LORD'S PROVIDENTIAL CARE       Rev. W. CAIRNS HENDERSON       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV JANUARY, 1954           No. 1
     "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8, 9)

     To believe the Word, and to believe in the truth of the Word, can be entirely different things. The first may be merely a cold, intellectual receptivity of mind-a mental framework within which a man speaks, and even thinks habitually, but without that inner conviction which comes with the consent of the will; not an activating force which molds his real thought and forms his true responses to the experiences of life. The second is such a force, and it results in genuine confidence, constructive thought, and positive attitudes produced by realization that the Lord is love and wisdom, and by a perceptive insight into the truth and love of it as the Lord's will.
     Every New Church man believes that the Divine Providence of the Lord is universal because it is particular. He believes that no detail of human life is too small to be outside the scope of its operations, too insignificant to be noted and disposed with regard to its eternal consequences. Yet as experience of life increases there may be no truth that is more difficult to believe in than that every man and woman is unceasingly under the Lord's providential care; that every individual is the object of His infinite love and wisdom, His tender solicitude and unfailing compassion.
     Sickness, disease, and death seem to strike with wanton caprice or grim vindictiveness, bringing suffering and sorrow upon ourselves and those whom we love. Misfortunes, reverses, sudden or repeated failures, cause severe hardships, grave anxiety, even desperate want. And even if we are spared these public tragedies there are few lives that do not know, at one time or another, the private grief of frustration, thwarted hope and ambition, and personal unhappiness. Our lives frequently turn out to be different from what we had dreamed they would be, and disillusionment and disappointment follow. Too often the ideals we had hoped to realize have not been achieved. We seem to be denied the opportunities for use we most deeply crave, or see the uses we love threatened by our own foolishness or by the incompetence or mistakes of others. Some of our most cherished longings remain unfulfilled, our dearest hopes deferred almost beyond endurance. Many of our efforts seem to end in failure and to be met only with ingratitude. Our motives seem to be misunderstood, our overtures rejected, our labors unrecognized. Too much seems to stand between us and the things we most want to do, or we lack the strength or the means to carry out what the spirit desires and proposes. And if this were not enough, we draw our share of envy, malice, and uncharitableness, and the pain that is caused by the evils and shortcomings of others. So it is that New Church men and women, who are no different from others, may sometimes find it difficult to believe from the heart, in that particular providential care which is part of their intellectual faith.
     The way by which every man who is saved is led to heaven is a secret that is known only to the Lord. That is the meaning of His words through Isaiah: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Even as Moses might see only the back parts of Jehovah when He had passed by, so the man of the church may see the Divine Providence only after the events in which it has operated; never in them, lest he mix himself up with that providence, and reject or interfere with its leading. And even as the disciples going to Emmaus could see for the first time the positive significance of the Lord's sufferings and death only when instructed by Him with their spiritual eyes and understanding opened, so man can see the Divine Providence in retrospect only in states of spiritual enlightenment. Even so, however, the details of the Divine Providence are a mystery open only to the Lord. For it is written of Him: "Thy way is in the sea, Thy footsteps are not known" (Psalm 77:19). The laws of the Divine Providence are revealed in the Word, and may he rationally understood in their general implications. But their particular applications in specific instances, the Lord's "footsteps," are not known. Yet the faith of the New Church is not blind. It is a faith of light! And from the laws revealed can be drawn a philosophy which answers the questions that life itself asks of the doctrine; a philosophy leading to a faith that is not the last refuge of the defeated but a rational conviction producing an intelligent cooperation with the Lord's secret leading that has the consent of both man's understanding and will.

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     In the fallen state of humanity it must needs be that offenses come. Reflection will surely show that a life which unfolded exactly as we had planned, unmarked by trouble or trial, untouched by any opposition or tragedy or even disaster, could never lead to true and lasting happiness The difference between actual life and the dream world constructed by the imagination frequently is that in the latter all people and things are subservient to our desires; and such a life in reality, apart from the fact that it would be at the expense of the freedom and happiness of others, could produce only an imaginary heaven. In the false peace of unalloyed satisfaction the evil of our inheritance would remain forever hidden from our view. We would never be aware of making it our own, of entering more deeply into it, or of adding to it. And our false ideas and foolish notions, all our vain imaginings, would become more and more confirmed because unchallenged by adverse circumstance.
     The end of the Divine Providence is an angelic heaven from the human race. And because men chose in freedom to originate an opposite end, the Lord can achieve His purpose only by allowing them to be exposed to spiritual trials which search and test them, and give opportunity to turn from human goals to that which is proposed by Him. He can attain His end-and with it the true happiness of men-only by permitting them to be exposed to the effects of evil, that by combat against it they may be purified and strengthened and receive heavenly qualities from Him; not as the formal reward of final victory, but in their very endeavor to resist. This was not the Lord's will or love. It is the mercy into which His love was turned when men originated evil in themselves and began to transmit tendencies to it to all succeeding generations. If the sons of Israel had been entirely faithful, the Lord would have utterly driven out the nations of Canaan. Because they were not, He suffered some of those nations to remain to try Israel; that by contending with them Israel might, if it chose, renounce compromise and attain the strength of character it lacked. And as the Lord did, in His wisdom and mercy, in the days of the judges, so has He done ever since.                    
     This does not mean, as we well know, that the Lord causes, or even sends, the evils that try us. The actual cause of evil is, of course, hell; and the reason we can be affected by it is that we are still in its sphere, for the angels are above and beyond the reach of any and all temptation. The primary cause of evil with its consequences of pain and sorrow, tragedy and disaster, is in the spiritual world, not in the Lord who is Himself above that world. But there are secondary causes in human minds and in nature; and evils come to us directly from the hands of men, from forces at work in human minds and in society, and even from the apparently blind forces of nature.

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This truth disposes of two of the most persistent fallacies in Christian thought-the punitive theory of sickness and the idea that since misfortune is surely a mark of Divine displeasure, material success must be the true blessing bestowed upon those who enjoy the favor of God. Of the man born blind the Lord said "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him" (John 9:3). Sickness and disease are not punishments for wickedness, least of all when they do not afflict us directly but fall on those who are near and dear. They are permitted that the works of God should be made manifest in us. And material possessions, earthly honors, worldly success, are not the Divine blessings bestowed by a providence which in all that it does looks to what is infinite and eternal, and regards temporal things only as they make one with eternal things.
     Offenses are not sent by the Lord, yet it must needs be that offenses come. But we are not merely lay-figures whose joy or misery depends entirely upon what happens to us! It is true that we can hurt others grievously by our deliberate transgressions, our thoughtless indifferences, our blind infatuations, and that our lives can be as seriously affected by them; just as it is true that we can promote the happiness of others and that they can contribute to our well-being. Upon these truths the entire doctrine of charity rests. But to say that we are entirely what the experiences of our lives have made us, in the sense that a statue is entirely what the chisel of the sculptor has made it, is to deny our God-given faculties of liberty and rationality and to renounce all belief in the providence of God and in the reality of the spiritual world. And even where these are denied it is to ignore the witness of history; for while some men have been embittered by suffering and deprivation, others have been ennobled by rising above them. The Writings make clear that human character is determined and shaped, not by the actual events that befall men, but by their reaction to those events; by the choices for good or evil they make in the quality of their response to events. And in this fact we may see the Lord's deep purpose in the permission of evil.
     Ever since those ancient times from which the book of Job has come down to us, men have been prone to cry out against God because of affliction, to doubt His providential care because of their sufferings, even to question His existence because cruelty and pain walk the world. Yet the truth is that if we are to be saved the Lord cannot prevent our being exposed to evils. His providence does not consist in shielding us from trials, though He does protect from all those under which we must succumb.

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His operation consists in giving us, secretly, the forces of combat against evil, and in gradually changing our native loves for heavenly ones as we resist evil, conquer pain and suffering, rise above tragedy, and surmount disaster; gradually shaping our minds and lives into the angelic form. And in so far as His providence does show itself it is not to be seen in the events of our lives, and therefore may not be questioned in the events themselves It is to be seen in retrospect in the spiritual qualities of mind and character that have been upbuilt through right responses to those events; qualities which we perceive dimly, and with humble gratitude, could not have been developed under any other circumstances, our lives being what we had made them. Thus His providence is not seen in the tempting of Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but in the choice Abraham made in the quality of his response, which made it possible for the Lord to promise what He did. In the lives of most men and women there are experiences which they may bitterly regret as experiences, but through which they realize has come something of value which could not have come to them in any other way; and while they might wish that their lives had been different, so that those experiences had not been necessary, they would not have been without them because of the result. That it should be so is not the fault of the Lord. Since He created man with freedom of choice He can work only with the material which man provides for His hand; doing, not the best of which He is capable, but the best that can be done for man in the circumstances he has provided, and in the way made necessary by those circumstances.
     This is what is involved in the often cited teaching of the Writings, that the Lord permits only those evils which can be bent to an end of good. And the import of that teaching should be clearly seen by us. The Lord does not provide the evils that befall us. What He provides, with the permission of those evils, is opportunities-opportunities to recognize and resist our own evils as these are aroused by them, to see by comparison and relation the nature of good and of evil and to choose the one and shun the other, to meet human situations in a spirit of genuine charity, to develop our confidence in Him by a growing realization of His love and wisdom that comes through reflection. But if what is of the Lord's providing in our trials is to be received by us, those trials must be seen and used as such opportunities The teachings of the Writings are not given to be held in abeyance until they can be applied under some ideal conditions of our own imagining. They are given to be applied in the actual situations that confront us in our daily lives. And if we can learn to seek out the particular opportunity being offered to us, instead of becoming bewildered or embittered by events, we shall yet see the Lord's providential care for us in the permission of those events, unhappy though they may be in themselves.

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Events are never determinative of human destiny, for men react differently to the same events, and the qualities entering into their responses form their character for good or ill.
     Finally, we must realize that the Lord's providential care for us extends from the moment of our birth to eternity, and that disposition is made, not with our temporal welfare and happiness as the end in view, but with regard to the eternal consequences involved; that is, to our spiritual well-being and true and lasting happiness. With the precision of infinite wisdom the Lord sees the moment at which a man's future development requires that he be taken out of this world. His tender, providential care is never more manifest than in the resuscitation of the spirit. It continues throughout the spirit's preparation for its final abode. And it is extended thereafter to eternity in the perfecting of the spirit as the form of the love it has chosen. Indeed the final proof of the Lord's providential care is that, of all His creations, man alone lives to eternity. And if the Lord seems to deny us much that we sincerely believe would be for our good, it is lest there be a repetition of the tragedy expressed in the inspired words: "He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul" (Psalm 106:15). If He permits us to suffer here that through sorrow on earth we may be prepared for eternal happiness, that transient sadness is as nothing compared with the perpetual joy of the life everlasting; and it is as little to Him in whose sight a thousand years are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night (Psalm 90:4).
     With the faith of love in the revealed teachings of the Writings we can believe from the heart in the Lord's unfailing and most particular providential care over us. We can see in all the dispensations of His providence nothing but the operation of infinite love and mercy. And we can believe in His care, not in a spirit of passive resignation which is the last consolation of those whom life has defeated, but in a spirit of rational conviction which is an activating force leading to constructive thought and positive attitudes and responses. As we do this, we shall perceive and receive what is of the Lord's providing; and in our lives every trial will minister to the universal end of creation, every calamity will yet prove a blessing. For of those who have thus come out of great tribulation it is written: "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Amen.

     LESSONS: Genesis 22:1-19. Luke 24:13-35. Spiritual Diary 4630m.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 497, 498, 455.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 70, 106.

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SWEDENBORG'S OWN STORY 1954

SWEDENBORG'S OWN STORY              1954

     An Item for Children

     This letter was written by Emanuel Swedenborg in answer to one from a friend, the Rev. Thomas Hartley, an English clergyman and one of the first believers in the doctrines of the New Church. In it you may read the story of Swedenborg's life as told in his own words.
     "I was born at Stockholm on the 29th of January in the year 1688. My father's name was Jesper Swedberg, who was Bishop of West-Gothland and a man of celebrity in his time. He was also elected and enrolled as a member of the English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; for he had been appointed by King Charles XII Bishop over the Swedish churches in Pennsylvania, and also over the church in London.
     "In the year 1710 I went abroad. I proceeded first to England, and afterwards to Holland, France, and Germany, and returned home in the year 1715. In the year 1716, and also afterwards, I had many conversations with Charles XII, King of Sweden, who greatly favored me, and in the same year appointed me to the office of Assessor in the Board of Mines, which office I filled until the year 1747, when I resigned it, retaining, however, the salary of the office during my life. My sole object in resigning was that I might have more leisure to devote to the new office enjoined on me by the Lord. A higher post of honor was then offered to me which I positively declined, lest my mind should be inspired with pride.
     "In the year 1719, I was ennobled by Queen Ulrica Eleanora, and named Swedenborg; and from that time I have taken my seat among the nobles of the rank of knighthood in the triennial sessions of the Diet. I am a Fellow and member, by invitation, of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm; but I have never sought admission into any literary society in any other place because I am in an angelic society, where such things as relate to heaven and the soul are the only subjects of discourse; while in literary societies the world and the body form the only subjects of discussion. In the year 1734 I published, at Leipsic, the Regnum Minerale in three volumes, folio. In the year 1738 1 made a journey to Italy and stayed a year at Venice and Rome.
     "But all that I have thus far related I consider of comparatively little importance; for it is far exceded by the circumstance that I have been called to a holy office by the Lord Himself, who most mercifully appeared before me, His servant, in the year 1743; when He opened my sight into the spiritual world and granted me to speak with angels and spirits, in which state I have continued up to the present day [August 2, 1769].

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From that time I began to print and publish the various arcana that were seen by me and revealed to me, as the arcana concerning heaven and hell, the state of man after death, the true worship of God, the spiritual sense of the Word, besides many other most important matters conducive to salvation and wisdom. The only reason of my journeys abroad has been the desire of making myself useful, and of making known the arcana that were entrusted to me. Moreover, I have as much of this world's wealth as I need, and I neither seek nor wish for more.
     EMAN. SWEDENBORG."
CULTIVATION OF THE INTELLECT 1954

CULTIVATION OF THE INTELLECT       Rev. ORMOND ODHNER       1954

     Truth-the possession, knowledge, and understanding of truth-is absolutely essential to spiritual life. Thus the Writings leach that the following things are established in man by truths, and only by truths: faith, charity toward the neighbor, love to the Lord, conscience, innocence, purification from evils, regeneration, intelligence and wisdom, the interior beauty of the spirit, power against evil and falsity, heavenly order, the church, heaven, and true manhood itself (see HD 24).
     The mere knowledge and understanding of truth do not, of course, effect these things. Truths must live in man from good, from affection. So we are told that it is the spiritual affection of truth which makes the church with man. Affection is defined as being a love continuous, or continuing, throughout man's life; and this particular affection, the spiritual affection of truth, is defined as a love of truth for the sake of the uses of life. This alone makes the church in man, as well as all those other things listed above.
     Here, however, we would confine ourselves to one particular element which goes into the spiritual affection of truth, and without which that affection simply cannot exist, namely, the cultivation of the intellect. This is spoken of in the following passage, treating of the reasons the growth of the New Church will at first be slow: "There are a number of reasons why this church will first begin with a few, be afterwards with more, and finally be infilled. The first is that its doctrine, which is the doctrine of love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, cannot be acknowledged, and thence cannot be received, except by those who are interiorly affected with truths, who are no others than those who can see them; and those only see them who have cultivated their intellectual faculty, and have not destroyed it with themselves by the loves of self and the world" (AE 732: 2). [Italics added]

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     Obviously a man blind from birth could not be affected by the sight of physical beauty. Therefore he could not be in the affection of physical beauty, for "affection" means being affected by. So, also, no man incapable of seeing truths could possibly be in the spiritual affection of truth. This latter seeing is spiritual, however, and to see spiritually is to understand. Man must, then, be able to understand truths before he can be given the spiritual affection of truth. But the truths of the New Church, it is said, are such that a man must cultivate his intellectual faculty in order to see and understand them. They are intellectual truths, and man must have an interest in things intellectual in order to see them. He must have cultivated his intellect, and he must not have destroyed it by the loves of self and the world.
     The importance of cultivating the intellect, then, is taught in revelation. Yet it is our lot to be born with a heredity which endows us with no interest in things intellectual, especially in so far as they are connected with religion. That was common to our Catholic and Protestant ancestors alike, from their joint belief that in the things of religion the understanding is to be kept under obedience to faith. The truths of faith were not supposed to be understood. Catholics taught this in their dogma that only the priesthood can rightly understand and interpret the Word. And Protestants taught it both by the actual statement that an intellectual faith, a faith understood, has in it something of merit and is therefore evil, and by their preaching that man on earth is not supposed to understand such things as the nature of his life after death.
     Surely it should be obvious that that which is not understood, and especially that which one believes is not supposed to be understood, cannot be a matter of much interest. Yet this is the heritage of modern Western man-a non-interest in things intellectual, in so far as they are concerned with religion. And this is the first reason the growth of the New Church will be slow: modern man is indifferent to a rational, intellectual approach to religion. And that is our inheritance, too, even though we be born and educated within the church. Fortunately, however, heredity is nothing but a force acting upon man. It does not act through him, regardless of his wishes. He is free to react to it as he wills.

     The intellect, then, simply must be cultivated in order that it may see and understand the rational, intellectual truths of the New Church. Without that there will never really be anything in man of the distinctive New Church.

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Admittedly, the willing and doing of its truth are what finally establish the New Church in man's life. But knowing and understanding come first, as we read: "The circle of life is to know, to understand, to will, and to do" (AE 242:4).
     That the truths of religion can and should be understood we are taught as follows: "The Lord wants a man not only to know the truths of his own church but also to understand them" (AE 846:3). "All things of theology can be apprehended with the understanding; not only with the spiritual understanding by angels, but also with the rational understanding by men" (LJ post. 336). "What the Lord teaches He gives man to perceive by reason" (DP 150: 2). And that this intellectual understanding of truths is to exist fully in the New Church is implied in those words seen in heaven over the door of that temple representing the New Church, Nunc Licet-"Now it is permitted to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith.
     "Man ought to see his truths," we read. "if you say that the understanding cannot be opened so far [as to see spiritual truths] while a man is in the world, let it be known that he who loves truth because it is truth . . . can see spiritual truths; and those which he does not see in the world he sees afterwards in heaven . . . moreover, everyone can receive in thought, and can understand truths, more than he himself knows, unless his own love induces obscurity and causes darkness" (AE 832:3, 4).

     Rationality and liberty constitute man's spirit itself. Every man has them without exception. They give him will and understanding. In the Divine Providence of the Lord with a falling race they were separated in order that the faculty of understanding might be preserved unhurt and unimpaired during life on earth. Physical insanity can, of course, prevent the exercise of the understanding from birth. Spiritual insanity springing from a love of evil will finally destroy man's willingness to understand truths, though not usually until after death. But except for these extremes, every man and woman on the face of the earth has the ability to understand the truths of faith; even the intellectual, rational, spiritual truths that constitute the Heavenly Doctrine. Only one thing stands in the way-their own desires.
     It is the Lord's unceasing will to give what is His to man. Nothing, however, becomes a part of man's life that he does not appropriate to himself through both of these faculties that constitute his mind-his will and his understanding. Nothing becomes man's own that he does not understand as well as will. And is not this the application to man of the following teaching: "As for those who do not want to understand what they believe, let them remain in their own opinion; but let them know that in the spiritual world no one receives anything which he does not see, that is, understand" (Ath. 166e).

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     The Lord gives every man the ability to understand. He also adapts truths, through which alone heavenly life comes, in such a way that they may all be understood by anyone who wishes to understand them; for, we are told, "the understanding is the way to man's life" (AE 239). And again: "Nothing enters into the internal man, except through intellectual ideas" (AC 7290:2).

     Since the Fall man's innate will has been hereditarily corrupt beyond any possibility of being regenerated. His only hope of heaven lies in his understanding, in that he has it, and it can be raised above his instincts and desires to see in the light of heaven. It is in the understanding or intellect alone that conscience can be formed out of the truths of faith, that conscience which is one with the new or regenerate will. To this end the Lord, at the Fall, miraculously separated man's understanding or intellect from his will, and has preserved it inviolate in him ever since.
     "As conscience is formed from the truths of faith," we read, " it is evident that it is formed in the intellect, for it is the intellect that receives those truths, and therefore the Lord miraculously separated this from the will" (AC 2053:2). "With such a faculty of understanding whether things are true man is endowed, of whatever quality he may be, to the end that he may be regenerated" (AC 5464). "With every man the understanding is such that it can be elevated even into the light of heaven; and it also is elevated if, from any delight, it wills to see truths" (AR 914). "Unless the understanding could be perfected separately, and the will through it, man would not be man, but a beast; for without this separation, and the ascent of the understanding above the will, he could not think, and from thought speak . . . nor could he act from reason but only from instinct; still less could he know the things which are of God . . . and thus be conjoined with God and live to eternity" (Infl. 14).
     Let no New Church man say, then, that the truths of his faith are beyond his comprehension and understanding. They are not. Every man born is born for heaven. There is no other way to heaven save through the spiritual affection of truth; and that, we have seen, absolutely necessitates the sight of truth. Every man has the ability to see truth, for the Lord wills him to have it, and the Lord makes the truths of faith understandable.
     Even as in heaven, so in the New Church, we read, "the dogma that the understanding is to be kept in obedience to faith is rejected; and as there is received in its stead the doctrine that the truth of the church must be seen in order that it may be believed, and as truth cannot be seen in any other way than rationally, it is said, by truths rationally understood.

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How can any be led by the Lord, and be conjoined with heaven, who has closed his understanding in such things as belong to salvation and eternal life? Is it not the understanding which must be enlightened and taught? And what is an understanding closed by religion but thick darkness? the wise cast out of their memories words which have not entered by the understanding" (AR 564).
     Every man born has an intellect, and more of it, we would note, than a mere modicum. Note this: "Every man is born into the faculty of understanding truths even to the inmost degree in which ale the angels of the third heaven" (DLW 258). [Italics added]
     Intellectual powers differ, of course, with different men: but if we understand the following correctly, it teaches that this is less a matter of birth, of innate disposition, or of nature, than it is of application and life. "The intellectual in man is augmented and grows from infancy until his age of manhood, and consists of an insight into things from such things as are of knowledge and experience; and also in an insight into causes from effects, and also into things consequent from the connection of causes. Thus the intellectual consists in the comprehension and perception of such things as are of civil and moral life. It comes into existence from the influx of light from heaven, and every man can therefore be perfected as to the intellectual. The intellectual is given to everyone according to his life, his application, and his nature; nor is it lacking in any man, provided he is of sane mind; and it is given to man to the end that he may be in freedom and choice as to good and evil" (AC 6125). [Italics added]
     Inborn nature, then, seems to have less to do with a man's intellectual abilities than his application and life-his application, that is, to things intellectual, and the kind of life he leads. This is in line with the frequently given teaching that "nothing destroys the understanding except the will" (AE 1170:4). "The Lord gives man the faculty of understanding truth; and the reason man does not understand it is that he does not want to understand it, on account of the evils of his life" (AC 8307). "Every man is born into the faculty of understanding truth. This faculty man never loses. A sensuous man seems to have lost it but still he has not lost the faculty itself of understanding, but only the understanding of truth, as long as he is in falsities" (AE 547).

     The truths of faith, then, are to be understood, and the Lord has given everyone the ability to understand them. But in order to understand them, especially in order to understand the rational truths of the New Church, it is necessary that man cultivate his intellectual faculty, and not destroy it by the loves of self and the world.

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     The New Church, that is, will be an intellectual church, for to it intellectual truths have been revealed. These must enter into man with understanding, that the New Church may be in him, and he in the church. Every New Church man, it follows therefore, must cultivate his intellect.
     This does not mean that every New Church man must be a "walking brain." A man can be interested in intellectual things without being able to teach others every ramification of them, or, indeed, without being able to comprehend them in more than his own simple way. But he must have cultivated his intellect in order to have any interest at all in the purely intellectual truths that constitute the Heavenly Doctrine.
     Consider the following. "He who cannot think intellectually, that is, abstractedly from material things, cannot apprehend these things, nor indeed that there can be any other sense in the Word than that which stands forth in the letter; and if . . . told that there is a spiritual sense in it, which is of truth, and within this a celestial sense, which is of good, and that these senses shine through from the literal sense, he will first be amazed, afterwards he will reject it as of no account, and finally he will ridicule it. That at the present day there are such persons in the Christian world, especially among the learned of the world, has been shown by living experience" (AC 9407:4).
     Have we not all had such "living experience"? Have we not all met men to whom it is at first a matter of amazement, then a thing of no importance-to daily living, in making money-and finally even a matter for ridicule, that there is an internal sense of the Word treating of abstract goods and truths; that the Lord glorified His Human by rejecting all the maternal; that in man's internal there are things innumerable in comparison with those in the body! With such people there is no hope under the sun for the growth of the New Church.
     But if a New Church man need not be a walking brain to have an interest in things intellectual, neither may he complacently set his course for the lowest or natural heaven, wilfully classifying himself as one of the simple good! It is hard for a New Church man to be simple good: he has to remain simple on purpose! The natural heaven is composed of those who live morally, believe in a Divine, but care very little about being taught (HH 33). The truths of the New Church cannot be seen except by those who have cultivated their intellectual faculty.
     It is well, then, for New Church men not only to cultivate their intellect-and to set aside at least a few minutes a day in which to do it-but also to study how it can be cultivated. Not all the means of doing this are stated in the Writings; but some, at least, are implied. Thus we are told that the pleasures of bodily appetites obscure and debilitate the intellect (HH 462). It is said also that things sensuous and scientific do this, again in proportion as they prevail (AC 6384).

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And overeating is specifically mentioned (AC 8378).
     We shall not be quoting now from revelation, but we wish to give certain examples which seem to illustrate these things. If a man's life consists solely in food and drink, clothing and good grooming, relaxation, fun, romance, parties, and sensual satisfaction, he dulls his intellect to an extreme degree. Card games and football games, quite all right in so far as they do not prevail, still do nothing to cultivate the intellect. The arts, good music for example, are useful in raising the intellect above the lowest depths. But even the arts are sensual, and music is perhaps the most sensual of all. It, too, call become an opiate to the intellect. Even things scientific, scientific studies, that is, obscure the intellect if they remain merely, and always, on the scientific plane. They serve to open the intellect, however, and they are of unending use if man searches in them for the causes of things: not the natural causes only, but primarily the spiritual ones.
     On the positive side, the Writings mention philosophy as a study which cultivates the intellect, enabling it to comprehend theology. And philosophy is not really beyond anyone's grasp-living philosophy, that is, for some of it is as dead as dust-provided only that man will apply himself seriously to its study (Infl. 20).
     On this earth knowledges are the great means for opening the intellect (AC 6828: 2). First, it is said, the lowly knowledges having to do with earthly, bodily, and worldly things; then those having to do with the civil state, its government, statutes, and laws; then those of moral lifer and finally the truths of the church (AC 5934). But it is said further that there must be something more than just the affection of knowing: there must be also the affection of understanding what is known (DLW 404). To this end we are told that "thought from the eye closes the understanding; whereas thought from the understanding opens the eye" (DLW 46). There must be a desire to investigate the causes of things, their spiritual causes especially, and not merely their appearance. Let us never stifle that, in our children or in ourselves. And there must be the desire also to see the connection of one truth with another and its extension into others, even as we read: "The cause of one man's excelling another in the faculty of understanding and perceiving what is honorable, just, and good consists in the elevation of the thought to the things of heaven, for by this the thought is withdrawn from external sensuous things the faculty of understanding and perceiving is according to the extension into those societies [the surrounding societies of spirits and angels]" (AC 6598. 6599).

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     Such things will cultivate the intellectual faculty in man so that he will be able to comprehend even the rational truths of the Heavenly Doctrine Even so, the intellect is not an end in itself. It is the living of truths that is important, and the intellect is of use only in understanding the meaning of the truths one lives. The intellect call be, and is, destroyed by the loves of self and the world. There are many learned men today who can comprehend the deepest mysteries of nature pet unveiled, but are unable to comprehend even the simplest spiritual truths, as, for example, that there is a God.
     The genuine intellect that is the ideal of the New Church is not the ability to grasp abstract concepts, nor yet to reason whether a thing is so. In the spiritual world Swedenborg once asked a friend: "Who understands the most: he who knows many falsities, or he who knows a little truth!" (SD 3891). Again, the Writings say: "It is believed that those have an intellectual in the things of the church who know how to confirm the doctrinal things of their church but this is not the intellectual of the church. The intellectual of the church consists in perceiving and seeing, before any dogma is confirmed, whether it is true or not, and in confirming it then" (AC 6222). For, it is said, "understanding is to see the truths of the church from the light of heaven" (AE 941:2).
     This is the purpose for which the New Church man is to cultivate his intellect-to be able to see truth in the light of heaven. But cultivate his intellect he must. There is never inborn in anyone an appetite for spiritual truths. It is an acquired taste, but a taste which anyone can acquire. However, it is only the truths that are in man from the Lord, it is said, that desire more truths from the Lord.
     Yet in proportion as men do cultivate their intellects, and do not pervert them with the loves of self and the world, the Lord's New Church will grow among them. For to that extent the rational truths of the Heavenly Doctrine may be seen and understood, that men may enter into that spiritual affection of truth which establishes in them the church and the life of heaven.
CANADIAN NORTHWEST 1954

CANADIAN NORTHWEST              1954

     In the name of the Church we congratulate the Dawson Creek and Gorande Prairie Groups on the arrival of the Rev. Roy Franson. The appointment of the first resident minister in the Canadian Northwest is the fruit of the labors of the Rev. Karl R. Alden, the efforts of the groups concerned, and the assistance of the General Church. The new work will be watched with interest, and the entire Church will wish success in it.

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LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     1. Introduction

     Young children, especially those of the New Church, usually learn the Lord's Prayer from their parents at bed time, in most cases from their mother. As they grow older they are admonished to continue to say the prayer nightly before retiring. Sometimes this is observed, sometimes not; or it is observed for a time, and then no longer. It may be said that lack of observance is fairly general, especially after a young man leaves the parental home. Various excuses for neglect are reasoned out; these, of course, not coming from the angels, but from companions of an opposite kind.
     One of the reasonings is that the Lord is in no need of prayer for the sake of His own honor and glory. This is true. It is man who needs to pray that in so doing he may give honor and glory to the Lord, and from Him receive what is necessary for salvation. Another of the reasonings is that the Lord knows what man needs without His being asked by man, and this also is true. But man must realize his needs in spiritual life, and in humility ask the Lord to grant them.
     Despite such reasonings, there remains in most cases the conscience that there should be the daily prayer. The conscience may be stilled again and again, yet it abides and persists. This conscience consists of the spiritual truths received in earlier years; and not only of the truths but also of the affections which were implanted in the reception of them-these affections pertaining to faith and life according to the truths. There comes a feeling of want and of longing for that faith and life-for that which is higher than what the world can give, and which can be received only from the Lord by looking to Him and praying to Him for it: for such is the teaching that has been received from the Word. And so the latent conscience that there should be the daily prayer to the Lord now finds its fulfillment. The voice of the Word is heard and obeyed; and it is the Lord's voice saying: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).
     In prayer there must be a heartfelt desire for that which is asked. If so, and to the extent that it is so, the Lord answers. This may be stated more fully in these words of doctrine: "Man must first want, long for, and pray, and the Lord then answers, informs, and does.

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Otherwise man does not receive anything Divine . . . the Lord gives man to ask, and what to ask; therefore the Lord knows it beforehand. But still the Lord wills that man should ask first, to the end that he may do it as from himself, and thus that it should be appropriated to him" (AR 376).
     The looking to the Lord must be an actual looking to Him, such as is expressed when it is said: "Who does not see God before him while he prays?" (DLW 129). The thought is directed to Him, and this thought brings His presence. So it should be realized that in genuine prayer man is actually in the presence of the Lord, he with the Lord and the Lord with him.
     What then takes place is a talking with the Lord (AC 2535). On man's part, those thoughts are expressed which are in the words of the prayer. The answer given by the Lord is an inflowing from Him of certain perceptions and intuitions of what is interiorly in the words of the prayer, whereby there is a full lifting up of the mind towards the Lord and the reception of heavenly love and faith from Him. So this answer from the Lord is a revelation which He makes to him who prays, a revelation which moves the affections so that hope, comfort, and an interior joy come to the mind. Thus in the prayer can be fulfilled the Lord's words: "Your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (John 16:22); "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Matthew 25:21).
     [EDITORIAL NOTE: This is the first in a series of twelve articles on the Lord's Prayer prepared for the press by Mr. Waelchli shortly before his death in 1942, but hitherto unpublished. One of these articles will appear each month throughout the present year.]
NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     The portion of the Psalter assigned for reading in January (Psalms 44-74) came through various inspired writers. According to the inscriptions which are part of the sacred text, 18 of these 31 Psalms were corn posed by David, 6 by the sons of Korah, 3 by Asaph, and 1 by Solomon. Three are anonymous, but are attributed to David in the Authorized Version, and 24 bear directions to the chief musicians upon various instruments. Several of the Davidic Psalms relate to crucial incidents in the king's earlier life when he was an outlaw persecuted by Saul; and one, the 51st, was written after he had been rebuked by the prophet Nathan for taking Bathsheba. These should, of course, be read in the light of the teaching that while David applied all things in the Psalms to himself, the real reference is to the Lord on earth whom he represented.

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     Many moods and themes are expressed in this group of sacred songs. Psalm 69 is one of the so-called "imprecatory" Psalms which have posed a problem for those who do not have the internal sense. Psalms 45, 46, and 72, the "royal" Psalms, are recognized as being prophetic of the kingly Messiah, and the 45th Psalm is quoted as such in the Epistle to the Hebrews (1:8, 9). Psalm 69 is recognized as a "passion" Psalm; setting out, against the idea of a regal Messiah, that of a suffering servant-an idea depicted also in Isaiah 53 as an essential part of the Messianic concept.
     Nearly every spiritual subject treated of in the Psalter is to be found in this group of Psalms. In them, against the dark background of the rejection of the devastated church because it had repudiated Him, the Lord is seen in alternating states of humiliation and glorification; tempted even to despair, but victorious in combat against the hells, and uniting His Human with the Divine. The promise of a new heaven and a new church is there, together with a call to worship the Lord from whom is redemption and salvation.
SEPARATISM AND DISTINCTIVENESS 1954

SEPARATISM AND DISTINCTIVENESS       Rev. MORLEY D. RICH       1954

     (Delivered at the New Church Club Banquet, London, 1953.)

     The subject before us this evening is both large and complex. It is also difficult and vexing. For it involves human relationships, and these have been the subject of Divine revelation, of human philosophy, and of political theory since the time of the Fall. In addition, they have become an increasingly intricate field as men's associations with each other have been widened by easier communication and transportation.
     This presentation of the subject is therefore intended to be suggestive and, it is hoped, stimulative, rather than instructional and dogmatic for there are uses and benefits in the one method as in the other. Universal and first principles must, and will, be drawn from the Word, as is our practice. But when we come into the field of specific application in externals we find, as always, a vast area of disagreement, conflict, and confusion. We cannot rightly or truthfully be dogmatic in regard to these externals: for too rigid an application in externals is easily upset by natural logic; and this, in turn, can cast doubt and suspicion, even contempt, upon the universal principles themselves.
     We do not mean to suggest by this that it is not necessary for every individual to make as much application of truth to life as is possible for himself. He must, indeed, be dogmatic in his applications.

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But he cannot rightly be dogmatic in application to others in any absolute way. This is but another way of saying: "Be yielding in externals, but firm in internals." In other words, in one's relation to others, it is the part of love and wisdom to be flexible in application of truth to externals, though there must also be a firm insistence on internal and universal truths, plus a firmness in one's own externals. Such a softening of the heart, however, need not involve softening of the brain as well!
     We do have a definite conclusion, however. That conclusion is not a new one. Nor is it one which will miraculously and immediately solve all things by conjoining men to each other and to the Lord, as in heaven. It is not an easy theme to state in simple terms, either. But we shall do the best we can, as follows: As human beings come into a measure of love to the Lord and of the human race, and as they see and stand firmly upon the universal truths of the Word, differences among them as to externals will not divide but distinguish. There will be immense variety, but no conflicts of opposites. There will be unity, but no tyrannous uniformity. There will be distinctions, even organic distinctions, between individuals, and between the various civil, political, social, national, and religious groupings, but no proprial and divisive separatism. Mankind will never, in other words, become an amorphous undistinguishable mass of identical molecules; but it could most certainly progress to a more presentable human form than it now has-to a form in which the distinctly differentiated parts would contribute their necessary functions to the whole man in harmonious order reflective of God's kingdom.
     In order to arrive at this finale, let us first consider three general propositions as follows:

     1. That the Divine love is in the constant effort to conjoin the human race with itself, and thereby to unite men with each other. Therefore, human efforts toward, and practice of, the principle of unification are symbolic of the Divine love, either rightly or pervertedly.
     2. That the Divine wisdom is the infinite understanding through which the Divine love creates the distinct varieties of finite things. Distinctions in creation, therefore, are attained by the Divine love through the Divine wisdom; and they are the evidence and result of the Divine love for the creation and preservation of a universe distinct from itself, together with all its varieties, and for the final creation of distinct entities, namely, men, who shall be in freedom to reciprocate His love as of themselves, and without losing their identity by again becoming a part of the Divine. It may be said, therefore, that the as-of-self faculty in man, the instinct for self-preservation, the deep-lying urge toward the preservation of a distinct identity which are in all living things, and supremely so in man, all these are symbolic of the Divine wisdom, received by man either righteously or pervertedly.

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     3. That the loves of self and the world are the tools by which the hells operate to separate and destroy men, using or applying the satanic principle, "divide and rule." Therefore, all efforts to separate and divide men, one against the other, are symbolic of the hells and are a plane for their operation. Division or separatism, therefore, can never be viewed as anything but evil, though they may be permitted when, due to the state of the human race, there is no other way by which Providence may work toward its final end of good-an end which can never be attained except in certain conditions and in a climate of human freedom.

     I. That the Divine love is in the constant effort to conjoin the human race to itself and thereby to unite them with each other. This first proposition is taken from a most universal definition of love itself which is given in TCR 43. Actually, we would like to quote the whole of the four numbers devoted to that statement (43-47), but, as time will not permit, we must content ourselves with the summary statement: "The Essence of Love is to Love Others Outside of Itself, to Will to be One with Them, and to Make Them Blessed from Itself."
     There are three essentials here outlined as composing love itself: 1) the love of others; 2) the will toward unity with them; 3) the will to make them blessed or happy from itself, which, by comparison with other teachings, includes the desire to give of one's own to others, and also the love of others' freedom to receive or not as they desire; and the desire to give of one's own to others is not confined to one's goods, but includes one's truths and ideas as well.
     Leaving aside, for the moment, the first and third essentials of love, the second essential would seem to underline the Divine love as the infinitely cohesive force by which the created universe is preserved in unity, as a substantial and material unified form distinct from the Divine. It may be seen, thus, that the principle of unity originates from and agrees with the Divine love or the Lord's will. He alone is the perfect oneness, or unified entity. Unity, coherence and conjunction are therefore stamped upon all things and each thing of His creation as His image and superscription. And consequently, there is within all created things a tendency to be unified with each other in finite imitation of the only One.
     Man alone is capable of receiving this love in its free and immortal reaches. And as he receives it, so does he become as one with the created universe in which he lives, united with his neighbor and conjoined with his Maker. From this it is that the heavens are as one man before the Lord; for all the angels are united in their love of Him and the neighbor, and in the goods and truths which they receive from His hands.

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Therefore also it is that all are united as to their interiors who have within themselves the church of the Lord on earth.
     Similarly, it may be seen that any effort toward, and practice of, unification is basically symbolic of the Divine love. Indeed, such effort and practice may be said to be the evidence of the reception of the Divine love by man in some degree and in some way, even though it may be received pervertedly, changed into a desire for unification only for the sake of dominion, as may be manifested, indeed, in any violent and evil means which may be employed for the sake of the end. Furthermore, it could be said that whatever degree of permanence and strength may be in any particular effort toward unity originates from the inmost of the Divine.
     It is, perhaps, this conatus or urge from the Divine love which has produced such sayings as "Out of many, one," "In union there is strength," and, more earthily, "If we do not hang together, we will all hang separately." For, even if we wish to believe that they were entirely sired by self-interest and self-love alone, we cannot deny their essential truth and therefore their direct connection, on the inmost plane, with the Divine love. They still remain as principles, as expressions of truth, to be followed for their own sake and not primarily for the sake of self and the world.
     Certainly we may see the operations of the Divine love in the formation, on this earth, of families into tribes, and of tribes into nations. We need not deny the plain teachings of the Writings that, in the beginning of this evolution, it was a permission by the Lord on account of the Fall of man and its attendant evils. Nor need we blind ourselves to the innumerably evil and horrible means by which men have, in the past, sought such unifications. Nor can we rationally suppose that future efforts toward greater and wider unifications will by any means be devoid of self-interest, nor lacking in the use of evil means.
     It would seem, however, that we must consider certain other aspects of this which put a somewhat different face and emphasis upon it. Principally, we would here consider three possible points: 1) that permission is also of Providence; 2) that therefore the effects of such permission are gradually turned toward good, which then is of, and administered from, Providence; 3) that there is a new and potent force in the world which will inevitably effect changes in the human scene over the future ages.
     1) Permission is also of Providence. Possibly all would agree that the Lord permits evil only in order to provide good when, in other words, He foresees that there can be no other means possible, due to the state of the human race, and if men are to be maintained in freedom and equilibrium. Once permitted, however, the evil also becomes a means by which the Lord leads toward the end of good; and, furthermore, when that end of good is attained the evil base or means is destroyed.

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     2) Therefore the effects of such permission are generally turned toward good, which then is oft and administered from Providence. Let us ask ourselves the very pertinent question, "What was the essential evil within the formation of tribes and nations?" Was it the unification itself! Was it the political plane itself, apart from the innumerable evils and falsities which men introduced into it? Can we by any means say that the enlargement, the extension of men's associations with each other, is an evil thing in itself?
     We cannot treat extensively of this point here, but must content ourselves with the suggestion that the essential evil in this was that the necessity for such wider associations and unifications did not arise from natural love, but out of the undisciplined self-loves of all directed against each other. And, in relation to the Divine, the evils attendant upon such unifications were permitted in order that the Divine principle and love of unity and conjunction might thereby be furthered among men. Consequently He provided for such unifications, and permitted the evils attendant upon them, for the sake of the final end. He did so, in other words, not only in order that men might not destroy each other in a state of absolute anarchy and disorder, and not only in order that by orderly external government there might be provided the opportunity for men to live in conditions conducive to free choice and freedom of spiritual thought, but above all these, that thereby the men of this earth might learn the principles of conjunction with each other, and hence acquire the earthly basis for their later inauguration into heavenly societies and choirs.
     To this end, and on account of the peculiar genius of the men of our earth, therefore, the Lord likewise provided for us a visual and spiritual image of Himself as the one God and Man, the infinitely unifying Being of the universe. Similarly, He provided for the increase of communication among men, so that His Word and His Spirit might be spread throughout the earth, and in so doing might bring understanding and mutual love among men in increasing measure.
     Viewed in this way, we may see the acting power of the Divine love underlying the many instances of unification in past history: in such religious unifications as the Jewish Church, beginning with Moses; the Christian Church, beginning with the Lord Himself; and even in military and political unifications such as those of the Chinese emperors, Genghis Khan, the Greek Republic, Persia, Egypt, Babylonia, Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon, the British Empire or Commonwealth, Hitler, Mussolini and even Russian Communism in modern times; and now in the dawning efforts to unite the great continental land-masses of Europe, America and Asia; not to mention the greatest of all efforts, the United Nations, with all its defects, impotencies and dream-like atmospheres.

