, in connection with which a school was conducted by the Academy of the New Church, the same teachers being retained. After some years, the school was taken over by the society, now known as The Carmel Church, and has since been conducted by it. During these twenty years there have been on the regular teaching staff, besides the persons already mentioned, the Rev. E. J. Stebbing, Miss Zella Pendleton, and Miss Edna Stroh. The present head-master is the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, who is assisted by Miss Venita Roschman.

     Of the one hundred and thirty ex-pupils living, ninety are associated with the General Church and forty with the General Convention. The majority of these are scattered far and wide through Canada and the United States. At the re-union sixty-four were present, of whom four are members of Convention. The localities represented, outside of Berlin, were Brantford, Guelph, Gait, Wellesley, and Clinton, Ont., and Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     The celebration opened with public worship on Sunday evening, the subject of the sermon being "The Mercy of the Lord." After the services, addresses were made by the Messrs. Jacob Stroll, Richard Roschman and Rudolph Roschman, who had taken an active part in the establishment of the school twenty years ago.

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Two of the speakers dwelt on the motive which actuated the founders of the school, namely, the earnest desire to keep the children in the Church, the third spoke of the end and the principles of New Church education. Two of the ex-pupils, the Messrs. Herbert Steen and Fred. Roschman, also spoke, expressing their gratitude for what the school had done for them.

     A letter of greeting was then read from Mrs. Henry Stroh and family, of Bryn Athyn. The letter was accompanied by a large photograph of the late Henry Stroh, who was one of the founders of the Berlin School. This is to be framed and hung in the building as a beginning of a gallery of the fathers in the cause of New Church education in Berlin. But the hope was expressed that the collection might not grow too rapidly, as we wish to have these earnest pioneers with us for many years.

     On Monday morning a well-attended session was held. The headmaster presided and papers were read.

     The first paper, by Mr. Fred. Roschman, on "The Development of Rationality by Education," showed how two things are necessary to rationality, truth acquired from without and good inflowing from within. There can be no leading to rationality by education unless genuine truth be taught. This is what New Church schools do. They also point the way which leads to the opening of the mind to the reception of good. It is having true rationality as an end, that distinguishes New Church schools from all others. The discussion of the paper took the form principally of questions addressed to and answered by the headmaster, and reminded many of their school-days. A point considerably dwelt on was the powerful influence of the spirit, which pervades a New Church school, the interior of which is the acknowledgment of the Divine. This spirit is almost entirely absent in Old Church schools. Especially is this evident in higher education. The spirit of a school has its origin in its spiritual association in the other world, and the influence of this association operates strongly upon all who are in its sphere. Some of those present, who had attended the College and Seminary of the Academy, spoke of a certain indefinable influence for good which the mere attendance at the school seemed to bring with it.

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This, they concluded, must come from that spirit of the school which had been spoken of.

     The second paper, by Miss Clara Scott, was on "New Church Patriotism." The paper showed what wonderful privileges we enjoy in the New Church, and how we should be filled with love for the Church, and do all in our power to promote its welfare. A number took part in the discussion, and it was delightful to hear the young people giving expression to feelings and thoughts which indicated how strongly their affections centered in the Church.

     The third paper, by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, was on "The Results to be Expected From New Church Education." The lateness of the hour did not permit discussion.

     The afternoon was spent in games and amusements on the school grounds.

     In the evening a banquet was held, attended only by ex-pupils. The school-room was beautifully decorated and presented a most festive appearance.

     After the toast to "The Church" came that to "Our School," which was responded to by Mr. Herbert Steen. He spoke of the great use which the school had performed for all by instructing them in the truths of the Church, and in laying the foundation for a true New Church life. It now rests with the ex-pupils to enter more earnestly into the support of the school, both in internal and in external ways.

     Then followed a series of three toasts on New Church education. The first, on New Church Education, a preparation for a true life of use in the world, was responded to by Mr. Ivan Northgraves. He pointed out how differently the New Church regards the duties to be fulfilled in the world from what the Old Church does. It is a life which is to prepare for heaven, by being honestly, faithfully and uprightly lived. To enter into such a life calls for preparation, and this New Church education gives.

     The next toast was New Church Education, a Preparation for a true Family Life.

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Mr. Fred. Roschman, in responding, spoke of conjugial love, a love which is known only in the New Church, a love which is being restored to mankind in the New Church, and will make that Church a paradise of God. For this happy state New Church education prepares the way.

     Then came the toast, New Church Education, a Preparation for the Church and for Heaven, and Mr. Edward Hill, in response, said that New Church education prepares for the Church in two ways: By teaching the truths of the Word and by awakening good affections. If these are brought into actual life in adult age, then the Church exists; and, if the Church exists, Heaven, as its internal, exists also.

     The regular toast-list being now completed, letters were read from former teachers and ex-pupils. The letters from the Revs. J. E. Rosenqvist and E. J. Stebbing, were received with hearty cheers. Then came the reading of a cablegram from Heidelberg, Germany, sent by Mr. Alfred Stroh, saying: "Die Schule lebe hoch!" This message from across the ocean awakened the liveliest enthusiasm. Next was read a letter from Mr. Homer Viraelchli, in Arkansas, full of humorous allusions to the old days. This was followed by one from a later pupil, Miss Helen Colley, of Bryn Athyn. There was also a letter from Mr. Emil Stroh, but this arrived too late to be read at the meeting.

     Then came more toasts and speeches, too numerous to mention. We would only record that when the toast to the Academy was proposed, a call was made for a show of hands of all who had attended the College or Seminary, and fourteen were counted. Fourteen out of sixty-four! This seems to us too good, indeed, but we hope for a still better ratio when the next reunion is held,-for it has been determined to hold a reunion every five years.

     The remainder of the evening was spent in dancing and other social pleasures, and it was at a late hour that the happy gathering dispersed. The sentiment was unanimous that the reunion was a great success. It was such without a doubt, for its lasting benefit cannot be any other than an increase of love and affection for the Church and its Heavenly Doctrines on the part of all the young people present.
     W.

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     Church News.

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The record of the month is the record of uses resumed in every line, with very little of diversion. The society work and the school work continues with little outward change.

     The Sunday worship continues to be crowded, the choir continues to give us good work, the Friday suppers are a little bigger and harder to handle, but no less appreciated on this account. The Bishop's doctrinal class, following the regular course in Heaven and Hell, is studying just now the subject of marriage in heaven. This is followed as heretofore by the singing practice, which is, hereafter, to have a new dress. In order to do justice to the new music, and benefit more fully from the skill of our instructress, we have just organized the singing class into a "choral society," and each member must subscribe to the "rules," requiring a small fine for tardiness or absence. The officers of this society are: President, Mr. Raymond Pitcairn; Vice-President, Mr. Walter Van Horn; Secretary-Treasurer, Mr. Valentine Karl; Musical Director, Mrs. Bessie E. Colley.

     The first lecture, under the auspices of the Club, was a series of stereopticon views of scenes in Norway, explained by Miss Alice Grant, who was of the party which visited that region last summer. The same views were afterward shown to the schools. The Club, as usual, combined its annual meeting, (hearing reports and electing officers), with a social, the first of the year for its members.

     The Ladies' Aid has been busy also, and the Theta Alpha has had a meeting.

     Our school social has been held, and it would delight the eyes of our friends to see how the young people fill the hall, even without borrowing from the Society. The increase in numbers and the perfecting of our school machinery are having a marked effect upon the whole esprit du corps.

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Even the boys' sports show the effect, and neither the first game, won by a score of 39 to 0, nor the second, lost by 16 to 0, was able to unduly elate or deject them.

     So much for our regular activities--but there is one thing which is new, and which is probably destined to have far-reaching effects in the future, and that is the inauguration of the regular use of the new Liturgy. The first time we used it it went with a spirit and a swing that promise much for the future. We look forward with much pleasure to the practice which is to familiarize us with the rich store of materials within its compact pages.

     All eyes are looking forward with much interest to the District Assembly at Thanksgiving time, and we hope that each center will be represented, as well as our isolated membership. That these meetings may grow in delight and in usefulness, from year to year, is our earnest desire, since they afford an important means for promoting the growth of the Church. The sharing of blessings with others, with some if possible not ordinarily associated in them, is a necessity of human love, since it contains the essentially reciprocal quality of the Divine Love. Those who abound in "silver," (i. e., knowledges), can here exchange their wealth for something nutritive and stimulating, (i. e., appreciative affection), to the mutual benefit of all concerned and the strengthening of the Lord's Church. Those who teach the Church through the printed page, although it is more far-reaching, often get little to feed and support their zeal in return, and it is well for the "outlying" brethren to rally from time to time, and bring their "living, reactive sphere" with them, whether it be in form affirmative, dubious or negative. No writing, however able, can take the place of the occasional personal contact. The shake of the hand, the glance of the eye, the tone of the voice, are, as we know, the fullest and most powerful vehicles of the sphere which is the life itself, the out-going spirit of each one.

     For this reason also visitors are always a source of much benefit and pleasure. Especially has this been the case with Mr. and Mrs. Frankish, of Ontario, California, who have been with us for several weeks attending many classes in the schools, as well as the regular activities of the Church.

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     PHILADELPHIA, PA. Beside the regular Sunday morning services of the Advent Church, a doctrinal class for adults is held in a private house every Wednesday evening at 8 o'clock, except the first Wednesday of each month, when a general social is held in the hall of worship. "Arcana Coelestia" is the text-book in the doctrinal class, while "Brief Exposition" is being studied every Sunday evening, when the young folk's class meets at 8 o'clock in the home of some member. In the Sunday School Mr. Bernhard Rosenqvist teaches the older class with the Letter of the Word and "Heaven and Hell" as text-books; the younger children are taught by the pastor. Mr. Bernhard Rosenqvist is now also the organist of the society.

     After the morning services on September 27th the semi-annual meeting of the Advent Church was held. The reports of the pastor, secretary and treasurer were encouraging.

     On September 17th the treasurer of the society, Mr. Knudsen, with wife and son, sailed for Europe, where they will spend some weeks.

     The new Liturgy was used for the first time on October 4th. The services began with the Confession of Faith office, and ended with the Holy Supper, which was administered to thirty communicants.

     An enjoyable social was held on October 1st at which Frau Muller, her daughter, Elsa, and others sang many beautiful songs.

     Two members of the congregation have signed the roll of membership, and last, but not least, the engagement of Mr. George Heaton and Miss Mary Roehner has been announced. R.

     BERLIN, ONTARIO. The school of the Carmel Church opened on September 12. The head-master's opening address was on the subject of Benevolence. There was also an address by Prof. E. S. Price, of Bryn Athyn, who was in Berlin for a short visit. There are twenty-four pupils this year, divided into six classes. The two youngest classes are under the charge of Miss Venita Roschman.

     On the 22d Of September there passed into the other life Miss Susanna Rothaermel, a beloved member of the General Church.

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     From childhood she was associated with the Church in Berlin, but for the last ten years she resided in Toronto. Her last days were spent in her old home. The funeral services were held on the 24th and included a service in the chapel of the Carmel Church.

     The Friday supper and class opened for the new season on the 29th of September. The subject of Correspondences is being studied. W.

     SPOKANE, WASHINGTON. Though no report from Spokane has appeared in "Church News" during the year, the society is alive and has kept faithfully together. Services have been held every Sunday at Mr. Hansen's home, in Union Park, and in the course of the year portions of the Writings have been read and a number of sermons from the "Life" and the "Helper." The services have been conducted by Mr. Hansen, with the assistance of Dr. Barbour.

     The attendance in the Sunday School has been from 7 to 12 children. Mrs. Osborn, the regular teacher, has given instruction in the Ten Commandments and the Old Testament. The children, most of whom are under thirteen, are apt and attentive, and as their religious instruction is well taken care of, there is promise of the growth of the Church among them. The moving of the Daniels family to the neighborhood of the Hansens has greatly facilitated attendance at the Sunday School.

     The members of the society are awake to the living issues in the church. Interest has been shown in the consideration of the question as to whether the prohibition of wine should receive the encouragement of the New Church. It is worthy of note that the wine question, which has long since been settled in the East, is still quite a live issue in the West. The writings of Dr. Ellis, whose scholarship was severely called in question in "Words for the New Church," are read in many places as authoritative statements against the use of wine. In one society in the West, that of Los Angeles, unfermented wine is administered in the Holy Supper.

     The sentiment of the Spokane Society seems to favor a recourse to the Writings in all decisions, and a desire to avoid doctrines from alien sources.

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     In May the society was visited by the Rev. J. F. Potts, on his return from California. Great benefit was had from the instruction in the doctrines he gave, both in public and in private conversation.     E. E. I.
For Rent 1908

For Rent              1908


     Announcements.




     A house, in Bryn Athyn, Pa. For particulars apply to MISS C. A. HOBART, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1908

PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1908

     Special Notice.

     The Sixth Philadelphia District Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem is called to meet at Bryn Athyn during the Thanksgiving holidays, November 27th-29th.

     The Assembly will open with a social reception on Thursday evening, November 26th.

     At the banquet, on Friday evening the Bishop will deliver an address, to be followed by reports from the various centers of the District. On Saturday night a paper will be read on the subject of "Mixed Marriages," to be followed by discussion.

     The Sunday morning services will be followed by the administration of the Holy Supper, in the afternoon, and a sacred concert in the evening.

     Entertainment will be provided for all visitors, of whom we hope there will be a goodly number, as the occasion promises to be of more than usual interest. Intending visitors will please communicate as early as possible with HOMER SYNNESTVEDT, Secretary.
PITTSBURGH DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1908

PITTSBURGH DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       N. D. PENDLETON       1908

     The Pittsburgh Assembly will be held in the city of Pittsburgh on Friday and Saturday evenings, November 20th and 21st.

     The Holy Supper will be administered on the following Sunday afternoon. On Monday evening, November 23d, a men's meeting will be held.

     Visitors are cordially invited. All communications should be addressed to Mr. S. S. Lindsay, 359 Stratford Ave., E. E. Pittsburgh. N. D. PENDLETON, Secretary.
NEW YORK SOCIETY 1908

NEW YORK SOCIETY              1908

     The place of worship of the New York Society is 228 W. 58th St. (not 225 as printed in our last issue.) Services are held on the first and third Sundays of the month.
TESTIMONY OF SWEDENBORG'S EARLIER WORKS 1908

TESTIMONY OF SWEDENBORG'S EARLIER WORKS       E. E. IUNGERICH       1908



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NEW CHURCH LIFE.
VOL. XXVIII. DECEMBER, 1908.          No. 12.
     The earlier works of Swedenborg, generally called Scientific Works to distinguish them from the Theological Writings, have come before the attention of the church in so many ways that it has become a very important question to determine what reliance is to be placed in them. The fact that concepts from these earlier works are now exercising a determining influence upon even such central theological doctrines as the Lord's Divine Human makes an inquiry into the authority of these earlier works desirable.

     In considering a subject of this kind, it is essential that we prefer intrinsic reasons to those which are external. The Writings are for the most part silent on this subject, and many of the references are indirect. But the absence of more complete declarations than those we have, is not necessarily a serious obstacle towards coming to a decision, or a presumption of the comparative unimportance or unserviceableness of the earlier works.