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     The fact that all of these have been attended in greater or lesser measure by incredible violence and stupefyingly evil means, that they have been principally instigated and carried through from the love of dominion, and that even the so-called "common people" have been deceived by natural good and somewhat innocently selfish desires-none of these are relevant to the truth that they have originally derived their power and permanence from the Divine love in its effort to unify the peoples of this earth for the sake of their possible salvation and regeneration, in order that eventually, through the sheer necessity for getting along together despite their differences and disparities, they may be given the opportunity, the basis, for a life of mutual love together in heaven.
     No one can deny that there are many traps and pitfalls concealed in this thesis. They may, however, be generally avoided if we try to view history in the light of the Word, rather than from the fatuous and delusive obscurity of agnostic scholasticism or intellectualism, as it is in the world of today. For this will enable us to avoid, on the one hand, the dream-world of those who believe that all men are inherently good, and that therefore it is only necessary to provide a universalist unity and peace in order to attain heaven on earth. And, on the other hand, we shall avoid the equally dream-like, or nightmarish, quality of that so-called "realistic" school which proclaims all men as but higher animals, who can be raised from the jungle into the functional unity of a bee-society only by appeals to their self-interest, either short-sighted or long-term. For both of these equally have no basis for properly evaluating either the underlying spiritual causes of evil or the otherwise invisible operations and influence of the Divine love in its providence.
     We would submit, therefore, that for its salvation-on account of its peculiar genius, and because of the Fall-the human race on this earth needed to be given a particular kind of association; a type which would lead to a more extended association, thus to a broader base of knowledge of each other than was necessary either to the Most Ancients or to the peoples of other earths: a means, furthermore, which would not only furnish greater opportunity for redemption and individual salvation, but which would establish a written Word in perpetuity, which would enable its wide distribution and reception throughout this earth, and hence which would make the human race on this earth into a great, firm and ultimate basis for Divine revelation upon which the spiritual world and all the other earths of the universe might be based to eternity. This means was, and is, the special type of unification of the peoples of this earth into increasingly larger units, accompanied by the requisite development of the sciences of communication and transportation.
     This does not mean, of course, that if I thereby am able to know and sympathize with the lot of a Chinese man, and therefore send him money and goods, I shall be saved!

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But it does mean that if I have information about the cultures and conditions of the various peoples of earth, I am given a powerful basis of illustration of the truths of the Word, a reflection upon what are or may be the proper means of improving my own and others' relations with them; thence, too, I may be illustrated in just what heavenly society must be, in the principles of unity in choirs; and thence I may be led to a more interior temptation and choice between the good of mutual love and the evil of self-love and separatism. Finally, a good and true appraisal of history must not only take account of the past and general influence of the Divine love in providence; but, since the two advents of the Lord, it must recognize the influence of a new type of Divine accommodation and means of operation.
     This brings us to our third point: 3) That there is a new and potent force in the world which will inevitably effect changes in the human scent over the future ages. For by these advents the human race has been gifted with a visible and Divine prototype of Him Who is unity itself. In earthly language, we now have a full and rational description of that which was the greatest unition of all-the unition of the visible Human which the Lord took on with the Divine of which it was begotten: this for all men to see and worship. This Divine Human is not only the one God made visible; but He is also the new and unifying influence who is now operating with the human race.
     Primarily, the Lord Jesus Christ now inflows in the effort to unify the spiritual world of men's minds-to bring to them a new will to good, and to unite this with the understanding. Thus He will "draw all men unto Himself"; and, it may be added, in drawing all men unto Himself, He likewise draws them towards each other. And this, if we are to accept the spiritual world as the world of causes, will inevitably have its effects upon the natural world, slowly working great changes in the means, the deeds, and the words by which men seek unity and association with each other.
     In saying this, we would not be misunderstood as meaning that the kingdom of heaven is due the day after tomorrow on earth! Many good New Church men have been led into the trap of dogmatically asserting that this or that kind of government or political philosophy, or movement toward world unification, is the direct, immediate and harmoniously correspondential effect of the influence of the Second Coming and the revelation of the New Church. And it is well known among us how they have been disillusioned by the horrific things which have afterwards happened to shatter their false heavens-things which are, indeed, the symptoms of the consummation of the age
     On the other hand, however, we must not allow ourselves to be misled into unconsciously discounting the influence of the Lord's advent and glorification to the extent that we will suppose that there will be no changes whatsoever over the future ages.

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For this would be to deny the very basis of hope for all mankind-that hope which was brought into the world in the form of redemption by the Lord Himself. For if anything should seem to be clear from the Word, it would be that truly spiritual freedom of thought, and thence the opportunity for choice in spiritual temptation, now absolutely depend upon a certain climate of civil freedom and certain conditions of peace and order; and these, in turn, depend upon a certain measure of unity and coherence on the natural plane; and this, I believe, is easily confirmed by the experiences of each and every one of us in our lives.
     This, now, may at least be taken as confirmatory illustration of the truth that the Divine love is in the constant effort to conjoin the human race to itself and men to one another, and that it does so, both through the evil means which men choose and it permits, and through the good means which it chooses and provides. And with this we would leave the first proposition of our theme. Our theme is, let us remind ourselves, that as human beings come into a measure of love to the Lord and toward the human race, and as they see and stand firmly upon the universals of the Word, differences as to externals among them will not divide but distinguish, and there will be immense variety within unity.

     (To be continued)
BRITISH ACADEMY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1954

BRITISH ACADEMY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH              1954

     On November 27, 1948, the Bishop of the General Church appointed a Committee on Education "to do whatever may be feasible toward the ultimate establishment of a New Church school in Great Britain." This action followed a request made a few months earlier at the 35th British Assembly in Colchester. The request itself was the outcome of a movement inaugurated there in 1946 at the first post-war British Assembly: a movement seeking to provide wider facilities for education, and looking toward the eventual establishment of an Academy of the New Church in Great Britain.
     In the five years since its appointment the Committee on Education, first under the chairmanship of the Rev. Martin Pryke and then under that of the Rev. Alan Gill, had made an intensive study of the possibilities and problems of starting a secondary school. Early this year it was felt that if the real enthusiasm for this use that had been engendered was not to be weakened, an organizational step should be taken which would be concrete and forward looking but would not commit the Church in Great Britain to any specific action for which the time was not yet opportune.

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Arrangements were therefore made by the British Education Committee to present to the 40th British Assembly, held in London last August, proposals for the formation of a new instrument of organization which would be empowered and legally constituted to carry forward the general cause of New Church education. In preparation for this, basic information was given in several issues of THE NEWS LETTER in regard to the projected British Academy, together with full notice of what would be presented at the Sunday evening meeting of the Assembly. In order that our readers may be fully acquainted with this historic event we have sketched in the background, and now give the salient points in the Address-Report delivered at that meeting by the chairman, pro tem., the Rev. Morley D. Rich, under the title used by him.

     OUR OWN ACADEMY

     It is my great privilege to present to you this evening a proposal for New Church education. The members of the Committee are unanimously behind this proposal, and this means that it is primarily theirs, not the idea of any one person.
     In the past year the Committee has made a final survey of the situation as regards the establishment of a secondary school. Reports were submitted and considered in relation to the legalities involved, the financial situation, teacher possibilities, and numbers of children possible. The principal findings on two of these items are now presented.

     1. Legalities. The principal factor with which any proposal for an independent school must reckon is the British Education Act, 1945, which, if used to the limit and in a certain manner, could abolish every independent, private school in England. A safeguard has been provided, however, against any prejudiced or arbitrary exercise of the Act, in that the decisions of the Ministry of Education can be appealed to an Independent Schools Tribunal; a large body of public opinion opposes total enforcement of the Act; and the council schools cannot by themselves provide educational facilities which would be adequate.
     For any independent school to be established, however, we must depend for permission upon prestige and favor. This requires that we must have some instrument which will lend prestige and standing to our cause ill the community, which will demonstrate solidity and permanence to the authorities, and which will thereby, and in other ways, secure their favor and cooperation.

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     2. Finances. For the establishment and maintenance of a secondary school it has been considered that financial support would have to come from four general sources: tuition fees, contributions from the members of the General Church in England, the British Finance Committee, and the Corporation of the General Church. Figures for tuition cannot be fixed for the present; the total educational fund now amounts to about L2,500, with average yearly contributions of L175; the British Finance Committee has been compelled by increased expenses to withdraw the offer made in 1947; and any request for assistance from the General Church must be based on a new set of proposals.

     The negatives which have thus been presented were not the primary factors which brought the British Education Committee to its present proposal. As a matter of fact, what is proposed was presented to the British Assembly in 1948 as an alternative to the formation of this Committee. But it may be said that the negatives which have been discovered since give additional impetus to the idea.
     At this time the Committee feels neither prepared nor properly constituted to make any specific recommendations as to a secondary school. We therefore emphasize that the proposal now submitted has no direct connection with a specific school and should not be discussed in connection with it. However, on account of all these things, it is felt that some forward step of a practical and possible nature is highly desirable at this time. It is desirable that some new and more advanced executive body should be formed to:

     1. Promote the vision and uses of New Church education in all its forms and aspects in a wider degree and manner than is now possible.
     2. Make decisions in relation to the ultimate uses of New Church education in consultation with the Church in general.
     3. Deal with matters of an external nature such as legalities and finances.
     4. Be legally constituted for the performance of such duties.

     Such being the desire, the Committee believes it has found an answer in the alternative recommendation made to the British Assembly in 1948, and it has formulated from that the following general proposal:

     That the Bishop of the General Church be asked to appoint not more than fifty members of the General Church to form themselves into a legally constituted body with the name of "The British Academy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem" for the carrying on of the uses of New Church education in Great Britain: such body to be a self-perpetuating one whose membership shall be restricted in number and to members of the General Church, the Bishop of the General Church to be President of such body; the body itself to appoint annually a board of governors from its own number which shall carry on the business of the body.

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     This, in brief and in substance, is what the Committee recommends. Now, what does it all mean!

     1. In proposing that the Bishop of the General Church be asked to appoint the original members of this British Academy we are recognizing the order of the Church, in that the use of New Church education is a spiritual-natural one and should therefore be under the supervision of the priesthood.
     2. Though it is not now proposed to have as many as fifty members of this Academy, that number is mentioned simply to leave the future free, and in recognition of the legal numerical limit of corporations of this type.
     3. After the appointments to the Academy are made it will then be the responsibility of its members to secure legal recognition as a corporation in order to hold properties and funds, receive bequests and contributions, and administer the same.
     4. The name "The British Academy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem" is recommended because it is not proposed to found a second Academy of the New Church, since that body is now an international one. This body may be regarded as the British effort to espouse and forward the cause of New Church education, which is the internal purpose of the General Church.
     5. In pursuance of this effort, the British Academy will be empowered, in addition to its other functions, to make decisions as to new educational activities, and to implement such decisions, subject to the counsel and advice of its President.
     6. In recognition that it is distinctively a use of the General Church, membership is restricted to members of the General Church; and it is tacitly understood that, apart from the Bishop, all members thereof shall, for the present, be resident in Great Britain.
     7. In naming the Bishop of the General Church as its President there is due recognition of the order of the Church and of the principle of authority and subordination observed therein.
     8. Since, however, the Bishop of the General Church is not resident in Great Britain it is proposed that the British Academy shall choose at its first meeting an Acting Chairman of the Academy. A Secretary and Treasurer will also be chosen, and a Board of Governors elected which shall include the abovementioned officers.

     We cannot foresee all the ways and fields in which such an Academy may develop and may foster New Church education. But we can see that it would place more directly and officially upon a number of people the responsibility of furthering the cause of New Church education by distributing information and by imparting courage and inspiration to the general membership of the church in Great Britain. By virtue of its approved and official legal status it would add weight, influence, and prestige to the general cause of New Church education here. And, above all, its prime use would be to increase the spirit of the Academy among us: that spirit without which there can be no firm establishment of New Church education in externals and ultimates.

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     CONCLUSION

     Questions followed the address, and a number of members spoke spontaneously and enthusiastically to the subject. The essential proposal contained in the Address-Report was then put to the meeting in the form of a resolution, and this was affirmed in principle by those assembled.
     The British Academy of the General Church is now in process of being formed. The first meeting for purposes of organization and incorporation was scheduled for November 281 1953, and as further information is received it will be made available to our readers.
CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1954

CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       HAROLD P. MCQUEEN       1954

     OCTOBER 30 TO NOVEMBER 1, 1953

     The Chicago District Assembly was held in the village of Glenview At this time of the year the weather in the Chicago area is generally uncertain. Indian summer had come and gone, followed by a light fall of snow, and it looked as if we were all set for low temperatures plus rain and snow. But fortunately for the more than 200 members who attended the meetings it was not cold, and we had plenty of sunshine.
     With the exception of the Saturday morning and afternoon sessions the meetings were held in the buildings of the Immanuel Church Society. These two sessions were held in the auditorium of an adjacent school, within walking distance of most homes, and this proved to be very satisfactory.

     First Session.-The members of the Assembly met at 8:00 p.m. on Friday evening, October 30, for registration and to exchange greetings with friends from far away. The meeting itself opened with prayer and reading from the Word, by the Pastor of the Immanuel Church, the Rev. Elmo C. Acton, and at 8:30 Mr. Acton called on the Bishop of the General Church, the Right Rev. George de Charms, to deliver the Episcopal Address. The Bishop prefaced his address on "The Operation of the Holy Spirit in the New Church" with a few remarks in which he expressed his pleasure at being back after his European journey and spoke with much feeling of the various groups he had visited. At the conclusion of the address Mr. Acton, on behalf of all present, expressed great pleasure at having Bishop De Charms with us again. Applause followed, and Mr. Acton then said that it was a privilege to entertain the members of the Chicago District Assembly. There were 203 present at this meeting.

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     Second Session.-At the second session, on Saturday morning, the Rev. Elmo C. Acton addressed the members. In his paper on "Good and the Good Man" he outlined the history of thought as to what good is. During the discussion which followed several questions were asked which Mr. Acton answered in his usual clear and succinct manner. This meeting was attended by 102 members, and lunch was served to 87 in the assembly hall of the Immanuel Church.

     Third Session.-At the third session, held on Saturday afternoon with 95 present, we listened to the report of the committee that had been appointed by the Bishop to make a study looking toward the development of New Church education in the Chicago District. This took the form of a round table discussion. Mr. Acton acted as moderator and asked the following questions of the members of the panel:
     Question to the Rev. Ormond Odhner: "What is the duty of the members of the Church in the District toward the support of New Church education?" Mr. Odhner pointed out that it is the duty of every New Church man to support New Church education.
     Question to Mr. Harvey Holmes: "What are the immediate needs of the District, and what would be a reasonable yearly sum for their support?" Answer: "The immediate needs are transportation and feeding of children living in outlying districts, and this would cost about $500.00 annually."
     Question to the Rev. Louis B. sing: "What was the thought of the founders of the Academy in regard to New Church high schools?" King stated that looking forward to the establishment of a high school in Glenview would be a partial fulfillment of the aim of the Academy, that Bishop Benade envisioned high schools in all centers.
     Mr. T. Kern was now asked: "What are the potentialities as regards prospective students in the near future?" Mr. Kern showed us a chart which showed the expected annual growth from now until 1965, at which time there would be 74 students of high school age.
     Question to Mr. Sydney E. Lee: "How do we get ready for future development? Is the small amount we could contribute of any practical value in the building up of an endowment?" Mr. Lee had compiled a series of facts and figures which indicated that the financial problem could be worked out if there were enough people interested.
     Question to Mr. Pierre Vinet: "What buildings would be necessary, and how is the money for them to be raised?" Judged by the applause Mr. Vinet answered these questions to the satisfaction of the listeners.
     There then followed a discussion period, at the close of which Mr. Acton read the following recommendations of the committee:

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     1. That an endowment fund be established for the development of New Church education in the Chicago District, looking specifically to a future high school in Glenview.
     2. That a second fund be started to provide means for the children now in the District, and near enough to Glenview, to avail themselves of the use of the school now provided for the children of Glenview.
     3. The committee further recommends that the Assembly form a committee at this session to solicit funds and to administer all matters necessary to these uses.

     Bishop De Charms then took the chair and commented very favorably on the work of the committee. He also told us about various projects in other Districts having to do with New Church education. Mr. Robert Coulter then made the following motion, which was put to the vote and carried unanimously:

     "That this Assembly accepts the report and recommendations of the Committee, and that this Assembly requests the Bishop of the General Church to appoint an Executive Committee on Education to carry out the principles set forth in the report: this Committee to have authority to establish and administer Chicago District Education Funds and to solicit and receive contributions thereto.

     Banquet.-Mr. Raymond Kuhn was toastmaster at the banquet held on Saturday evening in the assembly hall of the Immanuel Church with an attendance of 209. After a delightful repast, a toast was proposed to the Church and was responded to by the Rev. Louis B. King. A message of greetings from the Detroit Circle was then read and was received with applause. Mr. Stan Lehne was then called upon to speak on "The Outward Growth of the Church." His speech was followed by an interesting historical sketch by Mr. Alired Mergen of Madison, Wisconsin, who described his experiences with no fewer than seven religious beliefs, ending with his joining the New Church. His talk was appropriately entitled "Divine Providence in Retrospect." Mr. Pierre Vinet of Rockford was the third speaker, his subject being "Communication in Education." Songs and toasts were interspersed, and the banquet ended with remarks by Bishop De Charms.

     Services.-Three services were held on Sunday-a children's service at 10:00, an adult service at 11:00 at which the Bishop delivered the sermon, and a Holy Supper service at 4:00. Thus ended another Chicago District Assembly, a delightful and useful series of meetings.

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     HAROLD P. MCQUEEN.
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1954

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES              1954

     In an article published recently by THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD "The Earths in the Universe: A Note for the Perplexed," the Rev. E. R. Goldsack refers to a statement in that work about men who live on the side of Venus facing this way. This suggests to him that the planet does not revolve, as modern research would seem to require us to believe; and he sees a clash between "our loyalty to Swedenborg and truth revealed through him and science and the results of experiment and research." He concludes that Swedenborg's statement is "highly suspect" but states that it is not essential New Church doctrine, which he believes was revealed by the Lord alone, but the result of some confusion in the transfer of a spirit's ideas to Swedenborg.
     The point is answered interestingly in a later issue by Mr. Frank F. Coulson, who states unhesitatingly that the work is not dealing with the physical planet Venus at all, but with that planet in the ideas of spirits and angels; and that positions relative to an observer in the spiritual world have nothing to do with geographical location. On the basis of passages cited [EU 105, 106; AC 7248, 7171] he concludes that the two kinds of men on the planet seen by Swedenborg were seen in the appearances of the spiritual world relative to the fixed position of the spiritual idea of Venus. We believe that Mr. Coulson has the truth of the matter and that his explanation does away with the clash needlessly seen by Mr. Goldsack. Indeed we were puzzled by the title of the original article, for it seemed that it could not do otherwise than increase the perplexity of the already perplexed.

     The Rev. Richard H. Teed is well known in the Church for his estimate of the nature of the Writings. In a recent and forthright editorial in THE NEW AGE he insists that a new church call be based only upon a new revelation. He recalls the factitious distinction once made between illumination and inspiration and properly says that an illumined writer, which Swedenborg was said to be, has no warrant to claim the founding of a new church; and he: rejects the likening of Swedenborg to John the Baptist as the herald of the second coming on the ground that the likeness is rather to Mary, since she was the instrument of the first advent as Swedenborg was of the second.
     We have questioned this analogy before, and do so again, but agree entirely with the writer's conclusion that in the Writings revelation has been made and the New Church has been founded upon it.

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"Let us boldly speak out," he says, "that in the published Writings of Swedenborg God, the Lord, has made a new revelation." Mr. Teed's essential position, which distinguishes between the Word and the Writings, does not seem to have changed, and we wonder if he is here making a distinction between the works which Swedenborg gave to the printer and those published posthumously. But it would be of interest to read an answer to his question: "Why are we so fearful! Why not more sure of our calling as teachers for the New Church?"
REVIEWS 1954

REVIEWS       WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1954

SOCIAL SERVICE COMMITTEE'S REPORT (PART II) ON GAMBLING: 1953. By Rev. E. R. Goldsack, M.A., on behalf of a Committee of the General Conference, Great Britain, 1953. Mimeographed, Paper, pp. 19.

     Incorporating in his work the results of researches made by members of the Social Service Committees of 1952 and 1953, the Rev. E. R. Goldsack has presented a logical and impressive case against the practice of gambling-a topic concerning which New Church journalism has been curiously silent. In so doing, the author has wisely avoided the undiscriminating zeal of the average "moral reformer" by confining his treatment to a search for the teachings of the Writings.
     "This study of Gambling," he writes in the Introduction, "is undertaken under the discipline of New Church doctrine, and all other considerations have been left aside deliberately; for instance, those many economic problems which the practice of gambling has introduced, especially as a, result of the large operations of the present day. Nor have the moral problems of criminal dishonesty, broken lives, and ruined homes, not infrequently associated with the results of gambling, been brought under review. Your Committee have pursued their enquiries in a strictly doctrinal field. They have sought to avoid any preconceptions and prejudices, but have begun their work from an attitude affirmative to whatever the doctrines of the New Christianity teach."
     In faithful pursuit of this method of approach the Committee examines briefly the teachings of the Writings on the following topics: Life, Love, and Use; The Love Cycle; The Coherence of Use; The Origins of Disorder; The Sacred Scriptures and Our Problem; Love to the Neighbor; Degrees of the Neighbor; The Permissions of Providence; The Influence of Gambling upon the Mind; and The Diversions of Charity. Over fifty quotations from the Heavenly Doctrine are used in the course of the study; although some of them, as, for example, AC 6494, are so scanty that they represent but poorly the more illuminating context.

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However, the teachings given are so skillfully arranged and interpreted that we confess to some curiosity as to why the Committee refrained from a fuller presentation of the teachings given on the relation of Providence to chance, fortune, or so-called luck, in such numbers as AC 5049, 5179, 6493, 7007, 8717, 9010; DP 212; SD 1088, 4393, 4562. Such a passage as DP 183, also, can scarcely be omitted from a broad consideration of the subject.
     We feel, frankly, that the Committee's conclusion that gambling is nothing but "a diversion of the affection of gain for gain's sake" is a somewhat sweeping and rigorous statement. Even the dictionaries give us more inclusive definitions. However, the presentation is, on the whole, fair, just, and discriminating, and it shows several marked avoidances of puritanical severity. It is certainly a timely and valuable study, and it deserves a wider attention than we fear it will receive in its present form.
     The general point of view taken seems to agree with the classic definition of gambling once voiced by the Rev. James Reed, who called it "the effort to obtain the property of others without giving them any equivalent in money or service" (NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, vol. XI, P. 125). The following passages are characteristic of the Committee's viewpoint.
     "Gambling helps little, if at all, towards the disciplinary reaction upon the acquisitive loves which is pictured in these passages. Indeed we might take the positive view and say that gambling leads to a strengthening of the loves of self and of the world. The general tenor of the passages is to stale that use is the touchstone which will test the genuine gold and the base substitute. And before this test gambling is exposed as worthless. No mind is refined and perfected by gambling, even though it be claimed that a man can learn to be a good loser, as it is by the fulfilling of the duties of the man's employment or office. We repeat again the New Church axiom: 'Influx is into effort' . . . Divine influx of good and truth is never on a 'something for nothing' basis" (pp. 15-16).
     "We recognize that there is much innocence and ignorance present with so very many who indulge in the practice of gambling in its varied forms. We suggest that it is of Providence that the football-pool has assumed the guise of a competition to so many who otherwise might be drawn into other and more injurious forms of gambling. It is to be regretted that the practice has received the mark of respectability due to the indulgences of many public men and women we are sure that the practice of gambling in any form whatever should be shunned as a sin against God, especially by all New Church people, who have such very clear instruction on Use and Charity" (p. 17).

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     Incidentally, the author startled us with the statement that "men have been known to gamble on the number of the next hymn at church parade." To the best of our knowledge, the "American cousins" never thought of that one, even in Hollywood! But we cordially agree with Mr. Goldsack's comment that "a New Church man will certainly beware of this diversion which is not of charity."
     WILLIAM WHITEHEAD.
SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 1954

SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES       DANDRIDGE PENDLETON       1954

     A REPORT

     Since the fall of 1952, it has been my privilege to serve as Visiting Minister to our isolated members in the southeastern United States. Three trips, each of four weeks duration, have been undertaken wherein the minister has visited in the homes of friends all the way from Richmond, Virginia, to Miami, Florida, and as far west as Atlanta, Georgia.     
     As their occupations move various men and their families into or away from this particular territory there is a continual ebb and flow, and it is difficult to state exactly our numerical strength in this part of the country. However, the average number of people ministered to on any one given trip is forty adults and twenty-three children. From the number of children alone, some of whom are now attending the Academy in Bryn Athyn, it can readily be seen and confirmed that the banner of New Church education is firmly planted, side by side with that of the Heavenly Doctrine itself, in the minds and hearts of these parents.
     Unfortunately, the situation is such that the minister cannot spend more than four weeks at any one time away from the ever-growing uses and vitality of the Washington-Baltimore area. This has made it impossible to extend the present itinerary to include several families who have moved into the southeastern territory within the last year. However, we are doing our best in this regard, and an earnest endeavor will be made to meet the increasing demand as soon as possible.
     Among the doctrinal subjects discussed have been the following: Man's Part in the Regenerative Process, The Purpose of Temptation, Humility, Salvation, Profanation, Use, The Priesthood, The Operation of Providence, The Nature of the Lord's Intercession, Self-examination, Remains, The Proprium, New Church Education, The Nature of the Life after Death, The Purpose and Effect of the Glorification. The nature of these subjects indicates a wide range of interest and discussion on the part of the people themselves; an interest and discussion which is most gratifying.

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     I have found, and continue to find, the utmost delight and stimulation in this particular work. Everywhere I have found an eager and intelligent response which gives evidence of a deep affection for the truth of the Writings. And in this affection and desire for instruction one feels, not the weakness and loneliness which the word "isolated" usually suggests, but rather a deep strength born of an abiding conviction with regard to the things of the church; a strength which is sufficient to hold the minds of these men and women firmly in their faith despite physical separation from a church body or association.
     Nor are these, our so-called isolated members, content to "remain unto themselves" as regards their love of the Writings. Several baptisms, adult as well as infant, have taken place during the past year, and at least one of these recent adult converts has already succeeded in interesting several others in the doctrines.
     The South Itself? Beautiful country! And nowhere else has this writer met more friendly people. From a personal point of view these trips are doubly delightful, in that the minister is, as it were, returning home-to the Deep South where his forebears in the Church were born and bred over a century ago. As a matter of fact, all of this minister's work lies south of the Mason-Dixon line (and proud of it, suh!).
     In completing this outline of General Church activities in the south-eastern part of the country during the past year and a half we would congratulate the General Church Religion Lessons workers, the Academy, and the Sons of the Academy. The contact they are maintaining with our isolated members through the religion lessons and information with regard to our educational purposes and system is serving to strengthen and consolidate the church with those people. Gratitude should be expressed also to Mrs. Raymond Pitcairn, who has kindly sent a copy of the sermon preached every week in the cathedral to those who have requested it. This is making a steady increase of knowledge of the doctrines possible for these people, scattered though they be.
     The New Church is very much alive in the South, and it is growing there. This is a thing which promises well for the future.
     DANDRIDGE PENDLETON.
FIRST ESSENTIAL 1954

FIRST ESSENTIAL              1954

     "There is no true church unless God is one, and unless He is Jehovah God under a human form-and thus that God is man and man God."

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SHOULD EVIL BE HATED? 1954

SHOULD EVIL BE HATED?       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary               Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.

     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     "Hate the sin but not the sinner" is a dictum often quoted with approval. But should sin, or evil, ever be hated? In accommodation to the states of the Jewish Church it was indeed said: "Ye that love the Lord hate evil" (Psalm 97:10). But ill the Gospels the Lord taught love instead of hatred, and the Writings reveal that there is no other source of hatred than hell, of which it is the essence. We know of no hatred that flows from the Lord's heavenly kingdom. Indeed it is said that the good do not know what hatred is, and that in place of hatred, and anger they have aversion and zeal. The distinction would seem to be that evil is inseparable from its instruments and that in all hatred there is the desire to kill. The good are not vague or indifferent where evil is concerned; but they shun instead of hating it, and when they must fight do so without anger, vindictiveness. or desire to hurt.
FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION 1954

FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION       Editor       1954

     Two events of great interest are reported in this issue-the decision to form a British Academy of the General Church, and the step taken at Glenview to provide eventually a New Church high school serving the Chicago District. The proposed British Academy has as yet no specific objectives and the Chicago District project involves a ten-year plan. No ground, therefore, is likely to be broken either in England or in the Middle West for some time; but the resolutions adopted at London and Glenview nevertheless represent a significant advance in conception and planning that may have most interesting consequences.

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A contributor pointed out recently that education is the work of charity for the whole Church; and the establishment of high schools as the responsibility of the district they serve, not of individual societies, will be an important step in the application of that undoubted principle.
     It was stated at Glenview that the founding of other high schools would be in accord with the thinking of the original Academy. This, of course, is not determinative; for if the General Church does not bind the future by legislation, neither is it bound to the past by tradition. By this is preserved its freedom to recognize and respond to new needs, and to bring about those modifications necessitated by changing situations for which the order of the Church makes full provision. The two projects reported are cases in point. They result from the challenge of increasing needs brought on by changed circumstances inherent in the physical growth of the Church, and as time goes on there will be other challenges. It is satisfying to know that both proposals are the fruit of careful investigation, thought, and planning. There will be many problems to meet, many difficulties to overcome; and this will call not only for the full cooperation of those in the areas concerned but also for the understanding of the Church as a whole and its good will. We feel confident that these will be forthcoming ill ample measure.
REVELATION ENTIRE 1954

REVELATION ENTIRE       Editor       1954

     It is our faith as a Church that the Writings are a Divine revelation through Swedenborg, that they were written by the Lord through him as a rational instrument. They are not the understanding of the Word at which he arrived by study, or even his perceptions of truth from regenerate good-which would still make them human documents of finite origin. Nor are they the result of his fallible attempt to express a revelation made to him. The Lord, not Swedenborg, was the revelator; and true gratitude to, and for, Swedenborg is therefore inspired by love of the truths revealed through him; as it takes the form of a resolve to maintain the purity and integrity of those truths.
     Reflection on these things in connection with the forthcoming anniversary of Swedenborg's birth brought to mind certain words in the Apocalypse: "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any 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'' (Revelation 22:18, 19).

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They evidently involve, as the nature of the Writings indicates, that the Heavenly Doctrine is to be accepted by the New Church exactly as it stands. Nothing may be added, and nothing may be taken away.
     Nothing may be added to the Writings by seeking to any them with other systems, making interpretations which go beyond their plain import, or reading into them that which is not there, without introducing falsity that can only destroy the acknowledgment of the Lord and faith in Him, and thus lead to spiritual disaster. And nothing can be taken away from them, that is, no part of them, or anything in them, can be denied without turning one's back on wisdom, on the New Jerusalem, and on that heavenly kingdom which is a kingdom of truth. The Writings entire are a Divine revelation; and only by accepting them in their entirety, neither adding nor taking away, can we enter into wisdom and into life.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! 1954

HAPPY NEW YEAR!       Editor       1954

     When the Queen of Sheba had heard all the wisdom of Solomon she was inspired to say: "Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom." It was as the unconscious representative of the wisdom that came to the Divine Human by glorification that she was moved to speak these words from the blessedness into which she came from his wisdom. But the Writings ask, after revealing this: "Who would now consider himself blessed because he continually heard words of wisdom!"
     There is a gracious custom at this season of wishing, and being wished a Happy New Year, and we may usefully inquire of the Writings how that wish may be fulfilled. The good things of this world are not real blessings, and may be curses. The realization of our ambitions, the fulfillment of our hopes, would not necessarily result in true happiness. Nor can happiness be achieved by making its pursuit a conscious objective, or even by doing certain things that it may come through them. In heaven they are the happiest who desire others to be the most happy.
     True happiness lies in utter forgetfulness of self and the unselfish performance of uses to the neighbor-as we sometimes perceive momentarily and in retrospect; for in itself it is the Divine which flows into good will and the doing of good. And its only source with men is a spiritual love of good and truth. Yet the heavenly things in which true happiness consists can be received only through certain means; and these alone are our direct and immediate concern. The Lord can impart them to us, not as we strive for happiness, but as we resist our evils, compel ourselves to what is good and true, and submit our lives to the leading of His providence.

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That is our concern, and as we apply ourselves to for others, the Lord will inflow with true happiness.
     This may be summed up by saying that nothing can better ensure our happiness in this new year-and that of our friends, in so far as it depends on us-than that in it we should learn to love more the doctrine and life of the New Church. But to know and believe that true happiness lies in this, in being continually within the sphere of the wisdom spoken by the Lord, we must be interiorly affected by the blessedness into which men come when they draw near in spirit to the Divine Human.
BUT FEW CHOSEN 1954

BUT FEW CHOSEN       Editor       1954

     What is meant by the teaching of the Writings that all men without exception are predestined to eternal life in heaven? For there is much testimony that a considerable part of the human race rejects salvation, and finds its ultimate abode in hell. Christian dogma gave to the term a special meaning of sinister import. It came to denote an arbitrary act of will on the part of God whereby, either before or after birth, the events of men's lives were pre-determined; and some were elected to salvation without any choice on their part, while others were doomed to a damnation they could do nothing to avert.
     But man is endowed with freedom of choice. The teaching simply means that in the creation of every individual man the Lord wills for him eternal life ill heaven, and its import is to be seen in the further teaching that he who wills the end also wills and provides the means that are essential to its attainment.
     In the creation of men the Lord has no other purpose than that they shall live to eternity in a state of blessedness. Therefore the means of salvation, the knowledge of them, and the power to use them are given to all men and women without exception; and all have from the Lord the ability to understand truth and to do good. All, then, are born such that they can enter heaven, if they will; and all are given the opportunity to do so-no matter what may be the appearance. It is true that some men choose not to do so, and that the Lord foresees this. Yet it is still the will of the Lord, who desires not the death of a sinner, that they should turn from their evil. And the point is that if He withheld or withdrew the means of salvation from them, if that were possible, it would cease to be His will that they should be saved. But because the means are provided for all, all are predestined to heaven.
     As the term is used in the Writings, then, it does not mean pre-determination. It simply means that the Divine love, by virtue of its essence, can have no other end in creating men, can have no other destiny in view for them, than that they shall become angels.

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Any other destiny is of man's choosing, not the Lord's. And even in that the Lord's will is done, though in far lower degree, since a forced assignment to heaven would not achieve His end, and His purpose requires that men be free.
     The letter of the Word does speak of the Lord's "elect." But the Writings explain that by the elect are meant those who choose freely to love truths and do them, thus believing rightly and living well. The letter also says that "many are called, but few chosen." It is now revealed that all are called, since all are predestined to heaven, and that all are chosen who love and live the truth of the Word. That few are chosen is therefore the fault of man; for the Lord, who cannot take away man's freedom, wills that every man shall use it rightly, and from birth throughout life gives him the means of attaining the only end that was purposed in his creation.
ELATION OF MIND 1954

ELATION OF MIND       ORMOND ODHNER       1954

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     In the Rite of Confirmation in the General Church Liturgy, p. 79: Apocalypse Explained 803 is translated to read: "The sins he must shun and turn away from are chiefly adulteries, frauds, illicit gains, hatred, revenges, lies, blasphemies, and elation of mind." [Italics added]
     What is "elation of mind"? To me it means such things as great joy, happiness, jubilation, particularly when these things come as the result of the success of one's plans and efforts. Perhaps also it implies a bit of patting one's self on the back for being so wonderfully clever.
     Now that last is, of course, wrong. It is a downright sin. No merit for anything good attaches to man. The angels refuse all thanks for the good they do. But is there anything wrong in being tremendously happy, in being elated at success, if the plans that succeeded were good plans? If you were trying to protect your church in time of crisis, for example, and if in His providence the Lord crowned your efforts with success, would it be among the "chief" sins of life to feel great joy and jubilation, while at the same time giving credit for that success to the Lord?
     I wonder if "elation of mind" is really a proper translation. The Latin itself is elationes animi. To begin with, then, the phrase should be in the plural-"elations of mind." Elatio comes from effero, and literally means "carry forth." But in my Latin dictionary elatio is said to mean, by derivation, "a lifting up, raising, elevating," and also "pride, haughtiness." Cicero used it with animus (mind) to mean "pride." I wonder, therefore, if "pride" or "conceit" would not be a better translation in Apocalypse Explained 803.

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     To confirm this still further let me quote again from that work: "'Elation' is said of the evil, because it is of the love of self" (AE 412:8). "Those who reason from falsities against Divine truths live in hells that appear like bogs when they are seen in the light of heaven [they] resemble frogs, some in a larger, and some in a smaller form, according to their elation of mind arising from more or less keenness of reasoning" (ibid. 1,000).
     In neither of these instances does "elation" or "elation of mind" seem to imply happiness or great joy. In both of them it seems to imply pride or conceit. Furthermore, there is a passage in which the Writings themselves define the term: "In the world not much thought is given to the love of self, but only to elation of mind in external things which is called haughtiness" (HH 555). Three different translations insert the word "that" before "elation of mind" here; and from this it might be concluded that it is only one particular type "which is called haughtiness." But no word for "that" is found here in the Latin, nor does it seem to me either necessary or useful to insert it. As to the word used here for "haughtiness," it is superbia. Latin dictionaries leave no doubt as to what that means: pride, haughtiness, insolence, arrogance.
     Sometimes, it is true, we know states of tremendous happiness and satisfaction because all things are going so well for us. Now that is almost inevitably a danger signal. It is the kind of pride that only precedes a all. Perhaps that, too, is an "elation of mind." Certainly at such times we are elated. But the great happiness is not the sin of the thing. The kind of happiness is-the pride, the conceit, that give it life.
     Pride and conceit are most definitely sins. They are among the chief sins of life. But surely there is nothing wrong in being happy, is there? nor even in being very happy.
     ORMOND ODHNER.
2700 Park Lane, Glenview, Illinois.
ACTION AND REACTION 1954

ACTION AND REACTION              1954

     "In everything created by God there is reaction. In life alone is there action, and the reaction is excited by the action of life. This reaction appears as if it belonged to the created subject from the fact that it exists when the subject is acted upon. Thus in man it appears as if the reaction were his, because he has no other feeling than that life is his, when yet man is only a recipient of life. From this cause it is that man from his hereditary evil reacts against God" (DLW 68).

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Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     CHARTER DAY

     OCTOBER 23-24, 1953

     The English press frequently describes those perfect days that sometimes favor occasions of state as "royal" weather. Perhaps we may be pardoned if the experience of recent Years causes us to refer to such days in the fall as "Charter Day" weather, for once again we were favored with conditions that enhanced the autumn beauty of Bryn Athyn and were ideal for the events associated with this yearly celebration. Once again, also, added significance was given to the occasion by the presence of a large number of ex-students and other friends of the Academy from many points in the United States and Canada.
     On Thursday evening, October 22, the Academy schools held "Open House" for their patrons. Various teachers in the College, the Boys' Academy, and the Girls' Seminary were in their regular classrooms to outline their courses and answer questions in fifteen minute periods. Refreshments were served at the end of the "school day." Attendance was good, and the project seemed to have aroused a great deal of interest. The observance of Charter Day itself began next morning with the procession to the cathedral of the members of the Board and Faculty, the students and ex-students of the Academy schools. The service was conducted by the President and the Executive Vice President of the Academy, the Rt. Rev. George de Charms and the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, and the address was given by the Dean of the Theological School, the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner. Dr. Odhner's fine address has already appeared in these pages [NEW CHURCH LIFE, December, 1953, pp. 546-551]. It was a clear statement of the real uses and responsibilities of the Academy and invited that support which is grounded in perception from affection of the uses themselves.
     At the close of the service the procession returned to the campus where, as usual, school songs were sung in front of Benade Hall. The customary reunions followed; but for many they could not be unduly prolonged as an excellent luncheon had been arranged at Casa Conti. The football game in the afternoon, though played without benefit of a rally the night before, was all that an alumnus could desire, or nearly all; for after a contest that was by no means one-sided the Academy team settled for a 14-0 victory over Germantown Academy, ceding to the opposition the less tangible fruits of moral victory. This arrangement undoubtedly did much for the party that was held at the Club House after the game.
     On Friday evening came the well attended reception and dance with the usual singing of sorority and fraternity songs by their members and of school songs by all present. Saturday morning was free, but the Sons of the Academy Executive Committee held its usual fail meeting, and Theta Alpha organized a coffee party for the ladies which was held in the College common room.
     The banquet on Saturday evening, also well attended, was a fine climax to an inspiring celebration. The meal was excellent, and program notes on members of the Faculty furnished nice blend of serious fact and light fiction. Professor Stanley F. Ebert showed that a toastmaster can be both efficient and self-effacing. His program was in the nature of a report from the Academy schools; and the interest of the audience was well sustained as it heard in turn from Professor Richard R. Gladish, Principal of the Boys' Academy, Miss Dorothy Davis, Principal of the Girls' Seminary Professor Eldric S. Klein, Dean of the College, and Professor Hugo Lj. Odhner, Dean of the Theological School. Some remarks by Bishop De Charms concluded the program. Charter Day has its well established traditions, which provide for continuity. But each celebration has its own distinctive quality, and that held in 1953 was no exception to that happy rule.

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     KITCHENER, ONTARIO

     The highlights of the fall season were the Eastern Canada District Assembly, which is being reported separately, and a visit of four weeks duration from the Rev. Roy Franson. Mr. Franson came to Kitchener at the end of his summer tour. As the fall program had already commenced he was able to assist in a variety of activities. He preached three times, delivered two Friday doctrinal classes, addressed the Women's Guild and a Sons meeting, and helped in the school. His sermons and addresses were much appreciated and enjoyed. During his stay, Mr. Reuter made a five-day trip to Ohio.
     The Carmel School opened in September with eight pupils in five grades. Mrs. Reuter's assistance in teaching Religion to the First and Second Grades is again a great help to Miss Nancy Stroh. On September 30th, Theta Alpha held its annual school picnic at Breithaupt's Bush, which is now a city park, and the children had an active afternoon of football and hiding games, with hot dogs and marshmallows to toast at supper time. Then, on November 18th, a Society-School meeting was held at which Mr. Reuter talked on teaching in a New Church way, first in general, and then as applied to the course in Anatomy given to the Seventh and Eighth Grades. After refreshments, not before, an Anatomy class was held in the kitchen at which Mr. Reuter dissected a cow's eye.
     At the annual meeting of the Society held in September, a new committee was elected to investigate the possibility of forming a community near Kitchener. The committee consists of Messrs. Gerald Schnarr, chairman, Henry Heinrichs, Robert Knechtel, and G. Harold Kuhl, and Dr. R. W. Schnarr.
     Mr. Reuter is continuing his series of doctrinal classes on The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine; the young people are studying Conjugial Love, meeting in the homes every second or third Sunday evening; and the High School Religion Class, reduced to three Ninth Grade students as the others are all in Bryn Athyn, meets at the church on Wednesday afternoons. The Philosophy Club is studying The Fibre at present; and the Women's Guild, Theta Alpha, and Sons are all active as usual. The Men's Assembly held a supper meeting on October 21st at which the subject for discussion was the doctrinal basis for forming a New Church community. Mr. Reuter introduced the subject and a very worthwhile discussion followed. On the social side there have been two parties at the church. A Hallowe'en social on October 30th found everyone dressed to represent a book, and much fun was had trying to guess titles from the weird creations which appeared. Prize-winning costumes were those of Mr. Reuter, as Canterbury Tales, and Miss Dorothy Kuhl as a cook book. Peter Gill as M.C., assisted by other members of the social committee, directed the games and dancing, which kept everyone dancing to the tune of musical chairs, ducking for apples, and square dancing. Cider and doughnuts were served for refreshments.
     On November 27th, Trudy Hasen organized a bunco party and nine tables kept changing rapidly as scores went up and down. One table of non-conformists played solo in a corner. Coffee and cupcakes refreshed the players.
     VIVIAN KUHL.

     MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE

     With the appearance of the issue for December, 1953, THE GENERAL CHURCH COMMUNIQUE ceased publication. The Military Service Committee is still as active as ever and is still as interested in the service men and women of the Church, both individually and as group. But it was felt that the needs of these men and women were being met in other ways, and that the present situation did not warrant continued publication.

     MINISTERIAL CHANGES

     The Rev. Gustaf Baeckstrom has resigned as Pastor of the Stockholm Society after a pastorate of 38 years. He will continue as Editor of NOVA ECCLESIA, Manager of the Book Room in Stockholm, and Visiting Pastor of the Oslo Circle.
     At a meeting held on December 6, 1953, the Rev. Erik Sandstrom was unanimously chosen Pastor of the Stockholm Society.
     The Rev. Louis B. King, Pastor of the Sharon Church, Chicago, has accepted appointment as Visiting Pastor of the Urbana, Ohio, Group.

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Convention.-Figures published in the CONVENTION JOURNAL for 1953 show a net gain of more than 100 members.

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Ministers, missionary ministers, authorized candidates, and lay leaders total 91, as against 89 last year. With the retirement of the Rev. Hiram Vrooman, the Rev. Leonard I. Tafel has been elected president of the Swedenborg Philosophical Center, Chicago. The Rev. Immanuel Tafel continues as resident director.
     THE NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER reports that the Cincinnati Society recently celebrated its 100th anniversary.
     General Conference.-The Rev. George T. Hill, M.A., Minister of the Accrington Society, has accepted the editorship of THE NEW-CHURCH MAGAZINE, quarterly publication of the General Conference. Mr. Hill is well known in the Church, and a distinguished editorship may be expected.
     Australia.-The Melbourne Society of "The New Church in Australia" celebrated its centenary last September. The distinct beginning of the New Church in Australia was in Adelaide, in 1838, and the organic beginning in that city in 1844. The Rev. E. L. Bennett is the present pastor of the Melbourne Society.
     New Zealand.-The Rev. R. J. Strong has been obliged by ill health to resign from the pastorate of the Auckland Society, the only society in New Zealand. Services are being conducted for the present by a layman.

     ASSEMBLY MUSIC

     The following selections will be used in the Divine Worship held during the General Assembly:

Offices 2 and 4
Hymns nos. 24, 52, 53, 55
Antiphon X-2-316
Anthems 5, 11, 13
Psalms 33, 48
UNIVERSAL TRUTH 1954

UNIVERSAL TRUTH              1954

     "The Eagle and his friend the Other Bird met recently and had a chat. The latter had much to say of a wonderful new truth he had recently learned-twice two is four and the like. The new truth was the truth of figures. He explained and illustrated it at great length, and then grew enthusiastic.
     "'Aside from the wonderful accuracy and beauty of this system, there is another and grander view of it. It is true on this tree-top; it is true in yonder peaceful valley, and on those distant cloud-capped mountains. It is true whether beneath the burning equatorial sun or in the frozen darkness of an Arctic winter. Ay! more, it is true in the utmost confines of space and beyond. It is universal truth!'
     "'Seems to cover the ground pretty thoroughly,' replied the Eagle. 'By the way, will you mention to me a truth that is not universal in the same way?'
     "The Other Bird whetted his beak on the limb, and then replied: 'Just at this moment I cannot recall any to mind'" (Anshutz: Fables).

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THETA ALPHA 1954

THETA ALPHA       GLENN P. PITCAIRN       1954




     Announcements.



     All members are cordially invited to attend the 50th Anniversary Banquet of Theta Alpha on Wednesday, February 3, 1954, at 7:00 p.m. in the Assembly Hall, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     A large and representative attendance is hoped for on that date, so please make every effort to be present at this important and interesting event in the life of our organization.
     GLENN P. PITCAIRN,
          Secretary
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1954

GENERAL ASSEMBLY       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954

     THE TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, from Wednesday, June 16th, to Sunday, June 20th, 1954, inclusive.
     The program and other information will be given in later issues of NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS,
          Bishop.
SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION 1954

SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION              1954

     Special Offer

     The Swedenborg Foundation has renewed its offer of any three volumes of the Standard Edition of the Writings for $1.50. In addition, it is now offering the complete Standard Edition (30 volumes) at half price, $15.00, to young New Church couples from 21-40 years of age.
     Send orders direct to Henry W. Helmke, Manager, The Swedenborg Foundation, 51 East 42nd Street, New York, N. Y. Orders for the complete set should be contained in a letter stating that the writer is one of a married couple who are members of the New Church between 21 and 40 years of age, and therefore comes within the terms of this offer. Check should accompany order. Postage is prepaid.

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ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS 1954

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS              1954

     BRYN ATHYN, PA., FEBRUARY 1-7, 1954

Monday, February 1
     8:00 p.m. Consistory.

Tuesday, February 2
     10:00 a.m., and 3:30 p.m. Council of the Clergy.

Wednesday, February 3
     10:00 a.m., and 3:30 p.m. Council of the Clergy.

Thursday, February 4
     10:00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     3:30 p.m. Headmasters' Meeting.

Friday, February 5
     10:00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     3:30 p.m. Boards of Directors of the Corporations of the General Church.
     7:00 p.m. Society Supper.
     7:45 p.m. Open Session of the Council of the Clergy. Address by the Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton.

Saturday, February 6
     10:00 a.m. Joint Council of the General Church.
     3:30 p.m. Corporation of the Academy of the New Church.

Sunday, February 7
     11:00 a.m., and 8:00 p.m. Divine Worship.
SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES 1954

SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES              1954

     GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS. Graded lessons and other material from pre-Kindergarten through Grade 11. Address inquiries to: Pastor-in-Charge, Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE. Tape-recordings of services, sermons, doctrinal classes, children's services, etc. Address: General Church Sound Recording Committee, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH VISUAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Biblical and other slides. Address: Mr. William R. Cooper, Director, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     NEW CHURCH EDUCATION. Published by Religion Lessons Committee, monthly, September to June, inclusive. Subscription, $1.50. Editor: Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal.

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ELEVATION 1954

ELEVATION       Rev. NORMAN H. REUTER       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV      FEBRUARY, 1954           No. 2
     "The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all that are bowed down." (Psalm 145:14)

     In these words of the Psalmist is expressed the simple fundamental faith of the believers in all ages. They epitomize the confident hope of those who struggle against their evils in temptation. And they are words of consolation and encouragement to the oppressed and weary, the afflicted and the penitent. "The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all that are bowed down."
     But more than that, these words are seen by the discerning man to be pregnant with a deep spiritual philosophy. They are words that lift his vision above self to the Lord, and that help in the transfer of trust from human instruments to Divine and angelic agencies. For, like innumerable other and similar teachings of revelation, our text teaches that it is the Lord alone who raises man from hell to heaven-from proprial delights to spiritual blessings.
     The wise and the simple good in all ages have always known this as a fundamental fact of religious faith. And to those who accept the Lord in His second coming it is now given to see how the Lord does this. By the study and perception of things laid open in the spiritual sense of the Word the man of the church may enter intellectually into this mystery of faith.
     Throughout the Scriptures it is often said that the Lord lifts man up, that He upholds him, sustains, and saves him. We pray to the Lord: "Save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance; and feed them, and lift them up forever" (Psalm 28:9). And in the Heavenly Doctrine we are often told that the Lord alone withdraws man from falsities and evils and elevates him to heaven. It is to the body of doctrine involved in the word "elevate" or "lift up" that attention is now invited.

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     Swedenborg says that he had "spoken with spirits about the changes of state of man's life, that it is inconstant, and that he is borne upward and downward, now toward heaven and now toward hell. But they who suffer themselves to be regenerated," the passage continues, "are being borne continually upward, and thus always into more interior heavenly societies. Extension of sphere into these societies is given by the Lord to those who are being regenerated, especially to those who are being regenerated by temptations in which resistance is made to evils and falsities; for the Lord then fights through angels against the devils and falsities; and in this way the man is introduced into the society of those angels, which are more interior societies; and into what societies he has once been introduced he there remains; and from this he also receives a more extended and elevated capacity of perception" (AC 6611).
     Again we read: "While he lives in the world man does not know, because he does not feel, that he is thus elevated above his proprium; but still there is an elevation, or as it were attraction, of the man's interior understanding and interior will to the Lord, and thence a turning to Him of the man's face as to his spirit. This is manifested to a good man after death, for then the turning of his face to the Lord is perpetual, and there is, as it were, an attraction to Him as to a common center. But as it is according to Divine order that where there is attraction there ought to be impulse, for there is no attraction without impulse, it is therefore according to Divine order that there be also impulse with man" (AE 646:3, 4).
     These, and many like passages, teach that there is an actual elevation of man's interiors into heaven (AC 10,330:2); that the Lord alone elevates (AC 10,203:2); and that there is an all-powerful sphere, or attractive force, drawing men to heaven. For "the Lord wills to save everyone, and to draw them with a strong force to heaven, that is, to Himself" (AC 1038).
     What kind of elevation to heaven is here meant, and how is it effected? Certainly it is not such an elevation into heaven as is brought about by death! And what in man is elevated? It is not his body, for that always remains here on earth. We say that a man's mind is elevated or lifted up. But man's mind is threefold-natural, spiritual, and celestial; and his natural mind is an organic instrumentality which is ever natural, operating only on the natural plane of existence, never above it. Similarly, the spiritual does not reach into the celestial. What, then, is lifted up with man?
     In the ordinary language of everyday use we may say that his attention is lifted or elevated to higher things.

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This is the first step in spiritual advancement (Cf. HH 532). The second is for his will to be raised from desiring only earthly, corporeal, and selfish things to hungering after the bread of life and yearning for the performance of spiritual uses. This is, as it were, a lifting up of one's spiritual center of gravity, for merely natural loves drag one downward, but heavenly loves bear one up.
     Like all expressions of time and space, elevation, when considered interiorly, is seen to be a term of appearance. The same is true of other familiar terms of the Writings, such as "interior" and "exterior," "influx," and "proceeding." Yet without them spiritual, non-spatial things, cannot be expressed in human language, and we cannot think about them. Nevertheless, the essence of the idea contained within such terms will be more accurately perceived in the degree that this limitation of human language is constantly borne in mind.
     Elevation, viewed in itself, is the reception of, and response to, more and more interior influxes, for it is an effect resulting from such a progressive reception (AC 6262). When a man's understanding is said: to be elevated to spiritual things, the meaning is that the spiritual degree of his understanding is opened and sheds its light into the natural, to reveal truth which the natural understanding cannot perceive from its own light (CL 188:3). For it is by virtue of the three degrees in his mind that man can be elevated into spiritual and celestial things (DLW 239:2). An animal cannot be so elevated because it possesses only one degree. And this apparent elevation of thought with man into spiritual and celestial things, induced by the descent of these things into the natural, gives the appearance of three degrees in the natural.
     Hence the Heavenly Doctrine says that he who opens the interior degrees of his mind thinks, while on earth, in the natural from a higher degree, but after death actually comes into the higher degree (DLW 238). Therefore it is that spiritual thoughts, even with the regenerating, are obscure, because they are always clothed in the limiting time-space ideas of the natural. After death, however, the same man, then a spirit and freed from the body and its limitations, comes into clearer perceptions and thoughts; the gross loves that spring from the body and its senses having been laid aside.
     It was said that when a man's understanding is elevated to spiritual things what actually happens is that the spiritual degree of his mind is opened, to shed its light downward into the natural and reveal truths which the natural understanding cannot perceive from its own light. For there are two distinct kinds of light; or, what is the same, there are two distinct types of sight in the mind, natural and spiritual. No degree of intensity of natural light will reveal spiritual objects, which are truths. Only spiritual light will do that.

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That there are two such lights illuminating the mind, each revealing different things, may be illustrated in this way. When the ordinary light of the sun shines upon the human body it reveals a muscular form covered with skin, but when an X-ray shines upon the body it discloses the interior bony structure. Similarly, spiritual thought from spiritual light sees the inwardness of a thing, its causes; while natural thought from natural light sees only the forms, the effects. A more perfect light always carries with it the power of greater penetration. This is amply illustrated by the way in which various kinds of natural light, or rays, are being used today, such as the X-ray, the infra-red ray, the ultra-violet ray, and the cosmic ray.
     So it is that when the natural degree of the mind is opened above to the spiritual, allowing the more penetrating light of this higher plane to flow into it and reveal the causes behind the effects seen by the natural mind, man has a sensation of mental elevation. For what is spiritual in the natural is sensed by him as something higher or more interior.
     In respect to the reception of the spiritual in the natural which causes elevation we are taught as follows. "Everything spiritual is received in what is natural in order to be anything with man. The naked spiritual does indeed enter into man, but it is not received by him, being like ether, which flows in and out, without affecting him in any perceptible manner; for, that it may affect him, it must be attended with perception, and, consequently, with reception in his mind; and this is not granted to man except in his natural" (TCR 339). "When it is said that through regeneration man becomes spiritual, it is not meant that he becomes spiritual as an angel is in himself, but that he becomes spiritual-natural, that is, that inwardly in his natural is the spiritual as thought is in speech" (TCR 607: 2). "Neither does the natural man whose spiritual degree is opened know that by his spiritual man he is in heaven, when yet his spiritual man is in the midst of the angels of heaven . . . moreover the natural man with whom the spiritual degree is opened does not know that his spiritual mind is filled by the Lord with thousands of the arcana of wisdom, and with thousands of the delights of love, and that he comes into these after death when he becomes an angel" (DLW 252).

     Men today are aware that the body is a highly organized form, composed of finer or coarser planes of tissues and fluids, between which there is a marvelous system of communication. But we are prone to think that the mind is a simple organism, and this because it is so difficult for us to visualize distinctly its many parts, its degrees, and its intercommunications. Yet the Heavenly Doctrine reveals that the mind is as much more highly complicated in its structure as the body is more perfectly formed than a stone.

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And in the degree that we can perceive something of this structure and interrelation of the human mind we can comprehend somewhat of the meaning involved in such terms as "elevate," "influx," and "correspondence."
     We can then see the human mind as a free, reactive vessel, accepting or rejecting influxes from the Lord, and being qualified by such acceptance or rejection. We can perceive the cooperative natural of man preparing a plane for reception of interior things, struggling against hereditary tendencies which cause him to fall, and being raised up by the Lord when he subdues what is rebellious in it; causing it to bow down so that his interiors, his spirit, may be raised up by the Lord. We can see the wonder of Divine Providence which, like a current of unceasingly merciful effort, is ever striving to carry man into the stream of life eternal. And we are enabled to perceive the Lord, high above all His creation, proceeding in all His glory through the heavens, even to incarnation on earth, in order to raise man from his earthly nature into heavenly life-making him, if he is willing, a prince in His eternal kingdom.
     For "the Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and on the earth! Who raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that He may set him with princes, even with the princes of His people" (Psalm 113:4-8). Amen.

     LESSONS: Psalms 112, 113. John 3:14-36. DLW 66-68
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 510, 496b, 498.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 49, 94.
POWER OF LABOR 1954

POWER OF LABOR              1954

     "It has been made known to me by living experience that in the touch of the hand there is affection together with thought. I touched an angel with my hand, and he stated that from the touch alone he perceived [my] affection and the associated thought. Hence is manifest whence it comes that those in the spiritual world are engaged in labors. It is because by means of the hand in work, thought is determined to something living. This also is why the Lord touched many people, and why inauguration into the priesthood is by the touch of the hand" (SD 6094).

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LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     2. The Prayer and the Church

     There are many prayers by which man may approach the Lord. Our Liturgy alone contains about one hundred and fifty. But these are very few compared with the many, indeed the endless, prayers by which man may express his spiritual needs at various times. Whether consciously or unconsciously, all such prayers must be in harmony with some petition or petitions of the Lord's Prayer, in which are included all prayers that may come to the mind and perhaps be uttered in words. Therefore this should be a daily prayer, even as it is for the angels.
     On a certain occasion in the other world some angels spoke these words: "We in heaven read the Lord's Prayer daily, as men do on earth" (AR 839:6). May we all be of those on earth who do the like as the angels of heaven, and in so doing pray together with them. Note the statement that the angels read the Lord's Prayer daily. Some passages in the Heavenly Doctrine speak of reading the prayer while others mention praying it. What is meant by reading the prayer is that there is present to the angel the portion of the Gospel through Matthew in which it is given, preceded by the Lord's words: "After this manner therefore pray ye"; so that the angel prays as the Lord teaches him in His Word.
     In the Sacred Scripture it is said that the Word of the Lord is to be inscribed upon the heart and mind. It is what is so written that is read. Therefore we are reading the Lord's Prayer in praying it if we bear in mind that it is taught by the Lord in the Word, and if we also have it inscribed within us. This is in accordance with the teaching already given, that "the Lord gives man to ask and what to ask" (AR 376).
     It has already been shown in what manner the Lord answers man's prayers by an influx from Himself. How marvelously this takes place in the praying of the Lord's Prayer is told in the Heavenly Doctrine. And although it is told from Swedenborg's own experiences, what is similar can take place for each one of us in the measure that we are looking to our Father in the heavens, asking that He grant us our petitions. We read: "Whenever I have read the Lord's Prayer I have manifestly perceived an elevation towards the Lord which was like an attraction; and then the ideas were open, and a consequent communication was effected with some society in heaven; and I perceived that there was an influx from the Lord into each thing of the prayer, thus into each of the ideas of my thought which were from the sense of the things in the prayer.

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The influx took place with inexpressible variety, so that at one time it was not the same as at another. From this also it is evident what infinite things there are in each thing of it, and that the Lord is present in each thing" (AC 6476).
     A similar relation of Swedenborg's experience, which also can be ours according to our measure, is the following: "When I have read the Lord's Prayer morning and evening, the ideas of my thought were opened toward heaven and innumerable things inflowed, so that I clearly noticed that the ideas of my thought which were taken from the contents of the prayer were infilled from heaven; and such things were infused also as cannot be uttered, and as could not be comprehended by me. I felt only the general affection thence resulting; and, wonderful to say, the things which inflowed were varied every day. Hence it has been given to know that there are more things in the contents of that prayer than the universal heaven is capable of comprehending" (AC 6619).
     We who read these teachings are of the New Church. We know that the Lord is today establishing this church, and that men must cooperate with Him in that establishment, both collectively and individually; the quality of that which is collective depending on that of what is individual, according to the teaching that the church in general consists of those in whom the church is (AC 8438). Some members of the church do not have the opportunity to take part in collective endeavors on the ultimate plane, yet all can take part in the establishment of the church by individual endeavors. And there is a passage of doctrine which tells how this can be done in full measure. It reads: "At this day a new church is being established by the Lord which is understood by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, in which there will be the worship of the Lord alone, as there is in heaven; and thus everything will be fulfilled that is contained in the Lord's Prayer from beginning to end" (AR 839:7).
     Accordingly, the New Church man, worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ alone, will, in sincerely praying the Lord's Prayer, be fulfilling that which will establish the New Church in him. And as that takes place the establishment of that church in general, or with the many, will be promoted.

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FEAR 1954

FEAR       Rev. FRANK S. ROSE       1954

     (Delivered at the 40th British Assembly, London, England, August 3, 1953.)

     We humans like to think that we are free. We imagine that we can do as we please, but as we reflect on it we realize that we are restricted in many ways. We trace out a course that offers little resistance and little pain. We do the most unpleasant, and sometimes the most absurd, things because we realize that it is best to do them in the long run.
     At times we watch the carefree games of children with a secret envy of their freedom. Life demands so little of a child, and so much of an adult. But children, in their turn, occasionally tire of being told what to do and long for the day when they shall have grown up, so that they can do as they please. When they have matured they find that adult life has more obligations than they ever dreamed and so they long for the time when they will become angels, and so be freed from the ties of society and of moral law. Or perhaps they wish for the freedom of the Lord, who has no one to control or restrict Him.
     The truth of the matter is that freedom, in the sense of complete license, does not, and cannot, exist in the universe. The Creator is not fickle and illogical. He does not act in one way at one time, only to contradict Himself at another. The Divine love is ever consistent and orderly in its operation through the Divine truth. In this sense God is bound, bound to the laws of His own wisdom. He is perfectly free to act according to His own nature, but He is not free to act against it.
     There is no person, no matter how great, who can do as he pleases; no substance, no matter how small, which can do as it pleases. This is demanded by the whole concept of law and order. Were it not so there would be nothing but chaos and misery.
     It is inevitable, then, that men shall be bound. Yet despite this they enjoy a kind of freedom and live in the appearance of complete independence. But how, we may ask, does the Lord preserve the universe in such perfect order! How does He lead man to heaven, and yet allow him the freedom to go to hell?
     The answer is that all created things are gifted with love, and that by its very nature this love seeks for its own protection. Because of this, love is bound to defend itself, and is bound to operate within the confines of order. The mineral kingdom obeys mechanical laws.

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The vegetable kingdom obeys the laws of life. To a certain extent it is sensitive, some plants reacting to touch and withdrawing their leaves like burnt fingers. In animals this is more marked. Even the lowliest worm writhes in agony when molested. For the life within the worm is sensitive to all that would destroy it, and shrinks at danger as if in pain.
     In humans, and in the higher animals, there is a reaction not only to harmful things but also to the suggestion of them. A cat will hiss at the mere sight of a dog, long before the dog has attacked and perhaps even long after it has changed its mind and gone away. This anticipation of pain is greater in proportion to the perfection of the senses and of the imagination. In humans the word "fire" has almost the same effect as the sight and smell of fire. Through the imagination we can become the fools of fear. A fully matured and sane individual can be as terrified by a film or by a novel as if he were himself in danger. The senses, and the faculties of the mind, reach out into both space and time and warn us. When we heed their warnings we react as though the pain were upon us, and this reaction we call fear.
     In his Rational Psychology, Swedenborg explains it in this way: "Nothing is more natural than to protect one's essence and life, and when one is, to wish to continue to be when the soul, which is a living essence, has united to herself a body, and has furnished that body with sensory organs that she may take note of all that endeavors to destroy it, then at every assault which brings injury . . . she grieves, is saddened, alters, and shrinks. It is this alternation that is called fear" (n. 241).
     You are all familiar with the effects of fear. The surface blood vessels contract, leaving the skin white. The temperature is lowered, the heart beats faster and sends blood to the brain. Breathing becomes labored and rapid. The body perspires and the mouth is dry. Digestion is upset. The body shivers, the voice trembles, the eyes open wide, and the hair seems to stand on end. Life seems to stop, as though death itself were already there (ibid.).
     The curious thing about this fear is that none of its reactions enable a person to do anything about that which he fears. He desires to run, but his legs seem fastened to the ground. He tries to cry out, but his voice merely whispers. Although there is an ample supply of blood in the brain thinking becomes confused; and where it seems advisable to think about what to do, the mind can do nothing but flash into the past and bring up the most ridiculous objects from the memory. This indicates that fear is not a manifestation of the body's solution to a problem but is a symptom of disorder. Its use lies not in itself, then, but in its long range effect of binding men to a certain course of action.

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     In general we fear all things that attack a love. Love and fear are inseparably bound. When we really love anything we fear those things which threaten to destroy it. There are many degrees of life. With each degree there are loves, and with love there is fear. We cannot imagine a dog changing his course of action for fear of what other dogs will say of him. We cannot imagine any animal being stricken by pangs of conscience. But both of these are common with humans, and this is because there are higher levels of thought and life with humans, each of them acutely sensitive.
     Love carries with it aversion to all that which would threaten its destruction (AC 2543). The Divine love is averse to evil. The loves of celestial and spiritual angels, as also of men on earth, appear as a multitude of fears-spiritual, natural, and physical. Through these fears all things, all people, and even the angels themselves, are bound. So it is that the universe maintains its order with no compulsion save that which is self-imposed at the thought of pain.
     No man can be free from fear. The most universal fear is that of pain. As the mind and character develop other fears become predominant, and the fear of pain takes a secondary place. The perfection of life comes when love to the Lord, and its consequent holy fear, rule the mind. For then a person is bound by his love to the Lord, and his greatest desire is therefore to live according to His supreme will.
     Every degree of fear has a use to perform. The reason for the fear of bodily pain is obvious, so we need not consider it.

     USES OF EXTERNAL FEAR

     Adjustment. Inherent in the body is the love of self-preservation This carries with it a dread and terror of dangers and punishments, and so of hell (AE 696:23). We fear the loss of life, of wealth, of reputation. We fear anything that threatens to take away our freedom and our delights (AC 5647). It is quite natural that we should fear these things, and in that we do fear them we soon learn to pattern our lives in such a way as to avoid hazards. We learn where to find comfort and warmth. We avoid things that we associate with pain. We learn how to gain the approval of others, and what words and deeds invite criticism. Little by little we adjust ourselves to the conditions of life around us. We take care of ourselves. We train our minds. We work, and become quite skillful at fitting into the world of matter and men.
     In short, fears arising from the love of self-preservation make us order our lives so as to afford the least pain to self. According to the strength of this love so does this fear, and thence this skill, increase (see WE 4413). Curiously enough, it is the love of self that first prompts us to do things which seem to be unselfish.

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We may be kind to others, not from love, but from fear of what will be thought of us if we are not. Self soon discovers the advantage of being unselfish (AC 6914:3).
     Fears arising from the love of self are of great service in man's life. As a result of these fears he learns how to act in the world and how to eat, dress, converse, and deal with others. An even more important result is the perfecting of the mind. Without these fears we would remain blissfully ignorant and self-satisfied. But, contrary to our natural inclinations, we must learn, and we must adapt ourselves to society.

     Restraint. External fear, however, not only inspires us to learn but also serves as a means of restraining our evil inclinations. Interiorly within selfishness, even of the mildest kind, is the desire to rule over others and to destroy everything that opposes self. Fortunately we do not always see this; and, even more happily, it is rarely that our fears are taken away to such an extent as to allow the full character of the love of self to display itself openly. We shudder at the thought of what dictators have done, and wag our heads in righteous condemnation. But the same loves that inspire the dictator inspire us. We can be thankful that our fear for our own reputation prevents us from allowing our evil inclinations to become deeds. For evil is such as completely to destroy a man, and the entire race, if allowed so to do. It is a remarkable feature of the Divine Providence that fears arising from selfish loves are the primary causes of the restraint of evil. As we read: "Thus in a civil society, where everyone is for himself and no one for another except for the sake of himself, unless there were laws to unite, and fear of loss of gain, honor, fame, and life, the society would be utterly dissipated" (AC 5002:2).

     Obsession. In New Testament times men were actually obsessed by evil spirits. Such complete obsession is no longer common, but in its place we have internal obsessions. Men allow themselves to be dominated by evil loves, and are kept from violence and insanity only by external fears (AC 5990:2). This restraint is not only for the protection of those who are obsessed but also for that of other people. Were we to express every evil thought, and ultimate every evil desire, we would not only damage the lives of others but would also confirm ourselves in evil. This world is the arena in which our character is to be formed. We are impulsive both in our thought and in our actions; and fear plays a very significant part in restraining our impulsiveness and thus keeping us from too rapid degeneration. Fear is, then, a means of adjustment and amendment (AC 4942), and it is also a means of restraint.

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For where command and exhortation are of no avail, the fear of punishment is the only motive for a life of order (HH 509).

     Fear and Regeneration. Where no other motive is available fear must be used. This is true even in regeneration. We are introduced into religion through fear. We learn the truths of the Word because we fear to be ridiculed or punished. We first bend our knees, not from genuine humility, but because we are afraid to do otherwise (AC 7640). We begin life with the love of self, and we must therefore begin even such a thing as worship from this love. Because of this we are commanded to fear the Lord. We are even threatened with the punishment of hell, and this simply because there is no other language that can reach us. "They who are in no love are kept in fear, and thereby stand in awe of the Lord and flee to Him for the sake of deliverance" (AC 2395:3; cf. AE 696:23).
     Wherever there is external obedience without internal love it is inevitable that there shall be fear (AC 6071:6). So it is that worship itself begins with fear (AC 2826:3). There is nothing sacred in this fear. It is purely selfish in origin, yet it serves to induce on man the externals of order (AC 3718). It serves him before conscience, his future master, is fully formed (AC 4459:3).
     The education of the world seems designed to perfect a man in his adjustment to life merely by an appeal to his selfish fears. Adjustment seems to be the goal in life. Yet adjustment merely brings man to the threshold of life. It merely equips him to enter the battles of regeneration so that he can enter into life. As long as adjustment is the only purpose in life, or in education, self is tacitly regarded as supreme. And that is hell. For real happiness, fear for self must be supplanted eventually by a more exalted fear.

     SPIRITUAL FEAR

     Through his fear for self a man acquires knowledges and standards of conduct. These may lie unused in his memory. But when a man acts according to what is right, rather than according to impulse, he is beginning to act from a new love which is Divine in origin. Here, then, a new love is introduced into man's life, and thus a new fear. This is what we call conscience.
     The change is not immediate. For a long time man is a mixture. In his external mind there is the same love of self which thus far has been the cause of his actions. Implanted like a seed in his internal mind is conscience. The one fears all things contrary to self; the other fears all things contrary to what is known to be right.

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This latter fear is heavenly. It is unselfish. And no matter how weak the conscience may be, it is an indication that a person is salvable; no matter how few the knowledges of faith may be, as long as a person does what he knows to be right he will be saved. Acting in this way is fearing God (AC 6207).
     This is what is called spiritual fear, which is not a fear of external pain, nor for reputation, but a fear of damnation (AC 8171). And in this state of fear we come to recognize the great gap between what we are and what we should be. We begin to be concerned about our future life. "When temptation assails, the conscience . . . is disheartened by reason of falsities and evils; whence comes horror, which is aversion conjoined with the fear of spiritual death" (AC 8162; cf. AC 986; WE 4415).
     When a man begins to know what is good he is able to realize how disorderly is his life. The more he comes to taste of real love, the more of what is contrary to that love does he see in himself. This brings with it great anxiety and pain. The conscience is severely tortured. This pain comes from the discord between what he wants to be and what he is, and between his good loves and the evils and falsities stored up in his external man; and this discord causes the distress that precedes spiritual temptation (AC 4249).
     Through this distress the power of evil is loosened. Man is shaken at his very foundation, and his old patterns of life and thought are brought into question. Evils are brought to light, and falsities are removed (DP 283; cf. WE 5460, 4413, 1381). The extreme of fear, that is, despair, breaks the affections which for so long have dominated the thought, and man ceases to will to be his own master. It seems to him as if he is losing everything; but, in fact, he is just being prepared to learn and to live. In so far as his self-will is broken he can come to understand, to love, and to live much more perfectly and peacefully than ever before. He can be freed from the continual dread of losing favor or worldly possessions. In this state the Lord looks down upon man's grief and says unto him: "Fear not" (AC 2694). Through such distress man's spiritual wounds are, as it were, opened, and the mercy of the Lord flows in to soothe the pain (AC 8924, 4256, 9348; cf. WE 1381, 1386).
     As a result of this seeming calamity man learns to act according to a new standard. No longer does it seem so vital that self should be protected and flattered. Doing what is right becomes more important than doing what is convenient. Evils are shunned, not because they are unpleasant, but because the Lord has so commanded. This is the first of reformation. In it man fears to act against God's will.

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He acts instead according to the Divine commandments and so comes to love the Lord. "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21. Cf. AR 628; AE 340; 13, 386:18).
     In the struggle for spiritual life man becomes caught in the midst of fears. As he is strengthened in the path of truth his spiritual fear, or fear lest he act contrary to conscience, becomes stronger than his fear for reputation or for bodily life. But as yet he still fears the loss of external things, in that he is not quite certain whether the spiritual world really exists (AC 5647). So he stands poised for flight, but keeping one foot on the ground lest flight prove to be impossible. It is only later that he has sufficient faith in the Lord to cast aside this fear and rest in Him.
     Man is Not Saved in States of Fear. We have noted that fear as a physical reaction seems of little help in solving man's difficulties. Its main use is in keeping him in an orderly life. In cases of violent fear a man is helpless. This is true as well of his mind as of his body. A man who trembles at the thought of hell when at the point of death does not come any closer to heaven, because fear does not change a person's love. Fear in itself does not remove evil. It is a life of shunning evil and obeying the commandments that makes it possible for the love to be changed, and this cannot be done in states of active fear. Hence the familiar statement that man is not regenerated in states of fear, but only when he is in states of freedom and rationality (DP 136, 139; AC 8392, 9242, 4352:3; AE 193:5; SD 2899, 4314; WE 5460, 3847).

     HOLY FEAR

     Spiritual fear eventually becomes holy fear when man's new will is formed (DP 140; cf. AE 696: 4; AR 527; CL 368, 371). This fear is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10), for all wisdom comes from acknowledgment of, and love to, the Lord (AC 6997; cf. AC 8925). As a man comes to accept the Divine will as his own, his fear of the Divine becomes more and more a love (AC 6997, 7280). As it becomes more perfect it more nearly approaches the Divine love, and man's fear becomes akin to the Lord's fear, which is love (AC 50:3; cf. WE 1382). The man who fears the Lord is led by His will, and so is at one with His will (AC 6678).
     "Love that is devoid of reverential or sacred fear is, as it were, devoid of savor, or is like food unseasoned with salt and consequently insipid; but love that is attended with fear is like food that is seasoned, but yet does not taste of salt.

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The fear of love is a fear of injuring the Lord in any way, or of injuring the neighbor in any way, and consequently of injuring what is good and true in any way, and thus of injuring the sacred things of love and faith and consequent worship . . . speaking generally, the greater the amount of the love of good and truth the greater is the fear of injuring them; and yet in the same proportion this fear does not appear to be fear; whereas the less the amount of the love of good and truth the less the fear on their account, and the less this fear appears to be love but appears to be fear, hence with such the fear of hell" (AC 3718).

     WORSHIP AND FEAR

     With the angels, fear is worship, and their worship is mingled with holy fear. All worship involves something of fear. With those whose regeneration has not begun, worship is from a fear of hell and damnation; with the spiritual, worship is from the love which they have acquired through conscience and faith; with the celestial, worship is from love (AC 2826; cf. AC 5459). In this love there is great humility, which is represented by the bending of the knees (AC 5323). And the celestial approach the Divine fearing lest anything of themselves, any selfish thought or false idea, should mingle itself with their worship (AC 2826:13).

     FEAR WITH THE EVIL

     Such is the progression of fear as man regenerates. With the evil no new loves, and hence no new fears, are introduced into life. Instead their external fear takes on a terrifying quality. This is a fear of all that opposes self, and is therefore a fear of practically everything. The evil are alone, for there is no one who can share their love. They love themselves, and so feel obliged to be their own masters. They trust no one else, and fear everyone (see WE 4056). This state of continual dread is often described in the Word, as in Leviticus: "Your land shall be a desolation, and your cities a waste; and upon them that are left of you I will bring softness into their heart in the land of their enemies, and the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them, and they shall flee as from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth, and shall stumble everyone upon his brother, as it were before a sword when none pursueth" (Leviticus 26:33, 36, 37, as quoted in AC 390).
     Being a fear of external things, this fear does nothing except change their external conduct. It does nothing to alter their interior loves (AE 1133:2; AC 3718). The reason this fear is so intense is that the love of self hates order and yet is obliged to obey the laws of order.

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This is illustrated on the plane of civil affairs. Civil law exists for everyone, and because of it many people feel safe and enjoy peace. Yet the same law inspires criminals with continual fear and unrest. If this be true of civil law which is not perfectly enforced, how much more so must it be true of the laws of order as they exist in the spiritual world!
     However, the body is lost at death. In the early states of the world of spirits all concern for reputation is taken away. This leaves the interior loves of the spirits as it were naked and unashamed; and they become like raging lions, freed from captivity. Spirits rush into their lusts like mad-men, for there seems to be nothing to stop them (AC 6914:4). They cast themselves into hell, both from their love of hell and from their hate and fear of all that is good (AC 7964). But there is one fear that follows them even into hell, and that is the fear of punishment. They suddenly realize that although they can act as they wish they are not permitted to give unbridled expression to their evils. This they first learn when they are punished; and eventually they come to dread the thought of punishment and fear to express themselves (AC 6655, 7788). This is what causes their frustration. Their real love must be restrained, for its expression brings punishment.
     This punishment comes from the order of the universe itself, and so it may be said that the Lord punishes them. The punishment comes from the Divine truth, which they cannot endure. Devils fear the truth, and they fear order (AE 696:23; SD 149, 764; AR 511; AC 7788). The very presence of truth causes them intense agony, and this because it directly opposes their interior loves (AC 4180: 2, 10,694, 2462). This truth reaches them by an external way; "and when this happens they are in fear, and from this in humiliation, for the presence of truth from the Divine strikes them with dismay, and inspires them with fear as of death" (AC 7463).
     But perhaps the greatest restraining influence in hell is the punishment inflicted by evil spirits on each other, under the law that evil has in itself the penalty of evil and they have in themselves the fear of the penalty (AC 391; cf. SD 4660,4756) This is thus described in work Heaven and Hell: "in general all in the bells are ruled by means of their fears. Some are ruled by fears implanted in the world and still inherent in them; but as these fears are not sufficient, and gradually subside, they are ruled by fears of punishments; and it is especially by these that they are deterred from doing evil. The punishments in hell are manifold, lighter or more severe in accordance with the evils. For the most part the more wicked, who excel in cunning and in artifices, and who are able to hold the rest in subjection and servitude by means of punishment and consequent terror, are set over them; but these governors dare not pass beyond the limits prescribed for them.

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It must be understood that the sole means of restraining the violence and fury of those who are in the hells is the fear of punishment. There is no other way" (no. 543; cf. no. 581).
     Eventually the devils learn to respect the laws of order, and so their punishment becomes less severe. This brings them into external order, and into a suggestion of the happiness of heaven (AC 6977). But this order is imposed on them, and it would soon be disregarded if the threat of punishment were not always there.

     ALL ARE BOUND BY FEAR

     It may seem unfair that the evil should be so bound by fear. And yet, in its most universal sense, fear can be attributed even to the Divine, though with Him it is love. This love binds Him, as it were, or determines the limits of His operations. The Lord does not act contrary to His own love. All created things must be bound by something. The universe is not a mere chaos, or a state of anarchy in which men may do as they like. There are laws in the universe and they must be obeyed; from love, from holy fear, or from the fear of punishment and pain. So it is that all created things are bound by fear. This fear differs according to the love that dominates the life. And so there is a difference between external and internal fear as great as that between hell and heaven. The nature of the fear explains both the torment and misery of those who are in hell and the happiness and peace of the angels (AC 7280).

     OUR ATTITUDE TO FEAR

     What, then, should be our attitude to fear? We cannot escape fear, and there is no one who is fearless; for wherever there is any love or life, there is fear. Our problem is not to escape or erase fear but to control it. We must select the fear that is to govern our life.
     First we subordinate our fear of bodily pain to our fear for reputation, and this can eventually be subdued by our fear for others. The hero is .not the man who has no fear of death, but who fears the loss of his reputation or his loved ones more than he fears his own death; and even the greatest of heroes would be a fool indeed if he did not protect his life if no other love were threatened (R. Psych. 244). A brave man may leap into a burning house to save a child; but if he were alone in his house he would not jump into his fire, because there would be no other fear so strong as to make him overcome the fear of pain.
     Eventually we must develop a fear of evil and falsity. This fear must become intense enough for us to work, learn, think, and apply ourselves to the task of regeneration. As we undertake to live according to conscience the fear of God becomes supreme in our mind, and the many children of fear, such as shyness, embarrassment, and worry, become subdued and almost non-existent.

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To a certain extent we can eliminate fear itself by curtailing the love of self and cultivating a real love to the Lord and a real trust in Him. A man who firmly believes in the Lord will not fear what man can do unto him (Psalm 46:4).
     A man may be measured by the things he fears for our fears betray our loves. A man who loves self is in continual fear, for self never seems to be satisfied. The man who fears the future, and worries senselessly about it, tacitly assumes either that he can change it or that the Lord has no interest in it. But the man who fears the Lord allies himself with the powerful order of the universe and need fear nothing; neither death, pain, failure, loss of friends, or even frustration.
     Our great task in life is to learn to fear the Lord. "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto Him, and were lightened; and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. O fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Come? ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Psalm
34:3-11).
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1954

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES              1954

     "The New Church requires an organization or organizations which are entirely its own for the promulgation of its Gospel. It needs printing and publishing organizations. It should have schools for both children and adults, for this Revelation needs to be taught by properly qualified instructors. Above all, it needs places of worship dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only God. True, the Church of Christ is not an ecclesiasticism; but most certainly the Church of Christ needs an ecclesiasticism to enable it to do its work. Tools are necessary; and although we love to point out that a good workman will produce even with poor tools better work than the poor workman with the best tools, yet that is no argument against the value of tools, and the best tools, too" (Rev. Richard H. Teed in THE NEW AGE).

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REPORT TO THE MEMBERS of THE CHICAGO DISTRICT FROM ITS EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE 1954

REPORT TO THE MEMBERS of THE CHICAGO DISTRICT FROM ITS EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE              1954

     In accepting the recommendation of its Educational Committee-"That an endowment fund be established for the development of New Church education in the District, looking specifically to the establishment of a District High School in Glenview"-and, further, in requesting the Bishop to appoint a committee to initiate the proposed use by publicizing it, soliciting funds, and administering them, the 1953 Chicago District Assembly took significant action of more than local importance.
     In pursuance of the resolution adopted, a committee has been appointed under the chairmanship of the Rev. Elmo C. Acton. It has organized the "Chicago District Foundation (for the support of New Church education)" with its membership as the board of directors, and has appointed Harvey J. Holmes as secretary, Alan B. Fuller as treasurer, and Sydney E. Lee as vice chairman, so that it may receive donations or legacies. Indeed it has received its first donation!
     The Foundation seeks as its first objective an endowment of $50,000.00, the income from which will make possible the first step toward establishing the future high school-the establishing of the freshman and sophomore years. The freshman or ninth grade is already functioning as part of the Immanuel Church School and might be incorporated in the new high school. Statistics show that within a short time there will be ample students in the Chicago District, so that tuition fees plus endowment income will support this first and important step toward secondary education outside of Bryn Athyn.
     $50,000.00 seems a lot of money! But if we can get the fund started between us, it will grow from its dividends while we continue to work toward our goal. For it may be said without exaggeration that a wonderful adventure in New Church education awaits us. Bishop Benade's vision of "a university, with secondary schools and junior colleges throughout the world," will be one step nearer.
     That the members and friends of the Chicago District can have a part in a use so important, so far reaching, and of such service to the Church, is a matter for congratulation.