     The looking for explicit declarations, though undoubtedly proper as an exercise of the rationality, does not constitute the sole function of the rational mind. The inquiry into principles, the ability to combine and correlate, and the art of making just inferences as to what is implied, though more difficult to acquire, are not less important in the pursuit of truth. It is not improbable that there are many arcana in the Heavenly Doctrines which will be withheld from Newchurchmen until they perfect an art of reasoning removed one or more degrees from the senses, and in agreement with a philosophy of universals. Such an art of reasoning will not be accessible to those who would employ it to limit or nullify explicit statements in the Heavenly Doctrines, but will perhaps come as a reward to those who have been faithful to the dicta of revelation in every exercise of their reasoning.

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As a point in question, no reasoning would be valid which denied that Swedenborg's intromission into the celestial kingdom in 1747 marked a notable epoch in his mission and in himself as instrument of the Lord's revelation. But a valid and proper reason may justly challenge the use of this statement as ground for concluding that the difference between the works before and after this date is a difference between error and truth.

     A demonstration is accordingly the more valuable the more it depends on intrinsic reasons such as universal principles of doctrine as its basis. But the external testimony of a collection of succinct passages adduced in support of a prior demonstration on doctrinal lines is of undoubted use as corroborative evidence. The earlier works, whose truth is the subject of this inquiry, must in all fairness be allowed to testify in their own behalf; so that passages may with all propriety be adduced from these works as well as the later ones. Our inquiry therefore divides itself into two main lines: 1. An inquiry into the doctrinal agreement of the earlier works with the later ones, and 2. The assembling of confirmatory passages from both sets of works.

     The former and more important line of investigation was undertaken by Rev. W. L. Gladish (Life, July, 1908). By referring to his article it may be seen that Swedenborg taught in the earlier works as well as in the later ones the doctrines of the Unity of God, the Human Form, the Spiritual Sun, Degrees, Correspondences, and many more. He taught, before his spiritual eyes were fully opened, doctrines which in later works are declared to be revealed for the use of the New Church. Are not the earlier works which contain such doctrines, pregnant with value to us.

     It will therefore be the object of this paper to take up the second line of investigation and adduce confirmatory passages. These passages will have as object the establishment of the following theorem:

     THEOREM.

     SWEDENBORG WAS LED BY THE LORD TO WRITE NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. HE RECEIVED SUPERNATURAL INSTRUCTION IN REGARD TO MANY OF THE EARLIER WORKS.

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THE WORKS WHOSE TRUTH IS SO MIRACULOUSLY ATTESTED ARE IN AGREEMENT WITH THE REST. SWEDENBORG WROTE WITH A CONVICTION OF THEIR TRUTH. HIS IGNORANCE OF SOME DOCTRINES THAT WERE AFTERWARDS REVEALED, DID NOT PREVENT WHAT HE DID WRITE FROM BEING THE TRUTH.

     SWEDENBORG WAS LED BY THE LORD TO WRITE NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.

     In support of this we adduce a paragraph from the letter to Oetinger written by Swedenborg in 1766, nineteen years after the date of his intromission into the celestial kingdom. The letter is Doc. 232 in R. L. Tafel's Documents, Vol. 2:

     "Query: Why from being a philosopher I have been chosen? Answer: The cause of this has been, that the spiritual things which are being revealed at the present day may be taught and understood naturally and rationally; for spiritual truths have a correspondence with natural truths because in these they terminate, and upon these they rest. That there is a correspondence of all spiritual things with all things of man, as well as with all things of the earth, may be seen in the work on "Heaven and Hell" nos. 87 to 102, and nos. 103 to 115. For this reason I was introduced by the Lord first into the natural sciences, and thus prepared; and, indeed, from the pear 1710 to 1744, when heaven was opened to me. Every one also is led by means of natural things to spiritual things; for man is born natural; by education he is made moral, and afterwards by regeneration from the Lord he becomes spiritual. The Lord has granted to me besides to love truths in a spiritual manner, (Insuper dedit Dominus mihi ut spiritualiter amarem veritates) (i.e., to love them), not for the sake of honor, nor for the sake of gain, but for the sake of the truths themselves; for he who loves truths for the sake of the truth, sees them from the Lord, because the Lord is the Way and the Truth (John 14:6), but he who loves them for the sake of honor or gain, sees them from himself; and seeing from oneself is equivalent to seeing falsities. Falsities that have been confirmed close the church, wherefore truths rationally confirmed (confirmata) have to open it.

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The dogma which has been handed down by the Papists, and accepted by the Protestants, viz., that the understanding is to be held in bondage under obedience to faith, has a second time closed the church, and what else is to open it again, except an understanding illustrated by the Lord; but on this subject see the Apocalypse Revealed, no. 9141.

     Swedenborg could be led by the Lord, because he "loved truths spiritually." "Insuper dedit Dominus mihi ut spiritualiter amarem veritates." This loving of truth for its own sake kept him out of falsities, and enabled him to see truth from the Lord. The works written from 1710 to 1744, though chiefly concerned with science and philosophy, are none the less an exposition of truths and of truths seen from the Lord. The chief works written during this period were the Chemistry, Tremulation, Lesser Principia, Infinite, Principia, Rational Psychology, and the Economy, of the Animal Kingdom, The Brain, Animal Kingdom, Sense in General, Dream Book, Worship and Love of God, and the Adversaria were written between 1743 and 1747.

     SWEDENBORG RECEIVED SUPERNATURAL INSTRUCTION IN REGARD TO MANY OF THE EARLIER WORKS.

     He had dreams by which he was informed concerning the things he was writing, and had signs to attest the truth of what was written. These "signs" consisted in "a certain extraordinary light," and the vision of "fiery lights and flames." (S. D. 2951, 3Ad. 7012, Doc. II:145, 920.)

     A. Testimony concerning the Brain.

     Swedenborg's instructions in respect to the citations from the old anatomists which are to be inserted as a preface to the chapter on the Cerebrum are as follows: "There is to be premised the experience collected in chapter VII, p. LXXIII of the first projection [Codex 551; also concerning the motion of the brain, perhaps the experience collected in chapter i. (ibid), and likewise what has been said respecting the cortical and medullary substance in general elsewhere, both in my manuscripts and my printed works. NOTE: I HAVE BEEN COMMANDED. (Obs. Jessus sum)." (Brain 8, footnote.)

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     B. Testimony concerning the Animal Kingdom:

     Two dreams of Swedenborg related in the Dream Book, (no 5, 6, Dec. 209), drew from him the following remarks:

     "I. The meaning of this is that I should then write and commence the epilogue of the second volume [see Animal Kingdom, p. 424, to which I wanted to write a preface, that was not however, required. I acted on this instruction. 2. That the key to the lungs, and consequently to the motion of the whole body, is the pulmonary artery."

     Nos. 162 and 163 of the Dream Book drew from R. L. Tafel the following critical note, contained in Vol. III. of the Documents, Note 164 IX. C:

     "On Aug. 1 (no. 162) Swedenborg began writing out Part III of the 'New Series' of the Regnum Animale for the press, as appears from the following explanation:--'This signifies that I was led to my work about the senses, which I began writing today; and that I did not wish to be drawn away thereby from that which is more important.'--And in no. 163, on the same day, we read:--'This signifies the work upon which I have now entered the last was upon the Brain. I find by this that I shall have God's assistance in it; for I believe that He will aid me in it.' "

     C. Testimony concerning the Principia:

     On p. 82 Of the "Sense in General." We find this introductory statement:

     "It is to be observed that in agreement with a nocturnal admonition (secundum admonitionem noct.*) I must refer to my philosophical Principia and consider the light, heavy, and active properties which are there described in sundry places: I was told that thus it would be granted to me to fly wherever I please."
     * In the published work De Sensibus these words are "Secundum admonitionem audit." (according to an admonition heard); but in the Documents Dr. R. L. Tafel quotes and translates them in the words given in the text. (Doc. III, p. 1903) We assume of course that Dr. Tafel made the correction of audit to noct., after reference to the original manuscript, but, unfortunately, he makes his change without any explanation.

     D. Testimony concerning the Worship and Love of God.

     No. 182 Of the Dream Book, Dec. 209, reads as follows:

     "I was further informed respecting my work upon the Worship and Love of God, which was said to be a Divine book (liber divinus).

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I believe it was to contain also something about spirits; my book on the Infinite I thought treated on something similar, but I did not receive an answer to this."

     E. Testimony concerning the Corpuscular Philosophy:

     At the conclusion of this short summary of the principles of Swedenborg's system of Cosmology, occur these remarkable words:

     "These things are true because I have the sign."

     THE WORKS WHOSE TRUTH IS SO MIRACULOUSLY ATTESTED ARE IN ACCORD WITH THE REST.

     These earlier works have many cross-references to each other.

     The Animal Kingdom quotes parts of the Economy, and the Economy and the Infinite make references to the Principia.

     It will be sufficient, however, for the demonstration of this proposition, to show the agreement of the Worship and Love of God with the Adversaria, and of the Corpuscular Philosophy with the works on cosmology.

     We read accordingly, (I Ad. p.7):

     "The origin of the world, the paradise, the vegetation, and the nativity of Adam were treated of in my treatise on the Worship and Love of God, Part I, but according to the leading of the Understanding or the thread of reason. Now since no trust is to be placed in Human Intelligence unless it be inspired from God, it is of importance to truth to compare the things that have been delivered in the said work with what is revealed in Sacred Writ, and thus in this place with the History of Creation revealed by God to Moses. Their agreement will thus be put to the test. For whatever does not coincide fully with revelation, must certainly be pronounced false or else a delirium of our rational mind. On this account I had to preface a brief commentary to the first chapters of Genesis.

     "After I had applied myself for some time to this matter, I was filled with wonder at the concordance, for our little work treats first of the universal chaos, or great egg of the universe, which contained both heaven and earth, according to Genesis 1:1.

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Then of the Planets and the Earth, that in their primordial states they were like amorphous bodies or inordinate masses; also that no ethereal atmospheres which could transmit solar rays had yet arisen, on which account there was no universe, but only what was void and empty, (vacuum et inane), whence mere thick darkness; but that when the ether had arisen, which is called throughout the Scriptures "the divine spirit," those masses were whirled about and turned into a globe, according to verse 2. That they began to rotate around their axes, and thus brought forth days, with their evenings, nights, and morning, according to verse 2. That they began to rotate around their axes, and thus brought forth days, with their evenings, nights, and morning, according to verses 3, 4, 5; also that the aerial atmosphere was brought forth, according to verses 6, 7, 8. That this primitive globe was fluid, but superinduced upon itself a crust, and thus became earth, according to verses 9, 10; and that this terrestrial surface first brought forth grass, then trees, smaller and greater, according to verses 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. That times arose from the annual circumgyrations of the earth about the sun, according to verses 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. Afterwards that insects or small worms were brought froth, i. e., animacules, and also birds and fish, according to verses 21, 22, 23. Then various kinds of breathing things (animantium) verses 24, 25. Finally man after the divine image, according to verses 26, 27, and many other things which are adduced in the prefaced history of creation and the commentary."

     The following excerpts from the Corpuscular Philosophy will show that it contains teachings found in the Chemistry, Principia, Economy, Infinite, Worship and Love of God. These teachings are true not only in the Corpuscular Philosophy, as was attested to Swedenborg, but also in the other works where they occur.

     "I. There is a first substance of the world, (mundi)-with others in their order similar to it. 2. There is an activity of this substance, whence is fire. 3. There are four auras of the world following one another in succession. The particles are the determinants of things, and are proper to the circumfluent world.

     From these by determination, are generated the fluids called spirituous: 1. The human spirituous fluid from the first aura. 2. The animal spirituous fluid from the second aura. 3. One formed from the other, whence insects. These are the first determinants of the animal kingdom....

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     Terrestrial determinants of another kind are: 1. Least tetrahedrons and cubes, formed in the interstices of the primitive globules of water, whence arise the volatile salts. 2. Larger tetrahedrons and cubes, formed between the globules of water by the interposition of the primitives of water. These are the parts of common salts, nitres, acids, and alkalies.

     The subdeterminants are: 1. Oils of different kinds. 2. Spirits of different kinds, which arise from the conflux of most minute or volatile saline particles which, together with the aqueous primitives, constitute the surface, the ether occupying the interiors.

     "These things are true because I have the sign."

     SWEDENBORG WROTE THE EARLIER WORKS WITH A CONVICTION OF THEIR TRUTH.

     No further demonstration is needed for this than a reference to the introductions and epilogues of the various works, such as the Infinite, Principia, Economy, Animal Kingdom, and the Brain.

     We read as follows in the appendix to the Principia:

     "I did not bring out these things to win the favor of the learned world or to acquire any name or fame. I published them, led solely by the love of truth. It matters little to me whether or not I win the assent of all or none, or whether I get much or little praise. To one zealous for truth and a true philosophy such matters are of no concern. If I do gain applause and praise, such will therefore be grateful to me only so far as it is a sign that I have followed the truth."

     Holding these views, (which are in complete harmony with the letter to Oetinger, quoted at the beginning of this article), it is not strange that his motto in the Principia, Copper, and Iron, is "Dominus Providebit," (the Lord will provide; or that the motto in the Economy is: "He is born for few people who thinks of those of his own age; many thousand years, many thousand people will supervene: look to them, even though for some cause silence is imposed on thy contemporaries. There will come others who will judge without enmity or favor. (Seneca Epist. LXXIX)."

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     HIS IGNORANCE OF SOME DOCTRINES THAT WERE AFTERWARDS REVEALED, DID NOT PREVENT WHAT HE DID WRITE FROM BEING THE TRUTH.

     Under this head would come for examination the occasional passages in the earlier works which raise the question as to whether errors may not have crept into them and been actively espoused by Swedenborg. There are appearances from his use of ecclesiastical terminology--that he advocates some of the false doctrines of the old church. These passages should be carefully examined. We have examined several of these, and in particular the one in the Infinite (Part. I, Sec. 10). It is our conclusion that he uses the old church terminology merely as a vehicle for transmitting ideas that are in harmony with the Heavenly Doctrines. Other passages seem to indicate that he had based some of his scientific conclusions on a rigid literal rendering of Scripture, as for instance his geology on the premise that the flood of Noah was a literal occurrence. It would be very useful to enter into a critical study on this point. The letter of the Word contains many appearances of truth which under certain conditions seem to be falsities, but yet are the best way to convey the truth. It is not unreasonable to suppose that this may also have been the case in Swedenborg's use of the letter of the Word. Still other passages advocate scientific doctrines which are rejected by modern science. If this is an objection, then it applies as well to the Theological Writings, which in several instances are at variance with modern science.

     But what are we to make of the occasional passages where Swedenborg asks the help of those who understand the subject better than he, or else declares his ignorance of certain matters'

     At the end of the chapter on the Natural Point in the Principia, occur the following words:

     "If any one should find in my principles what is not in accord with experience or analytic geometry, or what is defective or imperfect, and will communicate the same to me, I will embrace it with both arms. For truth is the only thing. It is my sole end; and I shall be still more grateful to him if at the same time he show me out of his own storehouse things nearer to the truth (veviora)."

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We know of no one who stepped forward to enlighten Swedenborg in this matter.

     It is stated in the Animal Kingdom, n. 19, that the treatment of the soul in the Economy was premature, and that on this account Swedenborg was obliged to enter upon a protracted course of anatomical study before again approaching this subject. We see no ground in this for discrediting the Economy, or any part of its teaching on the soul. It may not perhaps be an exhaustive study of the subject, and it may not perhaps treat of the soul from as universal a standpoint as might be desired, but does that prevent what the Economy does say from being the truth?

     In the Spiritual Diary, n. 2951, and also Divine Providence, 290, there are statements to the effect that until Swedenborg talked with spirits he had no knowledge of the Lord's government of man by means of spirits. Yet such lack of information did not necessarily prevent his giving, in the Principia, a true and circumstantial idea of the Lord's government of the universe, any more than an earlier ignorance of the fact that the pulmonary artery is the key to the motion of the lungs, and consequently of the body--prevented his writing the truth on the subject of tremulations in membranes.

     In the Arcana, 1875, where he treats of the angelic ideas concerning temptation, we find this statement: "The ideas went into the shade of my thought." Did we choose to dwell on the shade of Swedenborg's thought, we might not improbably come to discredit the Arcana Coelestia.

     The obscurity that Swedenborg confesses does not at any rate detract from the truth of his writings. The Lord in leading him undoubtedly provided that he attacked no new problem until the obscurities relative to its principles had been dissipated. For instance, he did not commence the second part of the Animal Kingdom which treats of the viscera of the thorax until he had seized the key to their motions.

     An acquaintance with the earlier works shows us also that if in the course of discussion need arose to refer to subjects in which the obscurity had not yet been removed, such reference was invariably made in statements, general in character, yet in thorough harmony with the truth that was subsequently found. A striking case in point is furnished by the following statements of the Mechanism of the Soul and the Body, a work written in 1734:

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     "That God rules the world through media, and that the Divine Providence does not act immediately into men but mediately. . . . That the media of the Divine Providence are intermediate and angelic substances with souls similar to ours.... so that I speak according to the Scriptures if I say that there are angels and that the whole world is ruled by the deity by the mediations of angels." M. S. B. 26, 27, 28.

     These statements show that Swedenborg was acquainted with the general truths of the Lord's mediate government of man. The declarations in the Spiritual Diary and the Divine Providence about his ignorance on this head, can only mean that he lacked some particular truths which were afterwards supplied him from living experience in the spiritual world.

     The truths in the earlier works were elicited a posteriori by the marvelous analytic power of a man who saw truths from the Lord because he loved them in a spiritual manner. They were written indeed "according to the leading of the Understanding and the thread of reason" (see I. Adv., p. 7, quoted above) but what was written coincides fully with revelation. The truths in the later, inspired, works were given a priori to the same man who received them as a revelation from the mouth of the Lord. The earlier works constitute a true philosophy which is not repugnant to the truth of revelation, but in complete accord with it. The later works are that truth of revelation.

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JUDGE NOT 1908

JUDGE NOT       Rev. W. L. GLADISH       1908

     Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matt. vii:1)

     It is evident that this command of our Lord cannot mean that we are not to judge and condemn evil. For unless this were done human society could not endure. If we were not to judge evil men by their deeds and protect ourselves against them we should be giving them power to do whatsoever they please; to plunder, do violence and murder.

     We daily form judgments of men and conduct ourselves toward them according to our judgments, trusting this one, guarding ourselves against that one. Without this it would be impossible to do business. We do the same in our social relations, making friends or not according to our judgment of the character of our various acquaintances.

     Should this command be taken literally, as a rule, for Christian lands, jails and penitentiaries would be abolished, courts of law would be done away with and criminals would be given freedom to prey upon the innocent and defenseless.

     The need of doctrine by which to understand the statements of the Word is here evident. Without true doctrine man continually goes astray in reading the Word, and from the letter alone falls into innumerable fallacies and heresies. This need is all the more evident from the Lord's saying in John. (vii:24),-"Judge just judgment."

      The doctrine which reconciles the two contradictory statements "judge not," and "judge just judgment" is that we must continually judge concerning the civil and moral life of men and govern ourselves toward them according to our judgment; but we must not judge any one's spiritual life or the possibility of his being saved, because this cannot be known to us but to the Lord alone.

     We are even allowed to judge of the spiritual life of others provided it is done tentatively and not finally; as, for example, it is allowable to say of another, "If you are in internals as you are in externals, you cannot be saved." But it is not allowed to say, "You are such in outward life, therefore you are such in spirit and cannot be saved.'

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     The reason we cannot judge of the internal spiritual life and the final state of anyone, whether he will be in Heaven or in hell, is that ends and purposes are beyond our ken. The life of a man is so complex, so many different ends, purposes and motives, so many different affections enter into the life of each one that it is impossible for us to know which is really the ruling love; especially because the internal man is so deeply covered by the external and shows itself but imperfectly through the external.

     Not only is this true in this world where the real man is thickly covered by the veil of the flesh, but, strange to say, it is true in the spiritual world, so that the angels themselves cannot tell the final lot of one who is undergoing judgment.

     They know, indeed, his present state, but whether there are states of different quality more deeply covered which have not yet been revealed they do not know.

     You will recall that the descriptions of Calvin, of Luther, Abraham, Jacob, and others found in different places in the Writings differ greatly with difference in time and in the progress of the Last Judgment. Some of these were seen in "Heaven" and were afterwards cast down, others were on the borders of hell and were afterwards raised up.

     Innumerable instances similar to these mill occur to those well read in the Writings, when those not finally judged have passed through different and opposite states in which the manifest judgment in one state had to be reversed on the opening of a more interior one.

     Therefore, we may not judge. We may not judge any man and condemn him as beyond the power of the Lord to save. And if we may not judge him as being outside of the mercy of Heaven we may not withdraw our own mercy from him and regard him with condemnation and disfavor.

     Are we not to condemn evil-doers and set ourselves sternly against criminal and vicious persons? We are to set ourselves sternly against their evils and are to be willing that those who do evil shall be punished sufficiently to protect society and to reform the criminal, if possible. But we are not to set ourselves against the sinner.

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Personally, he is always to be regarded with mercy. His repentance is to be desired and sought. He is still a child of the Heavenly Father, "Who maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt. v:45) He is our brother. The evil passions to which he has yielded slumber in our own breasts, and but for the mercy of the Lord our own evils might any day, be fanned into flame and we might do even as he has done. Think of the help we have had from early infancy, the careful nurture, the formation of good habits, the Word and the Church. And yet the secret sins that flourish in our breasts! the hatred, desire for revenge, the contempt of others, the sudden outbursts of anger! Consider also the difference in heredity, in company as we grew up and in many other things, and can we condemn any man in comparison with ourselves? Our attitude in judging should be that of the Lord Himself. He said, "I judge no man. The Word which I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." His judgment is impersonal. He does not judge, His Word judges. Every man is brought to pronounce his own judgment upon himself according to the Word.

     "For when judgment takes place the Lord is present with all, and from Divine love wills to save all, and also turns and leads all to Himself. They who are in good and derivative truths follow Him, for they apply themselves, but they who are in evil and derivative falsities turn themselves backward from the Lord, thus to hell,--from which it is evident that the Lord does not judge any one but that the Divine truth received judges to Heaven those who have received the Divine Truth in heart, and to Hell those who have not received the Divine Truth in heart and who have denied it." (A. E. 297.)

     The attitude of the Lord is, therefore, one of tender mercy always toward the sinner. He never turns away from him, never ceases to yearn over him, never ceases to do him good. And yet He does not disregard his wrongdoing. The laws of His Providence are such that evil doing always brings punishment. And the punishments of the spiritual world are often severer than are known here, for whatever one seeks to do to others evil spirits are permitted to do to him.

     So we must judge and condemn the sin, and to consent that it shall be punished according to the law.

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But our attitude toward the sinner should ever be one of mercy, of desire to help him, desire to save him from his sin. There is always the possibility that the wrongdoer may himself be in internal protest against his evil deed. We have no way of knowing whether this is so or not. But if not he may repent and change his love and so become sorry for his sin. Therefore, while we should not abate the severity of any just law upon the willful evil-doer, we should not delight in his punishment.

     Especially should we apply this law of forgiveness and Christian charity to those within the Church who have some degree of affection for the doctrines of the Church. Perhaps it is not as strong as it should be, but neither is our own. We should love and cherish whatever affection they have for the Church as we do our own affection for her. Those within the Church, unless they are positively working against her, are our brothers. Their faults and failings are, presumably, on the surface. Their love of truth will, probably, in time triumph over their evils. This we should desire. To this we should ever look in all our thought of them.

     We would not be irritated by their evils if it were not for our own evils. Ours are perhaps as trying to them as theirs to us. They may be even deeper seated and harder to put off than theirs are. It scarcely becomes any of us, conscious as we are, or may be, of our failings, to be over-critical of others.

     The command to "judge not" in its natural sense must be understood in the light of doctrine; it does not mean that man is not to judge concerning the civil and moral life of others. We must so judge others and are only to have care to "judge just judgment." But we cannot judge concerning the ruling love or final lot of another.

     But in its spiritual sense this command may be understood as literally to be obeyed.

     "Judge not" is the Lord's command to every one who hears His voice. Judge not concerning the spiritual, moral or civil life of any one. That is, judge not from self. Of himself man can judge no one justly. He will either condemn too severely, or, on the other hand, he will judge too leniently when his natural affections are engaged.

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     To judge from self is to judge from proprium; to judge from proprium is to judge from hell, for proprium makes one with hell. Therefore, human judgment is always false judgment. It is a partisan judgment. It is biased by prejudice and formed from falses and fallacies.

     The regenerating man is indeed to judge, as of himself; but he is to judge from the Lord. He is to wait for enlightenment. He is not to judge hastily. He is not to judge from the natural man. He is to judge from the Word; from the Word known and understood in its application to this particular case.

     This is the only just judgment,--judgment from the Word. And when man judges from the Word he judges from the Lord. The man himself judges not. But the Lord judges and reveals to man His judgments.

     Thus do all the angels judge. And so far as man is of the Church he is as the angels are. The man of the Church is, internally as to his spirit, an angel of heaven, having his own place in his own society there. And so far as that state of his spirit comes forth and rules in his external he lives and acts as angels do. This he does so far as the Word is implanted in both his will and understanding.

     Anger in judgment is from hell. It closes heaven and opens hell. Man then ceases to judge from the Lord and his judgment is unjust and untrue.

     The same is true of judgment from natural affection which leads one to overlook evils in one's chosen friends to the extent of calling their evils good. To do this is also to judge from self and hence to judge unjustly. The evil of such judgment is very manifest in the spiritual world. It not only closes the mind of him who so judges to his own evils, but it also gives power to the deceitful to work harm. Evil spirits gain much power through good spirits who are simple and uninstructed, who can, therefore, be deceived and made to believe that the evil are good because they profess to be so.

     The man of the Church is to accept the person of none, neither rich nor poor, neither good nor evil. He knows that every one, of himself, is wholly evil; that the good of every one is the Lord's with him. This he is to seek, this he is to value. And he is to love and value the person in whom he finds these heavenly gifts.

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But he is not to love or cling to that person's evils. For this would be to love both the Lord and the Devil, and this no one can do.

Even as we love ourselves and yet so far as we see our evils from the Word we condemn them and reject them, so in all our friendships we are to love our friends for their goods and truths but are not to love their evils.

     In judging we are not to judge; that is, we are not to judge from self but from the Lord. To those who follow the Lord and learn of Him He reveals, through His Word, just judgment concerning all men and all things.

     He who judges from the Lord condemns no one. For the Lord condemns no one. He ever seeks to draw all men to Himself. He condemns the sin. He suffers it to be punished, though He Himself punishes not. But His love both from within and from without continually strives to separate the sinner from his sin and turn him to Himself.

     The angels judge continually. They separate and distinguish the sheep from the goats, admitting the former, rejecting the latter.

     Many of the angelic societies are surrounded by triple walls with gates, having a keeper at each gate. These keepers examine all comers and judge whether to admit or reject them. And after the gates are safely passed there is sometimes a further examination before newcomers are admitted to the society. This is necessary because of evil spirits who are able to feign themselves angels of light. Such continually desire to insinuate themselves into heavenly societies where they stir up latent evils and cause unhappiness and distress. Their presence obscures the light of wisdom and decreases the love, interfering with all uses. Hence all comers must be examined and judged, and when found to be hypocrites they are stripped of their heavenly garments and cast out headlong.

     Again, others, not evil, seeking their heavenly homes, apply for admission. These, having passed the gate-keepers, are examined by certain wise ones of the society to see if their light agrees with the light in the society and especially to see whether their love agrees. These wise examiners are not only able to see for the society whether there is agreement but they also enable the angelic spirit to see whether he has reached his own eternal home or not.

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If not, they direct him to another society where he probably belongs, and where his own home is awaiting him. It is therefore evident that the whole Heaven is continually exercising judgment, and that if it should cease to judge not only heaven but the whole universe would fall into disorder.

     But the angels, while judging to all appearance from themselves, do not really judge from themselves at all. They judge from the Lord. They judge from His wisdom and His love, as revealed in His Word. This wisdom constitutes their understandings, this love forms their wills. Then when the Divine Spirit from within flows into them, into the Divine forms implanted there through the Word, they judge and speak and do from the Lord; so that it is not they who act but He acts through them.

     The necessity of exercising judgment is also very evident in the world of spirits. Here are found many hypocrites. These by external piety, by prayers, by quoting from the Word, by feigned tenderness of heart and by tears deceive many. They collect about themselves numbers of good spirits who lack discernment and the ability to see hidden evils. Through these good spirits they gain their power, for through them they have connection with heaven, the source of all life and power. Moreover, it is through these good spirits whom they have deceived that hypocrites extend their evil wiles and arts and magic into surrounding societies, disturbing order, delaying and perverting judgment.

     Thus good spirits, because of their lack of discernment and judgment, become, as it were, the hands and arms of the deceitful and desperately wicked. They are the means through which hypocrites derive power, and through which they exercise it. And this comes about largely through merely natural sympathy which is touched and moved by suffering, or by tears, without inquiring whether the suffering is merited or the tears genuine.

     Hypocrites and sirens who are skilled in the art of gaining sympathy are wont to collect great numbers about them. The simple good come that they may have their sympathy excited, that they may be moved and touched. For they place their goodness and charity in feeling sympathy for those who suffer and are being punished. The evil gather from all sides that they may operate through this deceitful one as a subject, and that they may delight in his craft and machinations.

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     But for those internally good who, for lack of judgment, can be deceived, such hypocrites would be quickly detected and cast down into hell, ridding the world of spirits of their malignities and the natural world of their direful sphere.

     Nations have been destroyed, churches have been repeatedly perverted and consummated because of lack of discernment on the part of those who should judge. Designing persons, those seeking their own glory or wealth, have been exalted to positions of trust when judgment from genuine truth would have quickly detected their true quality.