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That in these days of astronomical figures an important use can be initiated without gigantic sums being involved is gratifying. For it means that with some help from larger donors, the smaller contributors can swing the proposition. It's our job! And just as soon as we can attain our goal, two grades of the first General Church District High School can be in operation. Look at the statistics below.
     It should be clearly understood that this endowment fund is set up in such a way that all donations are subject to income tax deductions. Uncle Sam may be our largest donor. Your checks should be made out to: The Chicago District Foundation, Alan B. Fuller, Treasurer, 2356 Dewes Street, Glenview, Illinois.*
     * This report appears here for the information of our readers as to the initial steps taken in this matter. Its publication should not be regarded as an appeal for funds from outside the Chicago District. Editor.
          Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Chicago District Foundation.
          SYDNEY E. LEE,
               Vice Chairman.

Year           Freshman      Sophomore      Junior     Senior      Total
1960           13           6           9           10           38
          6
1961           9           13           6           9           37
               6           6
1962           13           9           13          6
               6           6           6                     47
1963           17           13           9           13
               3           5           6           6           64
1964           15           17           13           9
               3           5           5           6           65
1965           21           15           17           13
               3           5           3                         74
1966                ???          21           15           17
          ?          3           5           3           ??

     NOTE: The figures in the lower lines represent students outside the immediate Chicago area. Those in boldface type are possible but not probable; the others are considered probable and are included in the totals.
CHURCH SPECIFIC 1954

CHURCH SPECIFIC              1954

     "It is called the church where the Lord is acknowledged and where the Word is. For the essentials of the church are love and faith in the Lord from the Lord; and the Word teaches how a man must live in order that he may receive love and faith from the Lord" (HD 242).

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SEPARATISM AND DISTINCTIVENESS 1954

SEPARATISM AND DISTINCTIVENESS       Rev. MORLEY D. RICH       1954

     (Continued from the January issue, pp. 18-25.)

     We have now treated of the first proposition relative to our thesis, namely: The Divine love is in the constant effort to conjoin the human race to itself, and thereby to unite men with each other; therefore human efforts toward, and practice of the principle of, unification are symbolic of the Divine love, either rightly or pervertedly. Let us, then, proceed to a briefer treatment of our second proposition.

     2. That the Divine wisdom is the infinite understanding through which the Divine love creates the distinct varieties of finite things. Distinctions in creation, therefore, are attained by the Divine love through the Divine wisdom. From this it may be said that whatever preserves the things of the universe as distinct entities, separate from each other and from their Creator, is symbolic of the Divine wisdom. Such things are the as-of-self faculty in man, the instinct for self-preservation, and the deep-seated urge toward the preservation of identity-forces and influences which, in man, are received and acted from either rightly or pervertedly.
     Here we enter into the fields of variety and distinction. True unity, indeed, presupposes and involves variety and distinctions. Thus the human form is an integrated unit, but it is such an integrated and effective unit only because of the varieties of function which its various and distinct parts perform to each other. Perfection arises, indeed, only out of the most variegated unity, as in the Gorand Man of heaven. And this involves distinctions. Thus all in heaven are one as to their love to the Lord and toward each other, but they are not an amorphous mass of identical parts. For the goods which flow from those mutual loves are distinctly varied with each angel, each variety contributing to the quality of the common good. Mutual loves hold them in unity: the goods and truths therefrom differ with each one, and distinguish but do not divide them (AC 4837:3).
     So, likewise, in the first Ancient Church, although "the whole earth was of one lip," that is, although the same general doctrine prevailed with all men, nevertheless the types of internal and external worship which prevailed among them differed greatly according to the number of the nations, of the families in each nation, and of individual men (AC 1285:3).

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It is indicated also in this passage that there were, and may be, varieties as well as to doctrinals, but not divergences or opposites in doctrine. For, it continues, "the doctrine is one when all are in mutual love and charity. Mutual love and charity make them to be as one, although with varieties, for out of the varieties it makes unity; for let numbers be multiplied ever so much, if they are all in charity or mutual love they all have one end, namely, the common good, the kingdom of the Lord, and the Lord Himself. In this case the varieties of doctrinals and worship are like the varieties of the senses and viscera in man, which contribute to the perfection of the whole."
     Here likewise we are shown the cohesive power of love, which unites varieties without destroying their separate identities as to worship, doctrinals, government, function, or culture. Opposites, however, can never be united; though we may reflect that there are no true opposites except good and evil, and truth and falsity.
     The operation of the Divine wisdom to create, establish, and preserve distinct entities and varieties may be seen reflected in many things in the universe and of human life. It may be seen in the effort of herb and animal to propagate, each after its own kind, and in the groping efforts of the child toward establishing himself as an individual in his own right apart from his parents. It is reflected in the efforts of family units to establish and preserve their own particular ideas and customs; and it is manifested on a large scale in the fear of smaller national units lest they be swallowed up, and their culture submerged, by the larger units of society.
     We may see, however, that there is basic wisdom in the effort to preserve identity, for unless a thing or a unit of society can preserve itself and its own use or function it cannot grow in strength and continue to contribute its distinct quality to the greater unit which is the human race as a whole-to the common good. On the other hand, if men do not look outward to the common good, but only inward to their own good or to that of their own unit of society, then their culture, government, and doctrine can operate only to destroy and divide the common good. Such a culture, government, and doctrine are, indeed, self-destructive; and in the Divine Providence they perish from the earth. This leads us naturally to our third proposition.

     3. The loves of self and the world are the tools by which the hells operate to separate and destroy men, using the satanic principle: "Divide and rule." Therefore all efforts to separate and divide men one against the other are symbolic of the hells and are a plane for their operation.

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Such divisions or separations, therefore, can never be viewed as anything but evil; though they may be permitted when, because of the state of the human race, there is no other way by which Providence may preserve a useful unit of society, and thus continue its work toward its final end of good-an end which can never be attained except in certain conditions.
     We must here distinguish between the evil of separatism and the good of legitimate separation and distinction. It is obvious, for example, that each new religious dispensation has brought a new church into the world, and therefore a separation from the old church; and that this was the case with the early Christians, who separated from their Jewish Church, and more recently with the separation of the members of the New Church from the former Christian Church. These were the result of judgments in which the good and the evil were separated in the spiritual world, and truth and falsity were separated in both worlds. And we cannot say that they are of evil because they were brought about by the unified Divine Human of the Lord.
     There is need for caution also in judging of those separations which have occurred between nations and external organizations of the church. For many of these were due, at least partly, to the need to preserve the identity and freedom, and hence the usefulness, of one or more of the parties concerned. We cannot say of the one party, therefore, that it endeavored to maintain unity only because it wished to dominate and to govern from self-love; or of the separatists that they made a division only to rule and have dominion over their own party or their own geographical or political unit.
     That such separations have nearly always been accompanied by physical or intellectual violence and evils either moral or external, or both, does not prove that they themselves were essentially evil. It only indicates that the hells use all separations as means of dividing and ruling men, and of arousing the ever-present proprial characteristics to be found even in men who are interiorly good and who may, in general, be in the ruling loves of heaven.
     Let us express it in this way. That spirit is of good which separates and distinguishes for the sake of preserving identity and variety, and thereby for that of the common good. Its external characteristic will be that it will emphasize the varieties of good existing among men which do not conflict or interfere with each other. And its eventual result will be a true and permanent union of such goods.
     By contrast, that spirit is of evil which separates and divides only for the sake of its own preservation and power, and with no end of the common good. Its infernal origin will be manifest in its fostering of divisive hatreds, prejudices, ignorance, and strife among men, by which it endeavors to preserve itself and eventually to rule all others.

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Its final result, if permitted by Providence, would be total separation and anarchy and the complete destruction of the human race. This is graphically stated in the Writings as follows: "It is indeed possible that the human race on one earth may perish, which comes to pass when they separate themselves entirely from the Divine, for then man no longer has any spiritual life, but only natural, like that of beasts; and when man is such no society can be formed and held bound by laws, since without the influence of heaven, and thus without the Divine government, men would become insane and rush unchecked into every wickedness, one against another it was said to me from heaven that the human race on this earth would have perished, so that not one man would have existed on it at this day, if the Lord had not come into the world and on this earth assumed the Human and made it Divine; and, also, unless the Lord had given here such a Word as might serve for a basis to the angelic heaven, and for its conjunction" (LJ 10).
     Again we read: "Evil is of self-love and the love of the world. The evil of self-love disjoins one not only from the Lord but also from heaven; for he loves no one but himself and others only as far as he regards them in himself, or as far as they make one with himself. Hence he attracts the regard of all to himself and altogether averts them from others, most especially from the Lord. And when several do this in one society it follows that they are all disjoined, and each looks at another from the interior as an enemy, and if anyone does anything against him, he bears hatred toward him and takes delight in his ruin. The case is the same with the evil of the love of the world, for this evil covets the wealth and goods of others and desires to possess them all; hence arise enmities and hatreds, but in a lesser degree" (AC 4997:2).
     Certain reflections inevitably arise in our minds about any avowedly atheistic grouping of society which seeks to divide class against class, and nation against nation, while at the same time seeking to bring all under its dominion. The combination of atheism, that is, of avowed departure and aversion from the Lord, and the practice of ruling by dividing among the originators and leaders of any such society at least suggests the possibility of evil, if not its actual presence.
     We may here leave our third proposition with the summary statement that the spirit of separation, as we have defined it, is from hell and leads to evils of every kind; yet that separations themselves are not necessarily evil, but may be for the sake of distinction, freedom, and use; even though it must be recognized that the effecting of such separations is accompanied by influences from the hells in their efforts not only to separate but also to divide by hatred, anger, suspicion, and ignorance, and thereby to rule the people involved.

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     Finally, having dealt with these propositions, we should restate our original thesis in order that we may see whether it has been substantiated: As human beings come into a measure of love to the Lord and toward the human race, and as they see and stand firmly upon the universal truths of the Word, differences among them as to externals will not divide but distinguish. There will be immense variety, but no conflict of opposites. There will be unity, but no tyrannous uniformity. There will be distinctions, even organic distinctions, between individuals and between the various civil, political, social, national, and religious groups, but no proprial and divisive separatism. Mankind will never, in other words, become an amorphous mass of identical molecules; but it could most certainly progress to a more presentable human form than it has now-to a form in which the distinctly differentiated parts would contribute their necessary functions to the whole man in an harmonious order reflecting God's kingdom.
     We have made frequent reference here to political fields, not, however with the purpose of concentrating attention on them as things in themselves, but rather as illustrations of our train of thought. Also, we have been dealing with great masses of things without being too specific. But the Writings themselves continually direct our attention to universal affairs; and the Lord's intention in this undoubtedly is that man's thought may be lifted above the earth and trained, by the extension of his horizon, to a point at which he can begin to think beyond time and space to eternal truths and goods. So it is that the New Church man comes back, again and again, to these universal subjects; though there are times when we feel too insignificant in the face of massive concepts of Divine Providence and humanity, too helpless to change anything, too concerned without relief with our own affairs to cooperate with others.

     On this account we would conclude our formal presentation of this subject, first with a few specific questions which may stir reflection and discussion, and then with some summary ideas concerning the connection of our theme and propositions with the New Church in particular. Our questions are, in the light of what has so far been brought forward:

     1. Are amicable separations of external organizations possible?
     2. If so, will such amicable separations afterwards lead to essential unity of spirit while preserving distinctions as to bodies?
     3. In other words, though no person could favor a disagreeable agreement, is it possible to have agreeable disagreements

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     4. Can there be active cooperation as to external functions between organizations which vary as to doctrine but do not conflict as opposites, as in the Atlantic Community?
     5. Is such cooperation possible where doctrine actually conflicts and opposes from differences in the life, as in the United Nations!

     Finally, there can be no doubt as to the essential unity of the New Church on earth. For there is one Lord in whom the Divine and the Human are united. There is one Word Divinely revealed. There is one kingdom of the Lord. And there is one specific church of the Lord on earth. This church is constituted of all those who in heart and life receive the Lord in His second coming, and who are therefore in the goods and truths of the New Heaven. And these receivers are, as to internals, at one with each other, though this will not appear manifestly until they enter the New Heaven.
     We cannot deny that this spirit of the New Church may assume various and different forms and bodies for the sake of specific uses and external functions. These forms and functions will continue to live and exist, however, only as far as the true spirit of the New Church is within them, and only as far as they are of spiritual use and influence from that spirit. For that which is not truly useful eventually perishes. That form which does not produce for the common good dies. As it is written: "In the New Church there will be no externals without internals." The measure in which any external body truly reflects and is harmonious with the internal New Church is exactly the measure of its members' individual allegiance to, and reception of, the Lord in His second coming, His Word, His kingdom, and His new heaven.
SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES 1954

SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES              1954

     GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS. Graded lessons and other material from pre-Kindergarten through Grade 11. Address inquiries to: Pastor-in-Charge, Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE. Tape-recordings of services, sermons, doctrinal classes, children's services, etc. Address: General Church Sound Recording Committee, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH VISUAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Biblical and other slides. Address: Mr. William R. Cooper, Director, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     NEW CHURCH EDUCATION. Published by Religion Lessons Committee, monthly, September to June, inclusive. Subscription, $1.50. Editor: Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal.

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     Jewish tradition divides the Psalter into five books, answering to the five books of Moses. The portion to be read this month (Psalms 75-103) consists of parts of the third and fourth of these books, and we are reminded by it that the Psalter is not the production of one particular period of history or of one inspired writer. Of these twenty-nine psalms only three are ascribed to the poet-king; nine are said to be by Asaph, one of David's chief musicians; four are attributed to the sons of Korah; one is entitled a prayer of Moses; Ethan and Heman, the sages, are each credited with the authorship of one; and ten, untitled, are of the class known to the Jews as "orphan psalms." Only eight have musical directions, and in this instance the Davidic psalms are not associated with recognizable events in the life of that king.
     Psalms 72 and 97 are recognized by all Christians as Messianic, and Psalm 78 is an inspired review of Israel's history and record of stubborn apostasy. Several of the psalms in this group are songs of thanksgiving and exultant declarations of the Lord's Divine majesty, and the internal sense centers in the idea of the Lord as the Word and the former of the church. Among the spiritual subjects we find the Lord's own prayer and perception that a new church would be established, the decline and fall of the Jewish Church, supplication that the Lord restore the church, the promise that He would do so, and praise of Him for His fulfillment of the promise given. And the unifying idea is that the Lord, as its former by means of the Word, is the God of the church, and He alone is to be worshiped.

     In the Arcana readings (nos. 9313-9391) the exposition of Exodus 23 is concluded; there are doctrinal inserts on why the Lord willed to be born on our earth and on persuasive faith; and the internal sense of Exodus 24 is expounded down to the end of verse five. Of particular interest in the first expository section are the explanations of why Israel could be permitted to destroy the nations of Canaan (no. 9320:2) and why evils can be removed from man only by degrees (nos. 9333-9338); and the division of the laws, judgments, and statutes given to Israel into three categories: 1) those which are to be altogether observed and done; 2) those which may serve a use if one so pleases; and 3) those which have been abrogated in respect to present use where the church is (no. 9349:4).

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This is a key number for those who are interested in the bearing of the Mosaic code upon modern jurisprudence. It is emphasized, however, that all are equally holy and equally the Divine Word.
     The doctrinal inserts also are of particular interest, and in connection with the second it should be borne in mind that all the aberrations of faith which arose in former churches can appear in the organized bodies of the New Church, sometimes in a more subtle form. Exodus 24 deals, in the internal sense, with the Word as the medium of conjunction of the Lord and man. Attention is drawn to the comparison of the letter and the internal sense made in the Lord's words concerning John the Baptist (no. 9372): a comparison similar to that which is found in the Old Testament between Elijah and Elisha.
BRITISH ACADEMY of THE GENERAL CHURCH 1954

BRITISH ACADEMY of THE GENERAL CHURCH              1954

     The first meeting of the British Academy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem was held in Swedenborg House, London, on Saturday, November 28, 1953, at 2:40 p.m. Nineteen charter members were present, with Mr. Leonard Lewin, by invitation, as legal adviser.
     Opening worship was conducted by the Rev. Morley D. Rich, who then took the chair, pro tent. The subject of the principles which should govern the acts of the British Academy was discussed at length, and an attempt was made to formulate a general statement of purpose. The meeting considered that the Charter of the Academy satisfactorily covers the general purpose of the British Academy.
     The following officers were elected to serve until incorporation: Rev. Morley D. Rich, chairman; Mr. A. Stanley Wainscot, secretary; and Mr. Alan N. Waters, treasurer. Messrs. John F. Cooper, Percy Dawson, Harold Jones, and Keith Morley were elected to constitute with the three officers a sub-committee to consider the Articles of Incorporation in consultation with Mr. L. Lewin, and to conduct all business for the time being. This committee takes the place for the present of the Board of Governors, and it is understood that before incorporation it can act only on its own responsibility.
     It was resolved that the general body, now consisting of 22 charter members, should be increased to 30. A complete list of charter members will be published in NEW CHURCH LIFE, as soon as it is available.

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CHARITY 1954

CHARITY       Rev. BJORN A. H. BOYESEN       1954

     There is, perhaps, no subject more important for a New Church man to reflect upon often than that of charity. For it is a clear teaching of the Writings that without charity there is no salvation. And yet it is one of the foremost aims of the Divine Providence that men shall be saved. It is written that "the Lord's Divine Providence has as its end a heaven from the human race" (DP 27); and we are likewise taught that the inmost of the Lord's providence in this respect is that men shall be free. In other words, it may well be said that the whole aim of the Lord's Divine Providence is that men shall receive, and establish with themselves in freedom, a genuine spirit of charity; for in this spirit the heavens consist.
     However, what do the Writings really mean by such a spirit of charity? Unfortunately the very word itself has been narrowed down today in the world around us to a far more limited meaning than is contained in the teaching of the Writings. To most men today it means no more than is implied in such expressions as "to give to charity" and "to live on charity." It implies the willingness to give whatever one can afford to such as are less fortunate than one's self, and sometimes even to such as do not deserve to receive such gifts.
     It means to give to the poor and needy, to charitable institutions, and often to the idle and slothful; and, on the other hand, it means the willingness of these to live at the expense of others. Hence, in this sense, the word has often taken on an unpleasant connotation in the minds of New Church men. Sometimes it may even have been identified in their minds with what the Writings call indiscriminate charity, which may only contribute to idleness and sloth. And even though they know that the Writings say that some such charity is allowable, and even desirable on the part of children and the simple, because by this means they may learn of genuine charity, they yet know also that this is certainly not the same as that genuine charity itself which the Writings speak of as necessary for salvation. It is only one single facet of charity, and an external and even corporeal and sensual facet at that, which ought indeed to be done. But genuine charity itself is an internal thing which regards the very spiritual welfare of others, and this internal thing must not be left undone.
     Thus the New Church is indeed blessed with a far more spiritual teaching concerning charity, and a far higher concept of it, than have ever been openly revealed anywhere else.

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We read in the Writings that "charity is the complex of all things pertaining to good that a man does to his neighbor" (TCR 392). And these goods are both internal and external. They are both of the mind and of the body. They are both spiritual and natural. But of these things the internal spiritual things of the mind are most important.
     Again it is written that "charity, viewed in itself, is the love of uses" (TCR 394); and we might well emphasize that it is not merely external functions that are here meant by uses, but the internal good done to the human mind. It is, as is said, a love of uses that is here meant by charity. It is an affection that springs from mutual love between neighbors. And it is this, too, that is said to be far more important than, and above, faith. For it is only when a man's faith is motivated by, and serves, such spiritual charity that it, too, is acceptable. But faith alone, or faith which is not willing to be inspired by and to serve charity, we are told, kills it; and if it is not protected, it inevitably goes on to its own death. It is even as when the Lord is reported to have spoken to Cain concerning Abel, and to have said: "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door; and to thee is his desire, and thou shalt rule over him" (Genesis 4:7). For charity and faith are brothers, and in such cases, it is implied, there can be no conjunction. Charity should rule. And therefore when faith rules it is only a spurious and perverted faith, which simply masquerades as truth but is in reality no faith at all. In its essence it is contempt and hatred, which cannot but tear down, destroy, or kill. It is the murderer of its very own brother, and the voice of its brother's blood crieth unto it from the ground.
     It is exactly at this point that it becomes necessary even for a New Church man, who knows very well the doctrine concerning the true relation between charity and faith, to reflect sincerely and carefully. For let us realize that we know all these things at first in no other way than as matters of doctrine, or, what is the same thing, as faith. Or at least we profess, or should profess, that it is our faith. Thus, for example, we know that the first of charity is to look to the Lord and shun evils as sins; but does this knowledge give us any true charity if we do not at the same time actually look to the Lord and shun evils as sins? The fact is that if we only know it, it is a matter of faith alone. We know that the second of charity is to do uses to the neighbor; but if we do not actually do such uses, and at the same time shun evils, we have nothing but faith alone.
     Similarly, although we may know that charity in its essence is an affection of love to the neighbor, it does not do us any lasting good to know this unless we also feel that affection.

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If we do not feel it, we are in faith alone. We may be quite aware of the fact, too, that charity does not so much lie in the work we do as in the sincerity, justice, and faithfulness with which we do the work of our employment; but, again, this knowledge is of no spiritual use unless we feel and care for those feelings of sincerity, justice, and faithfulness. We may know that the neighbor means more than our immediate family or friends; that it means also every man, woman, and child according to their needs, as also a society small or large, our country, the church, and the Lord's kingdom. But unless we also do good to these according to our best judgment, and do it from the affection of love, we are in faith alone. Yea, even if we only fail to love our enemies, that is, fail to forgive them and to work for their good, we are as yet, in some measure at least, in faith alone. For it is only this faith that can ask seriously, as did Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?" and imply that the answer is in the negative. The faith that comes from charity does not even have to put this question, for it knows the true answer even without doctrine or the teachings of faith. It feels the answer from simple perception or conscience, which know no man so mean, and no human being so debased, that they do not need, or cannot benefit from, the affection and activity of love.
     Thus the all-inclusive truth about charity is that it is not a matter of faith but of feeling. It is not a matter of the intellect, but of the heart and will. Nor is it even a matter of belief. It may indeed be guided by such things, and should be so guided; but it does not arise from them. The simple truth is that if we are without such feelings as stir our hearts and inspire our loves, if we do not feel the emotions of mercy and compassion, and the desire to serve for the good of others, we may be ever so efficient and useful but we still have nothing more than faith alone.
     Nor is that all. Whether we realize it or not, the faith that we have is then also a false faith. It may pride itself on its discrimination, and till the ground in the sweat of its brow; it may cultivate its own intellect, and turn up the most plausible arguments in favor of letting the neighbor alone; it may plow every possible field of doctrine; it may find every ground for the common notion of live and let live in the name of freedom; it may be shrewd and calculating, and seemingly most praiseworthy in its industry and labor: and yet, if it is not animated by a genuine spirit of love for the neighbor and of working for his sake, there is no genuine charity present in all its work. In it is nothing but self-discrimination and self-justification. It may lead to all sorts of self-aggrandizement and self-righteousness, but it is all corporeal and sensual. It will return to the dust whence it was taken, for it is spiritually barren and fruitless work.
     It is, indeed, a travesty of faith; and that is true of it which the Lord said unto Cain: "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground . . . when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength . . . a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth."

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Never shall it know the truth. The question is: "Where is Abel thy brother?" And the answer shall always be: "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?"
     So does confirmed faith alone misinterpret and misunderstand every doctrine of faith. It can even twist and turn every teaching of the Writings until it violates every aspect of the doctrine of charity and the new revelation can no longer yield unto it its strength. How important it is, then, that we let the Lord put the mark of self-examination upon us, lest our first faltering faith in the Writings lead to spiritual fratricide! How important it is that we should learn to go to the Writings, and also to the other portions of the Lord's Word, without preconceived notions and in all humility; without rancor, without pride, without presumption, but with a prayer that we may learn to love rightly in our hearts. For only so can our first faltering faith be turned into the genuine faith which leads to charity and finally serves it.
     And this faith knows that it is its brother's keeper. It is the keeper of his faith, of his good name, and of his use and love and freedom, as much as of its own. Yet it knows, too, that to be in this way one's brother's keeper need not imply any degree of presumption. For such faith as comes from charity is far too much aware of its own weaknesses either to censure others or to be proud of itself. It feels that neither such faith nor such charity can come from self, but are gifts from the Lord alone. It can only pray to receive these gifts; and it asks no more than to serve its brother with them, or to be its brother's keeper.
URIM AND THUMMIM 1954

URIM AND THUMMIM              1954

     "The breastplate of Aaron, which was called the Urim and Thummim, was composed of twelve precious stones, on which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes, or of the twelve sons of Israel (Exodus 28:15-30, 39:8-29). It is well known that responses from heaven were given by this, but from what origin has not as yet been revealed. It shall therefore now be told. All light in the angelic heaven proceeds from the Lord as a sun; that light therefore in its essence is Divine truth, from which comes all the intelligence and wisdom of the angels, and also of men in spiritual things. This light in heaven is modified into various colors according to the truths from good which are received . . . and by this means the responses were given through a resplendency from the colors of the stones which were in the Urim and Thummim, and then at the same time by a living voice or by a tacit perception" (AE 431:3).

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REVIEWS 1954

REVIEWS              1954

THE WORD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT (Matthew 1-7, Mark 1-7), A New Version. The General Conference of the New Church, London, England, 1953.

     In August, 1944, the Translation of the Word Committee (New Testament) appointed by The General Conference of the New Church decided upon a fresh translation into modern English of the New Testament Word. The first seven chapters of Matthew and of Mark, "subject to changes that are sure to be found necessary in a final revision," are here made public with the permission of the Committee. The Preface states in part: "This is the first appearance in print of a translation of any part of the New Testament prepared by a committee who, besides using available modern resources, enjoy the added advantage of a firm belief in, and a sound acquaintance with, the internal sense of the Word of the Lord." Various notes, it is added, will appear in the margin when the translation is finally published.
     The first public appearance of a part of this version is an event of importance and interest to the entire Church. It is scarcely fair, perhaps, to criticize work that is still subject to revision, and without the apparatus that will be found in the final form; but with the diffidence proper to this situation it must be confessed that the total impression made upon this reviewer was not highly favorable. On the score of accuracy few questions can be raised; but we felt a general failure to render the original into strong, rhythmic language, which is not inconsistent with modern English, and to express it with that nobility of diction which the King James Version has led us to associate with the Word. We appreciate correctness of translation, but we would have preferred greater felicity in phrasing.
     There are some instances in which it seems to us that little if anything has been gained in accuracy or appeal to the modern reader, but something has been lost in strength or beauty. Thus, in Matthew, it is said that Joseph "did as the angel of the Lord had instructed him," which lacks the force of the more usual "had bidden him" (1:24). It is doubtful if it is more correct to make the wise men say that they have come "to pay Him homage" rather than "to worship Him" (2:2). "And when you have found out" does not express quite the same idea as "when you have found" (2:8).

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"In those days John the Baptist made his appearance" lacks the strength of the more dramatic "In those days came John the Baptist" (3:1); and we would have preferred the simpler "suitable" or "fit" as substitute for "meet" rather than "fruit appropriate to repentance" (3:8). "Tell these stones to become bread" seems much weaker than "command that these stones be made bread" (4:3). And "the crowds were greatly struck with His teaching" conveys far less than "the people were astonished at His doctrine" (7:28). We can be greatly struck with something that still does not move us to astonishment. Again, we doubt whether anything is gained by substituting "the sabbath came into existence for man" for "the sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:28).
     These are, perhaps, simply matters of taste, but in a few instances we do question the accuracy of the changes made. We read, for example: "Then Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to disgrace her, was inclined to put her away secretly" (Matthew 1:19). If Joseph's suspicions had been well founded his betrothed would already have brought disgrace upon herself. What he could do, and was inclined to do, was, as the Authorized Version has it, "make her a public example; "So, too, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in the heavens" (Matthew 5:16), expresses a different idea from "let your light so shine before men"; for we can let our light so shine before men that they will glorify us rather than the Father in the heavens. "Become well disposed towards your opponent quickly, until you are with him in the way" (Ibid. 5:25) scarcely makes sense. But "agree with thine adversary quickly whiles thou art in the way with him" does. The Revised Standard Version here expresses the idea by a paraphrase: "Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court." "If your right eye ensnares-you, cut it off" (Ibid. 5:29) should evidently read "cut it out." "You will recognize them by their fruits" (Ibid. 7:16) seems an unnecessary change from "Ye shall know them by their fruits," and one that conveys less; for we recognize people whom we do not know.
     At one place where a change might have been made the opportunity has not been taken. Matthew 5:32 still reads, puzzlingly: "Everyone who puts away his wife except for the cause of fornication, causes her to become an adulteress," as in the King James Version. The primary meaning of the Greek word is "fornication," but here it specifically means "adultery." The older versions use the former term loosely for all premarital and extra-conjugal relations; but modern English makes a distinction and, by definition, a married person may commit adultery but cannot be guilty of fornication. Even the Revised Standard Version does better here with "except on the ground of unchastity."

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     We could not fail to observe that in a number of places the archaic forms of the personal pronouns are used, sometimes in the same sentence as the modern forms; but this is a minor error that will no doubt be corrected in the final revision. Similarly, "a leathern girdle about his loins"
(Matthew 3:4) is scarcely a modern usage although it is quite understandable. "A leather girdle around his waist" would be more in accord with modern usage.
     If we appear to be unduly critical it is for this reason. In the preface to the King James Version, Dr. Miles Smith wrote as follows: "We never thought from the beginning that we should neede to make a new Translation nor yet to make of a bad one a good one . . . but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones one principall good one. That hath bene our indeavour, that our marke . . . so if we, building upon their foundation that went before us, and being holpen by their labours, doe endeavour to make that better which they left so good, no man, we are sure, hath cause to mislike us, and they, we perswade ourselves, if they were alive, would thanke us." Although it is very unsatisfactory in places, the New Church in the English-speaking world has no cause, on the whole, to mislike the King James Version or those who made it. Inaccuracies should be corrected; and where words have become so archaic that they can no longer be understood even in context, or their meaning has been so changed that confusion results, new renderings are indicated. But with these exceptions we feel that there should be reserve in departing from the language and style of the King James Version; and that when this must be done, modern English is still capable of supplying the vigor, pithiness, and rhythmic quality characteristic of the older English of the Bible which we miss in the preliminary form of this new version.



     RECEIVED FOR REVIEW

ARCANA COELESTIA. By Emanuel Swedenborg. Third Latin Edition, Volume III (nos. 2760-4055). Edited by Philip H. Johnson, B.A., B.Sc. The Swedenborg Society, Incorporated, London, 1943. Cloth, pp. 844.
TWO DISTINCT WORLDS 1954

TWO DISTINCT WORLDS              1954

     "There are two worlds, the spiritual and the natural; and the spiritual world derives nothing from the natural world, nor the natural world from the spiritual world. They are altogether distinct, and communicate only by correspondences" (DLW 83).

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THESE BE THY GODS! 1954

THESE BE THY GODS!       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary               Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.
     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     Among the arcana now revealed is that with the angels the other senses are not so exquisite as those of sight and hearing, for if they were the delights of wisdom would be taken away, and those pleasures of the body introduced which weaken the understanding as they excel. There is no lack of evidence that we face a serious danger in this regard. Our western civilization is attaching more and more importance to the possession and enjoyment of those things which indulge the other senses, or is being induced to do so by powerful pressures; and when those senses predominate, sight and hearing are frequently used pervertedly to gratify them vicariously.
     There is no virtue in asceticism or plain discomfort. Hard living does not necessarily produce high thinking. It is of the nature of material progress that the luxuries of one generation become the necessities of the next; and that is neither good nor bad, for good or evil is in the setting of the heart. The accompaniments of gracious living are not to be despised; and we may welcome the fact that as new techniques are discovered they will increase, to make life much more comfortable and take drudgery out of the daily task. Yet history shows that a horn of plenty may become a cup of death in the hands of a people who prize it as their most valuable possession. And if we were ever to reach a point in our thinking at which the amenities of life became essentials, so as to feel that life and the performance of use would be impossible without them, we would be bowing the knee with those wilderness idolaters who responded to the cry: "These be thy gods, O Israel!"

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CASTING BURDENS ON THE LORD 1954

CASTING BURDENS ON THE LORD       Editor       1954

     "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee" is the invitation and assurance given through the Psalmist. It may scarcely seem necessary to point out that what the Lord here promises is to support man, not to take up his burden for him; except in the sense that man can endure the spiritual burdens of life only as of himself from the Lord. Yet while some Christians have perceived this and have acted accordingly, others seem to feel that when they have laid a burden at the Lord's feet they are free from all responsibility for it. Henceforward it is His concern, and the responsibility for decision and action is entirely His.
     It is true that the Lord bears our spiritual burdens in that it is the Lord alone who fights for man against the hells. Yet He does not so carry them as to lift them entirely from our shoulders, but upholds by giving us the wisdom and the strength to endure. The Divine Providence never operates in such a way as to absolve men from the responsibility of exercising those faculties of rationality and liberty in which the human truly consists. Neither by immediate revelation nor by manifest indications of His providence will the Lord tell or show us what to do so directly and unmistakably that there is no need for thought, reflection, and decision on our part. Nor will He so dispose events that all our problems will be solved without vigorous and decisive action on our part.
     The Lord sustains us, not by lifting our burdens, but by bearing us up as we shoulder them as if of ourselves but in His strength. The influx of His sustaining power is into our efforts to learn, understand, and do the spiritual truth of His Word. That was what He meant when He said: "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." When the burden thus becomes the Lord's it is easy to be home. But there is still a yoke, and still a burden.
NEITHER BY HEAVEN 1954

NEITHER BY HEAVEN       Editor       1954

     Because they are laws for angels and men the Ten Commandments reach from the highest heaven to the ultimates of life on earth. Thus the precept, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," does forbid profanity, swearing in general, and all use of obscene language. And there is, perhaps, no other ultimate prohibition in the Decalogue that is so generally disregarded. From fo'c'sle to fraternity house, from factory to farmyard, the Lord's sacred names are taken in vain daily; and men who would not know how to utter them in worship use them freely to scoff and jeer, and to vent their impatience and angry passions.
     Swearing is an insidious habit which, the Writings tell us, may have an embarrassing carry-over into the spiritual world after death.

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Young people seem to acquire the habit imitatively, from a mistaken notion that it is a sign of full-blooded masculinity. Actually it is a sign of intellectual and emotional immaturity; and foul language, regrettable in the mouth of a man, is lamentable on the lips of a woman. In cold fact, if such feelings must be expressed, swearing does nothing for a man that a good vocabulary effectively used would not do better. At best it is a crutch for the inarticulate. Frequently it is nothing more than a sulphurous smoke-screen behind which to retreat in disorder when worsted in rational argument.
     But the habit becomes especially serious when it involves misuse of the Lord's Divine names. Daily we pray: "Hallowed be Thy name." Yet the fact remains that, as far as we are concerned, the Lord's name will be hallowed only as we keep it holy. Ignorance may be an extenuation in some instances, but it cannot excuse us; and while we are free to swear if we wish, we can do so only with our eyes open to our inconsistency. For the fact is that we cannot love the Lord and at the same time use His sacred names to express anger, irritation, incredulity, or contempt. We cannot love the neighbor and at the same time consign him to the infernal regions, or ask God to condemn him, the moment he crosses us. We can plead, of course, that it is just a habit, that we do not really mean what we are saying. But it may then be asked whether it is the mark of a rational man to say habitually what he does not mean. The proprium ever rebels against the restraints religion would have it accept. But religion and practice cannot be kept in separate and unrelated compartments; and there is safety only in a practical hallowing of the Lord's name, bearing in mind that it includes all that is from Him.
NOW WE BELIEVE 1954

NOW WE BELIEVE       Editor       1954

     It is generally agreed among us that the development of doctrine is a priestly function. A church which looks to the studies of the laity for the production of new concepts is in a state of disorder. Yet the lay men and women of the church have a definite function and responsibility in and for the reading and study of the Writings that cannot be evaded in the light of certain clear teachings.
     "The doctrinal things of the church are first to be learned," we are instructed, "and then examination is to be made from the Word as to whether they are true; for they are not true because the leading men of the church have said so, and because their followers confirm it" (AC 6047:2). This indicates, as another passage states, that there are two ways of acquiring the things of faith-through doctrine and through the Word.

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And we are taught that everyone in the church first acquires truths from doctrinal things, and should do so because as yet he has not the judgment to see them for himself in the Word. But it is pointed out that if he does not go to the Word for himself when he has judgment, the things he has acquired remain mere scientifics-mere facts of doctrine. His faith is not in the Word but in those who have drawn doctrine from it. He believes from the faith of others, and confirms certain things because it has been said by others that they are true (AC 5402:2).
     In childhood and youth we accept many things as truths on the authority of parents, teachers, and ministers, and that we should do so is inevitable. For a certain period also adults who are coming into the church accept much on the authority of others in whom they have confidence. Such historical faith is accepted by the Lord in the beginning because no other kind of belief is then possible. But it should not become permanent. It is not a doctrine of the New Church that the laity has faith in the faith of the priesthood: the men and women of the New Church should go to the Writings for themselves as they are able to do so, and see whether the doctrinals they have learned are true.
     What this means must, however, be rightly understood. We may rightly admire and have confidence in the leaders of the church; but if we are warned by these teachings against quoting men as our final authorities, it is surely evident that every priestly utterance is not to be taken under advisement as a possible falsity until its accuracy can be checked! The teaching simply means that if the men and women of the church will go to the Writings from the affection and end of knowing truth, the Lord Himself will teach them there. He will give them to see truth, and if there should be any discrepancy between that truth and what they have been taught they will see it. And, what is equally important, they will receive faith from the Divine because they see truth from the Divine. With the men of Samaria they can say in spirit: "Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world" (John 4:42).
     The capacity to read and understand the Writings will vary with each individual. But there is no one called to the New Church who lacks that capacity, and to doubt that the Writings can be understood is to doubt that they are Divine revelation-revelation accommodated by the Lord out of infinite wisdom to every state of reception. A church cannot be carried for long entirely in the sphere of the enlightenment of the priesthood, nor can an enlightened priesthood be drawn for long from such a body. The inner strength of the church depends upon the regular reading and study of the Writings by its membership from an earnest desire to be taught by the Lord.

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The amount of reading done, and whether it is actually done daily, is not the primary consideration. What is of first importance is that such reading shall be a regular part of our program, and that in it we seek the Lord's instruction for the sake of life.
DEGREES IN THE OPENING OF THE SENSES 1954

DEGREES IN THE OPENING OF THE SENSES       W. R. HORNER       1954

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
      It is evident when reading the Gospels that the scenes presented vary from those which take place in this world to those which seem outside the sphere of this world. It is customary to think and say that these latter take place in the spiritual world, but a careful examination seems to show that there are various manifestations of these events. Of some it may be sufficient to say that the spiritual senses of those involved were opened, where no part of the vision seems to touch earthly objects. Of these may be mentioned the appearances of Gabriel to Zacharias and Mary, the wise men and the star, and the angels and the shepherds. But there are many incidents in revelation which it does not seem satisfactory to account for in this simple and comprehensive manner.
     When the dove alighted on the Lord's head at His baptism, and the words "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" were spoken, the vision apparently partook of this world as well as the spiritual world. It is not stated that anyone beheld the dove except the Lord, but it is implied that some heard the words. Again, in answer to the Lord's words: "Father, glorify Thy name:" there came a voice from heaven saying, "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." And then it is written: "The people therefore that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered."
     When the angel descended and rolled away the stone from the sepulcher there was an earthquake; "and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead." This apparent mixing together of spiritual and material events arouses many questions. It is not sufficient to regard these things, as presumably is done in the Christian churches, as just miraculous occurrences. The New Church man must ask: Was there a material earthquake? Were the keepers aware of it? Was the material stone of the sepulcher rolled away? Did the keepers see it moved! The disciples certainly had inner senses opened, for they saw and heard the angels in the tomb, and this event may he thought of as taking place in the spiritual world. But it is not stated that the keepers saw the angel, but only that they feared him. We know that all spiritual and inner openings of the senses differ in degree according to the individual involved. All we are told of the keepers is the effect upon them, and how they "showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done." What sort of story did they tell the priests?

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They related, we infer, that in some kind of tumult they were aware of some power that rolled away the stone, and that the tomb was empty.
     Before mentioning other post-resurrection incidents it is well to pause and ask ourselves whether the Lord's appearances after the resurrection took place simply in the spiritual world. From the Writings we know that the Lord shows Himself in the next world in two ways only-by the infilling of Himself into the personality of an angel, and by a presentation of Himself in the midst of the spiritual sun. In neither of these ways did the disciples see the Lord in His appearances to them.
     We are on holy ground when we investigate and try to understand these things. We know that the angels learn more continually to eternity about the interior understanding of the glorification of the Lord's Human, and of the Lord's coming both in person and in illumination. We may, then, endeavor humbly and reverently to enter with understanding into the mysteries of faith.
     That there are degrees of the opening of the senses is evident from the story in Luke of the walk to Emmaus, for there two states of opening are described. In the first place, we are told that "Jesus Himself drew near and went with them." They did not know Him, but the mere fact that they saw and conversed with Him shows that they were not in their ordinary physical senses, for the Lord had now no material body but a Divine substantial body. This would appear differently to different persons according to the degree in which their senses were opened. At the end of the journey, which necessarily expresses an advancement of state, "their eyes were opened, and they knew Him." Without entering into the reason why they knew Him, it is evident that their senses underwent a further opening from that in which they were during the journey. During the whole of this episode they were apparently not in the same state as men after death, with all the spiritual senses opened and without conditionment by the material senses. Had they been, they could have seen the Lord only in either of the two ways in which He shows Himself to angels and spirits that have been mentioned above. This incident may be taken as typical of all the Lord's post-resurrection appearances. The reason it is chosen here is that it shows an example of more than one degree of the opening of the senses. All were special appearances to individuals. No inhabitants of the spiritual world appear to have been present. It seems as if the states induced on those who saw the Lord after the resurrection were quite different from the state of a spirit after death.
     In every case there was an appearance that was familiar to those concerned. There were the tomb in the garden, the road to Emmaus, the room in Jerusalem, the mountain in Bethany, and the shore of the Sea of Tiberias.