     It is, therefore, evident what a sacred duty it is to judge continually concerning men as well as concerning principles and policies in both civil and ecclesiastical affairs.

     It is not permitted to the man of the New Church to agree with the crowd, to follow the lines of least resistance. He must examine, he must criticize, he must oppose the evil and incompetent.

     Man can perform his use in the world corresponding to that of his angelic society in heaven only when he exercises judgment and strives to carry out in act the judgments of his understanding. But, on the other hand, one performs heavenly use only as he judges not from himself but from Heaven.

     Judgment from self, whether in condemnation or approval, is always untrue and unjust. Man's proprium draws both its warmth and its light from hell. Therefore, its heat is internal love, its light falsity. When man judges either from friendship or from anger he judges from hell and is himself condemned by his own judgment.

     By such judgment he allies himself with evil spirits and separates himself from good spirits and angels. Therefore, according to the zeal with which he espouses such judgments he himself comes under condemnation. He himself is shut off from the mercy and the protection of heaven. He becomes subject to the wiles and evil arts of those from whom his judgment was inspired. He cannot escape such punishment and suffering as he would have visited upon the one he condemned. Or if he seek to save from punishment one justly condemned, he makes himself a partaker in the spiritual world of his punishments.

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     This is why, in the Writings, we sometimes have our text translated, "Judge not that ye be not condemned."

     He who judges another from proprium is by that judgment condemned whether he judges the other to heaven or to hell. Every man as to his proprium or self-life is an image and form of hell. He is born so. But he is able to be reborn from the Word, and so to come into the image and likeness of Heaven.

     Every time he exercises judgment from proprium he comes into condemnation. He is inspired by the infernals. He accepts their life and acts from them. When he judges from the Word he accepts the life of angels, yea, of the Lord. Therefore, he is not condemned but is strengthened and confirmed in the life of heaven. Man is able to judge from the Lord only to the extent that he has the Divine Word in both will and understanding. Without the Word he has no means by which the Lord can make His judgments known to him.

     Man cannot, from faith alone, without heavenly charity, judge from the Lord, because he is not conjoined with the Lord by faith alone. Nor is he conjoined with the Lord by charity alone; for charity alone is merely natural. Genuine and spiritual charity is received only in truth. Without revealed truth man does not know what true charity is, much less can he be in it or act from it.

     Therefore, evidently, man is able to judge from the Lord and so escape condemnation only when he has received into his understanding the genuine truths of the Word and into his will the genuine affections of those truths.

     It is man's part to ever strive with all his power to so prepare himself that he may judge from the Lord and not from himself. For every man will judge and must judge daily and hourly. If he judges from self he is ever conjoining himself more closely with the hells; if he judges from the Lord he is ever conjoining himself more closely with the Lord and the angels.

     In order, therefore, that he may judge from the Lord and not from self he must learn truths, must understand them, must meditate upon them and make himself rational by means of them. He must also daily shun evils as sins against God. Thus he breaks the dominion of the hells and rejects their life. Thus he provides means from conjunction with the Lord and makes room for Him to come in; and when the Lord forms man's understanding and will He then comes in and abides there.

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He gives of His life to man. The evil lusts and the falsities and fallacies of proprium are dislodged and pushed out to the circumference. Man lives from the Lord. From Him he judges. And then in his judgments truth is balanced by mercy. Man becomes but an instrument through whom the Lord reveals His judgment as adapted to that particular time and state. It is in this way alone that the Lord can be present in His Church. He makes His judgments manifest and establishes His Church in truth and in good only as He finds men through whom He can reveal them. The Church is a true Church to the extent that her leaders see and judge not from self but from the Lord. The Church is established and grows in the world in proportion as the Lord is able to be actually present, and, as it were, to speak through her teachers. So also the Church is established in the individual only to the extent that the Lord through His Word speaks to the individual and gives to him to judge from Heaven. And so far as man is really and internally of the Church he does so judge--or think--from the Lord.

     It is true that this doctrine has been sadly perverted in the Old Church so that many ignorant and vicious persons claim to speak from the Holy Spirit. But so also has every other true doctrine been perverted into its opposite. But every perversion is the perversion of a truth. And the men of the Church must not reject the truth because of its perversion.

     This truth with the New Church will be saved from abuse by this, namely, that the Newchurchman interrogates the Lord and expects responses solely through the Word. He knows that only as he has the truth of the Word in his understanding and the love of that truth in his will can the Lord speak to him or through him.

     All man's life is involved in his judging. He indeed judges from the understanding and according to the truths which are there. But his judgment is influenced even more by the duality of his will. If there is charity in the will falses in the understanding are rendered mild. But the most internal truths in the understanding without charity in the will but cause one to judge and condemn more severely.

     And not only are both will and understanding united in all judgment, but the deeds of man's life are but the carrying out of his judgments.

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So that the whole man becomes such as are his judgments.

     Every judgment formed from self turns man away from heaven. Every judgment formed from the Word turns man away from hell and conjoins him with the Lord.

     If man judges the truths of revelation from himself he will certainly reject them. It is only from the light of the Word that its truths can be seen to be true. Man must reject his own judgment and accept as true what the Lord teaches. Then from the Word accepted as his guide and light he can see that its truths are true.

     "In Thy light shall we see light." But he who judges the truths of revelation by the light of this world cannot but reject them and so be condemned by them. As with the Word so with men, and so with all the affairs of life. To judge from self concerning them is to judge unjustly and to merit and receive condemnation. The man of the Church must reject his own judgment that he may form his judgments solely from the Word.

     Then he shall be moved neither to condemn men nor to unduly exalt them. He shall love all men as the Lord loves all,--better than he does himself.

     
Such is the life of all the angels, and such is the life of those who are internally of the Church. Such are all who judge not and are not condemned. Amen.

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OUR CHILDREN IN CHURCH WORSHIP 1908

OUR CHILDREN IN CHURCH WORSHIP       ALVIN E. NELSON       1908

     We are told in the Writings that when children read the Word the angels have a more interior perception of its sense than when adults read it. We learn also that remains are implanted in children when they hear the Word read. It is on account of these teachings that New Church parents have made a practice of bringing their children at a very early age to worship in the Church. Indeed, a third of the congregation in many of our societies is composed of children. Therefore, the subject of this paper,--"Our Children in Church Worship,"--should be of concern to the Church and to all parents of New Church children. The Church should provide a suitable place of worship and maintain appropriate public services. The parents on their part should prepare their children to attend these services, so that, not only may the children benefit by the precious remains implanted in such states, but the angels in Heaven and the members of the Church on earth may also be affected by the sphere of childish innocence.

     It is not necessary to have a large and beautiful temple with an elaborate service for the sake of implanting remains, although these externals would be of great assistance. But it is important to have a state of devout humility in worship. It should be impressed, even upon the children, that they are in the presence of their Heavenly Father, and that the Word as it is read, is His Word. They should know that the prayers are addressed to Him alone, and that the songs are sung in His praise. If possible, the Church should be a place that is used exclusively for the worship of the Lord,--separated from the things of everyday life. As far as the children are concerned, this house, as was said, need not be magnificent, for their active imaginations will cover the simplest forms with a halo of reverence and love. But a child should not be brought to Church unprepared, and this work of preparation is one of the most sacred duties of parenthood--so important is it that special reference is made to it in the baptismal service.

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It is a universal law of order that one state of life is a preparation for the next. The first idea of the Lord is insinuated when the child learns to repeat the Lord's Prayer at his mother's knee. After this he is taught to turn his thoughts to the things of Heaven by joining with the family in worship at home. The third step in his religious life is when he attends the Church services; and the parents can judge when this step is advisable, by observing his behavior in the family worship. It will do no good to take this step prematurely, and it may do him harm. The thought of going to Church should be delightful, for it is only in states of happiness that remains are implanted. If a child is brought to Church prematurely he is liable to chafe under the restraint and be without a reverent attitude toward the service.

     In Arcana Coelestia, 1776, we read that the reason why the angels have a clearer and fuller understanding of the internal sense of the Word when it is read by little boys and girls, than when it is read by grown up persons who are not principled in faith grounded in charity, is because little children are in a state of mutual love and innocence. Elsewhere in the Arcana it is stated that man is continually in worship when he is in love and charity, and that external worship proceeds from this. These two passages show that the essential of worship is mutual love, and they suggest the importance of cultivating this love among children.

     Parents may, and do, exert a powerful influence in guiding the affections of their children, and they should be careful that this influence is always toward fostering a state of mutual love in their children for their playmates.

     By so doing not only will they be laying a sure foundation for the future prosperity of the Church, but they will also be cooperating with the Divine Providence in making most effective the influence of children in our Church worship.

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CONJUGIAL LOVE AND THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE 1908

CONJUGIAL LOVE AND THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE       FRANK H. ROSE       1908

     Conjugial love is an internal state, springing from the blending of two individuals, and is not consciously realized by them until after the conjunction by marriage. It may exist potentially with either the man or the woman, or with both, but until they enter into marriage it is not with them actually.

     It is essentially a state of marriage, a union of one husband with one wife springing from the union of good and truth and being the most internal of all loves, it contains within itself every possible felicity and happiness. It existed with the men of the Most Ancient Church but as that Church and its successors became more and more gross and external so its possession became more and more rare until the knowledge of it, ceased from the earth.

     It is, however, explicitly promised that "conjugial love, such as it was with the ancients, will be revived again by the Lord after His coming; because this love is from the Lord alone, and is the portion of those who from Him, by means of the Word, are made spiritual." (C. L. 81.)

     This love, like all the other gifts of the Lord is not of indiscriminate bestowal, for it can be given only when man co-operates, by making adequate preparation for its reception. This preparation consists mainly in acknowledging the Lord, learning the Truths He has revealed, and subordinating one's own inclinations to their guidance.

     That "it is the external affections, according to which matrimony is generally contracted in this world" (C. L. 274) follows from the ignorance that prevails, of the more internal tie, but these external affections are not necessarily evil and "in cases of matrimony in which the intel72al affections do not conjoin, then an external affection which assumes a semblance of the internal tends to consociation." (C. L. 277.)

     Marriage which only resembles the true internal tie is not permanent; for the consociation being external, is dissolved when the individuals pass from the external state to the internal, i. e., from this world to the other.

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That this is true of most marriages contracted in the world is not because marriage, in itself, is a transitory tie, but because in these marriages the motive from which they are entered into is not spiritual, but springs from external and worldly interests which obscure the perception and judgment.

     That marriage entered upon from considerations originating in sensual or corporeal attractions or the desire for worldly success are dissolved in the other life is shown in Conjugial Love, no. 49, which reads: "The conjunctions which are made on earth are seldom made from any internal perception of love, but from an external perception which hides the internal. The external perception of love originates in such things as regard the love of the world and of the body;" the passage then proceeds to enumerate wealth, dignity, honors, beauty and education, and other like reasons leading to marriage, between those who are not internally conjoined and who are therefore afterwards separated; and for whom "new conjunctions are formed with such as are of a similar nature and disposition, unless"--and here it is desirable to emphasize the qualification, "unless these conjunctions have been provided on earth, as happens with those who from an early age have loved, have desired, and have asked of the Lord an honorable and lovely connection with one of the sex.

     It is advisable to here emphasize the teaching that the selection of true marriage partners is under the control of the Lord, and that the preparation required of man does not involve any particular search for that partner, but only that he shall know and obey the Divine Truth and thus be in the stream of the Lord's Providence. We are taught:

     "The Lord, the Creator, has provided and still provides marriages of love truly conjugial." (C. L. 204, 229.)

     "No one can be in love truly conjugial unless he acknowledges the Lord." (C. L. 376.)

     "Love truly conjugial exists only with those who desire wisdom and who consequently advance more and more into wisdom." (C. L. 98.)

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     "Conjugial love with man is according to the state of the church with him." (C. L. 70.)

     "The reason why conjugial love is rare in the Christian world is because few in the world approach the Lord." (C. L. 337.)

     "None will appropriate this love to themselves but those who are received by the Lord into the New Church." (C. L. 43.)

     It is capable of rational proof, that the blessing of true conjugial love can be knowingly possessed only by those who accept the Lord, not only in His First Advent, but also in His Second, for it is only through a knowledge of that Revelation, that the vessels necessary to receive the influx of the marriage of good and truth can be prepared.

     We have seen that it is a gift from the Lord according to the state of the Church with man, that is, according to his regeneration. This involves that the earlier stages are the most obscure, even as the earlier states of regeneration are the less defined. It is therefore advisable to first learn the general outline of the government of the Divine Providence as to the preparation for the marriage union.

     We read in Conjugial Love, no. 229, "It is provided that conjugial pairs be born, and that they be continually educated to their several marriages under the Lord's auspices, neither the boy, nor the girl knowing anything of the matter; and after a stated time, when they both become marriageable, they meet in some place as by chance, and see each other, and in this case they instantly know, as by a kind of instinct, that they are a pair, and by a kind of inward dictate think within themselves, the youth, that she is mine, and the maiden, that he is mine; and when this thought has existed sometime in the mind of each, they accost each other from a deliberate purpose and betroth themselves." The same statement is repeated in Conjugial Love, no. 316, and elsewhere.

     This is stated to be the order in heaven, and it may therefore be taken to be the true order inscribed by the Lord on all who are conjoined with heaven.

     That this order is seldom ultimated in this world, is because, as we have seen, few approach the Lord, and advance into the wisdom necessary for its reception.

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So long as man trusts to the fallacies of his proprium, so long will the true order be hindered and distorted by its phantasies; we may anticipate, however, that as the Church and its members grow in the knowledge, perception and desire of love truly conjugial so will the order instituted by the Lord become more and more prevalent.

     It is of interest to notice how entirely the preliminary steps are controlled by the Lord; not only the birth of the future partners, but their education for marriage, and even the very place and time of their meeting is not subject to any interference from the individuals themselves. During this period, no decision is required, but care should be exercised that the desire for the marriage state, laudable desire as it is, does not mislead the judgment.

     But how is a young man or young woman to recognize the future partner? Is there any general test we may apply to distinguish between those "external affections which assume a semblance of the internal" and the internal affections that conjoin souls?

     We shall find much assistance in answering this question if we examine the teaching given concerning spheres. We learn,

     "A spiritual sphere encompasses everyone, and that sphere flows forth and pours out from the life of the affections and their thoughts." (H. H. 591.)

     "The spiritual sphere with a man or spirit is the exhalation flowing forth from the life of his love--opposite spheres clash and mutually repel each other." (A. C. 206.)

     "There flows, yea, there overflows, from every person a spiritual sphere, derived from the affections of his love, which encompasses him, and infuses itself into the natural sphere derived from the body, so that the two spheres are conjoined. This is the origin of all sympathy and antipathy and likewise of all conjunction and disjunction." (C. L. 171.)

     "All in heaven are consociated, according to spiritual affinity--that is why the angels who are in similar good and truth, know each other." (H. H. 205.)

     "Every one, both man and woman, is encompassed by his own sphere of life, densely on the breast and less densely on the back. (C. L. 224.)

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     "They who are like each other are, as it were, spontaneously drawn together; for with their like they are as with their own, but with others as with strangers and abroad. When they are with their like, they are also in their freedom, and thence in all the delight of life." (H. H. 44)

     These quotations will serve to show that every individual is surrounded by a sphere flowing forth from his affections which is distinctly his own, and that his sphere is perceptible to others, who may be attracted or repelled by it.

     In our ordinary intercourse, we are but dimly conscious of the mutual clash of spheres; for with some we are able to conjoin in uses, our loves being similar and the spheres thence having somewhat in common; with others, the loves are discordant, and we meet only on external planes. But the essential of conjugial love is that each shall be the other's, so that as the state becomes more full, the spheres of the partners are so mutually one that it is impossible to separate the one partner from the other.

     It is the mutual perception of concordant spheres that enables a youth and a maiden to know each other as their conjugial partner. Up to that time the spheres which encompass them have been restricted, and mollified by various external ways, or by various external affections, and this, so persistently, that they have not been conscious of them. But when, in the Divine Providence of the Lord, they are, as it were, brought each to the other, the restrictions and restraints are broken, and the interior sphere of each, no longer confined, flows freely and easily. Then almost without words the two turn to each other, know each other, and thenceforth proceed towards that happiness which is the crowning gift of the Lord.

     It is probable that in most cases with those who are becoming spiritual, the recognition of a conjugial partner is associated with some specific temptation.

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It may take the comparatively external form of considerations of worldly prudence, financial anxiety, or family opposition, or it may take more interior forms springing from self-love. But in each case it serves as a test of loyalty to the Lord, of loyalty to His revealed Word and of trust in His Providence, which, as we are taught, is especially over marriages. It is impossible to conceive that the Omniscience that has watched over two from birth, has educated them to the end that they may be united in Conjugial Love, should fail at the crucial point and cease to guide and protect them for their highest spiritual good, and this even as to material necessities.

     We may therefore conclude that the man and the woman who are in the stream of Providence, i. e., who love the Lord, and live the life of religion, are brought to the point of recognition of conjugial partnership, or mutual love, with the end that they, on their part, should look to its orderly progression through the gate of betrothal to that ultimation in the marriage union, which is the initiation into the fulness of conjugial love.

     From this general presentation, it would appear that the stages necessary to the reception of this distinctive blessing are, first, a desire to know and live the Truth, and thus the implantation and growth of religion. Then the necessary patience to await the meeting with the partner under the leading of Divine Providence. This partner is to be recognized by the harmonious blending of spheres,--by a friendship that is so distinctive that it is separated by a discrete degree from all other friendships. Up to this point, the man and the woman, with respect to each other, are but passive instruments in the hands of the Lord, but when they meet and perceive each to be for the other, it is their duty not to be too easily influenced by external considerations, such as considerations of merely worldly prudence, from advancing to marriage, but they should trust to the guidance of the Divine Providence which has hitherto watched over them and brought them together, and inspired them with that love which is the pearl of life.

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CORRESPONDENCES OF CANAAN 1908

CORRESPONDENCES OF CANAAN       Rev. C. TH. ODHNER       1908

     CHAPTER V.

     THE SEAS AND LAKES OF CANAAN.

     46. The Mediterranean Sea. "The Sea," meaning the Mediterranean Sea,-the Sea "in the midst of the lands,"--also called "the Great Sea," "the Sea of the Philistines," in the Hebrew is synonymous with "the West," or "the going down of the Sun," and signifies in general good and truth in a state of relative obscurity, (A. C. 3693, 9633; A. R. 238), and thus the boundary or ultimate of Heaven and the Church.

     This correspondence of "the Sea" is from the appearances of actual conditions in the spiritual world. In that world "seas appear in various places, especially near the ultimate boundaries, where are the terminations of the spiritual societies or of Heaven; and this is because in the boundaries of Heaven, and outside them, are those who have been merely natural men, who also appear there in the depths where their abodes are. But in those [seas] are the natural who are not evil, whereas those who are evil natural are in the hells. The quality of those who are in such seas is evident from the color of the water,--varying either to obscurity or to clearness;--if to obscurity, sensual spirits are therein, who are the lowest natural ones; if to clearness, interior natural spirits are therein. But the waters of the seas which are over the hells are dense, black, and sometimes red; and the infernal crews therein appear like snakes and serpents, and like monsters such as are in the seas." (A. E. 5113)

     "The earth and the sea," signify, respectively, natural good and natural truth, (A. C. 2162), and "heaven, earth, and sea" refer respectively to the three heavens, the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural. (A. E. 609.)

     Water, it should be remembered, is nothing but an atmosphere, the lowest and densest of the discrete atmospheres of the natural world which correspond to the successive degrees of good and truth emanating from the Sun of the spiritual world in accommodation to the successive four degrees of organic life-forms; the celestial, the spiritual, the natural, and the sensual.

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All these are said to be "accommodations," that is, veilings more and more dense, woven by the more and more thickly interlaced appearances of truth. Thus the quick and living perceptions of those who live in the celestial aura, by combination and compression form an ether of spiritual ideas, and these, again, by the same process, produce all air of natural thoughts, which finally ultimate or express themselves to the external senses in the form of words. And hence the Sea, as the greatest collection of waters, corresponds most universally to the Word of God in the letter, which is the most ultimate containant of the Divine Truth, or the Water of Life itself.

     Again, if we consider the various forms in which water is collected on the earth, we find the three degrees of fountains, rivers, and lakes. Of these, fountains and wells correspond to the inmost perceptions of truth, bubbling forth immediately from the living affection; rivers correspond to leading doctrines or principles of truth; and lakes--especially the greatest of all lakes, the universal ocean,--correspond to the infinite containant of all Truth, that from which all our truths are derived, and to which all our truths return, the all-embracing Word of God, as it exists in the natural world.

     Waters signify truths, especially natural truths, which are cognitions from the Word. (A. R. 50)

     The Seas signify the cognitions and scientifics which are in the ultimates of the Church, in special the cognitions of truth and good, such as are in the sense of the letter of the Word. (A. E. 518.)

     The Sea signifies Divine Truth in ultimates, thus the Word in the letter. (A. E. 876.)

     When, with these teachings in mind, we stand on the shore of the limitless ocean, we are impressed with awe at the majesty, the all-embracing infinity, the immeasurable profundity, the irresistible Divine power and force of that for which the ocean stands as a mighty symbol. And so also, when opening the Word of God, we find ourselves in the immediate presence of the Infinite and the Eternal.

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We perceive arcana within arcana, depths beneath depths. We cannot fathom the fulness of its meaning, but everywhere we hear the voice of the Creator reaching our perception like the gentle murmur of the waves or the breaking of unceasing billows. "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of Glory thundereth, the Lord is upon many waters." (Ps. 29:3.)

     As we are able to see only the surface of the ocean, so in this world we necessarily can grasp only the surface-meaning of the Word,--that is, the literal sense. But as the surface of the sea is broken by the waves which reveal its nearest depths, so our understanding of the sense of the dead letter is vivified by the genuine truths which continually appear even in the natural sense. On the other hand, as the sea also lends itself to destructive storms as well as to quiet navigation, so the appearances in the literal sense of the Word, when moved by the influx of evil affections with the reader, may easily lead to false reasonings, doubts, and spiritual controversies, in which faith will perish unless its doctrinal ship be built of the stout, safe beams of rational truths. "The tumult of the seas and of the waves, (Ps. 65:7), signify the disputings and ratiocinations of those who are beneath the heavens, and who are natural and sensual. (A. E. 706) '"The seas and billows shall roar," (Luke 21:25), signifies the uproar of heresies and controversies. (A. C. 2120).

     The Church, indeed, must be founded upon the Word of God in its literal form: "Upon the seas hath He founded it, and upon the rivers hath He established it." (Ps. 24:2.) But, being the most external, general, and ultimate form of the Divine Truth, the letter of the Word is in itself obscure and dead, and hence it is that the great sea, as the representative of the letter of the Word, in the Hebrew is synonymous with the west, or the setting of the sun, that is, a state of obscurity, the state of those whose ideas of Religion are confined to the narrow horizon of their own sensual observations in the letter. This state of obscurity finds its correspondence in the common expression "to be at sea" on any subject, that is, to be at a loss what to understand.

     And those who refuse to see in the Word any living spiritual Truth, but confine themselves exclusively to the letter and confirm thereby the false persuasions of the sensual man, such may be said to have sunk beneath the waves of the Sea.

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They are spiritually drowned in the "letter which killeth," and the Sea in this connection signifies "damnation and Hell." (A. E. 355.) From them has come the inundation of literalism and sensualism in which the old Christian Church has perished, and it was against this infernal ocean of falsity that the Lord in His human battled single-handed but victorious. (T. C. R. 123.) The final result of this Divine victory over the Hells appeared at the time of the Last Judgment, when "the Sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them," (Rev. 20:13), by which is signified the liberation of the simple good from the dominion of the imaginary heavens, and at the same time our own liberation from the false dogmas of the Old Church, formed from the merely literal sense of the Word. For, by the revelation of the internal sense of the Word, the "former heaven and the first earth" were judged and swept away, and "there is no more sea,"--we need no longer be "at sea" as to the true meaning of the Word of God. The "sea," indeed, is still with us; we still possess and worship the letter of the Word, but it is now "a sea of glass, like unto a crystal," for it is now translucent and glorified by the perception of the genuine spiritual truth that sparkles within.

     The coast of the Mediterranean sea everywhere represents the memory which first receives and retains the knowledges of truth from the letter of the Word. Lowest down, towards the south, there is the seaboard of Egypt, by which is signified the science of the sensual man,--that is, the lowest thing in the human memory which receives by sensual sight and hearing the first knowledges from the Word. Travelling northward, we come to the "coasts of the Philistines," by which is signified "the science of cognitions,"--that is, the knowledges of good and truth from the Word reduced to a systematic science--but still only in the external memory, and thus still only a matter of faith alone. And further to the north we have the coasts of Sidon and Tyre, the land of the Phoenicians, by which is signified the "cognitions of good and truth,"--that is, the knowledges of the more interior and spiritual goods and truths from the Word, the highest things of human knowledge, but still only in the external memory, still only on the coast or outskirts of the spiritual understanding.

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     47. The Sea of Galilee. This beautiful lake in the north of Canaan is also known, in the New Testament, as "the Sea of Tiberias," (John 6:1), and the "Lake of Gennesaret," (Luke 5:1), the latter name being derived from its Old Testament designation,--Yam Kinnereth, (Numb. 34:11; Josh. 11:2), the name being probably derived from Kinnor, a lyre,--from the general resemblance of the outlines of the lake to those of this musical instrument.

     The Sea of Galilee is twelve and a half miles long, and seven miles broad at its widest extent. It is nowhere more than two hundred feet in depth. Its waters are of a deep, rich blue color, and still, as in the time of the Lord, are noted for their abundance and variety of fish, though nowadays a fisherman is seldom seen upon the lake. Among the fish are found some species which cannot be found anywhere else, except in the Mediterranean Sea,--a fact which points to a prehistoric connection between the Lake and the Sea. The general aspect of the region is now forlorn and desolate,--on the east a chain of mountains two thousand feet high, red and brown masses strewn with rocks of lava and pumice stone; on the west the rounded hills of Galilee gradually sloping towards the lake. The eastern shore was always a wilderness, but the western was in ancient times unsurpassed for beauty and fertility, and was covered with gardens, villages and cities. Here, still, are Tiberias and Magdala, once flourishing towns but now miserable villages. Here, in the time of the Lord, were Gennesaret and Capernaum, Chorazin and Eethsaida, cities of from ten to fifteen thousand inhabitants but now heaps of unidentifiable ruins.

     It was in this region that the Lord spent the greater portion of the three years of His public ministry. Here He preached, and healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, and performed most of His miracles. The reason He chose this region was, we conceive, because Galilee represents the natural degree of the Church; it was the "Galilee of the Gentiles" as it is called in Matthew 4:5; because here, far from Jerusalem, far from the center of the corrupt Jewish Church, were still to be found "the remnant" the simple fisher-folk, who alone were willing to receive the Lord in His Advent.

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Hence most of the twelve apostles and the seventy disciples came from the region round about the Lake of Galilee, and hence this lake, in a good sense, signifies "the cognitions of truth and good in the whole complex." (A. E. 514)

     It was on the waters of this sea that Jesus walked in the midst of the tempest, by which is signified the Lord's "presence and influx into the ultimate of Heaven and the Church, and the derivative life from the Divine for those who are in the ultimates of Heaven. That their faith is obscure and vacillating, was represented by Peter beginning to sink when walking upon the sea, but, being caught by the Lord, he was saved. That meanwhile the sea was in a state of commotion with the wind, and that the Lord assuaged it, signifies the natural state of life which precedes [salvation], which state is unpeaceful and tempestuous." (A. E. 514:21.)

     On the other hand, in an opposite sense, the lake signifies the abyss of Hell, as in the night when the disciples were about to perish in the storm, and when Jesus "rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm." (Matth. 8:26.) This represented, in one act, the Lord's universal work of Redemption by subjugating the hells into obedience to His Word. The same is signified by the Lord casting out the devils from the two men who were possessed, and "the devils went into a herd of swine, and the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters." (Matth. 8:32.)

     48. The Dead Sea. As the great Sea of the West represents the Word of God, thus the Divine Truth itself, so the Dead Sea represents falsity itself. Even thus the Church in this world is set in the midst between truth and falsity,--between Heaven on the one hand and Hell on the other.

     The Dead Sea is mentioned but a few times in the Word, but is then referred to as "the Sea of Salt" as in Genesis xiv. where it is spoken of as "the Vale of Siddim which is the Sea of Salt." This Vale is described as being "full of pits of bitumen," by which are signified "the filthy and unclean things of lusts." That this is their signification may be evident to everyone.

     This is also actually manifest in the other life, for such spirits desire nothing better than to dwell in miry, boggy, and excrementitious places, so that their nature carries such things with it.

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Such unclean things exhale from them even to the sense when they approach the sphere of good spirits, especially when they desire to infest the good, that is, to congregate to fight against them. From these things it is manifest what is signified by the Vale of Siddim. That the Sea of Salt signifies the vile things of falsities thence,...is because the Sea of Salt signifies the falsities which break forth from lusts, for there is never any lust but what produces falsities. (A. C. 1666.)

     The salt of this Sea is produced chiefly by the extraordinary evaporation of the water, which, constantly inflowing from the Jordan, has no other outlet. The heat in this depression is tremendous, and the escaping waters have for ages left behind the salt which is contained in all water. The accumulation of salt is such as to render this lake the saltiest water on earth, and the saltness is further increased by the proximity of the Jebel Usdum (mountain of Sodom), a solid mountain of rock salt at the southern end of the Sea. From its slimy depths there arise also masses of bitumen or asphalt,--the combination of this inflammable material with the salt presenting, in the analysis of spiritual chemistry, the true representative of "falsities breaking forth from lusts."