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One New Church commentator suggests that the disciples might have enjoyed a double vision on these occasions and have seen at once the objects of the spiritual and the natural worlds. This, I think, we may rule out, as we are taught that such a condition was the unique experience of the Revelator of the Second Advent.
     It seems, then, that we are brought into the higher degrees of the natural world, the sights and sounds of which are beyond the reach of the usual capacity of the human bodily senses. We know that animals, which are in the fulness of their minds from birth, thus differing from men, are sensitive to scents and sounds, and possibly sights, which are beyond man's experience. It is thought that the mate of the female bird who sings to her hears notes and melodies which are beyond man's capacity, a gamut which is more extensive than that which is known to man.
     When man leaves this world and becomes a conscious inhabitant of the spiritual world he does not completely leave the realm of nature. He retains a certain surrounding border from the purest things of nature, which forms a nexus between the spiritual and the natural world. From this he derives a permanent existence in ultimates. By general consent the Latin word for border, limbus, is used by students of the Writings as being more expressive than its nearest English equivalent. May it not be in the regions of the limbus that the disciples saw the Lord after the resurrection?
     This would explain the appearance to the disciples of natural scenes, food, etc., and the presentation of the Lord in His third degree of the ultimated Human assumed by means of the Incarnation. It might also form some basis for the claims of many Christians in the past that they had visions of the Lord partaking of the nature Longfellow described in his beautiful poem, The Golden Legend. Within this realm we might also enucleate the innumerable supernatural tales, or so-called ghost stories, of the Christian era. And might we not by a natural supposition conclude that such openings of the highest parts of the natural senses came to an end with the Second Advent, when the mysteries of faith were allowed to be viewed intellectually? No mysterious visions are now needed. We may see the Lord supremely in the internal truths of His Divine Human as revealed in the Writings which constitute His Second Advent.
     W. R. HORNER
Lancefield, Victoria, Australia
Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     NORTH OHIO CIRCLE

     The North Ohio Circle was recognized as such before the close of 1952. Although we are not many in number-about 38 or 40 adults and children-we are an active General Church Circle; and it made us feel good to receive congratulations from far-away California and neighboring Michigan, from Arizona, and from Illinois. Also before the close of that year we had a visit from the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, who gave a Christmas class and conducted our Christmas service.
     Members of this circle must be travelers for the area it covers takes in 40 miles along the southern shore of Lake Erie, extends 78 miles southeast from Cleveland to Youngstown and 40 miles south to Barberton, and takes in such places as Willoughby and Euclid. Our activities from January to November, 1953, were as follows. Our Visiting Pastor, the Rev. Norbert H. Rogers, spends one weekend in every month with us and from January through April his visit was the occasion of a fine supper and class on Saturday evening, these meetings being held in the homes of members, and a Sunday morning service at the Tudor Arms Hotel in Cleveland. During his visit in March a meeting was held at Painesville of the committee appointed by Bishop De Charms to arrange for the District Assembly in September. A Sons meeting was held in April, and in May there was a joint meeting of the Women's Guild and the Sons.
     On April 26th we had a tape-recorded service at the Tudor Arms. The class and service in May were held at the home of Mrs. McElroy in Youngstown, and on the 24th of that month there was another tape-recorded service in Cleveland. These services are conducted by Mr. Oliver Powell in a manner that is much appreciated.
     During the three summer months suppers followed by doctrinal classes were held monthly at the homes of members, and there were the usual Sunday services with Mr. Rogers. The District Assembly in September was quite successful and will probably afford pleasant memories for some years to come for all who attended. The official report has been published [NEW CHURCH LIFE, November, 1953, pp. 490-493], but admiration should be expressed for the admirable way in which the details were handled by Mr. Fred Merrill and his able assistants.
We are fortunate to have the Fred Merrills as members. It was through them that we were able to hold the Assembly on the beautiful campus of Lake Erie College. To them, to the Frank Normans, the Walkers, the Leo Bradins, the Oliver Powells, and others who helped to make the meetings a grand success-many, many thanks!
     In October we returned to our usual program, but the occasion was made a special one by the fact that the class was held at the Frank Normans new home, and that Mr. Rogers officiated at the dedication of the repository. Twenty-two persons attended the service at the Tudor Arms next morning. Classes were held in Cleveland and Youngstown in November, and again there was a service in Youngstown. Our semi-annual meeting was held on Saturday, December 5, at the Oliver Powell home, a supper preceding the meeting.
     BEN FULLER

     DETROIT, MICHIGAN

     After eleven years at the Ferndale Community Center, the Detroit Circle decided unanimously last September to change its place of worship. Our new location, the Oakridge Women's Club, has so far been very suitable for our services and also for suppers and many other activities.
     During the fall we had a monthly supper followed by a class-a new policy for this group. The combination of supper and class was something to which we had all looked forward for a long time, and we hope it will not be too long before we can have it more often.
     A great many Detroiters journeyed to Bryn Athyn for Charter Day. Those of us who remained in our fair city had occasion to visit Windsor, Ontario, on the Saturday evening of that weekend for the marriage of Miss Petty Phipps and Mr. Philip Bellinger.

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There were visitors also from Bryn Athyn, and from Philip's home town, Toronto. After a trip lasting twp weeks, Philip and Betty set up housekeeping near Windsor, and they are very faithful members of the Detroit Circle.
     Our first social event in the fall was a costume party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lorenz Soneson. Everyone came well decked out, and after an evening of crazy games and good fun wonderful refreshments were served to complete the evening.
     On Sunday, November 22, the Rev. Norbert H. Rogers conducted a beautiful Thanksgiving service. The children, each with an offering of fruit, followed Mr. Rogers down the center aisle to the front, and then took special places in the front rows. The sermon entitled "O! Give Thanks Unto the Lord gave us all a great deal to remember at that season and all through the year.
     After the morning service on the last Sunday in November, everyone joined, as is our custom, in the Fair held to help increase our building fund. The Women's Guild takes charge of the children's tables, aprons, knitting, etc., and the Sons do a fine job of serving lunch for all. We cannot say who works the hardest, but it all adds up to a fine boost for the building fund and everyone enjoys taking part.
     Our Christmas program began on December 19th with the tableaux. They consisted of five scenes, two before and three after the birth of the Lord. Comments by Mr. Rogers before each scene, and quotations from the Word, explained the meaning to the children. Thanks and appreciation go to Mr. Gordon Smith and all his assistants who worked so hard to make the tableaux possible. The Christmas service for the children was held the following morning. Before the service, Miss Hildegarde Odhner led a small choral group in two Christmas songs. The children then marched in with their offerings and were all seated together. A very good dinner was served by the Women's Guild after the service, and in the afternoon every child of school age participated in a program. Singing, dancing, the piano and other instruments, plus Miss Myrna Howard as M.C., all added up to a very entertaining afternoon. Mr. Rogers was Santa Claus helper and delivered a little gift to each child. All of us then finished the program with the singing of many Christmas hymns The group singing was resumed two days later, for the social committee put on Christmas sing at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sanfrid Odhner the following Tuesday evening. The next two services were for adults only: the first being on Christmas morning, and the second, the following Sunday, a very beautiful Holy Supper service.
     1954 hit Detroit with a fine New Year's party put on by the social committee. New Year's Eve started with a social at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Willard McCardell. We then moved on to the Oakridge Women's Club, where we had dancing, games of all sorts, and loads of fun, all led by Mr. Soneson and with prizes for the winners. After the ringing in of the New Year refreshments were served by Mr. and Mrs. Leo Bradin and their committee. We hope our social committees are here to stay, for after only one full year of operation they have never failed to provide a fine time for the group.
     At this time of writing we are happy to report two new members, Miss Hildegarde Odhner and Miss Marge Howard, both from Bryn Athyn. We are sad to report also our first loss, Al and Delores Schoenberger and their four children. Pittsburgh is the lucky society to welcome them. Two of our servicemen, Bruce Elder and Tom Steen, spent their holidays in Japan helping Uncle Sam. The rest of them are all fairly near home. Pete Synnestvedt, who is stationed at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, has been home quite often, and we were all happy to see him home for the holiday week.
     FRANCES SMITH

     BALTIMORE, MD.

     The In feminine fashion. Adele Nelson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Nelson, arrived just too late to be mentioned in our last report. However. her birth receives first place now. Her baptism, on October 11th, was one of five at which the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton officiated in our chapel last fall. On October 4th, Jency Ellen Cole, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Cole, was received into the New Church both in heaven and on earth; and on December 13th a very impressive addition to our regular service was the baptism of Linda Lee and Ellen Mae Foster and their mother, now Mrs. John Needer, and the confirmation of Mrs. Eugene Galusha.

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These special services, at once so solemn and so joyful, give an ever new and growing conception of the privileges and responsibilities of New Church membership to the spectators as well as to those connected with them.          
     Mr. Pendleton commenced our doctrinal instruction last fall with a series a of classes on conjugial love which were basic, forceful, and particularly graphic in dealing with the spiritual responsibilities of husbands and wives to each other. This series lasted until the end of the year, with a break of one month during which our minister visited the Southeastern States.     
     During Mr. Pendleton's absence, the Rev. Karl R. Alden administered the Holy Supper on November 8th. His sermon depicted the correspondence of the story in the Word with man's preparation to receive the communion. The evening before we had been given a delightful talk by Mrs. Alden, who brought out the feminine point of view on the trip she and her husband had made to the Canadian Northwest last summer. The talk was followed by slides illustrating the trip. The evening provided a very tangible feeling of relationship with our fellow New Church men and women in that area, and gave us a deep respect for those who are grounding their children in the Heavenly Doctrine despite their isolation. We are happy that many of them are now receiving more regular ministrations from the Rev. Roy Franson, though we are sure they will miss the "fiddler" pastor!
     On November 21st and 22nd we were visited by the Rev. Frederick E. Gyllenhaal, whose class showed how the whole of the Word corresponded to the incarnation and glorification of the Lord and has a parallel in man's spiritual life, from the first implantation of celestial remains to the final state of regeneration, in which those deepest remains are drawn forth. His sermon dealt with the true thanksgiving which consists in the sacrifices of a repentant heart offered when it is recognized that all evil is from self and all good from the Lord.
     In the middle of September Jack Lindsay ended his brief stay in Baltimore to take up a position as branch manager in the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Division in Akron, Ohio. We miss him, but we would not hold a good man down. Just before Christmas Mr. Alfred Arrington, who generally spends a part of each year with the Trimbles, left to spend some time with his son-in-law, Mr. Charles Umberger, in Mica, Florida. Mr. Arrington's cheerful and active life, in spite of his blindness, is a source of encouragement to all who know him.
     Our annual picnic outing at the Karl Knapp farm, on October 11th, was up to its usual standard. There were good food and good fun for all.
     Mr. Pendleton conducts four classes a week here for different groups of children. The serious side was lightened for them by a Christmas party given at Dr. Coffin's home on December 20th. Here they were presented by the Circle with books of a religious nature, and were given candy canes with toys tied to them, and ice cream and cookies. Carols were sung most of the afternoon; the highlight being the song "O, Tell Me, Gentle Shepherd," in which our minister sang the part of the shepherd. Twenty-one New Church youngsters, and as many adults, were present. A most inspiring service of worship in the chapel on Christmas morning-the first, we believe, to be held there on that date for over twenty years-was the climax of our services for 1953.
     Though a little breathless from our greatly increased activities, we are happy to be experiencing in reality the vision long presented by our former pastor, the Rev. Morley D. Rich, who for many years shared his time among Philadelphia, New York, North Jersey, Baltimore, and Richmond. From the beginning of his ministry we were encouraged to look forward to the time when we could have a minister jointly with Washington. Now we are realizing many of the benefits of such an arrangement, and with the new year comes pleasant anticipation of still better things to come.
     JANET H. DOERING

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     Great Britain.-THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD reports a well attended meeting at Swedenborg Hall organized by the Provincial Council. Addresses were given by the President and the Secretary of Conference, the Rev. H. B. Newall and the Rev. C. H. Presland, and by the Rev. Dennis Duckworth. In the absence of the Rev. G. T. Hill, his account of a recent tour in continental Europe was read by Mr. L. H. Pulsford. Sir Thomas Chadwick spoke on finances, and the concluding address was by the Rev. A. Clapham.

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     The Rev. Rupert Stanley has terminated his ministry in Scotland and has been inducted into the pastorate of the Kensington Society in London.
     Czechoslovakia.-A recent letter mentions that by a state decree issued in 1952, all religious organizations having less than 1500 members had to become attached to a much larger religious organization approved by the state if they wished to remain in existence. Under this decree the New Church became attached to the Unitarian Church, which guaranteed it development freely according to New Church doctrine; and it is reported that there has been complete freedom to arrange religious meetings, which are held every second Wednesday evening. One member of the group attempts to spread a knowledge of the doctrines by means of tracts in Esperanto, and mentions inquiries from more than 500 Esperantists in various parts of the world.

     Switzerland.-The Rev. Alfred Regamey has organized a weekly Bible course by mail as part of his work for French-speaking Swiss New Church people.

     Australia.-THE NEW ACE publishes the text of an address, "The Day of the Second Advent," broadcast over station 3KZ by the Rev. C. Douglas Brock, pastor of the Adelaide Society.

     Burma.-It is reported in THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD that Mr. Po Toke has assumed the work of the Mission following the death of Mr. Boo. He preaches on alternate Sundays at Moulmein and in Thayagone, his home. The country is still in an unsettled state, and even the bus trip between these two places involves the risk of being kidnapped and held for ransom, but conditions do not seem to deter the small group at work.

     India.-A New Church Medical and Surgical Clinic has been opened at Kandivalee, a suburb of Bombay, under the direction of Dr. Thee David.

     Japan.-Missionary Yonezo Doi reports that three recent converts plan to start a New Church movement in Sendai City and vicinity. They intend to secure a large house for use as a place of worship and as a school.

     Mauritius.-The Rev. C. V. A. Hasler reports regular services at Port Louis and Curepipe, "Sunday" schools which meet at Port Louis on Tuesday and at Curepipe on Wednesday, and a young people's league which meets monthly at his home.

     ASSEMBLY MUSIC

     The following selections will be used in the Divine Worship, held during the General Assembly:
     Offices 2 and 4
Hymns nos. 24, 52, 53, 55
Antiphon X-2-316
Anthems 5, 11, 13
Psalms 33, 48 ANNOUNCING THE DIVINE ALLEGORY 1954

ANNOUNCING THE DIVINE ALLEGORY              1954

The Story of the Peoples and Lands of Scripture and Their Spiritual Significance as Revealed in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg By Hugo Ljungberg Odhner Swedenborg Foundation, Inc.          February, 1954

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ONE PHASE OF EXPERIENCE 1954

ONE PHASE OF EXPERIENCE              1954




     Announcements.





     "Some one had left the garden gate open, and the Gray Goose, seeing this, went and looked in on the forbidden ground, and, seeing no danger, pushed on and fell to regaling himself with forbidden dainties. A woman armed with a broom soon appeared, and he was precipitously and ignominiously driven back into the farmyard with many a vigorous rap. When he had recovered his breath he said to the Horse, who had placidly watched his hurried exit from the garden, 'We learn by experience, and are made better through suffering.'
     "'You knew as well as anyone before you entered the garden that you were going against the law, and were liable to be batted out: what further did you learn?'
     "The Gray Goose hesitated before he replied: 'Since you put it that way, I cannot say that I learned anything new from my late sufferings.'
     "'In what say are you a better goose? you said the suffering had made you better.
     "'I shall not violate that law again-or if I do, I'll stay near the gate and keep my eyes open'" (Anshutz, Fables).
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1954

GENERAL ASSEMBLY       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954

     THE TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, from Wednesday, June 16th, to Sunday, June 20th, 1954, inclusive.
     The program and other information will be given in later issues of NEW CHURCH LIFE.
          GEORGE DE CHARMS,
               Bishop.

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DIVINE JUDGMENT 1954

DIVINE JUDGMENT        GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV          MARCH, 1954           No. 3
     "One of the company said unto Him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. But He said unto him, Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you" (Luke 12:13, 14)

     Divine judgment ever has regard to what is eternal. It weighs in the balance those things that concern man's spiritual welfare. It searches the inmost thoughts, the secret intentions, the deepest motives of the heart. These can be known only to the Lord; wherefore He alone is our Judge, and our Lawgiver.
     The judgments of the Lord are merciful and just. As they are revealed in the Word they apply to every man, and to every human situation; yet they give no categorical answer to the problems that beset us. When we ask for help in times of trouble, perplexity, and distress of mind, the Lord never tells us what to do. All men long for some direct instruction that would settle their difficulties. In all ages many have supposed that this was the purpose for which Divine revelation was given. The Jews believed that if they meticulously observed all the commandments, the judgments and the statutes of the Mosaic code, as these were interpreted by the Rabbis, they were obeying the will of God. Christians have believed that if they faithfully performed all the works of the law as prescribed by the church, and kept the commandments of the Decalogue in outward form, they would be saved from their sins and receive everlasting life. Other Christians have believed that if they obeyed the one injunction of the New Testament to have faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, they would have fulfilled the whole duty of man. Others have held that it was sufficient to obey the voice of conscience, and thus to do whatever seemed to them morally right and honorable. But men may do all these things and still lack the "one thing needful" to salvation.

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This, because man's character is determined, not by what he does, but by the love that prompts the doing. And because love cannot be coerced by any external pressure whatsoever, whether it be that of public opinion, of ecclesiastical pronouncement, or even of Divine command, therefore the Lord Himself never tells man what to do.
     On one occasion, while the Lord was teaching the multitudes, "one of the company said unto Him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me." But the Lord refused to give any decision in the matter, saying: "Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you?"
     And then, turning to the multitude He added: "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." The appearance was that He evaded the issue; yet in fact, His reply pierced to the very heart of the question and offered the only mode whereby it could be rightly resolved. Divine judgment could do nothing less.
     The question was as to how an inheritance should be divided between two brothers. The matter could easily have been settled by a judge, in accord with the law of Moses. The parties to the dispute might have reached an agreement on the basis of some pronouncement by the Lord as one having authority; but no external Pressure could remove the real inner cause of dissension. That which stood in the way of a solution was the spirit of covetousness. As long as this remained, any outward appearance of harmony would still leave either one or both of the brothers with a deep sense of injustice, and a secret feeling of resentment. Only if they themselves approached the problem impersonally with mutual charity, and from a love of justice, thinking of the use to be performed, could a real solution he found. In this case they would need no one to tell them what to do, for then the seemingly insurmountable difficulties would quickly disappear, and the question would be settled by a friendly agreement which would also leave their minds and their hearts at peace.
     Divine instruction is given, not to compel obedience, but to inspire love. It is given to warn man against the delights of evil that hold his mind in bondage and blind him to what is right and just. It is given to reveal what is truly good, that man may become aware of the delights of heaven, and be moved to think and act from those delights. It is given to bring these two opposite delights into sharp contrast, that man may freely choose between them. The provision for this freedom, and its perpetual protection, are the supreme ends of the Divine Providence. It is of the unalterable Divine order that this free choice shall never be coerced, be; cause without it no one can come into heaven. Even the omnipotent power of God cannot save a man against his will. For the will is the man himself, and to destroy the will is inmostly to destroy the man.

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Wherefore we are taught that "it is not of the Divine omnipotence to save those who are not willing to be led" according to the laws of order, which are the precepts of doctrine and life from the Word. But it is of the Divine omnipotence "to lead a man who is willing to be led according to these every moment, and continually to eternity" (AE 689:2).
     This Divine leading is deeply hidden. It is marvelously gentle, yet infinitely powerful. It exerts no external force, yet tenderly lifts man's will, and thence his thought, above himself and the things of earth into the realm of what is heavenly and eternal, where the Lord's love reigns, that he may feel that love as his own, and may freely think from it and act from it in every situation that confronts him.
     This kind of leading is possible only to the Lord who is infinitely wise; and it can be effected only by a perpetual Divine judgment so perfect as to transcend all human imagination When, therefore, the Lord said to His questioner: "Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you," He by no means implied that He is not the supreme Judge of all mankind. He merely repudiated that external and ineffective human judgment which was asked of Him. The same was meant when He said on another occasion: "If any man hear My words and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me and receiveth not My words hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day" (John 12:47, 48). The Lord condemns no one. It is the man who wilfully refuses to be led by the truth of the Word who condemns himself. His refusal is an act of free decision for which he alone is responsible. No external force can compel it, and no external force can prevent it. The Lord is love itself, and mercy itself. He not only wills but provides eternal happiness for every one who is willing to accept it. He judges every one to heaven, and leads every one into heaven who can be led without taking away his freedom, which would be to destroy his very life.
     This is the reason why the Lord in His Word does not give us obvious answers to our anxious questioning. To do so would be to control our speech and action without changing our inner loves. Therefore, in regard to all things that concern man's spirit, the Lord's leading must be, not by command, but by a gentle influx that moves the will so secretly as not to infringe upon man's free choice. Such is the wonderful operation of the Divine Providence as it silently watches over every man, and leads every man, moment by moment, throughout his entire life on earth, and afterward to eternity.
     Human nature being what it is, men shrink from assuming spiritual responsibility. They want the Lord, through His Word, or through the church, to tell them what to do.

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They demand practical teaching that cuts a plain path through the tangled growth of problems and difficulties that obstructs their progress. They seek a solution that will satisfy every requirement, and yet will not interfere with the deep-seated loves that appear to be their very life. The one thing that the proprium resists, above all else, is the demand that they willingly lay down this inner life that they may receive new life from the Lord. The love of self delights to rule over others, to compel obedience, to assert one's superiority by force of will. This is the delight of the hells. Indeed we are told that "the evil spirits who are with man . . . regard him no otherwise than as a vile slave; for they infuse into him their lusts and their persuasions, and thus lead him whithersoever they will" (AC 2890). But love to the Lord and charity inspire patience, gentleness, forbearance, out of regard for the freedom of others, and through fear lest our insistence run counter to the infinitely wise leading of the Divine Providence. The reason is that love to the Lord and charity are the Lord's own love received and felt as if it were ours. In this love there is the delight of heaven. The angels, we are taught, have no desire to rule, but only to serve. They exercise great power, but they do so gently, with sympathy, compassion, and patient understanding. They regard man "as a brother, and insinuate into him the affections of good and truth; and thus lead him by freedom, not whither they will, but whither it pleases the Lord" (ibid).
     Such, therefore, should be the spirit of the church and of all who aspire to a genuine life of religion. It is the spirit of true charity which seeks to lead men, not by external compulsion of any kind, nor by persuasion of any kind, but by teaching the truth of the Word, and inspiring a love for that truth. The desire should be that the truth itself may lead, and thus that the Lord may lead; and that each one should follow this leading freely, willingly, and by his own choice. In this there is an ideal easily recognized in theory, but difficult, indeed, of attainment. With reference to external affairs, in regard to matters civil and moral, the force of law and the pressure of public opinion are necessary as long as evil exists. Civil and moral order are essential as the foundation and basis of all human freedom. In childhood and youth, before the rational mind is opened, individual judgment is not possible; and there must be government from without, by direct command, for the very protection of the freedom that is later to be born. Even in regard to the forms of religion, the external rites, ceremonies, and customs of the church, external pressures and restraints are necessary and unavoidable. But the difficulty lies in recognizing the real use and place of these things, and at the same time acknowledging their limitations. We are ever prone to mistake them for religion itself, being satisfied with outward conformity, and violently condemning as a sin every infraction of established law and custom.

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External order must be preserved, but only in such a way as to protect spiritual freedom, and ever to provide for it.
     Religion is not of the body; it is of the heart, the spirit, and the love. "God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). We cannot reach this love from without. We cannot command it in others. No power of tradition, of law, of custom, or of education can produce it. The church cannot produce it by setting up rules of conduct, and telling people what to do. No one but the Lord Himself, by the truth of His Word, can inspire that love, that men may feel its delight and freely choose it, and make it their own. The function of the church is not to command, but to teach the truth, and thus to lead men to the Lord, that He Himself may guide their steps, with infinite wisdom and unfailing power, along the one and only path that leads to heaven. Amen.

     LESSONS: Isaiah 33:13-22. Luke 12:1-3, 13-21. AE 687:3; AC 6472.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 459, 482, 583. Psalmody, page 39.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 6, 118.
BODILY OBSESSIONS: THE DEMONIACS 1954

BODILY OBSESSIONS: THE DEMONIACS       Rev. ORMOND ODHNER       1954

     Among the states of spiritual disorder that the Lord cured by miracles when on earth were the bodily obsessions of men by spirits-evil spirits, unclean spirits, and devils. These are referred to also as demoniac possession-the seizure of a man's whole being by some evil spirit or spirits entirely apart from the man's free will, and so complete that he no longer had any control of his own thoughts or acts, but served as an automaton the devil who possessed him.
     Because this phenomenon is utterly unknown today, many who study the Word from its letter have concluded that it was really nothing but ordinary insanity. The Scriptures themselves, moreover, give some justification for that conclusion; but more frequently they testify against it. And the Writings, the revelation for our church, teach clearly that it was not insanity but, just as it is described, bodily obsession by evil spirits.
     The first specific mention of such obsession is in the New Testament, in the fourth chapter of Matthew; for although the Old Testament prophets were obsessed by spirits, even as to their bodies, they were not obsessed by evil spirits.

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And again, although the Old Testament does speak of men being possessed by evil spirits, or of evil spirits coming upon them, it simply describes in such places what can happen even today, as when we fly into a rage and permit evil spirits to inspire us to outrageous acts. Thus Saul, under such inspiration, threw a javelin at David.
     In the passage in Matthew just referred to, we are told concerning the Lord, as He began His miraculous healings, that "they brought unto Him all sick people . . . those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic . . . and He healed them" (4:24). Note the differentiation here between the lunatic, or insane, and those possessed with devils.
     The most famous case of demoniac possession cured by the Lord was that of a Gentile possessed by so many devils that they said their name was Legion. Three separate Gospel accounts tell us of this man roaming naked through the mountains and tombs of the vicinity, crying out night and day, and cutting himself with stones. None could bind him with fetters or chains; for he plucked asunder the chains and broke the fetters in pieces. The devils possessing him, commanded by the Lord to leave, requested and received permission to enter into a nearby herd of about two thousand swine, and caused the swine to rush down the mountainside into the sea and drown themselves.
     Other accounts tell of a man blind and dumb because possessed who, when the Lord commanded the devil to come out of him, was able both to see and to speak. Again, a devil caused the man he possessed to throw himself down in the midst of synagogue wherein Jesus had commanded him to leave the man. And there are three other memorable cases. A woman's Young daughter was cured at some distance when the Lord told her that her daughter had been made whole. A man brought to the Lord his young son (a child, it is said in one account), whom he described as lunatic and sore vexed with the devil; saying that the child continually cried out, foamed at the mouth, bruised himself, and often fell into the fire or the water: and Jesus rebuked the devil, and the child was cured. And, lastly, there is Mary Magdalene, one of the most faithful of the Lord's disciples-she to whom He first appeared after His resurrection. Out of her He had cast "seven devils."
     In all these obsessions the relationship to ordinary insanity should be noted, and also the fact that they occurred regardless of man's free will. The father of the demoniac boy did describe his son as a lunatic; but usually the demoniacs were carefully differentiated from the insane, and the specific obsession by devils is always mentioned.

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The Writings clearly imply a difference between the two things. As much, then, as we may be tempted to conclude that they were nothing but instances of insanity we may not do so. It is true that they sound like cases of insanity. It is also true that no such thing is permitted today. But the fact that a thing is not permitted today does not mean that it has always been impossible.

     Concerning these obsessions and free will, note that a young girl, and a boy so young as to be called a child, were their victims. Mary Magdalene must have been a good woman even before her seizure; for such miracles as the Lord wrought upon her effect no lasting reformation, yet her faith in Him wavered less than that of any man or other woman among His followers.
     One other thing of interest concerning the demoniacs we would merely mention, the fact, namely, that frequently the devils caused the man possessed to cry out an acknowledgment of the Lord's Divinity. Indeed they were among the first on earth to do so. Thus Legion said: "What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God?" And the devil in the synagogue cried out: "Let us alone; what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee, who Thou art, the Holy One of God."
     Concerning these obsessions the Writings teach as follows. "There are spirits called natural and corporeal. When these come to a man they do not conjoin themselves with his thought, like other spirits, but enter into his body and occupy all his senses, speak through his mouth, and act through his members, believing at the same time that all things of the man are theirs. These are the spirits that obsess man. But such spirits have been cast into hell by the Lord, and thus wholly taken away; and in consequence such obsessions are not possible at the present time" (HH 257). Again: "When a man is thus obsessed he cannot speak and act otherwise than according to the state and direction of the spirit who obsesses" (SD 1177).
     Apparently the thing that eventually resulted in bodily obsessions by evil spirits was a provision by the Lord to establish a representative church among the Jews; for with them it was common, especially with the prophets, for spirits to seize complete control of a man's body; though these, however, were good spirits. The first record of this is from the days of Moses at the time of the giving of the quail, around B.C. 1500 (Numbers 11). Moses had gathered seventy of the elders, and the spirit came upon them and "they prophesied, and did not cease." Biblical students have demonstrated that this "prophesying" was mostly an incoherent babbling in an unknown tongue-a phenomenon that lasted into the first years of the Christian era.

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Some then received from the Holy Spirit the "Rift of tongues," others the "gift of interpretation"-interpreting intelligibly the babbling of the prophets. Saul, seized by a spirit, not only lay naked upon the ground for a day and a night, but also "prophesied before Samuel." This was around 1000 B.C. Still later, in the days of Elijah, the Israelites had come to take it for granted that their prophets might at any time be seized by the spirit and be carried away throughout the land, in spite of their own solemn promises to remain where they were (I Kings 18:7-16).
     Some detailed descriptions of these bodily obsessions are given, from which we quote as follows. "It is known that there was an influx from the world of spirits and from heaven into the prophets, partly by dreams, partly by visions, and partly by speech; and also with some into the very speech . . . and gestures, thus into the things that belong to the body; and that at the same time they did not speak from themselves, or act from themselves, but from the spirits who mere then in possession. At such times some of them behaved like insane persons . . . wounded themselves . . . put horns on themselves. In what manner these men were actuated by spirits I was shown by a living experience. I was for a whole night possessed by spirits who so took possession of my bodily things that I had only a very obscure sensation that it was my own body . . . from this I was instructed how the prophets through whom spirits spoke and acted were possessed, namely, that the spirits had possession of their bodies, insomuch that scarcely anything was left except that they knew that they existed . . .the spirits who possessed my body, as formerly the bodies of the prophets . . . said that at the time they knew no otherwise than that they had life as when in the body" (AC 6212).
     In a parallel passage we are told that the prophets "were wholly obsessed by spirits who occupied their body, and all the sense and functions of the body, so that they thought they were wholly their bodies . . . when spirits occupied them . . . there was, as it were, nothing of the man left" (SD 2272-2273). Those possessed, it is said here, were entirely ignorant of who they were at the time, and for all intents and purposes were unconscious of what they did. Of this last Swedenborg was permitted to have some experience for the purpose of being shown how, at certain times, revelation was given in this way. Spirits actually directed the hands of the prophets-"the finger was led to the writing by a superior force" (WE 7006)-the prophet himself being unconscious of what he had written until afterwards. Once or twice this happened to Swedenborg, but he carefully notes that all that was thus written by him was destroyed, this not being in accord with a rational revelation.     
     In bodily obsessions, then, spirits seized complete control of a man's body, and all its words, acts, and functions.

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Today this is not permitted. In its good aspects, those necessary in the representative Jewish Church, it is no longer of any use; in its evil aspects, those evil spirits who possessed men's bodies were confined by the Last Judgment in hells far removed from men.
     That He might establish a representative of a church among the Jews it was necessary for the Lord to make provision for bodily obsessions. In freedom the Jews would not have done all that was required of them. In order that they might write down in their Word only those particular things in their history which represented man's regeneration and foreshadowed the Lord's glorification, and in order that they might do certain particular things at certain particular times for the sake of their representation or spiritual significance, it was necessary that they be temporarily possessed by spirits who would direct their acts and writing.
     At such times, however, the obsessing spirits were not evil. "There were certain spirits appointed to this use," we read, "who did not desire to obsess man, but merely to enter into the man's bodily affections; and when they entered into these, they entered into all things of the body" (AC 6212). They were of lowly disposition but good, and therefore submissive to the Lord's will, directing the men they possessed as He commanded. Thus it is said: "The Lord directed that they might not bring mischief on anyone" (SD 2272-2213).
     This, then, made bodily obsession possible. But following the institution of the Jewish Church, the spiritual state of men, and the state of the spiritual world also, grew progressively worse, until the hells actually took control of the world of spirits and infested the heavens themselves. Is it any wonder, then, that the path to bodily obsession, having been opened, was now seized by evil spirits. That this is exactly what happened we conclude from the passage just quoted, which teaches that the possessing spirits could not harm the prophets. For it continues: "They who were obsessed in the time of the Lord by devils were not differently circumstanced, [but] these [spirits then] could bring harm upon man."
     Especially was it adulterous spirits and the cruel-those who sought in such things the pleasantness of life-who obsessed men then, and who would do so today but for the Lord's redemption. They strive for this, for thus they can, as it were, "live in the world through man" (SD 2655; cf. 3716, 5990). Again, it is said that "spirits who in the life of the body so loved the world as to make it paramount to everything else, and at the same time were bent upon ruling over others," are those who would obsess man's body (SD 4198; cf. 4668); and this that they might return into the world, as it were (SD 4688). They are further described as having loved worldly things to the extent of being horrified at the thought of a life after death, because they believed they would there lose all the delight of life (ibid.).

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Such spirits, of course, are trying to reverse the order of life, which is that through death they may be withdrawn from worldly things, to enter into the interior things of the spiritual world (so 2655).
     They are so pertinacious, it is said, that if it were possible they would cast man's own spirit out of his body and substitute their own (SD 1750, 4420). Swedenborg proved to them, however, that this is not possible. He demonstrated that man is an organic, and that his interiors are organic forms which can by no means be occupied by the organic forms of another, nor changed into those of another (SD 1750).
     The adulterous, the cruel, the utterly mundane, and the stupid-these were the obsessors at the time of the Lord's advent. And they would gladly be so even today. "Did not the Lord guard men, they would each be obsessed by such, for there is an immense crowd of them" (SD 2655). He therefore provides that such may not come into the world of spirits, to be in direct contact with men (AC 5990). "Such," we read, "are remitted into places far away from the spirits with men the place to which they are remitted appears as if in the extremity of our solar world" (SD 4668).
     External bodily obsessions are not permitted today. But the fact that a thing is not permitted does not mean that it is impossible. Murder is not permitted, but murder is possible. There are indications that bodily obsession may be the final lot on earth of those who dabble in spiritism (SD 3781); for it is never any other than evil spirits who desire to establish open contact with men, and spiritism gives those spirits the one thing they need most that they may obsess men's bodies-the conscious awareness of their presence with men.
     Life from the Lord flows through spirits into men. This is true of mental life, thoughts and affections; of the translation of things mental into the body, the production of speech by thought; and of the bodily functions as well. In each of these instances, life flows into man from the Lord through spirits and angels.
     This influx is of two kinds, general and particular. There is an influx of life through the spiritual world in general-or, and we would emphasize this, through general groups or societies of spirits (AC 6211)-into those things with man which are in, and of, order; as when the things of thought are determined into speech, and those of will into act. This is general influx. Each bodily process is ruled over by general groups of spirits assigned to it (ibid.), according to its correspondence with the Gorand Man (AC 5862). But the spirits assigned to these functions are not aware of this use they perform; nor are they even aware, it would seem, that they perform it (AC 6211).

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It seems probable that all spirits now assigned to this use are angels (AC 4793).
     Particular influx, however, is influx of life from the Lord through certain individual spirits and angels into the things of man's thoughts and affections. If general influx alone brought life to the mind or spirit, not only would the whole of it be from hell but, more than man could bear, it would be from the whole of hell at once, stirring up all man's evils simultaneously. The Lord therefore carefully controls this influx, so that at any one time there shall be with man only certain particular evil spirits, who stir up in him only those specific evils answering to their own ruling love; and only such evils, in order and series, as he is capable of coping with at that time. And then, to keep man in freedom, the Lord provides also that there shall be with him at the same times particular angels or good spirits, exactly opposite to the evil spirits, who shall inspire him with the love of good and give him strength to resist those specific evils. This is particular influx.
     Now these individual spirits with men are never conscious of their association with men, any more than we are. This is vital to man's safety and welfare. Each of these spirits, good or evil, retains his own ruling love, and it is through the particular form of this love that life then flows into man; the man feeling it as an urge, a desire, to do that to which the spirit's love impels him. He feels it, note well, as his own desire, his own love. He is entirely unaware that it inflows. And this happens because the spirit with him is, for the time, utterly deprived of the use of his own memory and takes on the man's memory completely, and thinks, feels, and believes it to be his own.
     Thus with every one of us there is a spirit-really there are four; two good, and two evil-who believes himself to be us in every single particular. He has retained his own love in life, the particular love now ruling our life. But while he is with us he is deprived of the use of his memory and is using ours, just as though it were his own in every respect. Thus he might be Aristotle or Genghis Khan, but with us Aristotle might understand no philosophy, and the Khan might be sweet and mild. He is trying, then, to live out the life of his ruling love, but is doing so with the things in our memory only. The result for us is that we feel his inspiration entirely as though it came from ourselves, as though we were doing it all; and for him the result is that he is unaware that he is with us.
     Probably each one of us has experienced something contrary to this order, however, and has known the resulting confusion. Thus, we may go to a place for the first time. The spirit with us has either been there or to a place almost exactly like it, and our sight stirs up his memory of it. We know rationally that we have never been there before, but in a confused way we feel that we have.

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So, too, with a conversation. We have a definite but horribly confused feeling that we know just what will be said next. This is called "second memory," and it gives rise to belief in reincarnation. It is not especially pleasant, and it does not promote rationality.
     Yet this is mild compared with what would be the case if the spirits with us were permitted to use their own exterior memories, and to inflow into us from them. "If spirits were permitted to use the exterior memory, we read, "the human race would perish. For every man is directed by the Lord through angels and spirits; and if spirits were to flow into man from the exterior memory he could not think from his own memory, but only from that of the spirits; thus man would come to be no longer in the enjoyment of his own life, and his own freedom, but would be obsessed. The obsessions of former times were nothing else" (AC 2477). Again: "The reasons that spirits are unable to induce persuasions [other than those in which the man already is] is that they do not enjoy a corporeal memory, but put on that of the man; for were spirits to retain their corporeal memory, they would so far obsess man that he would have no more self-control, or be in the enjoyment of his own life" (SD 3837).
     So it is that the spirits associated with man are not consciously aware of that association. They are adjoined to his soul or spirit only, not his body (AC 5862). They cannot use their own memories at the time, but only the man's, and they therefore believe themselves to be the man. "If evil spirits perceived that they are with man, and that they are spirits separate from him, and if they could flow into . . . his body, they would try to destroy him in a thousand ways, for they hold man in deadly hatred" (AC 5863). As long as they believe themselves to be the man, that is, they will not harm him, for that would be to harm themselves; but were they to sense that the man is separate from themselves they would seek to destroy him. Spiritistic contacts, remember, give spirits consciousness of their association with men.
     A passage just quoted, Arcana 2477, taught that the bodily obsessions of old were nothing else than influx from the spirits' own corporeal memories into men. Quite a few other passages indicate, however, that obsessions came about because those spirits who subserve the use of general influx became aware of their influence upon man's bodily parts and functions, became aware of their existence apart from man, and then took control of the man's body. They did this last, though, from their own corporeal memories, so the two things are the same (AC 2477, 4990; SD 2659).
     This was just what occurred in that growing state of evil and confusion in the world of spirits which preceded the Lord's advent, when the hells took control of that world and began to infest the heavens.

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In a rather obscure passage on this subject we are taught as follows. First, when spirits enter into a man so far as to know that they are in him, they then rule his body and its members. This is obsession. Second, there are certain societies of good spirits whose orderly function it is to rule man's body, though they themselves are entirely unaware of serving this use. They are only in the endeavor which inspires the man, and are unconscious of the acts produced. Third, if evil spirits, whose use this is not, take it over, and if they become consciously aware of it, so that not only the endeavor is present to them but the resulting actions of the man also, then this is obsession (SD 2659). Thereafter anything can happen; and, as we have seen, almost anything did happen-the man's body being then only under the direction of those evil and infernal spirits who hold him in deadly hatred, acting upon him from the devilish machinations of their own corporeal memories.

     Such were the bodily obsessions of advent days. They present a picture resembling in every respect today's insanity, but the Writings say they only resembled it. The two things are different. What insanity is the Writings never say, nor do they ever really treat of it at all. But as for that, we have never heard either of any medical or scientific definition of the mechanics by which the mad actions of today's insane are produced. One essential difference between bodily obsession and insanity seems clear, however. In obsessions, spirits from their own memories directed the man's body according to their own loves and desires. In modern insanity it is man's own mind, acting from or through his own memory upon his body, with some orderly step in the process having been impaired by disease or injury, that produces the results. Admittedly the results are equally awful.

     Today there are no bodily obsessions. But, it is said, there are instead internal obsessions wherein man's mind comes under the control of evil spirits so completely that he is ruled entirely by them interiorly, and were it not for external fears, would plunge openly and without restraint into the evils to which they inspire him. And indeed it is well-known that some are simply obsessed with evil desires of one kind or another. They are "in the grip" of their evils!
     Two points should be noted about these internal obsessions, however. In the first place, they cannot begin without man's free consent. We must ourselves allow it to become obsessed with evil today. In the second place, our bodily eyes will never see any Divine Man who will miraculously summon the demons out of us.

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Yet we need not fear. The Lord not only conquered the hells when on earth: He subdued them to Himself for all time, and they remain subdued before Him. The Divine truths He has revealed in the New Testament and the Writings are living things, containing within themselves the fulness of His Divine life and power. They are the Lord on earth with us today, and before them the hells are powerless. They have power within them, therefore, to free us from the forces of hell which can still obsess us internally. They are our spiritual healer, and their healing power is no less a miracle than was the Lord's when on earth.

     In conclusion, we would put forth this thought. Any New Church man who studies the bodily obsessions of advent times, and who realizes that without the Lord's help such things would still be continuing-if, that is, there were any human race left in which they could continue-must realize also that, in literal fact, we men on earth were indeed redeemed from hell, and bought back from the powers of evil, by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     3. Using the Prayer

     What is interiorly contained in the Lord's Prayer, petition by petition, will be given presently in a general manner. It is well that these things be known. But it is not desirable that they be prominently in the thought at the time of praying. Subconsciously, if we may use that term, they may be present, but not actively. To state this in another way, there should not be in the saying of the prayer an intellectual effort to have consciously in mind what is interiorly involved. Affection must rule. And then from the affection let there be such thought as comes spontaneously and without effort, in which spontaneous thought there may be the interior things that have been learned.
     Admonition to this effect is given in the following words of doctrine: "It is wonderful that ideas are much more infilled by the Lord when man does not so much attend particularly to them, or does not aim himself to fill them, and so does not advert to them. Thus the ideas of infants, when they are praying the Lord's Prayer, are much more infilled than those of adults; for an adult is disturbed in his ideas, so that they are less easily filled, the things of his proprium interfering; which will indeed sound like a paradox, while yet I have learned it by lively experiences" (SD 1826).

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"Sometimes when I was attending less to the things which are in the Lord's Prayer then the angels perceived more fully, as also when I was reading the Word of the Lord, because the way is open. This has seemed wonderful to me, yet still it has been given to learn by experience that it is true" (SD 2435).
     It may be thought that such teachings are modified by certain others, as by that concerning the conjunction of heaven with man by means of the Word, which says: "If the spiritual sense were known to man, and if man in reading the Word were to think in accordance with some knowledge of it, he would come into more interior wisdom, and would be still more conjoined with heaven, since by this means he would enter into ideas like the ideas of the angels" (HH 310e).
     But this teaching is in full harmony with that given above from the Spiritual Diary. The New Church man should know what is the spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer, and in praying he should have some knowledge of it. But let him not seek to have it come into his thought by an effort of his own; but, instead, so dispose himself that it may be, as is said in the Spiritual Diary, "instilled by the Lord."
BISHOP N. D. PENDLETON'S CONTRIBUTION TO NEW CHURCH EDUCATION 1954

BISHOP N. D. PENDLETON'S CONTRIBUTION TO NEW CHURCH EDUCATION       Rev. WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1954

     (Delivered to the Bryn Athyn Chapter of the Sons of the Academy.)

     Bishop Pendleton left behind him some thirty-five papers, articles, and addresses which dealt directly with New Church education as to its principles, policies, or practices. Sixteen of these have been published; nineteen are in manuscript. Besides these, of course, are numerous indirect treatments-throughout his papers and, especially his sermons-dealing with some phase of religious education.
     He was pastoral supervisor of two elementary schools, in Glenview, Illinois, and Pittsburgh, Pa., before being inaugurated into the third degree in 1912. Coming to Bryn Athyn in 1915, he became progressively Acting Bishop of the General Church and President of the Academy system of educational uses.