     The lake as a whole is the very picture of Hell. To begin with, it is the deepest hole on earth, even as it is the hottest. The level of the lake is 1,300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and its own greatest depth is another abyss of 1,300 feet. Along its western shore the bleak and rugged rocks of Judea rise to a height of 2,000 feet, and on the eastern shore the table-land of Moab is raised 4,000 feet above the level of the Dead Sea.

     Shut up in this abysmal caldron,--46 miles long and from 5 to 9 miles wide,--is a collection of waters that have no natural outlet, even as there is no outlet to Hell. "He that enters here, let him forsake all hope." Thus the lake is like that love of self which greedily receives all things but gives nothing in return. And as Hell lives exclusively from the influx of Divine Good and Truth, but immediately turns all inflowing life into bitter falsity and fiery, filthy evils, so the Dead Sea exists entirely from the influx of the waters of Jordan which immediately are defiled by the salty deposit of the lake and the sulphurous and bituminous substances which are constantly arising from its bottom.

     The scenery around this earthly Inferno is wild, dreary, and desolate in the extreme.

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The low shores at the foot of the bare and dirty cliffs are covered with a peculiarly offensive slimy, black mud, smeared over with a white and salty incrustation. No vegetation can flourish here, but over the universal desolation there hangs a heavy, shimmering atmosphere, filled with the poisonous exhalations from the filthy waters, and the heat which reigns in this hell-hole is seldom relieved by a gust of wind.

     The density of the water is so great that the human body cannot sink in it. No birds are seen flying over it, and no fish can live in the lake. The fishes that are occasionally washed down from the Jordan, die immediately on arriving at the lake. A few poverty-stricken fellahin live at the northern and southern ends of the Dead Sea, but they are weak and sickly in mind and body, and are said to be the most immoral and degraded of all the modern inhabitants of Canaan.

     The whole region is of volcanic nature, and science has abundantly confirmed the Old Testament story of the terrible cataclysms which in the time of Abraham destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, at the southern end of the lake. When Lot looked down upon this region from the heights of Bethel, "he beheld all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered every where, even as the garden of the Lord, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah." (Gen. 13:10.) But not long afterwards "the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from out of heaven;" and Abraham, from the mountain ridges above, "looked toward Sodom, and toward all the land of the plain, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." (Gen. 19:24.)

     Sodom and Gomorrah were at one time rich and populous centers of a Hamitic population,--the original Canaanites,--which, in the last days of the Ancient Church, had become utterly degraded in religion and in moral life. The destruction of these cities was one of the incidents of the Last Judgment upon the Ancient Church. Such of the inhabitants as escaped are said to have fled to the sea-coast where they founded Sidon and became the ancestors of the wealthy but cruel and corrupt Phoenician nation.

     49. The Red Sea, or the Sea Suph. (Suph = reeds, rushes, sea-weed; probably from the Egyptian word twfi = reeds.)

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It has been supposed by some of the learned that "the Sea Suph" was the name only of the Bitter Lakes in the desert between the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Suez, but not only do the Septuagint and the Vulgate translate the "Sea Suph" by the Red Sea, but the Writings of the New Church clearly establish their identity. We read there of the Egyptians being immersed "in the Red Sea," (A. C. 4601), and of the east wind which dried up the "Red Sea." (S. D. 5078) The letter of the Word also speaks of "the shore of the Sea Suph in the land of Edom." (I Kings 9:26), which shows that it was a general name applicable not only to the Gulf of Suez, but also to the Gulf of Akaba, which was the southern boundary of the land of Edom.

     The Sea Suph, or the Red Sea, being on the one hand the eastern border of the land of Egypt, and on the other hand the western and southern boundary of the land of Canaan, (regarded in its widest extent), signifies "truth sensual and scientific." (A. C. 9340), and at the same time "the ultimates of the Church, which are the scientifics which comprehend the cognitions of truth and good." (A. E. 514) That this sea was regarded as one of the boundaries of Canaan is evident from Exodus 23:31, where it is said, "I will set thy bounds from the Sea Suph even unto the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river," by which is signified "the Church in all its extension." (A. E. 701.)

     When viewed as the abyss in which Pharaoh and his host were engulfed, the Sea Suph represents the sensual and scientific falsities which destroyed the Ancient Church in Egypt, and the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea represents the Last Judgment upon the Ancient Church in that region, (A. C. 6589, 6907), and thus the hell and damnation into which the imaginary heavens of that vastated Church were finally cast down. (A. C. 7704, 8099; A. E. 503.) But the Red Sea being divided to let the Israelites pass through, represents the dissipation of those sensual and scientific falsities at the time of the Last Judgment, and thus the liberation of the captive spirits in the lower earth. (A. C. 8184.)

     In the spiritual world there is still a Sea Suph, or Red Sea, which is a hell in front, deep under the hells of the adulterers, extending considerably towards the left. [The Gulf of Suez!] "It is separated from the other hells by waters like those of a sea."

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Those who are being delivered from infestations are led towards the left, through the midst of this hell, and come out at the left, where there is as it were a desert. While they are passing through they are so protected by the Lord that not the least of evil can reach them; for they are encompassed with a column of angels with whom the Lord is present. This was represented by the passing of the sons of Israel through the sea Suph. (A. C. 8099.)
NEW CHURCH EDUCATION, A PREPARATION FOR A LIFE OF USE IN THE WORLD.* 1908

NEW CHURCH EDUCATION, A PREPARATION FOR A LIFE OF USE IN THE WORLD.*              1908

     * Response to a toast at the Berlin reunion of ex-pupils, September 7, 1908, by Mr. Ivan Northgraves.

     While I feel it a pleasure to respond to this toast, yet I do not feel capable of doing justice to it, as it appears to me as one of very great importance; for, unless we worthily perform our daily uses as citizens of the Commonwealth, how shall we be able to perform those higher and more heavenly uses in the Lord's Kingdom, a kingdom of which it is the Lord's desire that we should all become inhabitants,--and this is possible, if we will but examine ourselves, see and acknowledge our evils, shun them as sins against the Lord, and perform the works of the good of use purely and simply from a love of good and truth, and not from any natural motives, such as reputation, honor, or influence.

     Men at this day are so immersed in the love of self and the world, that very few, if any, are acquainted with what is meant by love to the Lord and love towards our neighbor; and this, together with the fact that Conjugial Love was unknown in the world, is the reason that the Lord, in His Divine Providence, foresaw the necessity of establishing New Church Schools, where the young of the Church may be instructed in the truths revealed in the internal sense of the Word, and where they may be prepared for living a true life of use in the world, in order that they may become angels of Heaven, which is the end for which man is created by the Lord. This, therefore, being the end in view, viz., the preparation for Heaven, it is rather difficult to keep on neutral ground in responding to this toast.

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To live a true life of use in the world is the first essential in the work of preparation for reception into Heaven, for the Lord's Kingdom is a kingdom of uses. How this true life of use may be acquired it is the purpose of New Church education to show, and the Writings of the Church are the only source from which we can draw this information.

     In order that the love of a true life of use may be implanted in us, it is necessary, first of all, to be able to see the evils which are latent within us and then shun them as sins against the Lord. These evils consist chiefly in the love of self and the love of the world; and in order that goods of use may be performed, it is necessary that we supplicate the Lord for help to shun these infernal evils, that instead of the love of self, Love to the Lord may enter, and instead of the love of the world, love towards our neighbor may be cultivated. Love to the Lord and Love towards our neighbor are direct opposites to the love of self and the love of the world. The former are those which reign in Heaven; the latter reign in hell. The former are they on which the Lord tells us hand all the law and the prophets, meaning that in them is contained all that is good in its fulness, both in heaven and the church. Only in so far as we steadfastly cultivate these two loves, can we hope to do the Lord's will on earth as it is done in Heaven. Let us never forget that all good is from the Lord and none whatever can be ascribed to man; but in order that man may act from freedom the Lord has granted the appearance as though the good performed by man were his own; but, nevertheless, it is wholly from the Lord, for without Him we can do nothing. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me."

     A true life of use consists in diligently, faithfully and sincerely performing the work of one's office or function from a principle of religion, or, to repeat, from love to the Lord and love toward our neighbor. All true religion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do good. In other words, religion must ultimate itself in action, in life, in performing uses to the neighbor. Our neighbor is every man individually, according to the quality of good in him. But love toward our neighbor extends more widely.

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A society is more the neighbor than the individual; one's country is still more the neighbor than a society; in a higher degree still than our country, the Church is our neighbor, and in the highest degree our neighbor is the Kingdom of the Lord.

     The more we of the New Church peruse the Writings, and, under the Lord's guidance, better understand the truth from day to (lay, the more are we rendered capable of more fully performing a true life of use in the world. And as we understand the truth better from time to time, the greater does our responsibility become for the Lord wishes us to use our talents by living a life of use in accordance with our understanding of the Truth as revealed in His Word. "To him to whom much is given of him shall be much required." To know these truths, to acknowledge them, and yet not live according to them is to commit profanation: and if for a time we do live according to them, and afterwards return unto our former life, the degree of profanation is still more grievous and the last state becomes worse than the first.

     There is another subject which I have not dwelt upon in particular, and without which a true life of use is impossible, viz., Conjugial Love. We are told in the Writings that this love was the love of loves with the men of the most Ancient Church, because it is the foundation of all spiritual and thence of natural loves, and the Lord promises to restore and is restoring this love to His New Church. It is from this love that the New Church will receive its growth and it is this love that will bind the Church on earth to that in Heaven Where Conjugial Love is, there love to the Lord reigns; and where the latter love is, there the love of use is alive.

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Editorial Department 1908

Editorial Department       Editor       1908

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     At the annual meeting of the Sunday School Association of the General Convention, the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck was appointed editor of The Sower, "a New Church Sunday School Paper" of four pages quarto.



     Friends in Council, the little quarterly published by the Scottish New Church Association, in its issue for October, contains a brief sketch of the history of the Glasgow Society from its beginning in 1810, when it consisted of about half a dozen people. As is usually the case in these contemporary "histories" of New Church Societies, the present sketch is silent as to the internal history of the Church in Glasgow, although the fact of dissensions in the Society is mentioned. But the writer practically confines himself to the addresses of places of worship, and the names of members, leaders, and ministers, with hardly a thing to make the names living. And so the sketch is dry and uninteresting.

     The same number of Friends in Council contains two pictures showing the exterior and interior of the new building erected by the now united Glasgow Societies.



     Some interesting glimpses of Tennyson and Carlyle in their attitude to Swedenborg's writings are afforded in the Diary of the English poet, William Allingham, (Macmillan, 1907), which is reviewed by Mr. George Trobridge in a recent issue of The New Church Magazine. According to the reviewer, Allingham was an interested student of Swedenborg from early manhood to the end of his life, though the few extracts which are quoted from the Diary, if these comprise all the references to Swedenborg made therein, hardly bear out so optimistic a statement. The chief point of interest in these extracts, however, relates to the men of whom Allingham writes. In 1850 he speaks to Schiller, a relation of the poet Schiller, on the subject of Swedenborg, but he gives no details of the conversation.

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Nearly twenty years later, (1867), he notes having spoken on the same subject with Longfellow and Tennyson, and he records the latter as saying that Swedenborg's "hell is more interesting than his heaven," a strange remark for an idealist. Yet Tennyson had probably heard not a little about Swedenborg's doctrines, for his brother, Mr. Frederick Tennyson, was a staunch believer in the New Church and its distinctiveness, and was, for twenty-five years, a member of the St. Heliers Society. The poet, on the other hand, seems to have cherished doubts concerning the spiritual life, Allingham remarking concerning him that he "is unhappy from his uncertainty regarding the condition and destiny of man." Twenty years later still, however, Allingham presents Tennyson's riper conclusions as being, that "the only tolerable view of this life is as the vestibule to a better."

     Of Carlyle nothing but a most gloomy picture is presented. To him "the future was a blank," writes Allingham; and elsewhere he says that, although the historian and philosopher "often had a feeling that there is a special Providence," yet, to the end of his life, "he never arrived beyond the agnostic position in regard to the future life." Of his attitude to Swedenborg, he writes in 1871, "Carlyle never cared at all for the great Swede, and had, I believe, no grasp of his character." In 1879 he reports Carlyle as saying, apropos of some reference to Swedenborg made while they were passing the street where he had lived, "All, yes, Swedenborg was fond of London. I never got much good of him. Emerson says he came nearer the secret of the world than almost anybody, but I never could see that he came near any secret at all. Still, I have a respect for him; I read his books with considerable interest." Carlyle's "respect" was certainly untinctured by admiration.



     The brilliant and versatile staff correspondent of the Illustrated London News, Mr. G. K. Chesterton, has written some pungent criticisms anent religious "tolerance," which, though they savor strongly of that cynical attitude to all religion which is characteristic of Mr. Chesterton, and though they are addressed particularly to the "tolerance" which was aimed at in the Congress of Religions recently held at Oxford, yet have a most wholesome application to bodies of the New Church, where "tolerance" and "charity" are not unfrequently invoked in lamentations over doctrinal discussion.

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"Tolerance" is often a cloak to hide intellectual laziness, and the "spirit of charity" a garment covering indifference to truth. With the decline of the Christian Church, when spiritual truths are no longer loved, sought after or known, it is not surprising that there is a growing appeal to the false tolerance which is careless as to what men believe; but it is both surprising and sad that in the New Church where the Divine Truth is revealed as the sole means by which mankind is to be healed, this false "tolerance" should find foot-hold, to turn the strong voice of truth to the utterances of weak generalities, and the virile condemnation of falsity to indifference or silence in its presence. Such "tolerance" has little place in the discussion of political questions by earnest men, for such men are interested in what they see to be the truth and are anxious that it shall prevail. They have convictions: they "know something for certain" (C. L. 232) and will fight for it. And so in the Church; so far as there is the love of her truths men will study them and discuss them and will vigorously fight whatever assails them. In tolerance, it is true. But genuine tolerance is of the spirit and not of the body. It leads men to will that others shall be in freedom to think what they will; but it does not seal the lips when destructive falsities are promulgated, or see signs of truth in utterances which are destructive of all truth.

     But let Mr. Chesterton speak. We quote from extracts made by the Literary Digest:

     "Creeds must disagree, it is the whole fun of the thing. If I think the universe is triangular, and you think it is square, there cannot be room for two universes. We may argue politely, we may argue humanely, we may argue with great mutual benefit; but, obviously, we must argue. Modern toleration is really a tyranny. It is a tyranny because it is a silence. To say that I must not deny my opponent's faith is to say I must not discuss it: I may not say that Buddhism is false, and that is all I want to say about Buddhism. It is the only interesting thing that anybody can want to say about Buddhism--either that it is false or that it is true.

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But in these modern assemblies, supposed to be tolerant and scientific, there is spread a general and tacit agreement that there shall be no violent assertion or negation of faith; and this is not only hypocritical, but unbusinesslike, for it is not getting to the point. In short, the awkwardness of a real congress of creeds is merely this that if two absolute creeds meet, they will probably fight; and if they do not fight, there is really not much value in their having met. It is absurd to have a discussion on comparative religions if you don't compare them. And if the representatives of two energetic Eastern philosophies do begin to compare them, there is, of course, always the possibility that this delicate scientific analysis may be conducted with long curved knives.

     * * * * *

     "An open mind is really a mark of foolishness, like an open mouth. Mouths and minds were made to shut; they were made to open only in order to shut. In direct connection with this question of mythology and human belief the point may roughly be put thus: An extraordinary idea has arisen that the best critic of religious institutions is the man who talks coldly about religion. Nobody supposes that the best critic of music is the man who talks coldly about music. Within reasonable bounds, the more excited the musician is about music, the more he is likely to be right about it. Nobody thinks a man a correct judge of poetry because he looks down on poems. But there is an idea that a man is a correct judge of religion because he looks down on religions. Now, folklore and primitive faiths, and all such things are of the nature of music and poetry in this respect-that the actual language and symbols they employ require not only an understanding, they require what the Bible very finely calls an understanding heart. You must be a little moved in your emotions even to understand them at all; you must have a heart in order to make head or tail of them. Consequently, whenever I hear on these occasions that beliefs are being discust scientifically and calmly, I know that they are being discust wrong. Even a false religion is too genuine a thing to be discust calmly.

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That the distinguished gentlemen at Oxford spoke placidly and with precision about ghosts or tokens, witches or taboos, does not impress me at all in favor of the justice of their conclusions. I should be much more impressed if Mr. Marett shuddered from head to foot on the platform when he mentioned a taboo. . . It would be more amusing, but it would also be more convincing. For then we should know that those who were studying fables and faiths had at least some conception of what goes to make a credible faith or even a credible fable; we should know for the first time that the professors in a literal sense really knew what they were talking about."
FIRST NATURAL POINT 1908

FIRST NATURAL POINT              1908

     Mr. John R. Swanton contributes to the October number of New Church Review, a brief, but interesting "Comparative Study of Swedenborg's Earlier and Later Philosophy." Commencing with the Principia--with which, indeed, his paper mainly deals--he at once notes, in regard to the First Natural Point, a teaching which, as he takes it, is entirely opposed to the Writings. In support of this view he quotes the familiar condemnation of the theory that the "only substance which is also the first source of all things" is "a substance so simple that nothing can be simpler" and is "comparable to a point without dimension from an indefinite number of which the forms of dimension were produced." (D. P. 6; D. L. W. 229.) Mr. Swanton maintains that the hypothesis here condemned as "a fallacy originating in the idea of space" (D. P. 6), is identical with the hypothesis of the First Natural Point in the Principia. If this contention were correct then we must perforce agree with the writer, that in this respect Swedenborg condemns his own earlier "speculation." The question, therefore, narrows itself down to an examination of what is meant in the Principia itself by The Point. Mr. Swanton apparently takes it to mean a mere point, in the ordinary mathematical acceptation of the word,--a point which is simple above all else of creation, in the sense that it is less perfect, less full and less complete. For it is this conception of the first substance that is condemned in the passages quoted.

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We on the other hand, maintain that such a definition is totally opposite to Swedenborg's idea as given in The Principia. By the Point there he expressly means "the first and immediate proceeding from the Infinite." (Prin. II. 8, 11) It is "neither compound, finite nor limited" (ib.) but "is a certain mediate between the Infinite and the finite" (ib. 10). Contrary to Mr. Swanton's idea, Swedenborg specifically distinguishes it from the mathematical point, the latter being used merely as an illustration. "The difference is (he says) that this point, or the points of the mundane system, is called the Natural Point, but the other point, or that of geometry, is called the Mathematical Point" (ib. 7). Moreover, he defines it as being "internal state" (ib. 13), "non-extended" (ib. I4), "indivisible" (ib.), without space (ib. 15), or figure (ib. 16), and, far from his conceiving of it as something "simple" in the sense of being a single point less complete that the compound, he says of it that "in it must be contained every thing that is finited, and which comes into existence by means of a long series of finites both active and passive" (ib. 20). Somewhere in the work on The Infinite he enlarges on this view and shows that not only the whole of finite existences are contained in his "purely simple," but that in it is contained the whole of future events, the whole of Providence. The idea that Swedenborg embodies in the term First Natural Point, is the very thing which the Writings pronounce to be the truth. For the very passage that condemns the hypothesis of a substance "so simple that nothing can be simpler,...and comparable to a point without dimension" continues by saying "the truth is that the simpler and purer anything is the more full and complete it is" (D. P. 6). It is "fulness" and "completeness" par excellence that Swedenborg ascribes to his First Natural Point. And what conception shall we have of that "First of finition" which is most "full and complete," if not the conception that Swedenborg has so rationally and beautifully embodied in his Point? Banish his Principia teaching, and we have nothing but a vacuum between the Infinite and finite,--a vacuum wherein the mind vainly seeks the Cause of creation. The teaching of the Writings that "God first finited His Infinity by means of substances emitted from Himself." (T. C. R. 33), this teaching without the illumination derived from the study of Swedenborg's Point, is vague and uncertain, seen rather with the eye of faith than of reason; and if we reject Swedenborg's conception as to the Point, the teaching becomes meaningless, for we have stripped ourselves of every idea into which it may flow.

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     With the exception of the doctrine of the Point, Mr. Swanton finds a substantial agreement between the earlier works, (including the Principia) and the Writings, and he adduces passages in an admirable way to show the agreement with reference to Cosmogony. His conclusions are summed up as being, "1. With the single exception of the 'first or mathematical point,' there is no evidence that Swedenborg deliberately went back on any important principle of his earlier writings. 2. The strong parallelism which exists between numerous statements in the theological writings, and the whole scheme of the early philosophy demands an explanation."

     Three possible ways of explanation are then briefly considered. First. On the assumption that whatever is of value in the earlier works has been carried by Swedenborg himself into the Writings, we might discard the former entirely, and, for our science, look to the various statements contained in the latter and attempt to square them with modern science. Second. We might place both classes of writings on the same basis of authority. And Third, We might start with the Writings as the basis of faith and then accept the teachings of the earlier works as they are seen to be in agreement with the principles of the latter.

     The last of these possible ways of approach seems to be that which is indicated by Swedenborg himself in the only passage where, so far as we know, he indicates a comparison between his scientific and theological works, namely, in The History of Creation, n. 33-34. There he says, "I have treated of the origin of the earth . . . in my work on The Worship and Love of God, but I there treated it according to the leading of the understanding or the thread of reason. But now, since no trust is to be placed in human intelligence, unless it be inspired by God, it is of importance to the cause of truth, that the principles which have been laid down in the above mentioned work be compared with Revelation in the Sacred Book, and, in the present case, with the history of creation as revealed by God to Moses, and thus be submitted to examination as to how they agree; for whatever is not in absolute agreement with Revelation must certainly be pronounced false. . . .

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When I had diligently made this comparison I marveled at the agreement. . . . And Swedenborg's marveling, we might add, has been shared in by many, since his day, who have seen the wonderful harmony existing throughout the whole of his writings.
HOW THE NEW LITURGY IS BEING RECEIVED 1908

HOW THE NEW LITURGY IS BEING RECEIVED              1908

     Our readers will be interested in the review of the new Liturgy of the General Church which we reproduce below from the October issue of our German American contemporary, the Neukirclzenblatt, edited by the Rev. Louis H. Tafel. His remarks as to the translation of the Word in the new Liturgy deserve a more extended answer than we can give in the present issue of the Life. Here we need only state that he has totally and tragically misunderstood the Academy's attitude on the subject. The Academy has by no means given up its long cherished desire for a new and more correct translation of the Word, but it has become convinced that a Liturgy is not the proper place in which to experiment with new translations. Worship demands a sphere of security and repose, in which the affections of humiliation and adoration should be supreme. To this end a Liturgy must follow that version of the Word which the worshiper is accustomed to look upon as being the Word, the version which he has used from childhood in the family worship and the private reading. Variations from the common version can only produce disturbances of the mind and a sphere of doubt and scientific criticism which drag the affection down from the plane of worship. When, in the Providence of the Lord, there shall have been produced a new version of the entire Word, in which the Church as a whole shall have some degree of confidence, then, and not before, will the worship be ready to adapt itself to the new translations, in the meantime, it will be better for the Church in its public worship to adhere to that version which, with all its faults, possesses some unrivalled virtues, and which has served for centuries as the means of communication between God and the English-speaking race.

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     Now the review:

     "A NEW ENGLISH LITURGY.

     "With the new church year there comes to our hand the new English Liturgy of "the General Church of the New Jerusalem," published in Bryn Athyn under direction of Bishop Pendleton. The book is of larger size than the other liturgies of the Church in German or English,--more than an inch broader and longer than the other books of worship. The number of pages is also increased: 814 pages instead of the 568 pages of the German Liturgie, and yet the book seems to be of less weight than the others. This is brought about through the thinness of the paper, but while it makes the book easier to hold, it will be found that the pages of the thin paper are more difficult to turn than in the case of thicker pages. We would not be surprised, therefore, if a thicker paper will be used in future editions.

     Thus much as to the outward furnishing of the book, which, bound in fine cloth for common use, has a stately appearance. In regard to the general arrangement, the first thing that strikes the eye is the fact that there are in this book twelve general offices, occupying 81 pages, instead of the single general introductory service which is to be found in the other liturgies. This, of course, provides for a greater variety. What in the other liturgies is usually called Responses, are here called Antiphons. These latter are also unusually rich and full, being twenty in number, (pp. 86-205); each antiphon is divided into three parts, so that out of the twenty antiphons there can be made sixty, which still more increases the variety. After this follows the Psalter, with 63 extracts from the Psalms and 12 from the Prophets, altogether 76 pages,--thus somewhat more than one for each Sunday in the year. Then follow extracts from the Law, (10 pages), and from the Gospel and the Revelation, (10 pages). After this comes a department presenting the Doctrines, in 46 pages. Next follows a selection of 207, mostly brief, Prayers for the worship, and these, (so far as we can judge from a hasty examination), are all new, and plainly addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ; at the end of this division there are 22 brief prayers at the meals.

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     Then follow services for the Sacraments and Rites, viz., Baptism, the Holy Supper, Confirmation, Betrothal, Marriage, Ordination, and Burial,--all these newly composed as to the greater part, although on the whole they are in agreement with the service thus far in use. They embrace 45 pages.

     Among the Chants we find mostly the old melodies, mixed with some that are new. The texts are in part new selections, and we look in vain for some of the old well-beloved chants. The same may be said of the Hymns. We find here many new hymns, and some old ones with new melodies, which are not always an improvement upon the old favorites. There are, however, quite a number of the old ones, with the old melodies, so that the eagerness for innovation does not reign everywhere. Somewhat to our astonishment we find in English version the great German chorals "Wachet auf" and "fin' feste Uurg." Altogether there are 16 hymns, comprising 221 pages. Of the Anthems there are, as usual, far too few: here, in spite of the great number of pages in the book, there are only 14, occupying 40 pages; but beside the beloved old ones, there are seven new anthems, by a New Church composer. Mr. C. J. Whittington, of London, a former member of the Academy.

     A thorough valuation of this great work, (for great labor has been manifestly bestowed upon it), can be made only after some actual use of the book and after examination of each new musical composition. But the one thing which at once strikes the eye is that the Academy, (or, as it now calls itself, the General Church of the New Jerusalem), in this work has totally given up the effort to present a correct and careful translation of the Word. It is hard to tell whether this is because the Academy no longer possesses and linguists, or whether these have been set aside, without being consulted. It may be that the reason is to be found in the rather unfavorable criticism that was bestowed upon their translation of the Psalms to Mr. Whittington's Music: but on the whole, no one can accuse the Academy or the "General Church" of paying much attention to outside criticism.

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But in either case the old founders of the Academy would be greatly surprised were they to see that the correct and careful translation of the Word of God, as it is to be found in Swedenborg, belongs to the dead issues of the Academy, and that the would-be improvements upon the Word of God, such as we find in the English version and in all free translations, are better and closer to the Spirit of God than His own Word, such as we find it in the Hebrew and the Greek, and in Swedenborg's Latin, and in the English of the Academy's old Liturgy. Then would they [the founders], like the ancient Romans, beat their hands together over their heads in despair, and exclaim "O tempora, O mores!" The old founders of the Academy, who so manfully fought in Boston for a correct translation in the New Church liturgy, and who, finally, after long conflicts, gained the point, for themselves, at least,--great would be their surprise to see that not only has no progress been made in the last thirty years, but that there has been an actual retrogression, and that the correct translation in the old Liturgy has again been laid aside. All the ancient errors of the common Version have been faithfully retained, except, perhaps, one in a hundred, and in the presence of such an isolated improvement one can only ask oneself: "Why, indeed?"

     While we only have admiration for the great labor that is represented by this extensive work, in which there is found so much that is new, we wonder at the same time. "Why this backward step in the faithfulness towards the Word of God and in the love which we owe to every word and expression of our Lord?"

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CORRECTION 1908

CORRECTION       JAMES HYDE       1908

To THE EDITOR OF New Church Life.

     Dear Sir:--I have read an interesting article in the August issue of New Church Life, respecting Dr. Isaac Watts, upon which, with your leave, I offer an item or two of fresh information and the correction of the writer's conclusions, or what seems to be his object in calling attention to the subject. Abney Park, Stoke Newington, is now a cemetery, and contains a fine monument to the famous hymn writer, whose memory is not likely to wane in England. The hymn book used in the New Church societies, and sanctioned by the General Conference here, includes twenty-six hymns written by Dr. Watts, after some needed revision. I have in my possession an octave pamphlet of 52 pages, by Dr. Watts, with the following title, A Faithful Enquiry after the Ancient and Original Doctrine of the Trinity, taught by Christ to His Apostles, London: T. Goyder, 1829. It has a preface by Gabriel Watts, and an "Advertisement" by T. Goyder. It will be noticed that this is reprinted and published by a New Church publisher.

     The correction I refer to is relative to your contributor's suggestion that Dr. Watts wrote the pamphlet mentioned in the New Church Review for 1896 and 1899 as a "Significant Document of 1729." This, however, is not the case. It was written, as the title states, by Thomas Tomkinson, a Muggletonian. If your contributor had carried his researches into the Review a little further, he would have come upon an article in the volume for 1900 (pp. 215-227), which I wrote at the request of the editors, entitled "The Muggletonians and the Document of 1729." There the religious faith, in general, and the book in particular, are exhaustively dealt with.
     Yours sincerely,
          JAMES HYDE.
UNRECORDED SWEDENBORG MEDAL 1908

UNRECORDED SWEDENBORG MEDAL              1908

EDITOR New Church Life:

     In the Rev. James Hyde's Bibliography of Swedenborg's works, there is given, on p. 684, a description of two medals which were struck in Swedenborg's honor, the first in 1852, and the second in 1896. Mr. Hyde adds that "another medal is said to have been struck by the Swedish Academy, bearing the same portrait, but this has not been seen. It is possible that when Baron von Beskow's Eulogy over Swedenborg was delivered in 1858, this last-named medal was struck.

     In view of this statement it may be of interest to report that I recently obtained a view of this last-named medal. It is in the possession of Miss Clara Tafel, of Germany, who received it from her father, Prof. Immanuel Tafel.