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He was also a Professor of Theology in the Theological School and a specialist and lecturer in the field of Comparative Religion. The purpose of this address is simply to indicate certain characteristics that seem to run through the material above indicated.
     To understand Bishop Pendleton's point of view as to his personal contribution to a system of New Church education, it should be noted that nowhere does he assume an attitude of academic authority on education as a science, least of all as a science of pedagogy. On one occasion only did he deliver a short series of lectures on education to teachers; and the valuable meat of these lectures he masked in a disarming and modest informality, even as to the place and manner of their delivery. He gave a series of five unpublished lectures on "Education, Knowledge, Remains, and Delights" to a small class of young teachers at his home, January to April, 1927. Indeed, there is reason to believe that if he had suspected any of his literary remains would afterwards be put forward as a serious part of a formal "system" of New Church education, such manuscripts would have been destroyed.
     Moreover, it is important to note that he did not conceive his duties to the Academy to be along the orthodox lines of the average College President, although he possessed administrative abilities of a very high order, and attended to the temporal welfare of the institution and of his fellow-workers in a way that set a high standard of administrative efficiency. Those who worked under him knew him for a just man. Whether he liked you or not he was just. And to be just is a more important thing for an administrator than to be efficient.
     His concept of the peculiar functions of the President of the Academy was consistently twofold, viz.: First, he believed that he was charged with the pastoral oversight of the Academy's educational uses from the point of view of the Bishop of the General Church, in much the same way in which a local pastor is charged with the responsibility for the religious instruction and guidance in his society's elementary school-a use which, by all our traditions, is the first use of charity to be performed by New Church societies, small or large. Bishop Pendleton was, first and last, interested in the conservation and promotion of the traditional policy that this was the best way to feed and build the institutions of the New Church. But he felt that this should be done without fastening the ill effects of proprial traditionalism on the spiritual welfare of the next generation-a state against which he fought through all of his life, whether that traditionalism took the form of rigid dogmatic interpretations, or came in the more mundane guise of creeping customs and habits. At heart, Bishop Pendleton's ruling passion was to conserve the distinctive spiritual essence of our schools. And this was of order.

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     Second, he believed that his duty lay in the direction of the efficient supervision of ultimates; leaving to the principals of schools, to head of departments, and to professors and teachers, the individual illustration and responsibility for working out the philosophy, science and art of a new system of education. That concerned both order and freedom.
     Indeed, when we view impartially what he actually wrote and said about New Church education, we become aware of a singular reserve, almost as if of a lack of enthusiasm, certainly the kind of superficial enthusiasm which we often employ to "boost" the cause of the Academy. The fact is, that by temperament Bishop Pendleton was neither a crusader nor a missionary. Also he shrank from the role of a reformer. He was able to give the fullest sympathetic understanding of the part played by that great revival voice in the decadent mid-nineteenth century days of the New Church in America, Richard de Charms, Sr., as also of the great work of secession and reform done later by that remarkable ex-Moravian doctrinal and educational reformer, Bishop William Henry Benade. But he was destined to be a leader of a different type, for a different state and day, notwithstanding his loyal veneration for these former leaders, especially for Benade.
     A certain quality of intellectual austerity, a natural sensitiveness and shrinking from even the appearance of invading the privacy of another man's emotions, a meticulous respect for the rights of others as defined by the boundaries of their duties, and a no less firm insistence on orderly respect for his own duties and part; these and other personal characteristics combined with the natural circumstances of his life to produce something like a distrust of emotionalism or sentimentality as a means of progress for the church he loved.
     The fact is, that he had already been through a remarkable series of events and states which could not have failed to build into his mind a profound distrust in any too sanguine expectations concerning the rapid growth of New Church institutions. If you will study the circumstances of his life, you will understand why he must have realized many times, and to the full, a sharp sense of the human struggle of it all; the weakness, the erraticism, and the obstacles that stood in the way of ultimate triumph.
     Moreover, his long pastoral experience in a New Church community center, and afterwards in an urban society, gave him the opportunity for unusual insight into the peculiar temptations and weaknesses of a religious movement like ours. And, his natural equipment as an urbane and cultured gentleman, supplemented by extensive travels around the world, enabled him to meet and understand many sorts and conditions of men and states. He knew the evils of nepotism and jealousy, and the pervasive pressures of ecclesiastical ambition and natural kinship. He knew that the life of the church is as vulnerable to these loves of self and the world as life on the civil plane.

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To be just, therefore, to administer justice impartially and impersonally, became with him a sort of passion. For he knew that nothing divides men, or societies, or churches, like injustice!
     When writing a "Foreword" to a book issued on the 50th Anniversary of the Academy of the New Church, he said characteristically: "We have been guarded from any grave disappointment by our Academy training which forbids grandiose expectations. Besides, we believe that the thing we are engaged in building can best grow slowly, can only grow slowly, and under Providential guiding, rather than by our forcing. So we are content, not to rest from our labors, but to wait on Providence with the steady conviction that success will be given, in the degree that we have prepared an adequate and protective basis of reception, a fit containant, without which spiritual influx cannot be held, and natural growth will be in vain.
     "When we consider the wonderful promises concerning the Holy City, its Divine descent and its bridal relation to the Lord, the thought arises as to whether this glorious marvel can be represented by and comprised within the present meager body of the Church. Can we measure the 'City' and test the variety of its descent by the feeble societies now on the earth, societies few in number and of hesitating reception because of doubting minds and vacillating states? And is not our discouragement increased when we realize that this little Church seemingly refuses to grow, its children become cold to it, and its grandchildren forget the religion which by right of inheritance should be theirs?
     "How can a body which has encountered such a fate through several generations hold up its head and claim the right to its title? How can such poverty in results give warrant to the assumption of the Church to be the new and true Christian religion, and whence comes its daring to attempt, with so feeble a hand, the work of inaugurating a new education!
     "Those who are of the Academy hold that it is just because of the difficult establishment of the Church in the world at this day that we must educate our children in the Church. It is our hope that the Academy may, by its works and fruits convincingly demonstrate, in a practical way, that the means have indeed been found whereby the Church may, in large degree, be saved from the heretofore appalling loss of its young people."
     This last sentence may be regarded as introductory to another characteristic of Bishop Pendleton, not always obvious, but ever pervasive throughout his speeches and writings; and that was, that he had a profound, even passionate, belief that "there should and must be distinctive methods" of New Church education.
     This belief, however, he supported in his own characteristic way. This was not the way of sitting down and drawing up some plan of practical detailed guidance for others to follow, and by labelling it "the only New Church method" persuade others to adopt it for their own.

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Not only was he aware that the history of education demonstrates that no enduring system was ever built in this way; but he was, I think, too sensitive to the freedom and responsibility of others in their own fields of study to take any such arbitrary attitude. Like Bishop Benade, he seemed to believe that the orderly policy was to leave the specific accommodation and application to the illustration of the teacher in his own field and in the light he or she had. In Providence, the teacher must work out his own salvation and perform his own part-surely the very essence of a genuine academic freedom.
     For himself, and according to his concept of his own duty, he preferred to make research into the relation of some specific teaching of the Writings to a given field of scientifics, with a view to discovering the clear, distinctive principle of education involved.
     A typical illustration of this personal method lies in a paper given by him some thirty-two years ago to the General Faculty. It was a detailed and scholarly enquiry into the meaning of the strange and even repulsive vision described in Spiritual Diary, nos. 3993-3996. This significant vision he showed to provide a mirror for the serpent worship which, in some form or other, has run throughout the ages, and has ever been associated with the practice of ritualistic cannibalism.
     This paper on "The Modern Tree of Knowledge and Spiritual Anthropophagi" ends with the surprising and typical paragraph: "But here I must stop. Not, however, without drawing a conclusion which to you will seem very remote. However, I maintain that there is a mystic connection between this conclusion and the subject of this paper. . . . The conclusion is, that in view of the religious training of children for the ends we have in view for them, they should be separated at the age which corresponds to our seventh and eighth grades. This, I think, is imperative, and should be undertaken at once if possible. Such a course is dictated by the wisdom of the ages. Our race in every stage of its development has laid its most potent 'taboo' against the communal training of boys and girls after they have reached the age of puberty. In all tribes this 'taboo' is then raised, and is never broken until the man and the woman are joined at the marriage table. It has been only recently disregarded by educators-an ominous sign of the times. For us there is every reason, both spiritual and natural, why this separation should be enforced; and also why we should regard the need for such separation as greatest in the beginning."

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     This is typical of his method and approach to the building of distinctive methods of New Church education, namely; a meticulous pondering over the actual significance of the vision given in the Writings, a careful review of the scientific evidence appropriate thereto, a deduction clearly stated in the terms of a positive principle, and, finally, the utmost delicacy and reticence in leaving his counsel to the teaching profession to follow or not to follow according to the time and state of reception.
     This was the essential and patient method followed by his elder brother, William Frederic Pendleton; and it is my profound conviction that we have been signally blessed by Providence to have been given this type of leadership. This high standard of academic freedom I hope we shall both understand and deserve.
     Bishop Dandridge Pendleton knew quite well that you cannot improvise a new system of education on the back of an envelope, not even a New Church envelope. He knew that generations of corrective and creative experience are imperative, if history is to be heeded. Certainly a more dogmatic or persuasive dictation of "distinctive methods" by himself or his predecessors might have produced more immediate and ultimate results; but such a course would have had only short-lived effects.
     The body of sound guiding principles which our four Bishops and their colleagues have gradually builded up, may prove to be a veritable bulwark for us, for they were builded from within. They look to all time. The Lord builded the house; for these four men have looked to the Lord.
     Certainly, Bishop Dandridge Pendleton had no shadow of doubt that a new and distinctive mode of education had been born into the world; and that there was a burning and imperative need for the same, that the New Jerusalem might become an actuality. This necessity he based on the fact that a new psychology has been revealed. He once wrote: "Education is generally regarded as a process of more or less scientific mind training. What then can be more important than that the educator should have definite knowledge of the mind he is supposed to be training, some understanding of its structure, the mode of its formation, as well as the means of opening and developing its powers, since he is to aid in this development by offering to the learner right materials, adequate to the stage of development which he has in hand, materials and knowledges fit not only for the state and grade of comprehension of the learner but . . . . the knowledge offered should be such and of such ordering as to contain and be in some degree expressive of a spiritual content.'' The moral and executive support which Bishop Pendleton gave to the valuable creative work of his successor, Bishop George de Charms, is sufficient confirmation of his conviction in this matter.
     Again, Bishop Pendleton had no illusions that any "system" of New Church education would prove an automatic guarantee of salvation-an exaggerated hope which is sometimes naively and unconsciously expressed by parents and teachers.

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For he knew of the weight and bias of the hereditary natural, both from revelation and experience. On one occasion he remarked: "In the beginning there is but one mind, or rather no mind, but only an animate body, and a human soul so formed together as to be capable of receiving impressions from the two worlds, the spiritual and the natural. The human mind is, therefore, an intermediate and subsequent formation that lies between the soul and the body; and as such it has self conscious powers individual to itself, which are the result of a dual contact with the two worlds. Hence the mind is an organized and responsive likeness to those worlds. Certainly it is known that the natural mind is formed by the impressions, the sensations, and thus the knowledges which inflow from the world of nature; and at first it appears as if there were no other mind, and no other world, and this because self consciousness realizes itself on the lowest plane which reacts to the influx. The infant awakes to a knowledge of the outer world of nature. Its memories by degrees increase. If religious instruction be added to these impressions then is the basis laid in the natural mind and memory for the after development of a spiritual mind, that is, for the distinct and separate development of such a mind. All men have the possibility of this later development, and the difference between men is that with some the spiritual mind, by means of Divine knowledge and resistance to evil, is definitely formed, while with others no such clear and separate formation takes place. The spiritual with these latter is indeed present as a faculty presenting a possibility, but it is undeveloped and is therefore as if obscurely blended with the natural. Its presence there, however, imparts the human power of reasoning, but this vague spiritual power never outstands from the natural. Such persons in the other life are ruled by the natural which they derived from their life in the world, and this to such an extent that they remain permanently under the delusion that their life is but a direct continuance of their former life in the world, which is in a sense the case. . . . All truth as knowledge, and every sense impression as first received by man, is natural, even those of revelation; that is, they are received as impressions in and upon the natural memory, and of necessity they are there in a natural form."
     Again, the attitude of our former Bishop towards the function and place of science in our system of education was also one of realism, an acceptance of the Providential provision of the uses of science, along with a clear recognition of its limitations and place. For he ever wrestled against the inhibiting bands of literal-minded theological traditionalism; holding to the broader and truer vision of freedom for each generation in its own as-of-itself modes of supporting its vision of the Writings.

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     In one of his latest unpublished papers, he said: "Science now reigns and rules as never before; yet this state, like every other, will pass, and in passing, change. The times may become even more scientific and more exclusive of all that is spiritual, and all that pertains to faith, before there is a general breaking through to a new spiritual dawn. Even so, the present is of God's Providence, and is preparatory. A judgment is and will be given to the end that a new spiritual state may follow. It has ever been so in the past, and so will it be in the future."
     He therefore sturdily upheld the affirmative uses of science, even to a degree which aroused some nervousness in the minds of others. But he held the content of transmissible knowledge to be embodied not only in the revelations to the ancients, and in the Old and the New Testaments, and in the Word of the Lord in His Second Coming; but, he insisted: "it should also be understood that every fact of nature, every knowledge which records a fact, is capable of such a content, if it be subordinated to a spiritual conception of the universe." This, it should be noted, was also the unfaltering belief of William Henry Benade and William Frederic Pendleton.
     He insisted, however, on the paramount importance of instilling into childhood and youth the right attitude towards the revelations of the New Church: "It should be recognized that for the non-celestial mind ascending in its development from a perverted will and a state of intellectual ignorance, that such a mind must of need approach the study of nature with acknowledged revelation as a guide; that is, the Scripture and the true doctrine thereof must guide, otherwise the human mind of post-diluvial form and quality cannot be raised to any degree of spiritual perception. In other words, the truth of revelation, contrary as they may appear to the facts of outer sense perceptions, must be learned and acknowledged in childhood, in that state of mind which is nearest the celestial, wherein natural credulity in some sort takes the place of primitive celestial perception.
     "Confidence in Divine revelation thus instilled in early life, though afterwards assaulted by the spirit of scientific scepticism, may yet serve the purpose of Providence in giving a ground for the planting of Divine seed which, if nourished with care and adequate labor, may restore the fallen mind to a likeness of its first integrity. Our education in large degree must consist in such a planting, especially in childhood, but also continually throughout life, for every harvest calls for a new seed time, and as the harvest is periodic, so also must the seed time be renewed."
     Here we come to the plain question of the responsibility of each New Church teacher, in reference to the prevailing naturalistic sphere in the current sciences of both Nature and Man. Bishop Pendleton's viewpoint herein was clear and strong, beyond possibility of misunderstanding, and appears in many papers at many times.

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I think it is best illustrated by the following quotation from an unpublished paper, delivered in the place of his first ministry:
"Like children we see but a short way, yet even as a child, we believe what we see, even though it be a fallacious appearance which will later be broken by the light of a superior truth. In this, no matter how far we advance, we may know that an infinity of truth lies beyond, ever and always beyond.
     "But in this advancing life process one of two ways may be followed, i.e., that of affirmation or negation. The affirmative way maintains man's faith through every uncertainty. The negative, in the end, destroys every remnant of faith. The affirmative brings spiritual light increasingly. The negative enthrones the world of nature in its appeal to the senses as alone knowable and worthy of credence. It so appears to the sensuous mind unguided by spiritual light . . . the light of the mind is ever changing, and with it the inner movement of the Providence of God in its adaptation to human states. . . . Man cannot but follow his light, whatever its quality may be. This quality is determined by the force of man's ruling love. Hence it is that only the love of God can truly reveal God. Only the pure in heart see Him. And only when God is seen may His Providence be unfolded as an expression of His will or allowance in all things and in each event."
     Finally, as to the responsibility of the New Church teacher in performing a kind of priestly function, Bishop Pendleton had a surprisingly good deal to say. It was, however, said so quietly-and, as it were, by way of suggestion and gentle prompting-that its significant message may sometimes have escaped attention. Here are a few of the thoughts originally delivered directly to New Church teachers, on various occasions.
     "Present performance always falls short of the ideal. In a sense this is fortunate. The realization of defects is ever a stimulus to endeavor yet it is a fact well to note, lest it be thought that we rest content with inherited formulas, with general statements of purpose, as for instance the statement that New Church education is a training for heaven. The truth of this is beyond question. It is an adequate statement of purpose, since it points to the aim of life, as understood by New Churchmen. Yet, this, like every formula, is effective only in the degree that it is sustained as a living impulse guiding in the application of many knowledges, especially those revealed knowledges which are accounted as necessary to the New Churchman who looks upon life not so much as a struggle for place, as an opportunity for furthering in oneself a regenerative process.
     "Provision for New Church education . . . becomes effective only with those who have faith in the Lord and belief in Divine revelation, accompanied by an enlightened understanding of the truth, which truth, if received in mind and also in heart, becomes profoundly regenerative, far more so than may be thought by one who judges from the outer appearance as evidence.

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In this matter it is ordained that the deeper effects of spiritual truth are hidden from view.
     "The New Church educator must have in mind not only a clear idea of the process of rational elevation of truth, but at the same time he must have ever before him this ultimate need of resistance to evil if he is to cooperate in preparing the mind of the learner to meet the real issue of his life. The teacher will indeed have little to do with the actual workings of the process itself, this part is in the hands of the Lord and His angels.
     "New Church education has at its high aim the storing of the mind of the learner with truths from the Word of God to the end that these truths may be of service in regeneration. An orderly and convincing arrangement of these truths is the immediate end and this in order that the pupil may receive and rationally affirm those truths. This is the first of the two duties of a teacher. The second is if anything more vital, and the most difficult. It is comparable with the second of the priestly duties mentioned in the Writings. It is said of a priest that if he only teaches but does not lead to the good of life, he is not a good shepherd. The same is true of the teacher. We are not left in any doubt in this matter.
     "The New Church teacher has these two well defined functions, and he must teach and he must also guide; guide by teaching, yes, and also by prompting. It is difficult to find a better word to express that subtle influence of parent, priest, or teacher, which must be employed in the training and leading."
     Bishop Pendleton was no narrow-minded or intolerant puritan. He set no impossible standards for others as pre-requisite shibboleths. He but taught the Divine truth as it was held up for every man's duty; and he left it there for the conscience of every man and every woman who teaches in the Academy schools. This seems to me to be the authentic mark of a New Church bishop and educator.
     We cannot, perhaps, do better than conclude by quoting the words of quiet and unshakable confidence used by Bishop Pendleton as to the future of New Church education. I think we are warranted in regarding them as his last will and testament on the matter.
     "By inquiry into the claims of the new revelation and trusting confidently in its teachings, we may with good reason anticipate that the New Church is destined to stand unique among the bodies of Christendom, on a plane of spiritual thought and affection apart, enclosed within its own borders, not indeed in prideful isolation, but with a view to exalted spiritual service, imparting by virtue of its existence, invisible support to all that is good and true in both worlds . . . we feel that the workers . . . in the cause of New Church education have been greatly privileged, in that it has been given them to take part in the beginning work of founding a spiritual citadel, a stronghold for the New Church, an ultimate institution devoted to a Divine vision from heaven, which in its own time will move the world to its acceptance."

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RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CONJUGIAL 1954

RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CONJUGIAL       Rev. ERIK SANDSTROM       1954

     In the world today it is not known that marriage is holy. Some traditional respect for it is indeed preserved, but the origin of that respect has been completely forgotten. In their hearts, many men and women think of marriage merely as a worldly institution, controlled by certain laws for the sake of society. It is understood, at least vaguely, that the family unit is important for the welfare of the country, and an adulterous life is regarded officially as unlawful. But in practice, the institution of marriage is being torn asunder, and many are beginning to voice the sentiment that the old legislation concerning it is antiquated. Very few have a real conscience in regard to marriage.
     This being the attitude of the world, it may be seen that the Ten Commandments are dying away among men. For the esteem in which any one commandment is held is at the same time the esteem in which they are all held. What is left instead of the commandments is a fear of the punishment of the law and a fear of the loss of reputation.
     It has always been known in the world, in all races and in all nations, that it is wrong to harm a fellow man or to kill him; that his property must not be taken away from him; that it is evil to bear false witness against him. These, and other things, were known to the sons of Israel, too, before they came to Sinai. Still, when the Lord gave the tables of stone to Moses, something entirely new came to them. No longer must the property of another be respected merely to avoid his revenge or that of society, or merely to observe a code of ethics. Now theft was to be regarded as a sin against the God of the universe.
     This was new to the children of Israel. And it was new because the Ten Commandments opened up something of conscience in their inner man. Herein is the difference between the laws of a country and the commandments of God, that the former are directed only to the natural minds and conduct of men, whereas the latter are for their spiritual minds and so at the same time for the natural.

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The country governs by the threat of punishment, but the Lord rules by conscience. If, therefore, the Ten Commandments are dying away among men, so also is conscience. And if conscience is departing from the human scene, then no external legislation will suffice to maintain society in order; for no outer law can check secret desires and ambitions.
     When the Lord came on earth the outward state of the world was much the same as in our day. But He restored the commandments by declaring: "Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time . . . but I say unto you." In regard to the Sixth Commandment He said: "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). He likewise taught: "What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder" (Matthew 19:5); thus teaching anew that marriage is from God. And because it is from God, He laid down further in His teaching the law that divorce is a sin against God, except for the cause of adultery (Matthew 19:9). For once marriage is regarded as from God, and thus holy, adultery becomes profanation, and this cannot be tolerated. For that reason the marriage covenant must then be broken rather than that a state of profanation should continue.
     But, as has been said, the knowledge of the Divine origin of marriage has again been lost in the world. Therefore it cannot be said any more that adultery is profanation, for no one can profane unless he knows and believes that a thing is holy. Only a marriage in which the couple have been truly joined together by God, that is, which has been entered into in the hope that the Lord God Himself will add His blessing to it, is indissoluble except in the case of adultery; and very few have been so joined together truly by God, whether their marriage was solemnized before a magistrate or in a temple. Therefore men and women marry and separate as if marriage were a mere matter of social advantage or bodily pleasure, and the officiating of a priest is merely for the sake of external solemnity or festivity.
     But it must be known again that adultery is profanation. It must be known that violation of marriage is the violation of something holy that is from the Lord. The restoration of marriage, however, can never be an isolated thing. All the commandments of God must be re-established at the same time. It must be remembered that the state of marriage in the world is but a sign that not one of the commandments is honored; and it may be worthy of notice, too, that the reason the Sixth Commandment is more universally broken in external practice than any other precept in the second table is simply that it can be done more easily in secret-out of reach of the punishing arm of the law.

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     The commandments of God are now being re-established by the Lord in His second coming. For only He Himself is master of His own order. Only the Lord is able to renew His covenant so as to command respect; and He does so by revealing the "why" of His laws, that is, by setting them forth before the very rational of man. For the first time, therefore, it is now possible for man to see for himself that evil is evil because it takes away from man the gift of happiness, and that good is good because the blessing of God is in it. The Lord has given His laws for the very reason that they are the very means of achieving the end of His love, that of making others outside of Himself happy from Himself (TCR 43). It is, indeed, as with the laws of medicine, which are the means of securing or restoring health. And now, in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, the laws of the spirit are presented before the understanding, just as squarely as the laws of medicine have ever been presented.
     In that doctrine it is shown that the marriage of man and woman depends on another marriage, namely, the marriage within the mind of each. Before regeneration, will and understanding are not conjoined in man. He knows and understands one thing, and wills another. But by means of regeneration he comes to will and love what he has understood, and a marriage covenant is thus made within him. How this is done may be described briefly in the following way.
     When man is born into the world he has only a potential mind. He has a soul and a body, but the mind which is to be formed between them has not yet been opened. Eternity dawns for it in the moment when the lungs are opened, for in that moment consciousness begins. Into that newly born mind inclinations are instilled from two sources. One of these is the parental heredity, the inner qualities of which inhere in the soul from the father while the outer qualities are from the body and the external structure of the mind supplied by the mother. The other source is what is called remains from the Lord-those gentle internal affections and perceptions which are hidden away in the internal recesses of the mind-to-be as loans from the Lord by means of His angels. Remains are implanted with man from his first breath. They are the secret chambers from which the Lord can operate with him. What is called conscience is from no other source; and, indeed, conscience is nothing but remains at work. These two sources of inclination with man, heredity and conscience, are the combatants within which strive for possession of him. Neither of them is, but each wishes to become, his will.
     As a neutral thing, and also as a field of battle, a third element adds itself, namely, knowledges received from without. These also begin to play their part from the moment of birth, for every sense impression conveys some knowledge; and as time goes on knowledges of even deeper import are accumulated. By virtue of the remains within him, man is able to grasp their implications rationally without as yet experiencing the good they have in store.

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This ability is what is described in the Writings as the separation of the understanding from the will.
     As heredity modifies the operations of the soul, whereas remains are as yet stored up, it cannot be otherwise than that hereditary inclinations should take possession of man at first. But as they are received because they are dominant, and not of choice, the man is not held responsible. He is still kept in the innocence of ignorance-ignorance of the nature of his own inclinations. As long as this state continues the Lord says: "if ye were blind, ye should have no sin" (John 9:41). But if the man does not repent when he has a sufficient store of knowledges, and the rational is coming to maturity, the Lord will add: "But now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth" (ibid.).
     What is called the separation of the will and the understanding is this separation of hereditary inclinations and their acceptance in life from the rational faculty of perceiving truth as truth. There is a clash between the two, because every truth is a challenge to those inclinations. Hence it is that we twist and bend truths, turning them into excuses to make them conform with our inclinations. But at the same time conscience is never at rest. It compels us to see, at least in some states, that truth is truth.
     In the end a confirmation one way or the other is necessary; and, in Providence, man is permitted to enter into the state of temptation. If he then obtains victory from the Lord, he thereby chooses as his will the conscience formed from remains, and a marriage is effected within him. For those remains yearn for the truths that are with him; and the moment man is willing to turn his truths over to the use of new affections, these affections enter in and conjoin themselves with the truths; that is, they then begin to act as one with them.
     This internal marriage, which must be effected within man and woman alike, is what gives the conjugial quality to the marriage covenant of husband and wife. Where this conjugial essence is lacking there is no holy marriage between the two partners, but only the bond of a worldly institution, sustained as it may be by external law.
     Young men and young women dream of a lovely companionship with one of the opposite sex. Let them know, then, that there is but one way to the sure fulfillment of their dreams, early or late-the way of preparing for and entering into this internal marriage within themselves.
     The wonder of the creation of man and woman is that the marriage in each completes that in the other, so that a marriage union of their two minds is possible. This is possible because it is the nature of woman to think from affection, and of man to be affected from thought. In other words, the entrance court of woman's mind is her will, and access to her understanding is through it; but with man it is the other way round.

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For this reason wives in heaven are, as it were wills, and men understandings. But the blessing of this order is that the regenerated will of the wife flows into her husband's understanding, and through it warms and enkindles his will with her own essence; and that in like manner the reborn understanding of the husband enters into the will of his wife, and through it moulds her understanding to conformity with his wisdom. In this way the minds of the husband and wife are intertwined, and as it were ingrafted in each other, so as actually to make one mind. After this has taken place, and in proportion as it has, the ultimates of the marriage are but the innocent expression of the conjunction of their minds.
     But when we penetrate a little deeper into the secrets of conjugial love, we see that the marriage within each mind is, in its turn, dependent on another, still more internal marriage covenant-the marriage covenant of the Lord and man. There is a series of the conjugial, a linked chain which cannot be broken, and which we must not try to break. For if the mind of man were not the bride of the Lord, held and guided by His strong yet tender hand, the order and harmony within his mind could not be preserved, and, consequently, the conjugial there would perish. The new will must be perpetually fed by Divine good flowing in from within; the new understanding must be replenished continually by the truths of the Word which enter from without; and as these things are done the marriage covenant of the Lord and man is renewed.
     This marriage covenant of the Lord is at the same time with the united mind of the regenerated husband and the regenerated wife. For we are told that in a marriage the husband does not represent the Lord, nor the wife the church, for both together constitute the church and both together are the bride of the Lord (CL 125, 126).
     Unless the Lord is looked to as the source of good, good will never be discovered to be good; and unless He is seen as the omnipresent and uniting power in all truth, truth can never be recognized for what it is in itself. Therefore there can be no marriage of the will and the under- standing except from Him; and if there is no such marriage, neither is there any truly conjugial principle in the covenant between a man and a woman. It is clear, therefore, that the holiness of marriage is from the fact that the Lord Himself is the inmost essence of the conjugial.
     And now is extended the call to the marriage supper of the Lamb-the Lamb of God returning in His strength to build the holy city, the New Jerusalem. It must be clearly understood that the Writings of this His coming are the books of the law of His reign. Those books themselves constitute the marriage covenant of the Lord; for it is in them that the Lord meets with man, and through them that man is able to approach the Lord.

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Our response to the call to the marriage supper must therefore be the cultivation of a true knowledge of those Writings, of respect for their teachings and obedience to them by self-compulsion, and, in the end, of love for the heavenly order of life which they reveal.
     If we do these things, the truly conjugial, the jewel of human life, will be restored among us. For we will then derive it from the source of its holiness, suffer ourselves to be born anew by means of the goods and truths from that source, and so prepare ourselves for a lovely and blessed companionship with the one of our choice.
REVEREND EMIL ROBERT CRONLUND 1954

REVEREND EMIL ROBERT CRONLUND        GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954

     A Memorial Address

     (Bryn Athyn, Pa., January 24, 1954.)

     "Thrust in thy sickle and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe." (Revelation 14:15)

     Man's life on earth is the time for cultivating the soil, and planting the seed from which is to grow an eternal use. Death is the time of harvest, when the fruit of his life is to be garnered for the eternal enrichment of the spirit.
     All men are born on earth in order that they may be prepared for life in heaven. And because heaven is a kingdom of uses, every individual is endowed by the Creator with potential abilities designed to fit him for a particular place and function in that kingdom. In this gift there lies concealed the greatest of all Divine blessings; for to serve the Lord with gladness, and to promote the welfare of the neighbor, imparts to the angels the ever-increasing happiness of heaven.
     The Lord, therefore, leads every man from earliest infancy in such a way as to draw forth gradually the latent powers of the soul, and from them to build a mind and a character which, by education and experience, by responsibilities, trials, and temptations, may be moulded into a living form of use.
     The first use, of course, is to human society on earth. This is the obvious goal of all instruction and training. But man's earthly occupation, business, or profession is not an end in itself. Many are prevented by circumstances beyond their control from performing the external use they really love, and for which by native ability they are best fitted.

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Those who do discover their chosen field of endeavor, may find their opportunities greatly limited by the economic conditions of the time, or by physical handicaps, or by a variety of causes that intervene to hinder or prevent success. And even at best, the knowledges and skills acquired by years of patient study and practice are inhibited in time by failing health and advancing age. Society may derive permanent benefits from such labors, but as far as the individual is concerned, if death were the end, all the toil and struggle for proficiency would have been spent for nought. But in the mercy of the Lord, all man's efforts to be of service to his fellow men, in whatever capacity circumstances may permit, are the means whereby his inner mind, or spirit, is equipped and prepared to enter upon his Divinely intended use; the use for which he was created, and which he loves above all others, the use into which he can be introduced after death in the eternal world. Everything that he has learned, every single skill that he has patiently perfected here will be retained, and indeed greatly increased, in that continuation of his life. Even those knowledges and skills that seem to belong solely to material and earthly things will be retained. Nothing that has helped to build the mind and form the character of the man, will be lost. Everything stored in the memory, and inbuilt into the inner structure of thought and will, becomes an eternal possession, and contributes in marvelous ways to the perfection of his spiritual and heavenly use. The Lord alone knows what that use is. And in Providence, He leads man unwittingly through all his life on earth, in such a way as best to prepare him for the fullest possible enjoyment of that use. For in His sight this is the sole end and purpose of man's temporary sojourn in a material body. And when that purpose has been achieved, when everything that the natural world can give to enrich man's spiritual life has been gathered and stored in the mind, the spirit is released from the physical matrix in which it has been formed, that it may enter upon the full and free enjoyment of those treasures. Then is the cry of the angel heard: "Thrust in thy sickle and reap: for the time has come for thee to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
     This is the time that has now arrived for our friend and brother, Emil Cronlund. He was blessed, as few in our day are blessed, with a sure knowledge of this inmost Divine purpose in his life. He had a profound trust in the Providence that was directing his steps. His mind was dominated, above all else, by an unswerving devotion to the truth revealed by the Lord in His second advent. He answered with eagerness the call to the priesthood of the New Church that came to him in his youth. His supreme delight was to serve the Lord in His vineyard, searching out the spiritual truth of the Word, imparting the knowledge, the understanding, and the affection of that truth to others, to feed them, and lift them up forever.

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And when, in Providence, the ultimate means of employment in the ministry was withdrawn, he turned cheerfully, with courage and unflinching faith, to master the technique of another occupation, whereby to support his family. But his heart was still in his chosen profession. He devoted all his spare time to the study of the Heavenly Doctrine; and rejoiced in every opportunity that offered to perform the priestly function. He gave highly valued service to the Church he loved, and his sermons were greatly appreciated by those who benefited from their instruction. He was characterized by a gentleness of disposition, and a spirit of charity that endeared him to all who knew him. Mellowed by the trials and difficulties which he was called upon to face, he demonstrated in actual life the qualities he had learned from the Writings to love so deeply. A profound humility before the Lord, a strength of character in maintaining his convictions, an unfailing devotion to the welfare of his family, and to his work-all combined to strengthen and perfect his love of use to the neighbor. His passing leaves us with a deep sense of loss. But we rejoice to think of his entrance into that new life which now awaits him, in which he will be free to pursue his heart's desire. Surely, all that he has passed through will serve to promote that heavenly use which the Lord has foreseen and provided for him, and by means of which, with ever-increasing joy, he will reap the harvest of a servant who has been faithful in the few things required of him on earth, and who can be given the blessing reserved for those to whom the Lord says: "Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Matthew 25:40). Amen.

     BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

     Emil Robert Cronlund was born in Sodertalje, near Stockholm, Sweden, on September 5, 1875. His father was a Swedish army officer who died when Emil was seven years old. He was therefore brought up by his mother and his maternal grand-mother. When he was about thirteen years of age, a visitor left by chance a copy of Heaven and Hell which so interested the young boy that when he went to work in Stockholm a year or two later he attended the services conducted by the Rev. A. T. Boyesen. From that time his acceptance of the Heavenly Doctrine was rapid and complete. At the age of sixteen he decided to become a minister of the New Church, and sailed to Philadelphia to study in the Academy schools.
     Entering the Boys' School in 1891, he successively graduated from the College (B.A., 1897) and the Theological School (B.Th., 1899), and was ordained into the first degree of the priesthood in 1899, on December 31st. He began ministerial services in Philadelphia in 1900, and shortly afterwards undertook also ministerial visits to Baltimore. In 1902, he was ordained into the second degree of the priesthood, and the following year he was called to Parkdale, Toronto, Canada, to take up as provisional pastor the duties formerly carried out by the Rev. E. S. Hyatt. There he remained as pastor for seventeen years, until his resignation in 1920.

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     As no other pastoral work was then open, Mr. Cronlund resolved to support his family by entering a secular profession. He therefore moved to Bryn Athyn in the fall of 1921, and studied for two years in the Department of Chiropody at Temple University, Philadelphia. From 1921 until near the end of his earthly life, however, he continued to preach in Bryn Athyn and in other societies. When he passed into the spiritual world on January 21, 1954, he was in his 79th year. He is survived by his widow, formerly Miss Mary G. Somerville, to whom he was married on January 31, 1905; four sons, Murray, Philip, Bruce, and Donald; one daughter, Elizabeth, now Mrs. T. J. Kern of Madison, Wisconsin, all of whom are members of the General Church; and by fifteen grandchildren.
     WILLIAM WHITEHEAD
NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     Of the twenty-eight psalms assigned for reading this month (104-131), only six are Davidic. Twenty-one are untitled, and one is ascribed to Solomon. There are no musical directions, and only one of these psalms, the 109th, is inscribed "to the chief musician." Once again we find a rich variety of tone. Praise and thanksgiving predominate, but there are also the elements of supplication and humility; and the Lord's providential care, both in Israel's history and in the experiences of life, is lovingly traced, and faith expressed in it. Psalm 110 is recognized as Messianic, and is so quoted by the Lord in the Gospels (Matthew 22:42-45).
     Psalm 119 has a remarkable feature which is lost on the English reader. It consists of twenty-two sections, each containing eight verses; and in the Hebrew, every verse of each section begins with the letter of the alphabet which is inscribed over it. Less well-known examples in the Psalter of this alphabetical acrostic form are the 25th and 34th psalms, but in them there is only one verse to each letter. In the absence of definite teaching it is interesting to theorize as to the Divine reason for this form. We know from the Writings that every letter in the Hebrew Word has a correspondence, contains a complete sense, and involves arcana of wisdom (SD 5620; HH 260; SS 90). Swedenborg was taught, indeed, what certain letters signify. But his angel-instructor was not allowed to unfold the meaning of the rest, and what he disclosed was not revealed to us (SD 4671). As far as we know, the letter He is the only one the meaning of which is explained in the Writings. It is said to involve what is Divine, and what is infinite and eternal-infinity because it is a breathing (AC 2010; SS 90; AR 38e). Swedenborg's experience may indeed be a tacit warning that here are arcana men should not seek to penetrate; and we note that the words, "The initial letters here signify such things as are meant by them, in the spiritual world," are crossed out in the MS. of Prophets and Psalms.

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Yet we may, perhaps, conjecture that as the sections of the 119th Psalm are studied in the Lord's light, the church will eventually be given to see somewhat of the meaning of each letter.
     Psalms 120-131 form the major part of a group which are called "Songs of Degrees"-of "Goings-up," of "Ascents," or "Steps." What is meant by this is very obscure; and biblical scholars have supposed that these sacred songs were sung either by the Jewish exiles returning from Babylon or by the Jewish pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for the annual feasts, or else that they are so styled because their sense is progressive. The summaries of the internal sense given in the Writings do not seem to cast any light on the question, which would appear to be one for future study. The dominant subjects in the spiritual sense are, in that order, a new church in place of the former, the glorification of the Lord's Human, and the celebration and worship of the Lord. But the themes of redemption, the rejection of the Lord by the church, and the consequent rejection of the church, occur only a little less frequently; and there is considerable reference to the Lord's temptations and humiliation. His victory over the hells emerges; and His advent and severe temptations, the successive vastation of the church and the last judgment, are introduced briefly.
     Our readings in the Arcana (nos. 9391:10-9437) continue the exposition of Exodus 24 from the closing words of verse 5 to the end of the chapter. This section contains important teachings about the nature of the Word and the manner in which the conjunction of heaven and earth is effected by means of it. Attention may be drawn to what is really involved in reception of truth (AC 9393), and in the same number to what is signified by "blood" in the Word-something that has been sadly misunderstood in the Christian Church.
SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES 1954

SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES              1954

     GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS. Graded lessons and other material from pre-Kindergarten through Grade 11. Address inquiries to: Pastor-in-Charge, Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE. Tape-recordings of services, sermons, doctrinal classes, children's services, etc. Address: General Church Sound Recording Committee, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH VISUAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Biblical and other slides. Address: Mr. William R. Cooper, Director, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     NEW CHURCH EDUCATION. Published by Religion Lessons Committee, monthly, September to June, inclusive. Subscription, $1.50. Editor: Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal.

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REVIEWS 1954

REVIEWS       Editor       1954

THE DIVINE ALLEGORY. By Hugo Ljungberg Odhner. Swedenborg Foundation, Inc., New York, 1953. Cloth, pp. 150. Price, $2.50.

     In his Introduction to this welcome volume the author notes that earnest students of the Scripture have sometimes suspected that it contains a substratum of spiritual teachings. Paul glimpsed this, though only in part. But with the revelation of correspondences in the Writings it is possible to demonstrate to any open-minded Christian that the story of the Bible is truly a Divine allegory-"a continuous thread of spiritual teachings which are concealed within the language of consistent symbols and parables and representations: teachings about the nature and eternal destiny of the soul, about the laws of the regeneration of man's spirit, and about the modes whereby God our Creator becomes the Lord our Redeemer."
     This at once explains the title of the book and indicates its purpose and scope. The author is here reviewing the story of the peoples and lands of Scripture and their spiritual significance as revealed in the Writings, and his survey covers the entire allegory from its beginning in the shadowed age which precedes history to its close in the land of the Gospel; tracing the story through the classic spiritual periods of the Preadamites, the Most Ancient and the Ancient Churches, the Patriarchal Age, Israel in Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, the days of the Judges, the united and the divided kingdom, the Captivities of Israel and Judah, and Canaan the scene of the Advent. Throughout the treatment, in which it seems to this reviewer that the different phases are very well balanced, abstract doctrine is associated by correspondence with the imagery from the natural world found in the letter; and the natural events and places and people are so presented that their representations and the connections between the spiritual states described become clear.
     The dynamic interweaving of rational doctrine and its corresponding ultimate forms in the letter which characterizes the book makes for sustained reading; and we believe that it should appeal equally to the New Church public and to the open-minded Christian to whom it is addressed. Reference is frequently made in the Church to the teaching that if men would read the Word with some knowledge of the internal sense they would be still more closely associated with angels, and we know of no other work from which the general sweep of the internal sense can be more readily gathered than the one before us. As far as the Christian is concerned, here is the answer to the problem, noted in the Writings, of those who believe that the Word is Divinely inspired and holy, but are unable to say wherein its holiness lies or what makes it different from other religious books.

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     Naturally the book will be more easily read by the New Church man, who does not come to it without a background of knowledge. Or perhaps it would be better to say that he will get more out of it. For the basic premises are fully sustained in the book itself, and the approach and style are such as to carry along with them any reader who is prepared to seek for a meeting of minds. The treatment is, we believe, as non-technical as the subject-matter would allow, and understanding is aided by the seven maps and diagrams with which the text is illustrated and by no means overburdened. The serious student will be assisted to further study by the Bibliography and the list of abbreviations used in citing some of the works of the Writings, and future reference will be facilitated by the Subject Index with which also the book is furnished.
     With such subject-matter as we have here, and so presented that its practical outcomes are by no means neglected, completeness can be only a relative term. Yet we were left with a feeling of amazement at how much ground had been covered, entirely without suggestion of crowding or haste, and at the absence on finishing the book of any idea that there had been serious omissions. The material in The Divine Allegory is drawn from a course developed and taught by the author in the Theological School of the Academy over a period of years. Yet here is no textbook, as such works are popularly conceived, but a volume of considerable literary merit which may be read with pleasure and profit. The total impression made on this reviewer was that of the carefully distilled essence of a large body of thought rather than a condensation, and we do not doubt that the author's avowed objective has been achieved.
     We were especially interested in the author's insistence at the beginning that the historical portion of the Old Testament contains the true history of Israel as the eyes of the Israelites saw it; and that it was the natural world with its peoples, its fauna, and its flora as known to the Israelites that was the ultimate for the spiritual sense of the Word. The treatment of pre-history is also of particular interest, as is the suggested identification of the pre-glacial "Dawn-men" with the Pre-adamites; and "The Allegory of Regeneration" with which the book closes is an impressive piece of condensation. Collateral works are now few in a church that once held a ready pen. Here is a book to read and study with interest, and then place handily on the shelves for frequent reference in connection with sermons and one's reading in the Word.

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     THE EDITOR
SERVANTS OF GOD 1954

SERVANTS OF GOD       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary               Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.
     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     In addressing the apostles as the future priesthood of His church the Lord commended to them the role of servants. The ideal thus presented has been striven for by priests and ministers of noble character in every age, according to their understanding of it. But as the Christian Church declined the concept of service was changed to confirm evil loves. The Roman priesthood claimed that its members were servants of God, but produced spiritual princes who assumed and demanded the regal splendor and humble submission proper to plenipotentiaries, thus establishing priestly rule. And the doctrine of the universal priesthood of all believers developed by Protestantism gave rise, in many instances, to the idea that the clergy were the servants of the people in a personal and subordinate sense; which resulted in the setting up of lay domination.
     The Writings teach, however, that the church is not to be dominated by either the priesthood or the laity, but is to be governed by the Lord through the truths of the Heavenly Doctrine. True priests are indeed servants of the Lord, yet not in the sense of exercising His power as viceregents, but as serving the Divine use of the salvation of souls by administering the holy things which belong to worship. And they are also the servants of the people; not, however, the personal servants of their congregations, but servants of their spiritual welfare in performing the priestly use. This is the new concept revealed in the Writings. And as it is understood, loved, and applied, priests and laymen come into real freedom, each in their own sphere, and are united in the performance of uses instead of being locked in the age-old struggle for power.

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FOUNDATIONS 1954

FOUNDATIONS       Editor       1954

     Again and again the Writings teach that human character is not determined by deeds but by the loves which inspire them. We read of men who had said and done the same things, yet were judged differently by the angels because their motives had not been similar. And we are told that angels give no thought to what a man does with his body, but only to the will from which the body acts. These things are true. But when truths are taken out of context, overemphasized, or isolated from others which bear upon them, they can be turned into falsities in the mind. And if we were to concentrate solely upon such statements as these, we might suppose that what we do and say is of very little importance, provided that our motives are all right!
     But that is by no means the case. For we are taught also that will and thought are not complete unless they exist in works; and that to think and will without doing, when there is opportunity, is like a flame that is covered over, which soon goes out. Unless charity and faith ultimate themselves in works whenever possible, then, they must inevitably pass away. This is in accord with the general doctrine that an internal does not exist without an external, which is the ultimate of order wherein the internal subsists; and that when ultimates are taken away, interior things are dispersed and perish.
     What we say and do is therefore not unimportant and without relation to what we really love and believe. When the Writings say that spiritual life is not different in externals they mean, not from that of a merely natural man, but from that of the man who is just and fair in civil life and honorable and decorous in moral life. Such qualities as temperance and sobriety in all things, uprightness, modesty, sincerity, obligingness, industry, liberality, and many others, avail nothing by themselves. But as the body formed by spiritual affections, and as regularly manifested in habits of conduct and speech, they are the foundations of spiritual life. This we recognize, indeed, when we say that one of the tasks of the New Church is to build eventually a new civilization.
     As far as man is concerned, such qualities as these are meant when it is said in the Writings that all preservation depends on the state of ultimates, because in them interior things subsist. We may never delude ourselves, then, with the thought that it is quite all right for us to act and speak just as the world does-as long as we think rightly from doctrine and love the things of the church in our hearts! Spiritual affection and thought have their own proper and indispensable ultimates, and their preservation should be a matter of deep concern. For "if the foundations perish, what shall the righteous do?"

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SPOILING THE EGYPTIANS 1954

SPOILING THE EGYPTIANS       Editor       1954

     "Borrowing from the Egyptians" is a phrase frequently heard among us. Because it is so commonly used there is a possibility that it may be employed loosely, and with not too accurate an idea of what it means. So we may profitably examine the Writings to see just what it is that we may take from the spiritual Egyptians. The reference, of course, is to the fact that just before the exodus the Israelites were commanded to borrow from their Egyptian neighbors vessels of silver and of gold, and garments, which they did, thus spoiling the Egyptians. It is pointed out that they would never have been instructed to do this unless some arcana were to be represented; and it is significant that the things thus acquired were afterwards applied to the use of constructing the ark and many other of the holy things of worship id the tabernacle.
     Vessels and garments signify scientifics, the facts of any subject-field; and what was represented was the transfer in the spiritual world after death of the knowledges of good and truth from the evil spirits who had possessed them to the good, who are further enriched by them. For in that world such knowledges are taken away from those who have applied them to evil uses, and are given to the good who will apply them to good uses. The knowledges are precisely the same, but the application to use gives them a particular quality.
     The principle is that scientifics are neither true nor false, good or evil, but become one or the other in the hands of those who are in truths or falsities, and that in their hands the same knowledges become instruments of good or evil. This can be seen very clearly today. The knowledge of how to use atomic energy is in itself neither good nor evil. It becomes one or the other as it is used to spread fear, destruction, and oppression, or is employed solely for defense and developed to promote the health, prosperity, and well being of mankind. In either case, however, the knowledge is the same.
     What, then, is the command to the spiritual Israel? By the Egyptians are signified in general those who are merely natural but possess many knowledges. There are many such in every field of learning today, and we may freely take and use, as we do, the facts they have amassed in their particular subject-fields. But facts are not truths. Truths are facts organized into ideas which look to the Lord and to use. And we should view with extreme caution the interpretations the world has placed on its facts. It is not a philosophy, not a set of theories, we are to take from Egypt, but facts which, under the Lord's guidance in the Writings, are to be built into a system of true ideas-a structure of truth in which the Lord can dwell and operate among us.

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We can use, for example, the facts discovered by biblical scholarship, but not the interpretation placed upon them, which denies the Divine inspiration of the Word. If we can remember this, and see in practice the distinctions involved, and if we can remember that it is the spiritual affection of use that is to be enriched thereby, we may borrow freely from the Egyptians with assurance that we will not be worsted and spoiled by them.
READING THE SCRIPTURES 1954

READING THE SCRIPTURES       Editor       1954

     Last month we wrote on the importance of regular individual reading and study of the Writings. Nothing that was said then was intended to take away from the need to search also with diligence the Word in the Old and New Testaments. At the beginning of His public ministry the Lord assured the disciples that He had not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them; and the teaching of the Writings themselves shows clearly that they were not given to displace either the Law or the Gospel but to glorify them by revealing the spirit and life within.
     It has often been frankly admitted, and even deplored, that as a church we tend to be deficient in a sound general knowledge of the letter of the Word; and although it is understandable that most of our available time should be given to the study of the Writings, it would be a mistake to devote it all to that study. However, it would be a mistake also to regard a knowledge of the letter merely as a weapon for the more thorough discomfiture of those Old Church people with whom we may engage in discussion. The Writings point plainly to uses to ourselves, and through us to the entire church.
     For example, we are taught in Arcana Coelestia no. 3819, that in the literal sense of the Word there are general truths, but in the internal sense singular truths; and in the following number it is said that general truths must be learned first, but must then be qualified and filled with light by singular truths, such as are in the internal sense of the Word. These statements point to an intimate and continuing connection; and there are many teachings scattered throughout the Writings which make clear that Divine revelation in the more ultimate forms of the Old and New Testament Word is the foundation of the New Church; that the rational doctrinal series now given are not sufficient by themselves; and that the interior development of the New Church will depend in considerable measure upon its ability to perceive the spiritual truth of the Writings in the letter of the Old and New Testaments.
     This is not only because the universal application of the Word to human states, and its appeal to the manifold affections of men, reside especially in the letter, though that should by no means be overlooked.

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It is also because of the peculiar power of Divine truth in ultimates. When the doctrinal series formulated in the Writings are referred to their corresponding forms in the letter, they are seen, not as theological abstractions adapted to the rational mind, but depicted livingly as the Divine leading in actual human situations. For example, the doctrine concerning the permission of evil appeals strongly to the rational mind; but when the operation of the doctrine is then seen in such portions of the letter as the story of Joseph and his brethren, and that of the trial and crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord, there is added an ultimate appeal of great strength, for the truth then stands forth before the external as well as the internal sight of the mind.
     Now it might be said that we follow the order laid down by the numbers cited from the Arcana in our religious education program. But no one would argue seriously that in elementary school we learn all we shall ever need to know about the Old and New Testaments; and that having first learned general truths there we can devote the rest of our available time to qualifying and filling them with light by the truths of the Writings! The process of learning general truths from the letter of the Word is a continuing one; and, indeed, it is as we go back to the letter from the Writings that we can learn general truths there in a way that was never before possible.
     So there is need to read and study the Word in the Old and New Testament Scriptures as well as in the Writings; and there are passages which indicate that such study should not only be of consecutive readings but should also consist in the careful collation of passages, where there is time for, and some training in, this type of work. Indeed, as has been suggested in the past, we believe, classes in the study of the letter of the Word might have a definite place together with doctrinal classes, if they could be fitted into our programs.
     Be that as it may, long experience shows that when the church has a general but distinct and intelligent picture in mind of the letter of the Word, of its principal series, the doctrines unfolded rationally in the Writings are then seen in the letter. When that happens, both the letter and the spirit of the Word are seen, and there is reception of the spiritual truth of the Word. We may never say, then, that the Word of the Old and New Testament has been outmoded. As a church, we shall continue to go to the Writings for our doctrine; but as that doctrine is given to qualify and illuminate the letter, so it must be seen confirmed in and illustrated by the letter, and in application to human states. And this cannot be done without regular reading in the letter.

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Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     GENERAL CHURCH

     On February 8, 1954, the following gentlemen, second year students in the Theological School of the Academy, were accepted as Authorized Candidates for the priesthood: Robert Schill Junge, Frederick Laurier Schnarr, and Jan Hugo Weiss.

     URBANA, OHIO

     Since the Rev. Norman H. Reuter left our group in June, 1950, we had not held a business meeting until recently, and when Mr. Fred Merrell left we lost our secretary. However, on December 13, 1953, the Rev. Louis B. King, our newly appointed Visiting Pastor, called our first business meeting in over three years, and started us off again by nominating a secretary. The writer of these notes is happy to serve in that position.
     Although the Urbana-Cincinnati group is small, and a visit to minister to it meant a long journey for most of our pastors, we were certainly never forgotten by our clergy and church friends. Many came to strengthen us and to brighten our isolation. Bishop George de Charms was our most distinguished visitor; and we received ministrations also from the Revs. Elmo C. Acton, Karl R. Alden, Victor J. Gladish, W. Cairns Henderson, Louis B. King, Ormond Odhner, Dandridge Pendleton, Norman H. Reuter, Frank S. Rose, David R. Simons, Kenneth O. Stroh, and William Whitehead. We wish to thank all who have done so very much to help us. We are very happy to have the Rev. Louis B. King as our Visiting Pastor, and we are indebted to the Sharon Church for its willingness to share him with us. Mr. King will visit us monthly for classes and services, and we hope that icy roads and other misfortunes will not befall him again in his travels to and from our group. We were happy also that Mrs. King and daughter Bronwin were able to travel with Mr. King and visit with us.
     Mr. Robert G. Barnitz has been very gracious in the past in making so many of the arrangements for ministers to visit us. The Barnitz home in Urbana is a beautiful and cheerful center for worship.
     Miss Irene Lindgren of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Mr. Jack Lindsay of Dayton, Ohio, are welcome new friends to our group. Mr. McGill Echols attended services and classes with us white stationed at Wright Field in Dayton.
     KENNETH I. LATTA

     PEACE RIVER BLOCK DISTRICT

     At the 2nd Peace River Block District Assembly it was unanimously decided to petition the Bishop for a resident pastor or minister. Now we in the north of Canada have achieved our aim, and we were very pleased to welcome the Rev. and Mrs. Roy Franson and their family to our group.
     Our first service was held in Dawson Creek on December 20, 1953, with members attending from there and also from Gorande Prairie. A business meeting followed the service, after which supper was served and a general discussion took place. Mrs. Margery Esak is our secretary and Mrs. Mary Shearer our most able treasurer. Miss Loraine Lemky has been the pianist, and we are very grateful for her services.
     Plans have been made, at least temporarily, to hold services in Dawson Creek at the Elks' Hall on 5th Avenue and 100th Street on the first three Sundays of the month at 2:00 p.m., and in Gorande Prairie on the last Sunday of each month in the homes of various members. It is hoped that arrangements can be made at a later date to hold services more frequently in Gorande Prairie.
     Doctrinal classes have been arranged for every second Friday evening, beginning on January 8th. These classes are to be held at the homes of the various members. We are also having hymn singing practices every second Wednesday. These began on January 6th, and will be held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Heinrichs, weather and roads permitting.

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     A committee consisting of Mrs. Franson, Mrs. Brown, and Mrs. Esak has been appointed to make arrangements for Sunday School instruction for the children.
     On Christmas morning we held our first Christmas service at 11:00 a.m. For many of us this was our first New Church Christmas service, and to all it brought a message of hope and inspiration.
     We would like to issue a sincere invitation to attend our services and doctrinal classes to all who are able to do so and who are interested.
     MARGERY M. ESAK

     LONDON, ENGLAND

     Visiting Ministers;-We would like to begin this report by recalling two services conducted by visiting ministers. For his first visit in this period the Rev. Frank S. Rose preached on the subject of the fear of the Lord (Luke 12: 4, 5). This was related to preceding verses on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and thence to the subject of self-deception. The fear which underlies hypocrisy is that of external restraint, wherein man is caught between the life of evil and simulated good. Love of self reaps eternal frustration and is based on false fear. Spiritual fear is anxiety not to oppose the Lord's will and is the beginning of wisdom, whereby man is made forever one with the Lord.
     The Rev. Alan Gill conducted a service at which he preached on the text: "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:30). The assurance that it is not so difficult to live the life that leads to heaven is addressed to the as yet unregenerated and burdened in spirit, including those oppressed by a sense of human frailty and those anxious about spiritual freedom. Regeneration is a painful and exacting process, yet there are no insurmountable difficulties in regard to things that are really loved. And man is led so gently by the Lord that there is nothing of domination.

     Doctrinal Classes.-The series on Divine Providence given by the Rev. Morley D. Rich continues at the central and group classes. Under appropriate headings, those laws of the Divine Providence have been analyzed which show that the sense of self-life and freedom are from the Lord alone and man should, as of himself, serve the Lord, not falling into faith alone or fatalism; that the power of evil is not from man himself but from hell, and that only in the Writings are the nature and influx of the spiritual world made known; and that while external compulsion leaves the internal untouched, man can compel himself internally, not toward good, but away from evil, which leads him into true freedom.
     The special class on conjugial love is proving its importance in addressing itself to first principles as well as to functions which both determine a true marriage and lay the foundations for the orderly advancement of life in the conjugial form of a society.

     Women's Guild.-The Sale of Work was a record event, and commercial plus entertainment talent brought in the sum of L54:0:0. The ladies themselves greatly amused the audience with a sketch which assured them an "Open Road" to future success. They even cast Bishop De Charms in the role of a passenger in a faster than sight plane on his way to the 1956 Assembly. We are reminded that humor serves in its special way to stimulate the faculty of contrast. One likes to think also that, conversely, a healthy analytical faculty is the finest promoter of worthy New Church entertainment.
     In this period the Women's Guild has been addressed by the Rev. Morley D. Rich on "The Spiritual Uses of Natural Science," and by Mr. Royston Griffith on "Correspondences, Representatives, and Significatives."

     Christmas Festival.-During the service on the Sunday before Christmas the Pastor spoke to the children on the Lord's coming into the world as an infant, and illustrated the story by an account of the change brought about in the life of a family by the arrival of a baby.
     In the afternoon a special program included two papers, one by Mr. Norman Turner on "The Importance of the Incarnation to Mankind," the other by Mr. Geoffrey Dawson on "The Signification of the Advent of the Lord." The final item was a household linen shower for Mr. Bruce Pitcairn and Miss Theodora Coffin, who had recently been betrothed at Michael Church.
     A special service was held on Christmas Day.

     A Wedding.-It is doubtless without precedent for Bryn Athynites to be married in an English church, and in an English winter, too; yet with Theodora Coffin as the bride and Bruce Pitcairn as the bridegroom it was nonetheless a case of the right people in the right place at the right time.

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The wedding took place on January 9th, and the Rev. Morley D. Rich officiated in the presence of a large congregation.
     At the reception one speaker reminded us what a romantic country England is. True, one does not attribute the location of this event to the attractions of a welfare state, but we willingly recognize that the decisions of love are to be looked for in the rational, not the poetical.
     The bridegroom's speech, an unfamiliar undertaking for an American, was undertaken by Bruce with a delightful sense of responsibility. His father, Mr. Harold F. Pitcairn, responded to a toast with a speech which at once confirmed our regard for him as a parent wise in the ways of use. We were delighted also to meet Mrs. Pitcairn, and Bruce's brother, Bob.
     To Teddy and Bruce we wish a happy continuation of their stay in England as a married pair, thus as a complete visiting member of our Society.
     COLIN M. GREENHALGH

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     To start this report we go back to last October. When some 40 members of the Pittsburgh Society travel to Bryn Athyn for Charter Day, that's news! Brief though the visit was, each one of us felt refreshed by the renewal of our contact with the Academy and with our many friends. Not only were we impressed by the general setup and the wonderful spirit, but we actually learned a lot about the educational work itself.
     Our classes all start in the fall; namely, general doctrinal class and classes for the young people, the married group, the high school, the Sons, and the Women's Guild. We have Friday Suppers followed by singing practices every other Friday. These functions, together with the services, are the heart of any society, and they are well attended.
     The local Chapter of Theta Alpha sponsored a party at Halloween for the benefit of the library. There was a large turn-out. We all came as different characters and objects, were as happy as children, and played one game after another. At the door was a basket, and the proceeds went to our library, of which we are very proud. We have an efficient library committee that keeps the books up-to-date. Mrs. Bjorn Boyesen was in charge of the affair which, with a special contribution, netted $80.
     This Society usually enjoys the company of many guests, but we really had a bumper crop at Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving we had a most impressive service. The children, all of them taking part from the oldest to the youngest, marched in singing, each bringing a gift of fruit to the Lord; and our Pastor gave us a fine talk on how to be truly thankful, not only with our lips, but in our hearts and lives as well. We can indeed be truly thankful, for seeing all those children there we could feel that the Lord is blessing this church.
     The day after Thanksgiving we and our many guests were invited to a square dance which, with 100 present, was the largest and most successful we have had. The auditorium was decorated like a barn, and there was live music led by a man who knew how to call the tunes and get us all up to dance. Our active and capable social committee-Mr. and Mrs. Robert Blair and Mr. and Mrs. Gareth Acton-is responsible for major social events.
     On the first Thursday in December the Women's Guild held a bazaar, the proceeds of which are to go for a new piano. Many weeks of work went into sewing, knitting, flower gathering, and so on, to stock the five booths. Mrs. Dan Conn was general manager, and our treasurer said that we took in about $375.00.
     The men are working too. One important committee which is working all the time is the building maintenance committee, headed by Mr. Gilbert Smith. He is the one who tries to keep the building in top shape without spending too much, so that we still have enough money to support the school, and he often calls out a crew of willing workers. To the credit of these men is a fine modern red sink, installed in the Pastor's apartment in time for Christmas.

     Our Christmas celebration really begins with the classes and sermons given to prepare us for the New Church under standing of the Lord's birth. The Sunday evening before Christmas we were all invited to a Christmas Sing at the beautiful new home of Mr. and Mrs. John Schoenberger, a home in which there is ample room for all of us. Christmas songs were sung; beautiful solos were played, including some on the harp, the trumpet, and the violin; and refreshments were served. The children have a Christmas party at school on the last day before vacation. Each of the teachers had a little scene in her room depicting some part of the Advent story, and in the hall was a large representation of the Nativity prepared by Theta Alpha.

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     Our largest function in the year as far as attendance is concerned is our Christmas festival. This is held in the auditorium on Christmas Eve and is both religious and social. The first part is religious, and the children enter singing. The Word is opened, and we kneel in prayer. The Pastor then tells about the tableaux that are to be presented and the children recite from the Word. It is in this atmosphere that the beautiful tableaux are shown. This year there were three scenes-the prophecy of Balaam, the Wise Men, and the Nativity. Music was sung while they were being given. When the tableaux are over the Word is dosed, and to their great joy the Pastor gives each child a gift. These gifts, different for different ages, are made by the Women's Guild for the most part, and vary from hand-dressed dolls and hand-embroidered bookmarks for the Word to copies of The Life of the Lord. There were about 130 people in attendance. Harry Abele was the master craftsman of the tableaux. On Christmas Day, when adults and children worship together, we had a well attended service in the church, which was decorated with Christmas greens, red roses, and candles.
     This year the Society held a Christmas dance which was truly beautiful. We had a four-piece orchestra, and the auditorium was dressed in its Christmas best with greens, snow men, candy canes, and all. There was a full turnout, and the committee kept the party moving right along with special dances and a grand march in which we sang until the rafters rang. At this dance we had many of our children home from school; and we were very happy to have Walter Williamson, a jet pilot, home on leave from Korea. In true Pittsburgh style, both he and Ken Blair, another Korea veteran, turned to and helped with the decorating. Our thanks go to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Blair who put on the dance. Since our last report congratulations are in order for two new babies and for two engagements. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Schoenberger and their four children have moved to Pittsburgh, as have Mr. and Mrs. James T. Snyder. Miss Mollie Tyler and Miss Edna Funk have joined the Society, and to all of them we say: "Welcome! We are glad you are here."
     LUCILE S. BLAIR

     TORONTO, CANADA

     On Friday, October 31st, our Chapter of Theta Alpha held a Halloween party for the children of school age. The children, each in an interesting costume, played many games and ended the evening with a delicious supper. The adults' social on this occasion was held the following evening and took the form of a square dance. Under the able calling of Mrs. Tucker we went through the squares very well. Refreshments of hamburgers, pumpkin pie, and coffee, closed the evening.
     While the Rev. A. Wynne Acton was in Montreal over the weekend of November 8th we had the privilege of having the Rev. Norman H. Reuter preach to us.

     Farewell Banquet.-It was with mixed feelings that the Society met on December 19th at a farewell banquet held in honor of the Rev. and Mrs. A. Wynne Acton. With the assembly hall and the tables beautifully decorated in a Christmas motif, 130 of us sat down to a wonderful meal prepared by a committee of our ladies. A group of friends from Kitchener helped to swell the number. Mr. Reginald S. Anderson was the toastmaster, and a warm sphere of friendship prevailed throughout the evening. Several original songs were sung in honor of the occasion, and these caused a good deal of merriment. We also had the pleasure of meeting our new Pastor, the Rev. Martin Pryke. The theme of the speakers was some of the problems of a pastor with a society; and the papers, though in lighter vein, all brought out what Mr. Acton's patience and understanding had meant to our Society during the years of his pastorate here. Nor was the part that Mrs. Acton had played forgotten. The Rev. Norman H. Reuter and the Rev. Martin Pryke also spoke in appreciation of Mr. Acton's work.
     On behalf of the Society, Mr. Thomas Fountain presented the Rev. and Mrs. Acton with a beautiful traveling bag and a donation of money as a parting gift. In his reply Mr. Acton expressed the regret of his wife and himself at leaving us, but stated that the uses of the Church sometimes necessitated changes and that he felt that we would always be associated as together we honored those uses.
     The day school had a luncheon party on December 22nd, with Master Robert Foley as toastmaster. Miss Suzanne Fountain made the presentation of an album containing individual pictures of the school children to their retiring Principal, the Rev. A. Wynne Acton; and Master Douglas Raymond addressed a speech of welcome to their new Principal, the Rev. Martin Pryke.

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The young people's banquet for Mr. and Mrs. Acton was held at the church on Saturday, December 26th, with John Raymond as toastmaster. On this occasion the guests of honor were presented with a beautiful oil painting. Games and square dancing followed a delicious meal.
     Meetings.-The meetings of the Ladies' Circle and of Theta Alpha have been held regularly each month in different homes. The Sons have held their regular monthly meetings at the church. At their Christmas meetings, each of these organizations presented Mr. Acton with a farewell gift.
     Christmas.-On Sunday, December 20th, the Christmas story was retold to us in living tableaux form, under the management of Miss Marion Swalm. The inner chancel was curtained off and the tableaux presented in the outer chancel of our chapel. The first scene was that of David slaying Goliath. This was followed by the Nativity scene. Then King Herod was shown calling the Wise Men. The appearing of the angel to Joseph to warn him in a dream was depicted next; and the last scene represented the flight into Egypt. Each child later received a Christmas gift of a book, together with a bag of fruit and candy.
     On Christmas Day the chancel was decorated simply with greenery. At the beginning of the service the infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Bradfield was baptized. In his address to the children, the Rev. A. Wynne Acton told of the great joy of giving to each other on this special birthday. The sermon to the adults reminded us not only of the Lord's birth but also of the completion of His glorification. There were 141 persons present-a record attendance for other than Assembly services.
     The Holy Supper was administered on Sunday, December 29th, both Mr. Acton and Mr. Pryke taking part in the service. Before the administration, Mr. Acton gave a short sermon concerning the conjunction of the Lord with the man who comes worthily to this most holy act of worship.
     There were a few "open houses" and a number of parties over the Christmas season. We also had the pleasure of having most of our Bryn Athyn students home for the vacation, and a number of visitors who were also able to be with us.
     New Year.-A very happy time was had by all at the New Year's Eve social held at the church, and we noted with pleasure how many were able to attend this year and join in the fun. Just before midnight our Pastor, the Rev. Martin Pryke, gave a short talk, reminding us that although New Year's Eve is not one of the formal festivals of the Church, it serves a purpose in that it causes us to take stock of the past and resolve to make the coming year one of greater endeavor for usefulness. The New Year was welcomed in on this note. Dancing was then resumed for a while, after which a cold buffet supper was served.
     KATHERINE BARBER

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Convention.-The Commission on Religious Education appointed by the General Convention reports that although it looks forward to the establishment of a Department with a full time Director of Religious Education, the immediate task has been the production of new Sunday school material. Progress in that direction is reported. Teachers' notes and pupils' workbooks will, it is hoped, be ready by September.
     Members of the Board of Trustees of Urbana University have been asked to rate the present operations of Urbana Junior College. Most board members returned a rating of between "Good" and "Valuable"; agreed that legitimate areas for the College include the improvement of the functions of older people as well as the preparation of young people for vocations and citizenship; and gave a preference for the second course in answering the question: "Do we turn back now to the Urbana University of the first hundred years (1850-1950), or do we follow the road we have taken at the beginning of the college's second century, possibly undertaking commitments which make turning back in the near future difficult?"
     Mainly on account of deteriorating health, the Rev. Leslie Marshall has withdrawn from most of his Convention activities, including the secretaryship of the Board of Missions.
     "With the Practicing Psychologist" is the title of a new feature column in THE NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER. The column is written by the Rev. Horatio Dresser, Ph.D., who is a consulting psychologist in the Brooklyn Clinic.
ASSEMBLY MUSIC 1954

ASSEMBLY MUSIC              1954




     Announcements.




     The following selections will be used in the Divine Worship held during the General Assembly:

Offices 2 and 4
Hymns nos. 24, 52, 53, 55
Antiphon X-2-316
Anthems 5, 11, 13
Psalms 33, 48 GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1954

GENERAL ASSEMBLY       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954

     THE TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, from Wednesday, June 16th, to Sunday, June 20th, 1954, inclusive.
     The program and other information will be given in later issues of NEW CHURCH LIFE.
          GEORGE DE CHARMS,
               Bishop.
Title Unspecified 1954

Title Unspecified       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954


     At its meeting on February 6th, 1954, the Joint Council approved the proposal of the Bishop that the name of the Right Reverend W. D. Pendleton be placed before the 20th General Assembly as nominee for the post of Assistant Bishop of the General Church.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS,
          Bishop.

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FORMATION OF THE HUMAN 1954

FORMATION OF THE HUMAN       Rev. WILLARD D. PENDLETON       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV          APRIL, 1954               No. 4
     (Delivered at the Open Session of the Council of the Clergy, Bryn Athyn, Pa., February 5, 1954.)

     THE SPIRITUAL CELESTIAL MAN

     We are taught in the Writings that the Lord was born a spiritual celestial man (AC 4594). In this He differed from all other men. The teaching is that "every infant is born natural; and the natural, because it is next to the external senses and the world, is first opened; and this with all men is ignorant of truth and desirous of evil; but in the Lord alone the natural had a desire for good and a longing for truth; for the ruling affection in man is from the father; and with the Lord the affection or soul was the Divine itself, which is the Divine good of the Divine love" (AE 449a).
     Unlike all other men, therefore, the Lord was born into the affection of good, and because He was born into the affection of good He was also born into the affection of truth; for "what is celestial has truth with it, the one being inseparable from the other, as light is from flame" (AC 1469). Hence it is that whereas all men are born natural, that is, into the love of self and the world, the Lord alone was born a spiritual celestial man because the Divine was in Him. Of others it is said that they "may become either celestial or spiritual by regeneration from the Lord" (AC 4594); but the Lord alone had "a desire for good and a longing for truth" in the natural from birth.
     It was this inborn affection for good and truth in the natural which accounts for the formative states of the Human-those states which marked the Lord's progress from infancy through childhood. As any other child, He was born into the world, and as any other child He was instructed (AC 1489); yet there was a difference-a difference so marked and so profound that wise men from the east humbled themselves in the presence of the Babe; and when He was twelve years of age the doctors of the law "were astonished at His understanding and answers" (Luke 2:47).

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The reason was that this Child was as no other. "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). "And such as the life is, such is the man" (AC 2649).
     The Writings teach that the Lord was born a spiritual celestial man because the ruling affection is from the father; and with the Lord the ruling affection was the Divine love itself. It is to be observed that all perception is from affection, and that the nature and quality of the perception are according to the nature and quality of the affection. The inference is that He alone had perception immediately from the Divine. Indeed, it is said: "As regards the Lord when He lived in the world, all His thought was from Divine perception, because He alone was a Divine and celestial man; for He was the only one in whom was Jehovah Himself, from whom was His perception" (AC 2144). Of all men, therefore, He alone was born a spiritual celestial man, for He was born into the affection of truth from Divine love, that is into the perception of truth immediately from the Divine.
     What, then, can we say of those Divine celestial perceptions which the Lord alone had? (AC 1914). In that they lie beyond all finite apprehension, the Writings merely state that they "cannot be apprehended by any idea, not even of the angels; therefore, [they] cannot be described" (AC 1919). Yet the mode by which the Lord entered into perception from the Divine may be understood, for the Lord was born as man, and as man He advanced according to order; that is, according to those laws of Divine order which govern all mental development and growth. Hence it is said in the True Christian Religion: "Since . . . it was God who descended, and since He is order itself, it was necessary, if He was to become man actually, that He should be conceived, carried in the womb, born, educated, acquire knowledges gradually, and thereby be introduced into intelligence and wisdom" (no. 89).

     KNOWLEDGES

     All the wisdom to which the mind may ever attain is inherent in the soul from birth. This is the reason it is said in the Arcana that "the Lord possessed all truth previous td His instruction" (No. 1469). But it is added: "This truth was stored up in the Lord's internal man, which was Divine" (ibid.). Truth, therefore, is not to be identified with knowledge. All truth is Divine, but knowledges are human forms--those forms in which truth is presented to man. We would here call your attention to the teaching of the Writings that "in order to be heard, the Divine must first become human" (AC 6982).

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By the human here is meant the human form, or that form in which truth may be seen and acknowledged. Hence, knowledges are said to be forms of truth or vessels receptive of truth.
     Thus it was that whereas the Lord possessed all truth previous to instruction, it was only as He was instructed that the Divine was revealed to the Human. Hence the teaching that it was by means of knowledges that the Lord glorified the Human; for without knowledges as means, the Divine would have had no approach to the Human. That the knowledges of truth are the sole means of communication between the Divine and the human is evident from the teaching that "in no way can anyone be conjoined with the Lord, except by means of knowledges, for by means of knowledges a man becomes a man" (AC 1616). So it was that the Lord, "because He was born as other men, was also instructed as they are" (AC 1616); yet with this difference, that "the Lord did not will to imbue Himself with any other knowledges than those of the Word, which was open to Him . . . from Jehovah, His Father, with whom He was to be united and become one; and this the more, because nothing is said in the Word that does not in its inmost have regard to Him, and that has not first come from Him" (AC 1461).
     It is a point of angelic wisdom that "the knowledge of a thing must precede the perception of it" (AC 5649:3). It was, therefore, only as the Lord acquired knowledges from the Word that He came into the perception of those truths which He is said to have "previously possessed." In other words, it was only as the human mind which He took on by birth was formed and ordered that the infinite wisdom of the soul from the Father descended into the plane of the human. This influx from the soul was perceived by Him as a revelation from the Divine. Thus it is said: "As regards the Lord's instruction in general, the nature of it is very clear in the internal sense . . . namely, that it was by means of continual revelations . . . from His Divine" (AC 2500). It is added, however, that "this way of growing wise is not possible with any man" (ibid.); the reason being that all perception is from love, and "the Lord's love was infinitely above the love in which the angels are, for it was the Divine love itself, and therefore He had in Himself a supereminence of all wisdom and intelligence; into which, however, because He was born a man, and was to progress as a man according to Divine order, He introduced Himself by successive steps, in order that He might thus unite His Human to the Divine, and make it Divine; and this by His own power" (ibid.).

     THE AFFECTION OF TRUTH

     Of all created forms, man alone can be affected by truth. Were it not for this affection man would be as the beast of the field, knowing neither good nor evil, but only those delights of sensual affections which are called instincts.

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It is, then, by means of the affection of truth that man becomes man, for it is from this affection that man acquires those knowledges of which the rational is formed (AC 2180, 2072). That this is so is evident from the teaching that "the rational is not born [as is supposed] of knowledges, but of the affection of . . . knowledges, as may be seen from the mere fact that no one can ever become rational unless some delight or affection aspires thereto" (AC 1895). It is not in knowledge itself that the essential human consists, but in the affection or delight by means of which knowledges are acquired.
     The nature and quality of this affection depend upon the end to which it looks. If it aspires to a knowledge of God, and a life of love to the Lord and charity to the neighbor, it is a spiritual affection; but if it regards self as the end-if its delight is in itself-then it is a purely natural affection. Such is the state of this affection with all men at birth, for as stated: "Every infant is born natural . . . with all men [the natural] is ignorant of truth and desirous of evil" (AE 449a). Yet here is a marvelous thing! This affection, although born into the love of self, may yet be raised up by the Lord into a genuine delight in use. This is the miracle of regeneration-that miracle of which the Lord spake unto Nicodemus, saying: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God': (John 3:3). Hence the teaching that although man is born natural he has "the capacity or ability to become either celestial or spiritual by regeneration from the Lord" (AC 4594).
     As already considered, it was in this that the Lord differed from all other men. Whereas all others are born natural we are told that "He alone was born a spiritual celestial man" (AC 4594); that is to say, He alone was born into the affection of truth from good. This good was the Divine love itself and constituted His paternal heredity. In this He differed from others, because He alone was conceived of Jehovah, and as previously quoted, "the ruling affection in man is from the father" (AE 449a), and with the Lord the ruling affection in the natural was the Divine (ibid.). We are not to infer from this, however, that there were no other affections in the natural, for' the Lord also put on the maternal heredity from whence He derived that affection for knowledges in which the Lord was as other men. That this is so is evident from the teaching that, "the Lord was born as are other men, and as regards all that He drew from Mary the mother He was like other men, and as the rational is formed by means of knowledges which enter through the senses . . . therefore His first rational was born as with any other man" (AC 1893).
     We must distinguish, therefore, between that Divine affection of truth which the Lord had from the Divine and that human affection of truth which he derived from Mary.

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The one is represented in Scripture by Sarai, the wife of Abram, and the other by Hagar the Egyptian handmaid. It is in relation to Abram, that is, to the Divine good of the Divine love which was the Lord's internal man, that the relation of these two affections may be understood. By Sarai, Abram's wife, is meant "Divine truth in conjunction with good, or the Divine spiritual in conjunction with the Divine celestial" (AC 1904), and herein, the Writings observe, "was the Lord distinguished from every other man" (ibid.). By Hagar, on the other hand, is meant the affection of knowledges which the Lord derived from the mother, of whom Ishmael, or the Lord's first rational, was born.
     In this connection we would note the teaching that "the rational is not born [as is supposed] of knowledges, but of the affection of these knowledges, as may be seen from the mere fact that no one can ever become rational unless some delight or affection aspires thereto. The affection is the maternal life itself; and the celestial and spiritual itself, in the affection, is the paternal life; therefore in proportion to the affection, and in accordance with the quality of the affection, in the same proportion, and in the same quality, does the man become rational" (AC 1895).
     Now it is a matter of Scriptural record that during the formative states of the Human, "Sarai, Abram's wife, did not bear unto him" (Genesis 16:1); by which is signified that during the period of the Lord's instruction in childhood, "there was no Divine rational" (AC 1904). The fact is that the rational cannot be born except by way of knowledges derived through the senses. This is a law of all mental growth and development, (or "the rational is not born with man, but only the capacity for becoming rational" (AC 1893). Hence it is said that "it . . . pleased [the Lord] to be born, and thereby actually to assume the human form"; that is to say, it pleased the Lord to be born "really and essentially a man" (ibid.). The words which Sarai spake unto Abram referred to that formative process whereby the Lord put on the human through the affection of knowledges: "Behold, I pray, Jehovah hath shut me up from bearing; go in, I pray, unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall be built up by her" (Genesis 16:2).
     That these words referred to the formation and development of the rational by means of the affection of knowledges is clearly evident in the internal sense of the Word. As already considered, if it were not for the delight that man finds in the acquisition of knowledge he would never become man. When, therefore, it is said in the Canons that "Jehovah God assumed a human such as men have on the earths" (Canons Red., VIII:2), not only does it imply that the Lord put on a material body from the mother, but also that He put on that affection of knowledges of which the rational is born.

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Indeed, it is said that "the Lord, being born as are other men, and because He had a nature inherited from the mother, was like other men in respect to the miraculous formation of the rational by means of knowledges. . . . Therefore was His rational conceived and born in the same way as with other men, but with the difference that inmostly in all things that were His . . . there was the Divine" (AC 1902).
     The teaching is that the first rational is born of the influx of the internal man, that is, of the soul, into the life or affection of the exterior or natural man (AC 1909). Hence it is said of Hagar that "she conceived, by which is signified the first life of the rational, as is evident from the fact that "the rational receives its life from the internal man flowing into the life of the affection of knowledges in the exterior or natural man. The life of the affection of these knowledges gives a sort of body to the rational, or clothes the life of the internal man as the body clothes the soul (AC 1910). Thus it was that even as Mary provided the material body in which the Lord was clothed when He dwelt among men, so it was by means of Mary, or through Mary, that the Lord put on that human affection for natural truth of which the rational was born. As previously quoted: "The affection is the maternal life itself" (AC 1895); and as the quality of the rational is according to the quality of the affection of which it is born, so the Lord's first rational, although conceived of Jehovah, partook of the hereditary nature from the mother, and had to be expelled.
As the Writings state: "Whatever was born from the exterior [or natural] man had the hereditary nature with it, and therefore had evil with it; [and] it was this that the Lord conquered, subjugated and expelled" (AC 1921).

     APPEARANCES OF TRUTH

     The subjugation and expulsion of the first rational is the subject of the sixteenth and twenty-first chapters of the Arcana Coelestia. Herein the Lord was tempted; for the teaching is that this first or merely human rational "lightly esteemed" the Divine affection of truth represented by Sarai (AC 1911). So it is said of Hagar that "when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes" (Genesis 16:4). This is the nature of the first rational with every man; and as the Lord was born as are other men, and with Him the first rational was formed of knowledges derived through the senses, He, too, was captivated by the appearances of truth, of which the first rational consists (AC 1484, 1911). It was through these appearances of truth that the Lord was tempted; that is, through those appearances of truth which are inherent in the human affection of truth which the Lord derived from the mother. That this is so is evident from the memorable statement in the Arcana Coelestia no. 4593, that it "was the human affection of interior truth which the Divine affection expelled" (see also AC 2511, 2529, 2649, 3040, 3078, 3089).

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     In all human affection of truth there is something of the love of self and the world. Even in that interior affection of truth by which man is led into good, these two loves are present. Yet the loves of self and the world are not necessarily evil; for these two loves were from creation, and in the beginning there was nothing but good. But God so created man that all which he wills, thinks, and does appears to him as if from himself. Were this not so man would not be man. If from the appearance, however, man induces on himself the belief that the good which he does is from himself, he makes in himself the origin of evil (CL 444). This, we are told, was the sin of Adam; and this was the origin of that affection of truth which the Lord derived from the maternal human. Hence it is said of the first rational, which is born of the human affection of truth, that "in the beginning it knows no other love than that of self and the world" (AC 2657).
     As the Lord was born as are other men, and as with Him the first rational "had evil with it" (AC 1921), it had to be expelled. In this, therefore, there was a difference. For with the man who is being regenerated "all things of the first rational remain . . . and are merely separated from the second, or spiritual, rational; and this in a most wonderful manner by the Lord. But the Lord wholly banished His first rational, so that nothing of it remained; for what is merely human cannot be together with the Divine" (AC 2657). It was to this complete and utter rejection of all that the Lord derived from the mother that the words of Sarah referred when she spake to Abraham, saying: "Cast out this bondwoman and her son: For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac" (Genesis 21:12). It was also to this that the words of the Lord referred when He spake unto Mary, saying, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" (John 2:4).
     It was not of Mary, however, that the Lord spake, but of those natural affections which comprised the maternal heredity. With Him, as with man, the appearance was that life consisted in self, that is, in the delights and affections which are from self. Were this not so wherein would the tempter have had the power to take Him up into a high mountain and show Him all the kingdoms of the world, and say unto Him: "All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me" (Matthew 4:9). In this, therefore, the Lord was tempted-tempted by the appearance that is inherent in all human affection of truth. Thus it was that when the Lord perceived the quality of the Ishmael rational; that is, when from Divine perception He saw that this rational consisted of "appearances of truths which in themselves were not truths" (AC 1911), He was indignant.

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Indeed it is said, in reference to Sarai's indignation when she saw that she was despised in Hagar's eyes, that the Lord "could not but be indignant knowing that nothing of evil and falsity was from Himself" (AC 1914). This shows, the Writings point out, that it was not the Lord who lightly esteemed the Divine affection of truth, but that He perceived and saw that His first rational did so (ibid.). It was this Divine indignation which was so powerfully expressed when He replied to the tempter, saying: "Get thee behind Me, Satan" (Luke 4:8).

     THE DOCTRINE OF MEANS

     It was, then, through, or by means of, the maternal affection of truth that the Lord was instructed in childhood; it was through, or by means of, this affection that the first rational was formed; it was through, or by means of, this affection that He entered into those appearances of truth by which He was tempted; and finally, it was this affection which He rejected in those states of glorification which marked His progress toward union with the Divine. In this connection the Writings teach that "it is one thing to acquire something from a means, and another to acquire it by a means" (AC 4065). In explanation of this the Writings further state that "the Lord acquired good by a means because He was born a man, and derived an heredity from the mother which was to be expelled; but He did not acquire good from a means, because He was conceived of Jehovah, from whom He had the Divine; and He therefore gave Himself all the goods and truths which He made Divine. For the Divine itself has need of none, not even of that mediate good; except that He willed that all things should be done according to order" (ibid.).
     To understand this we must bear in mind that by mediate good the Writings refer to those human affections of good and truth which in themselves are not good, but which nevertheless serve as a means whereby man is introduced to genuine good. Hence they are called in the Writings "the media of regeneration" (AC 4063); and were it not for the fact that such goods and truths "are provided by the Lord" (ibid.), no man could ever be regenerated. Such is the nature of the good of childhood, and such is the nature of that first formed affection of truth by means of which man acquires knowledges from the Word. In itself it is a purely natural affection, which has as its end the acquisition of knowledge for the sake of self and the world; but as long as there is something of innocence in it, that is, as long as man can be led by the Lord through this affection, it can serve as a means of regeneration. So it is said of mediate good that it "partakes both of the affections of this world and of the affections of heaven" (ibid.).