     This medal is made of silver and has a diameter of 32 m. m. On one side it bears the bust of Swedenborg, looking to the left, and around the head is written EMANUEL SVEDENBORG. On the reverse there is the figure of a man searching with a burning torch in the shaft of a mine. Underneath are the words:
ARCANA VELO SUBLATO 1908

ARCANA VELO SUBLATO              1908

     ADSPEXIT VATES

     MDCCLXXII

     (Arcana the seer saw, after the veil had been lifted).

     Along the edge above and behind the seer there is the inscription: OUCERENTI DEFUIT ORBIS. (To him who searched, the earth disappeared).

     Miss Tafel told me that she intends to give this medal, and some other things to her nephew, (sister's son), the Rev. Martin Schuz, a minister of the German Church, whom I also had the pleasure to meet. Sincerely yours, G. BARGER. Voorburg, near the Hague, Holland. Oct. 11th, 1908.

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Church News 1908

Church News       Various       1908

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. During the Bishop's absence in the West, the pulpit has been filled by Mr. Synnestvedt, Mr. Acton, Mr. Odhner and Mr. De Charms, in turn.

     The foot ball season ended rather tamely, owing to the canceling of the final game. Our total by points stands, won, 56; lost, 21.

     Mrs. S. S. Lindsay, of Pittsburgh, who has two sons in the College, dropped in unexpectedly. A ladies' euchre party was given at Cairnwood in her honor.

     CHICAGO, ILL. During the summer months, the Sharon church, like a happy country, has had no history. But now in the time of falling leaves things begin to happen.

     The first Saturday in October the Ladies' Society met at Mrs. Riefsdahl's for the election of officers. At the request of the pastor the ladies decided to try a monthly dinner, to be held in the class room of the church after service the first Sunday in each month.

     On Sunday night, October 11th, the society and friends from Glenview were invited to a house warming at the home of the pastor. It happened to be an anniversary of several weddings, and was made also a kitchen shower for the bride-to-be. The back parlor floor was strewn with pans and kettles, each with an appropriate doggerel. "The Hanging of the Crane" and other poems were read. One, original and amusing, in the style and meter of Hiawatha, was written by a young man from Glenview. One canto was devoted to a description of the gifts which strewed the floor; another, entitled "The Naming of the Kids," was a plea for good general utility names, not "Rain-in-the-Face" nor "Big Thunder," nor yet names that sound like "the price list of a drug store," such as are given in the Mecca of all good Academicians.

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     The first Sunday in November we inaugurated the plan of giving a monthly dinner to the congregation, after service in the class room of the church. About forty-five were present, men, women and children. The sphere was pleasant and social; there were short speeches and some jokes upon the impending election.

     After the tables were cleared away the ladies and gentlemen each adjoined to separate rooms, where the business of each society was transacted. By this arrangement a large attendance at each meeting is secured and much traveling obviated.

     At present we are in the midst of the Assembly meetings. The bishop will remain in Chicago a few days after the meetings of the local assembly, so we shall have the pleasure of hearing him on Wednesday and Sunday. E. V. W.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. After a pastorate of five years, the Rev. David H. Klein has been compelled, owing to the state of his health, to resign his charge of the Immanuel church. Change of climate was an imperative necessity to Mr. Klein, and in the latter part of October he and his family moved to Hendersonville, N. C., where they will take up their residence, Mr. Klein entering into secular work.

     The school work has been continued under the superintendence of the lady teachers, and the Rev. W. B. Caldwell, of Chicago, has helped by conducting services on Sunday evenings.

     We have been favored by the presence of the beloved bishop of our Church, who, accompanied by his wife, was here to preside over the meetings of the District Assembly. It is needless to say that our Assembly was a delightful success. A full report of it will doubtless appear in a future issue of the Life.

     After the meetings of the Assembly were concluded, the Bishop took up, with the society, the matter of the election of a pastor. Several meetings of the Council were held, and finally, on Sunday evening, November 14th, at a full meeting of the society, a unanimous call was extended to the Rev. Alfred Acton. The matter is now in Mr. Acton's hands.

     TORONTO. All our regular services and classes have been resumed.

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     Our Pastor, Mr. Cronlund, is delivering a most helpful and interesting course of sermons on the Ten Commandments.

     The subject of study, at our Wednesday evening Doctrinal Class, is Conjugial Love. Our Pastor reads a paper on the subject which, as it is one of the most important doctrines, leads to many interesting discussions on various other points of doctrine.

     The class is preceded by the usual supper, which is again being well attended this year.

     The new Liturgy has been in use since the beginning of September, and is filling a long-felt want.

     On Sunday, October 25th, Alexander K. Roy passed into the spiritual world. Owing to a painful and prolonged illness, Mr. Roy had not been able to take an active part in the uses of our Society for several years, but, while in the possession of good health, he was an earnest and active member. He was a devoted student of the Writings and an omniverous reader of secular literature; one of his favorite subjects of study and conversation being the working of Divine Providence to protect the Church through the history of the ages, from the time of the first coming of the Lord until His second coming in the Church of the New Jerusalem.

     On November 1st, the Sunday evening following, Mr. Cronlund conducted a Memorial Service in his memory.

     The Burial Service in the new Liturgy was used for the first time at this funeral.

     Monday, the 9th of November, was Thanksgiving Day in Canada and, therefore, on the Friday preceding, we held a Thanksgiving Social in the Church. The entertainment was in charge of some of the young people and they made it a successful and happy event. Games, refreshments and dancing were the order of the evening. The supper-table was particularly pretty, with cornucopias overflowing with fruit, mountain-ash berries and autumn-tinted ivy leaves, for decoration.

     We had a Thanksgiving service on Sunday, November 8th, using the Thanksgiving Antiphon from the new Liturgy for the first time. We all entered with enjoyment into that distinctively New Church service, which the labors of our beloved bishop and his helpers have procured for us. B. S.

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     MIDDLEPORT, O. Knowing that few, if any, of our members would be able to attend the District Assembly in Pittsburgh, we prevailed on the Bishop to visit us on his way West. He arrived on Friday, October 30th, and stayed until Monday afternoon. Friday night there was a pleasant reception at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Boggess. Saturday evening the Bishop gave his address on "The Divine Permission of Ignorance." The Sunday morning service and sermon, with its call to "repent and do the first works," was a delight to us all and will long remain in the minds of those who heard it.

     The Sunday night doctrinal class was held at the home of Mrs. Esther Grant, so that she could be present.

     This visit of the Bishop's did us much good and we hope that hereafter he will be able to come every year. We are more isolated, perhaps, than any other society of the General Church, being 220 miles from our nearest sister Society and, therefore, we have the greater need of episcopal visits.

     Middleport is still sending out New Church colonists to other parts of the country. Our latest swarm consists of Miss Evans, Mr. Louis Cooper and Mrs. Allen, who have removed to Columbus, O. Is it because their New Churchmanship is of such exceptional quality that our members must be carried away continually to perform spiritual uses in so many other places? At any rate, they always hold aloft the banner of the Academy wherever they go, nor do they forget their alma mater.

     The pastor of this Society recently made a visit to Sandoval, Ill., where lives Mrs. Sherman, a sister of our "Aunt Esther" Grant. She and her children and two daughters-in-law and grandchildren makes a group of 17 baptized persons. A series of four meetings was held, three children of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Sherman were baptized, and the Holy Supper was administered to 7 persons. Mrs. Sherman has lived isolated for more than fifty years, yet she has brought all her children into the Church, and her influence is going on to the next generation.

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This shows what can be done when there is a warm love of the Church and unswerving loyalty to the Heavenly Doctrine. Her love of truth and quick detection of fallacy and heresy would be an inspiration to any member of the Church.

     Most of the adult members of this group have enrolled themselves as members of the Middleport Society, so that, although we lose resident members, we are constantly enlarging our borders and our numbers.     G.

     DENVER, COLO. Denver is still on the map, and a General Church Society is active here, although it may be lax in contributing to the Life's news columns.

     Many of us were away for the summer months, but now we are all back with our work.

     On October 30th we had a very pleasant social at the hospitable home of Mr. and Mrs. Reilly, the first of the season.

     We use the new Liturgy now entirely and everyone is very much pleased with the services or offices, and hymns. We spent five or six evenings in hard practice of the music of a few chants and hymns, and felt well repaid for those early and strenuous efforts. Of course, we have not yet mastered the book, but we are crawling along toward the goal. In order to enjoy the service as much as possible under our deficiencies, the gentlemen met one evening and made kneeling stools for all. We are deeply thankful for the book.     F.

     LONDON, BURTON ROAD, BRIXTON. The members and friends of this society had the delight of being partakers in a unique celebration, when on Monday. October 5th last. Mr. and Mrs. Dicks celebrated their "golden wedding."

     The day before, (Sunday), a very impressive service was held in the church, conducted by the pastor, the Rev. R. J. Tilson. The special part of the service consisted in the reading of C. L. 42 and 43, and the replies of Mr. and Mrs. Dicks to three questions, asked by the priest, in which they acknowledged the Lord as the Origin of Love Truly Conjugial, declared their acceptance of the work on Conjugial Love "in its entirety" as part of the Second Advent, and reaffirmed their desire to live according to the holy teachings.

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     The husband gave his wife a gold ring set with rubies and a diamond, and the wife gave her husband a wedding ring, as he had not possessed such a "token" before.

     The family, consisting of two sons and two daughters, with their partners and children, stood round the parents whilst they made their declarations, and after the pastor had read Psalm cxxviii, the whole family read Psalm xxiii.

     The congregation sang "Our Glorious Church," and Mrs. H. G. Dicks sang the solo, "Great Lord of Life," in a very tender and telling way. The service was concluded with a thanksgiving and the singing of Psalm xlviii.

     On the next day, Monday, Mr. and Mrs. Dicks gave a reception to upwards of 100 friends in the hall of worship, which was most beautifully decorated with flowers and banners.

     During the evening the pastor gave expression to the sincere congratulations, earnest wishes, and deep affection, of all the assembled friends, and on their behalf he presented to Mr. and Mrs. Dicks a splendid engraving handsomely framed of Strutt's famous picture, "Peace," or "a little child shall lead them." A brass tablet on the frame declared the object of the presentation. A purse containing gold representing a shilling a year of their wedded life was also given to Mrs. Dicks.

     The program of the evening, which consisted of quartettes, duets and songs, together with games, was carried out by the members of Mr. Dicks's family, with the sole exception of two brief and most appropriately chosen readings by Miss Dowling, the teacher of the school.

     The cutting of the huge wedding cake, which was beautifully and correspondentially decorated, was quite a feature of the evening.

     The friends assembled included, in addition to those of the Burton Road Society, several from the Holland Road Society of the General Church, and also from the Flodden Road Society of the Conference.

     Towards the close of the evening Mr. Dicks made a very impressive speech in which he declared that he and his partner owed all the best in their lives to the Lord's gifts through His Church, and that one of their greatest joys was to know that all their children were true to the Church and that their grandchildren were being educated under its influences.

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A joyous celebration was brought to a close about midnight by the company forming a circle and singing "Auld Lang Syne." R. J. T.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL Of the General Convention opened its year's work on October 11 with six resident students, and about the same number who are instructed by correspondence. The Rev. W. T. Worcester has accepted the presidency of the school He is to visit Cambridge one week per month and will give instruction in Exegesis, and Sunday School work. The Rev. J. C. Ager has been appointed professor of Theology, and the remainder of the faculty comprises the Rev. Charles W. Harvey, elocution and Church history; the Rev Lewis F. Hite, philosophy; and the Rev. J. E. Werren, Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

     On November 1st the BROOKLYN SOC1ETY accepted the resignation of the pastor, the Rev. J. C. Ager, who was subsequently elected pastor emeritus of the Society. The resignation referred to was offered last spring, to take effect at the pleasure of the Society, and its acceptance at this time seems to be due to the fact that Mr. Ager has been appointed Professor of Theology in the Theological School at Cambridge. He has held the pastorate of the Brooklyn Society for the past forty-four years and was a prominent figure in Brooklyn church circles.

     The Rev. Arthur Mercer has resigned the pastorate of the BALTIMORE (English) Society.

     During the past year the Rev. Russell Eaten was given a year's leave of absence from URBANA University, during which time he pursued the study of English and Education in Harvard University. He has now returned to Urbana, where he teaches Doctrine and English, and officiates as Pastor of the Urbana Society. The University has two male teachers, including the president, three lady teachers, a matron, and twenty-three students.

     During the past summer the Rev. George E. Morgan "withdrew" from the charge of the Society in TOLEDO, O., which he had assumed on his graduation from the Convention Theological School, some nine months previously.

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Mr. Morgan is now engaged in editing a newspaper in Peabody, Kansas. We learn that Dr. Charles S. Mack, of La Forte, Ind., has accepted the charge vacated by Mr. Morgan.

     CANADA. After being without a minister for several months the TORONTO Society has elected the Rev. Percy Billings as pastor of the Society.

     GREAT BRITAIN. In the early part of October the EDINBURGH Society celebrated its 93d anniversary. This Society has had many struggles to keep alive, and was without a minister for a long period prior to the incumbency of the present minister, Mr. F. A. Schmidt. "It is hoped that if it can secure what is one of the greatest needs of a church, viz., its own building, in the very near future, it may yet develop into a flourishing Society once more." And yet buildings do not make churches.

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND. On Monday evening, November 2d, the Society met, at the kind invitation of Mr. and Mrs. L. R. Cooper, to celebrate their silver wedding.

     After the toast to "The Church" hall been loyally and heartily honored, our pastor, the Rev. A. Czerny, read an address, in which he clearly and forcibly showed the difference between the Old and the New Church ideas of marriage and conjugial love, our dependence upon Divine Revelation for such new and true ideas, and the unique character of that Revelation.

     He then invited the men to read confirmatory and illustrative passages from "Conjugial Love."

     These, and the remarks by the readers, were all received with keen interest and much applause.

     The proceedings then took a more personal character, when, after justice had been done to a most excellent supper, the pastor, in a few well chosen words, presented to Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, on behalf of the society, a set of three silver vases, and concluded by proposing their health and that of their family.

     In response, Mr. Cooper appended to his acknowledgments a retrospect of his early years in Ipswich, his first acquaintance with the Heavenly Doctrines, his removal to Colchester and his twenty-five years' connection with the Church there. W. G.

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ONTARIO ASSEMBLY 1908

ONTARIO ASSEMBLY       E. R. CRONLUND       1908


     Announcements.




     Notices.

     The Seventh Ontario District Assembly will be held in Berlin. The Assembly will open with a banquet on Thursday evening, December 31st, and will continue in session until Sunday, January 3, 1909 All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. Intending visitors will please notify Mr. Carl Roschman, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
     E. R. CRONLUND,
          Secretary.
Boarding at Bryn Athyn 1908

Boarding at Bryn Athyn              1908

     After January 1, 1909, a suite of three rooms, with bath and private entrance, at the BRYN ATHYN INN. For particulars apply to
     MRS. J. M. COOPER,
          Bryn Athyn, Pa.