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     Except by way of analogy, however, we are not concerned with the doctrine of means as it applies to man, but with the doctrine as it concerned the Lord. The Writings teach that the Lord "never took anything of good and truth from another" (AC 4065); but it was through, or by means of, mediate good derived from the mother that the way was opened for the descent of the Divine good into the plane of the human. This is what is meant by the further teaching that "the good that was related to His maternal human . . . served Him as means" (ibid.); for by this good, that is, by way of the affection of truth derived from the mother, "He procured for Himself those things whereby He made His natural Divine" (ibid.).
     "Those things which the Lord procured for Himself by which He made His natural Divine were knowledges derived from the Word (AC 1461). In this connection we would again remind you that "the Divine cannot be conjoined . . .to any man . . .except by means of His own Divine things" (Wis. XIII); and as knowledges from the Word are such that "they inmostly contain Divine things" (AC 3665), it was from the Word, and from the Word alone, that the Lord acquired those forms of truth which were open to the Divine. Into these knowledges, as receiving vessels, the Divine life inflowed, for the teaching is that "the influx of the internal man goes into the knowledges of the exterior man, affection being the means" (AC 1900). As the affection which is here considered is the affection of knowledges which the Lord derived from the mother, it is evident that although this affection served as a means, yet the Lord took nothing from this means. Hence it is said that "it is one thing to acquire something from a means, and another to acquire it 6y a means" (AC 4065).

     THE HUMAN ESSENCE

     What was it, then, that the Lord put on by birth into the world? Wherein did the Divine from eternity differ from the Human that was born in time? To understand this we must bear in mind that wherever the terms Divine and Human are used in relation to each other, the reference is to good and truth, that is, to essence and form; for good is the essence of truth, and truth is good in form. In itself, good is invisible. This is what is meant by the Lord's words: "No man hath seen God at any time" (John 1:18). Hence it is said in the Writings that "man cannot take good of himself for it is not seen by him" (CL 123). But man can take truth as of himself, for truth is good in human form; that is, truth is good which is formed to the sight of the understanding. Thus it was that the Lord also said: "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9); but "no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6).

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     In the infancy of the human race man was led by the Lord through the affection of good. From the delight of good he perceived truth in the will; and when a man wills to do what is good from the affection of good he is in the perception of truth from good. This is the order into which man was created by the Lord, an order which provided for the formation of the rational by way of the influx of good and truth through the soul. Indeed, it is said: "If man were imbued with no hereditary evils, the rational would then be born immediately . . . so that on coming into the world a man would at once have in himself all the faculty of reason and of knowing, for this would be in accordance with the order of influx" (AC 1902). Thus it was that the faith of the man of the Most Ancient Church was not dependent upon the formation of the understanding by way of knowledges derived through the senses. In him the will and the understanding were one, and what he perceived to be good he knew to be true. Hence he was said to have been a celestial man for he was ruled in all things by the affection of good.
     Quite different was the man who came after the flood. As a result of the fall, and the consequent loss of celestial perception, man could no longer be led through the affection of good. If man was to be saved from the delight of the evil into which he had fallen a new way had to be formed by which he could return to good. The first step in this process was the separation of the understanding from the will. "This," the Writings say, "is the reason why [at this day] man's rational must be formed by an altogether different process; that is, by means of knowledges introduced through the senses, thus flowing in by an external way, and so in inverted order" (AC 1902). The second step in the process was the formation of a new will from the understanding. This is effected by means of the affection of truth. This affection, although it is natural, may yet be made spiritual as long as something of innocence remains with the man.
     We would distinguish, therefore, between the affection of good, which is to do what is good from the love of good, and the affection of truth, which is to do what is good from the love of truth. "At first view," the Writings say, "these two affections appear to be the same; but in reality they are distinct from each other both as to essence and origin. The affection of good . . . is properly of the will, and the affection of truth . . . is properly of the understanding" (AC 1997). The distinction is basic, not only in its application to man, but particularly in its application to the doctrine of the Divine Human; for it was "this latter affection of truth [which] the Lord united to the affection of good . . . when He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence" (AC 1997).
     By the Human Essence, therefore, is meant that affection of truth which the Lord put on by way of birth into the world.

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This affection, in that it derived its form from knowledges acquired by way of the senses, is to be distinguished from the prior Human as the affections of the understanding are to be distinguished from the affections of the will. Whereas the affections of the will are perceived as loves and delights, the affections of the understanding take visible form in those knowledges of truth which man derives from the Word. Thus it was that the Lord, as a Man in the world, put on the affection of truth in the natural; and from the Divine love He purged this affection of all the derivatives from the mother, and in so doing He made it Divine. Hence it is said that "the Human Essence was . . . an additament to the Divine Essence which was from eternity" (AC 1461).
     It is, then, as Divine Man, that is, as Divine truth in human form, that God is now revealed to the man of the New Church. In this form, which is Divine truth in rational form, the Lord may now be seen and acknowledged by all who aspire to good through the affection of truth. This, we are told, is the reason why "the New Church is the crown of all the churches which have hitherto existed on the earth, because it is to worship one visible God in whom is the invisible like the soul in the body. Thus, and not otherwise, is the conjunction of God with man made possible, because man is natural, and therefore thinks naturally, and conjunction must exist in his thought, and thus in love's affection; and this is the case when he thinks of God as Man" (TCR 787).
HOW THE TEMPLE WAS REBUILT 1954

HOW THE TEMPLE WAS REBUILT       Rev. FRANK S. ROSE       1954

     An Easter Talk to Children

     On the Lord's first visit to Jerusalem after He had been baptized by John the Baptist, He went directly to the temple. He made a whip out of cords or pieces of rope, and with it He drove the money changers and the people who were selling animals right out of the temple. This made the Jews very angry. They did not know who He was. They wanted to know who gave Him permission to come and upset all their tables and their money-boxes. This is why they came up to Him and asked Him for a sign, or some proof that He had authority to do these things. In answer the Lord said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19).
     The Jews thought that this was impossible. How could a man build such a magnificent temple in a few days when it had taken hundreds of men many years to build it!

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They did not understand what the Lord meant. They could not understand because they did not want to.
     When they asked for a sign, they expected the Lord to do some miracle. They wanted to see something that was so wonderful that it would prove that the Lord had authority to do what He was doing. When He said that He would rebuild the temple they were surprised. This was not the kind of sign they wanted. It was something that could not be done unless their beautiful temple were taken down and destroyed. No one was willing to take the temple down merely to see if the Lord could build it again in three days. They thought to themselves that the Lord said this because He could not perform a miracle. They did not know that the Lord was telling about something that would actually happen in a few years.
     Three years later the Lord made His last visit to Jerusalem. Again He went to the temple, and again He drove out the money-changers and upset the chairs of the people who were selling doves. Again the Jews came to Him and asked Him what authority He had to do these things. This time the Lord did not tell them. He knew that they remembered what He had said before, and there was no need to tell them again.
     Soon after this the Lord was crucified. The real reason the Jews killed Him was because they hated Him, but they pretended that the reason was that the Lord had said that He was the Son of God, and that He could build the temple again in three days.
     The disciples were very sad, but the Jews were happy. They went by the cross, looked up at the Lord hanging there, and said: "Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross" (Matthew 27:40). Little did they know that what they said was true. The Lord was going to build the temple again in three days. He was the Son of God. He was going to come down from the cross.
     On the third day after the crucifixion many people had forgotten all about it, but there were a few people who were very much excited and afraid. The Jews were afraid that the Lord would rise from the dead. The disciples were afraid that He would not. Some women went to the sepulcher early Easter morning. At first they were worried because they found that the body of the Lord was no longer there. Then they saw two angels. The angels said: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words" (Luke 24:5-8).
     Later the disciples saw the Lord and tallied with Him.

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He actually took a piece of fish and some honey, and ate it in front of them so that they could see that He had really risen from the dead. There was no mistake. This was the Lord, and He was alive.
     You remember that when the Jews asked for a sign, the Lord told them that if they would destroy the temple, He mold rebuild it in three days. They thought that He meant the temple which was in Jerusalem, but what He really meant was the physical body which He had. This was the temple which the Jews destroyed when they killed the Lord so cruelly. And yet, even though they destroyed the temple of the Lord's body, the Lord appeared again after three days as if no harm had been done. This was a wonderful miracle. This was a sign that Jesus Christ was actually the God of heaven and earth. When the disciples knew this they were very happy. They believed that it was true, and that all that the Lord had told them was true.
     You can also rejoice, as the disciples did, that the Lord rose again on Easter morning. If you are wise, you will see that this is what was meant by building the temple in three days, and that this is a real proof that the Lord is the only God. The Lord, who makes the world bright with new flowers at spring, and who makes everything alive and beautiful, the Lord Himself rose from the dead. The precious temple which is the Lord's own body was destroyed by the Jews, and in three days was rebuilt by the Lord more perfectly than ever before. When the Lord was carried up into heaven, He took this temple or body with Him.
     Now perhaps you can understand something which the Jews could not understand, and which the disciples did not understand until after the Lord had risen. You can understand the things which the Lord told to the Jews when they asked Him for a sign.
     "Then answered the Jews, and said unto Him, what sign shewest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things! Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three days? But He spalie of the temple of His body. When therefore He was risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this unto them; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said."

     LESSONS: John 2:13-22. Luke 24:1-9, 36-53.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 545, 548, 554.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 12, C4.

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PEACE THE GOAL OF REDEMPTION AND THE PALM OF THE REDEEMED 1954

PEACE THE GOAL OF REDEMPTION AND THE PALM OF THE REDEEMED       Rev. EMIL R. CRONLUND       1954

     "Then came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. . . . Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you. . . . And after eight days again . . . came Jesus . . . and said, Peace be unto you." (John 20:19, 21, 26)

     Man during the course of his regeneration passes through two states in general, the state of combat and the state of peace. The evils which he loves and the falsities which he believes are stirred up within him by evil spirits, who arouse them to combat against good and truth. When man then, by power given him from the Lord, defends himself against the assaults of the evil, his spirit is in a state of anxiety and combat, he passes through the pains of spiritual temptations. When good and truth endeavor to assert and to defend themselves then the temptation begins and then the pain is felt. We experience physical pain when disease invades the body and there is an effort on the part of nature to drive it out and to restore man to a state of health. The effort of nature to heal is what is felt as pain. If there were no such effort there would be no pain, for there would be nothing to hinder the progress of the disease, and man would immediately succumb and die.
     It is the same on the spiritual plane. If man does not, from a love of good and truth, resist evils and falsities he cannot feel the pains of spiritual temptation. The effort of good and truth to defend themselves is what is felt as spiritual anxiety and pain. He who cares nothing for spiritual things, he with whom there is no endeavor to live a new life, makes no resistance when evil spirits lead him astray; he follows them willingly and becomes spiritually dead. The stronger is man's love to the Lord the more interior is the temptation, the more severe the pain that is felt. Man may be infested on all sides, so as even to doubt the very fundamentals of the church; he may doubt for the moment whether there is a God, whether there is a life after death. The anxiety and the torment that the conscience feels at such a time can hardly be described in words. But if there were not in man some love to the Lord this anxiety and torment would never be experienced. Evil spirits tempt those only with whom there is something of the Lord, with whom there is something of conscience.

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He who is confirmed in evil cannot be tempted, for evil cannot tempt itself.
     They who undergo spiritual temptations trust to the Lord alone for their deliverance. They are indeed in doubt and despair concerning the end, for otherwise it is no temptation; but with them this doubt is soon changed into confidence and "despair is swallowed up in victory." "They looked unto Him and were enlightened; and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles." The reason they are saved is that "the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as are of a contrite spirit."
     Once when the Lord and His disciples were out on the Sea of Galilee a, storm arose and the disciples, thinking that they would perish, went to the Lord, saying, Save us; we perish. "And He arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm." As the Lord by His word of peace calmed the tempestuous sea, so He also by His same almighty Word subdues the raging of the hells within man when he goes unto Him. And here we come to the second state into which regenerating men enter; after temptation follows peace. It is said in the Word that the Lord will speak peace to His people, and that the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. The state of peace after temptation may be compared to the calm that succeeds a storm, also to the spring after winter, and to the morning or dawn of day. It may also be compared to the sabbath, of which the Lord said: "Thou shalt do no work therein."
     As the regeneration of man is an image of the Lord's glorification it follows that the Lord in His Human passed through states similar to those that man experiences. In the Garden of Gethsemane He said to His disciples: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." It is also said that He was in agony and prayed to the Father, and that "His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." This state is called the Lord's state of humiliation or exinanition. But having conquered the hells He said to the disciples: "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you: Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." And on the day of His resurrection-"at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you."
     This benediction was pronounced upon the disciples by our Savior when He had fully glorified His Human, which makes it evident that all peace proceeds from the Divine Humanity of our Lord.

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Its origin is the Divine marriage of good and truth in Him. Having overcome the hells He entered as to the Human into Divine peace. Angels and regenerating men are admitted into the sphere of this peace, for the Lord said: "My peace I give unto you." This peace which proceeds from the Lord is heaven itself; it is the Divine of the Lord which makes heaven and all happiness there. It is by virtue of this peace that heaven is an eternal spring, an eternal morning without clouds, a never-ending sabbath. It can exist only together with innocence, which is a willingness not to hurt anything that is of the Lord or of the neighbor; thus it is to will to be led by the Lord and not by self. This is innocence, and so far as man is in innocence so far he is in peace, for so far he lives in charity with his neighbor and is in protection against the hells, which is spiritual security.
     Heavenly peace is such that it transcends every idea of earthly happiness, for it is the Divine of the Lord inmostly affecting with joy the souls of men. The words of natural language are inadequate to express it; only an image of it can be given, for it does not reveal itself to the external sight of man, but must be felt and perceived by the internal man. Swedenborg says, in the Adversaria: "By the Divine mercy of the Lord it has been given me to experience something of this peace; but I sacredly attest that no language ever can express it; for it is the complex of all felicities, with the highest degree of life, without the life which is wont to arise from concupiscences, the pleasures of the body care and anxiety about future things. It is to be in the bosom of God h4essiah" (Adz,. iv, 6925).
     Peace exists by virtue of the Divine unity. It is the offspring of the union between the Divine and the Human. And the teaching is, that in order that there may be peace there must be unity. The root meaning of the Greek word for peace is "connecting into one." With those who are united together by the common bond of love to the Lord and love of His truth, there is peace. The truth by itself does not produce unity, but it is recognition of the truth, and the love of it, that unites men as into a one. Wisdom has no power apart from love, which is evident from this, that although in the Word of the Lord and in the Writings of the New Church, truths are presented in the most forcible manner possible and in the most beautiful terms, still he who has no love of truth will not believe. The Heavenly Doctrine teaches us that love is a longing and a striving after conjunction, for love longs and strives to conjoin itself with wisdom or truth, nor is it satisfied until its longing is ultimated. But love having found its heavenly consort, wisdom, they are united into one, and the result of their union is heavenly peace.
     In order that man may be in a state of peace, his internal and external man must be one.

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He must be entire, single-minded; he must have but one end or purpose steadfastly before him; he must will to be such as he wills to appear to be. In the Proverbs it is written: "Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy feet from evil" (4:25-27). When the external man is made the willing and obedient servant of the internal man, then man enjoys tranquillity and peace.
     Man is in peace when he is conjoined with the Lord; he is in peace when he is conjoined with the angels of heaven, and he is in peace when through the bonds of mutual love he is conjoined with his fellow-men. Peace is established when that which produces discord is removed. Evils of all kinds are what disunite and separate man from man, man from the angelic heaven, man from the Lord. When we do evil to others we remove ourselves from them. As love is spiritual conjunction so hatred is spiritual disjunction. Evil therefore is what produces all discord, all dissensions in the world. It separates men and causes them to stand alone, whereas the Lord's will is that they should dwell together in unity. "Behold how good and how lovely for brethren to dwell together in unity," are the words of the Lord. It is also written that "it is not good for man to be alone," for he who through evils of life separates himself from others removes from himself the means of salvation, which are, the performance of uses to others. It is not good for man to be alone for the reason that we need each other. We do not live for ourselves alone, but also for the sake of others. When evils are removed then we are united with others and live in peace.
     When the Lord, the Prince of Peace, came into the world the church was at an end, because men lived in hatred and all kinds of evils. They were spiritually dissociated from each other; they were separated from heaven, separated from God; thus there was nothing of peace. But the Lord came that He might establish peace, and He did that by preaching charity; for He said: "This is My commandment, that ye love one another." By establishing His church on the basis of mutual love He united man with man, He consociated man with the angelic heaven, and He conjoined man with his Creator, thus establishing spiritual peace. The advent of the Lord into the world was accompanied by the proclamation of peace; for the angels who announced His birth to the shepherds, said: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men." The Lord came to guide our feet in the way of peace, and therefore when He sent forth His disciples He charged them, saying: "And whatsoever house ye enter first say, Peace be to this house." These disciples were the messengers of peace sent forth by the Lord, who would continue His work by communicating to others that peace which they had received from their Lord and Master.

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And on the day of His resurrection "came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith, unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord." Then said Jesus unto them again: "Peace be unto you." And this time He breathed on them, saying: "Receive ye the Holy Spirit." And after eight days again came Jesus and . . . said, "Peace be unto you." And having so said He convinced Thomas that He was indeed the Lord Jesus who was crucified and had risen from the dead: "And Thomas answered and said unto Him, 'My Lord and my God.'" From this it is evident that the goal of redemption and the palm of the redeemed is spiritual peace.
     The palm of the redeemed is spiritual peace, for by His coming the Lord exalted His omnipotence, so that He holds hell in order and under His obedience to eternity. This "heavenly peace, which is in respect to the hells that evils and falses may not thence arise and invade, may be compared in many respects with natural peace, as with peace after war, when every one lives in security from enemies, safe in his own city, in his own home or in his own fields and gardens. It is as the prophet said, speaking naturally concerning heavenly peace: 'They shall sit every man under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and none shall make them afraid.' It may be compared also to recreation of mind and to rest after severe labor. It may also be compared with serenity after tempests, black clouds and thunders, and likewise with spring after a terrible winter has passed, and then with a gladness that comes from the new growths in the fields and from the blossoming in the gardens, meadows and forests. It may be compared also with the state of minds with those who after storms and dangers on the sea, reach the port, and set their feet on the wished for land" (TCR 304).
     No one can come into a state of peace until he shuns that which is hostile to peace and opposite to it. It was said that the regenerating man undergoes two states, the state of combat and the state of peace. The state of combat must precede, for the palm of the redeemed is not given until after their redemption. Man must conquer his enemies before he can expect peace, and therefore the Lord also said: "Think not that I am come to send peace upon earth: I come not to send peace, but a sword" (Matt. 10:34). A sword signifies the Divine truth by means of which man combats against the hells. By that He sent a sword is meant, therefore, that He revealed His Divine truth more fully, that He gave truths in greater abundance in order that man might more skillfully defend himself against the hells. By sending a sword upon earth the Lord diminished the power of the hells. If He had not sent a sword He could not have sent peace.

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     Regeneration cannot take place without truths, but before the Lord came into the world there was in the church nothing but falsities and evils; consequently there was no combat between these and truths and goods; but when truths and goods had been unveiled by the Lord then it was possible for combats to exist.
     "Because there was nothing of truth in the world before the Lord's coming therefore the spiritual could not undergo temptations until the Lord had glorified His Human, and in this was present with them; if they had been tempted sooner they would instantly have yielded, for they who are of the spiritual church are saved by the Divine Human of the Lord" (AC 8159, 9373).
     When the church was in its infancy it was in a state of peace, because in mutual love, but the Lord predicted that the church would come to an end because the state would not continue. And when His disciples asked Him: "When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age!" the Lord answered: "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars." By wars here are meant spiritual wars, which are caused by falsities and evils in the church. When these wars take place, and when evils and falsities prevail, then spiritual peace is found no more, and the church is at an end.
     But by His second coming the Lord has established a church in which spiritual peace is to reign forever. To the New Church the Lord has revealed truths more interior than have ever been known to any previous church, and therefore that church will be able to defend itself against all its enemies. "For the Lord our Judge, the Lord our Lawgiver, the Lord our King, He it is that saveth us."
     To all who enter into this church, to all those who are in love to Him and in charity towards the neighbor, the Lord has promised spiritual peace; for He says: "My people shall dwell' in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places." The Lord grant that we may so live that we become partakers of this heavenly peace. Amen.

     LESSONS: Psalm 29. John 20:19-31. Heaven and Hell 286-287.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 557, 556, 551.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 81, 119.

     [EDITORIAL NOTE: This sermon, written and published in NEW CHURCH LIFE early in the Rev. Emil R. Cronlund's ministerial career, is republished here in tribute to his memory.]

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LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     4. Our Father Who Art in the Heavens

     In order that there may be the much to be desired knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer, this shall now be presented in a general manner.
     Our Father who art in the heavens. The idea of God that is in the mind when, in the opening words of the prayer, He is called "the Father in the heavens" enters into everything of the prayer, and in accordance with it conjunction with Him is effected, and by the conjunction salvation.
     This idea with the New Church man is that He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let there be recalled the teachings received in earlier life that He and the Father are one (John 10:30); that whosoever seeth Him seeth the Father (John 14:8, 9); and that no one comes to the Father but by Him (John 14:6): wherefore to come to the Father is to come to Him, in whom is the Father and who therefore is the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ who has all power in heaven and on earth (Matthew 21:18). He, as the Heavenly Father, in His Divine love watches over and cares for all His children, providing for their needs; and in so far as they look to Him, and do His will, He bestows upon them the eternal happiness of heaven.
     The Lord's Prayer is directed to the Father in the heavens, that is, to the Divine as it is in the heavens, and not to it as it is above the heavens; though there should be the thought that it is from the Divine above the heavens that there is the Divine in the heavens. The Divine as it is above the heavens, or the Divine as it is in itself, is incomprehensible, and therefore unapproachable. it is the Divine love as it is in itself, the nature of which is above any finite comprehension. But in the heavens the Divine love manifests itself in a manner accommodated to angelic minds, namely, as Divine good; or, as the term may perhaps be better understood, as Divine goodness-the Lord as goodness to all, imparting life and love and faith, thus all heavenly blessedness and happiness. In what manner does this Divine good come to the angels! It is revealed to them as Divine truth proceeding from Divine love.
     Such is the Father in the heavens, and that this may be better understood let there be in mind the arcanum that the angels behold and look to the Lord as the sun of heaven.

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The fire of that sun is the Divine love. From that fire, light and heat come to them. The light is the Divine truth, and this bears in its bosom the heat of Divine good.
     The Divine love is the Lord Himself, and the Divine truth and good are likewise Himself because they are the Divine love accommodated to reception by the angels. The Divine love thus coming to them becomes in them, by their reception of it, love to the Lord and to the neighbor. These are the Lord with them, the Lord in them. They are the Lord in the heavens within them, the Father in their heavens. For only that which is the Lord's with, and in, the angels makes heaven.
     But let there be the realization that this Divine presence in heaven is the presence of the Divine Man there who is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Divine Man who is Divine love and its accommodated Divine truth and Divine good. That this may be better understood, let us consider what it is that makes us to be men. Each one of us is essentially his love. From his love proceeds his thought, and this thought from love awakens affections with him. If we have become images of the Lord by regeneration, then our love is love to Him and to the neighbor; our thought is such as has been formed by the truth of the Word; and our affections are the good that has been revealed by that truth. So is it with us; but with the Lord all these are Divine, the Divine Man-love? and its truth and goodness. To carry this comparison further, it can be said that where our love and its thought and affection are, there we are, there we are actually present. This may be at some place near at hand or at one far distant; and spiritually it may be in heaven or it may be in hell.
     This as applied to the Lord, to whom pertains neither space nor the appearance of space, means that He is wherever there is reception of Him. He is omnipresent-in all heaven, in every angel, and in every regenerating man. Let such be our thought of the Father in the heavens; though to this must be added that the thought of the Divine Man must be of Him as the Divine person, the only man who is truly Man. This thought abides interiorly with the angels; and to the end that it may abide it is granted them at times to see the Divine person, sometimes in the sun, sometimes among the angels in a wondrous Divine angelic form. Thus can He ever be for them the visible God, the Father in the heavens, the Lord Jesus Christ.
     We, still abiding here on earth, can behold that Divine Man as we read of Him in the New Testament when He walked among men, all His teaching and works manifesting His love, truth, and good; and supremely, in that reading, we can behold Him in His transfiguration, when His face shone as the sun and His raiment was white as the light-the shining face being the Divine love, and the white raiment being the Divine truth from the Divine good.

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Our so seeing Him is a lifting up of our vision to our Father who is in the heavens, the visible God to whom we offer the prayer which He has taught and ever teaches us.
     Perhaps there may be some who do not know why, in the New Church form of the prayer, there is the plural "heavens." The first reason is that such is its form in the original Greek of the New Testament. And to this may be added that the Heavenly Doctrine teaches that there are three heavens, in each of which there are innumerable societies. We should ponder over the word "innumerable"; for in all these countless numbers is the omnipresence of our Lord Jesus Christ, in greatests and in leasts.
NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     In the April readings from the Old Testament Word the Psalms of David are concluded and we are introduced to Isaiah, the first of the four major prophets. The portion of the Psalter (Psalms 132-150) consists of 19 psalms, 9 of which are Davidic. The rest are untitled, and only two bear musical directions. One psalm, the 137th, must have been written during or after the Babylonian Captivity, while the 142nd Psalm goes back to the time of David's persecution by Saul. Psalms 132-134 form part of the group described as "Songs of Degrees." Supplication and acknowledgment of the Lord are to be found here. Psalm 132 is Messianic, and the 139th Psalm is a moving description of the Lord's omniscience and omnipresence. But the predominate note is that of thanksgiving; and in the last five songs, the "Hallelujah Psalms," the Psalter closes in a sustained paean.

     Isaiah introduces us to the third style of the Word, the prophetical, which is said in the Writings to be from that of the Most Ancient Church, but not continuous and scarcely intelligible except in the internal sense, wherein are the greatest arcana which follow in a beautiful connected order.
     This style is said to have been provided to prevent profanation, a vital need in the decadent period in which it was used; but it is noted also that its very peculiarity makes it easier, in a more enlightened age, to believe in the presence of an internal sense in the prophetical writings than in the other books of scripture.
     The prophetical style was produced by a particular kind of inspiration. We are instructed that Divine truth was manifested to the prophets by speech, by visions, and by dreams. It was only by the first of these modes, however, that the Word was revealed through them, and this by a living voice. When the Word was to be given, the Lord sent an angel filled with His aspect, who uttered the actual words that were to be written; and as the words thus came forth immediately from the Lord, each one was filled with what is Divine and contained in itself an internal sense.

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The angel spoke, not as man with man, but as the angel of the Lord with man; which involved that the prophet recognized the voice of Divine authority, and that the angel spoke in words taken from the prophet's memory; and the prophet then spoke or wrote the very words that were thus dictated. For this reason it is not said that the prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit but by the Spirit of Jehovah.
     When the Word was thus dictated the prophet was in the body, in his own thought and under his own direction, for the influx was only into his hearing. Thus, although he probably formed his own ideas about the meaning of what was dictated to him, the revelation was merely verbal. The prophets were not illustrated as to the understanding. They had no perception of what was signified. They merely heard the words they were to write without understanding their interior and still less their spiritual meaning.
     But in the state of vision the prophet was out of the body, as to which he was in a trance, and all his spiritual senses were opened. Although the Word was not revealed to them in that state, the prophets then saw in heaven representations of the celestial and spiritual things of the church, and of the future things that would happen in the churches. And when they returned into the body, their inspired descriptions of those visions were then dictated to them in the way already mentioned. We may wonder as to the need for the prophetic visions. Presumably the truths they contain could be disclosed only in representative form; and as the Lord could make use only of what was already in the memories of the prophets it was necessary that they should first see the visions before the description could be dictated by an angel speaking as angel with man.
     The teaching about the nature of the prophetical style with which we began is not meant, of course, to deter us from reading this portion of the Word. Rather is it an invitation to do so with the understanding that only a knowledge of the internal sense can give, and that is now possible because the internal sense has been revealed; and in this reading the little work Prophets and Psalms will again be an invaluable companion volume. Although we shall not be aware of it, as was Swedenborg, it is interesting to know as we read that each chapter in the prophetical Word communicates with one of the societies of heaven.

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ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS 1954

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS       W. CAIRNS HENDERSON       1954

     COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY

     The Annual Meetings of the Council of the Clergy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem were held in the Council Chamber of the Bryn Athyn Cathedral-Church, February 2-5, 1954, with Bishop De Charms presiding.
     In addition to the Bishop of the General Church there were present one member of the episcopal degree, seventeen members of the pastoral degree, and three members of the ministerial degree, namely: the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton; the Rev. Messrs. A. Wynne Acton. Elmo C. Acton, Karl R. Alden, Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Harold C. Cranch, Charles E. Doering, Frederick E. Gyllenhaal, W. Cairns Henderson (secretary), Louis R. King, Hugo Lj. Odhner, Ormond Odhner, Martin Pryke, Norman H. Reuter, Norbert H. Rogers, David R. Simons, Kenneth O. Stroh, William Whitehead; Geoffrey S. Childs, Jr., Raymond G. Cranch, and Dandridge Pendleton-a total of twenty-two, including all the active clergy of the General Church in the United States and Canada with the exception of the Rev. Roy Franson.

     A meeting of the Bishop's Consistory was held on Monday evening, February 1st. There were six regular sessions of the Council, four in the morning and two in the afternoon, one open session, and one joint session with the Board of Directors of the General Church. On Thursday afternoon, February 4th, Bishop De Charms met with the headmasters of local schools to consider the teacher needs for the next school year, and with the pastors to discuss arrangements for the summer training of candidates in the Theological School.

     In opening the first session, Bishop De Charms spoke of the value of these meetings in providing for mutual counsel and for inspiration in the use to which the clergy is dedicated, and expressed regret that it was not possible for all members to attend. He then mentioned several matters which should be considered, the most urgent of which was the making of provision for an Assistant Bishop of the General Church. This was thoroughly discussed and it was RESOLVED, that this Council accepts the Bishop's recommendation that an Assistant Bishop be provided and that the name of the Right Reverend Willard D. Pendleton should be presented to the 20th General Assembly for election as Assistant Bishop of the General Church.

169


It was further RESOLVED, that this Council recommends consideration of the foregoing Resolution by the Joint Council.

     Reports were made during the week for the Committee on the Liturgy and the Committee on Missionary Publications. The Secretary of the General Church, the Secretary of the Council, and the Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE, whose reports are made to the Joint Council, commented on matters which they wished to bring to the attention of the ministers; and in the course of discussion the Bishop was asked to appoint a committee to draw up rules for uniform reporting procedures. A brief oral report was made for the Committee on Ecclesiastical Garments, and it was mentioned that the temporary children's Hymnal has been held up by copyright difficulties. Work on the permanent Hymnal is continuing under the direction of Miss Hildegarde Odhner.

     Six addresses were heard at the regular sessions. Three of these had been arranged for by the program committee and were heard at the third and fourth sessions; the Rev. Ormond Odhner reading a paper on "The Maternal Human," while the Rev. Louis B. King and the Rev. Elmo C. Acton presented papers on "Man's Conjunction with the Lord." The fifth session heard a paper by the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner on "Freedom in a Decadent Church," and one by the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson entitled "The Degrees of the Priesthood: Some Questions of Interpretation." At the sixth session the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton read a paper on "Use and Regeneration." Some of these papers will be published later in NEW CHURCH LIFE. It was felt that the papers spoke of timely and important questions, and the Council decided that further study should be given next year to the degrees of the priesthood.

     Several other resolutions were adopted during the regular sessions. The Council favored the setting aside of one session of the 20th General Assembly for a presentation of the uses of the General Church. It was resolved to hold the Annual Council Meetings in 1955 from Tuesday, January 25 through Saturday, January 29, and the Bishop was again asked to appoint a program committee to provide for two of the sessions. The Secretary was instructed to send a message of thanks and appreciation to the ladies who provided refreshments during the morning recesses.

     The following Memorial Resolutions were presented at the sixth session and were adopted by rising vote:

170




     "WHEREAS our brother, Emil Robert Cronlund has been called into the spiritual world, we, the members of the Council of the Clergy of the General Church, do hereby record our affectionate remembrance of a loyal and faithful pastor of our Church. [Two paragraphs of a biographical nature are here omitted. See NEW CHURCH LIFE, March, 1954, pp. 128-129. EDITOR.]
     "Perhaps the story of his life may be fittingly told in two paragraphs which he wrote himself. When he graduated from the College on June 18, 1597, he chose as the subject of his graduation thesis 'The Stoic Philosophy.' In this he said: 'That no misfortune can befall the wise and virtuous man is a fact which none but those who are wise and virtuous can realize. . . . They may have what appears like misfortunes, but they know that the Divine Providence is governing everything, and that everything that happens to them is for their own eternal good.' When graduating from Theological School his thesis was on 'The Love of Truth for its Own Sake.' He wrote: 'He who loves good and truth for the sake of good and truth is not solicitous about receiving any reward; nor is he concerned about the consequences which will follow if he steadfastly adheres to the truth for its own sake. He is always ready and willing to reconsider his own position and to surrender it for the sake of the truth if he should see that he is wrong.
"These were our brother's own words, and he translated them into deeds through- out his entire life-from the beginning to the end. And no man ever heard from him a word of uncharity, or bitterness, or selfishness; for he was a singularly single-minded and loyal-hearted minister of the Lord's New Church.
     "To the members of his family, all of whom are members of the Church he loved, we send our natural sympathy, together with our affectionate pride in the life-record of a truly Christian gentleman."

     "WHEREAS in the Providence of the Lord, Vincent Carmond Odhner was called into the spiritual world on May 29, 1953;
     "WHEREAS since his ordination into the priesthood of the New Church in June, 1928, he has been a member of the Council of the Clergy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem;
     "BE IT RESOLVED that we, his friends and colleagues, in annual meeting assembled, record our sense of loss, our recognition of his deep affection for the Heavenly Doctrine, and our belief that he has entered into a higher realm of usefulness to the Church.
     "BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this memorial be spread upon our Minutes, and that a copy be sent to Mrs. Odhner and her family as an expression of our sympathy."

     The Open Session of the Council was held on Friday, February 5, following the usual Friday Supper of the Bryn Athyn Church. Bishop De Charms presided, and an address on "The Formation of the Human" was given by the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton. The address is published in this issue, pp. 145-155.

     There were, as usual, various social functions which it has become customary to record here, although they are not part of the Annual Council Meetings. Bishop and Mrs. De Charms entertained all the ministers present at a delightful luncheon on Wednesday, and that evening there was a social supper and gathering of the clergy at the home of the Rev. and Mrs. Hugo Lj. Odhner at which, as at the luncheon, humor and good fellowship were blended with thoughtful consideration of the things of the Church.

171


The same may be said of two luncheon parties at which Mr. Raymond Pitcairn was host to members of the Joint Council and male members of the Academy Faculty. These occasions were all much enjoyed, as were other social functions to which various ministers were invited with a hospitality that is always a prominent feature of the week of our meetings.
     W. CAIRNS HENDERSON,
          Secretary of the Council of the Clergy.
JOINT COUNCIL 1954

JOINT COUNCIL              1954

     FEBRUARY 6, 1954

     The Council of the Clergy and the Directors of the Corporations of the General Church of the New Jerusalem met for their sixtieth regular joint meeting, in the Council Chamber of the Bryn Athyn Church, February 6, 1954, at 10:00 a.m. The following members were present:

     OF THE CLERGY: Rt. Rev. George de Charms (presiding), Rt. Rev. W. D. Pendleton, Rev. Messrs. A. W. Acton, E. C. Acton, K. R. Alden, B. A. H. Boyesen, H. C. Cranch, C. E. Doering, F. E. Gyllenhaal, W. C. Henderson, H. L. Odhner (secretary), Martin Pryke, N. H. Renter, N. H. Rogers. D. R. Simons, K. O. Stroh, G. S. Childs, Jr., and R. G. Cranch. (18)

     OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Messrs D. E. Acton, K. C. Acton, E. T. Asplundh, Lester Asplundh, R. G. Barnitz, E. C. Bostock, G. S. Childs, R. W. Childs, E. H. Davis, T. N. Glenn, Hubert Hyatt, P. C. Pendleton, H. F. Pitcairn, Raymond Pitcairn, and Arthur Synnestvedt. (15)

     1. After prayer and reading from the Word, the meeting was opened at 10:00 a.m., Bishop De Charms presiding.
     2. The MINUTES of the 59th regular meeting were accepted as printed in the NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1953, pages 174-178.
     3. The Bishop noted that the Council of the Clergy and the Board of Directors had considered the need which he had presented that an Assistant Bishop be provided.
     On motion of Mr. Raymond Pitcairn, seconded by Mr. Daric E. Acton, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:
     Whereas the Council of the Clergy has unanimously accepted the Bishop's recommendation that an Assistant Bishop be provided and that the Right Reverend Willard D. Pendleton be nominated and presented before the Twentieth General Assembly for election as Assistant Bishop of the General Church;
     Be it RESOLVED THAT this Joint Council concur with this opinion of the Council of the Clergy.

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     4. Following the precedent established in 1930 (NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1930, page 296), the Joint Council also resolved,
     THAT in the opinion of this body, the providing of an Assistant Bishop has no reference to a successor to the Bishop, and
     THAT in the opinion of this Joint Council, no definition of the uses of the office of Assistant Bishop is necessary or advisable at this time.
     5. By a rising vote, the Joint Council associated itself with the sentiments of Memorial Resolutions passed by the Council of the Clergy commemorating the passing into the spiritual world of the REV. VINCENT C. ODHNER and the REV. EMIL R. CRONLUND (see page 170).
     6. The Report of the COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY was submitted by its Secretary, the Rev. W. C. Henderson who gave it in summary. It was accepted and filed (see page 179).
     7. The Report of the SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH was Summarized and accepted without reading (see page 175).
     8. The Report of the Secretary of the CORPORATIONS OF THE GENERAL CHURCH was submitted by Mr. Hubert Hyatt, who read essential parts. The Report was accepted and filed (see page 186).
     9. Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal, Jr., read his Report as TREASURER OF THE GENERAL CHURCH (see page 190).
     In the discussion it was brought out that out of a total membership of 2776, only 1847 "potential contributors" were listed, mainly because married couples are counted as one. It was also shown that 170 financial support has been given to the church in Brazil and no contributions solicited, the movement being financially independent.
     10. The Rev. W. C. Henderson's Report as EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE was submitted, accepted and filed (see page 193). It was shown that of 1055 copies distributed each month, 862 represented paid subscriptions.
     11. The Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal offered his Report as Director of the RELIGION LESSONS COMMITTEE (see page 194). He called special attention to a new edition of the Word according to the New Church canon, especially suitable for children, who should each have a copy of their own in good print. This would cultivate their desire to read the Word regularly.
     Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal reported that one correspondent had asked why the Church could not send out not merely notices and financial statements but more interesting, spiritual instruction to its members all over the world. The Rev. M. Pryke felt that a list: of our available publications should be broadcast over the church (see par. 19). Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, who is in charge of the Academy Book Room, said that he hoped to have a catalogue out by the end of summer. The Rev. W. C. Henderson called attention to a consolidated catalogue now issued by the New Church Press, the Swedenborg Foundation, etc.

173


This contained a few of our publications also. Dr. Odhner pointed out the use which might be served by maintaining an up-to-date pamphlet listing not only our publications and mimeographed sermons and classes and religion lessons, but also other services: lists of sound recordings and visual education aids; so that a new member could really see all the available means of instruction that the Church offers.
     Mr. Raymond Pitcairn said that Mrs. Pitcairn wished to respond to requests from any in the General Church who wished copies of any sermon preached in Bryn Athyn and mimeographed by her bureau. Mr. Lester Asplundh felt that a free copy of each of our publications should go to every minister (see par. 19). The Rev. K. R. Alden noted that the Swedenborg Foundation had offered a free copy of The Swedenborg Epic to every minister who lacked a copy. Others noted that it is impossible to publish unless you also publicize. The Rev. R. G. Cranch felt that the sound recordings needed more publicity.
     The Report was filed.
     12. The Report of the MINISTERIAL SALARY COMMITTEE was given verbally by Mr. Philip C. Pendleton, whose written report is printed on page 189. The Report led to an interesting exchange of information and views about the needs of the Church. The ways in which those in new and struggling societies could best contribute to the General Church were discussed. Established societies must help other centers to develop. Instances were cited of societies which have become self-supporting.
     Because of recent commitments to guarantee a minimum salary to ministers, some fear had been expressed about the acceptance of more students for the ministry than the immediate needs of the General Church called for, in that this might throw too heavy a burden on our treasury. The desirability that a newly ordained minister should serve for a year under an experienced pastor was noted as an ideal which could not always be realized in the present state of the church. One speaker felt that since education is recognized as a first use of charity, the General Church should share the responsibility of training young ministers by placing them where they could assist in a parish school. Another speaker noted that young ministers were not necessarily equipped at once to become headmasters of parish schools.
     The Rev. W. C. Henderson showed that the training in Theological School was one thing and the problem of how to take care of their post-graduate training quite another. Dr. Odhner, as dean of the Theological School, pointed out that the church is not obligated to accept all its graduates. Something of competition is wholesome in every field of use. He felt that we should recognize the principle that-not knowing the future-we should welcome all who are moved to enter the ministry provided they evidence zeal and suitability.

174


The Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal felt that while we are now reluctant to send newly ordained ministers to far off places by themselves, it might be done if they show a desire to go.
     Mr. P. C. Pendleton noted that in planning our activities we cannot go beyond our budget but must protect our present uses. It would be useful to have all our uses fully presented at the coming Assembly. If uses are clearly seen, the support would come. The Rev. H. C. Cranch also stressed that the church needs to be educated as to all the various undertakings which require encouragement, but stated his experience that uses must be started and then the support will come.
     13. The Bishop gave a brief account of the SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION. The work had proceeded along the lines of the plan submitted by Rev. Martin Pryke in 1951. This had in general been carried out except for the matter of providing for a theological school. This had been delayed because political restrictions had made it impossible to find a suitable property for a native school, and also because the new superintendent, the Rev. A. W. Acton, should be there before a decision is reached.
     The uncertainties as to the application of new laws regarding segregation had also delayed the work of Mr. Parker, the white resident supervisor, at Rent Manor. It would be desirable if a member of the Board of Directors could visit South Africa to look into the situation.
     In general, the plan had been followed to aid the development of the more promising mission centers. The uses had been carried out within the limits of the allowed budget. The Rev. M. Pryke, the former superintendent, gave additional information.
     14. The Report of the SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE was given by the Rev. W. C. Henderson (see page 195).
     15. The Report of the head of the MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE, Mrs. P. C. Pendleton, was read by the secretary and received with expressions of appreciation for the devoted work which it represented (see page 196).
     16. The Bishop stated that it was desirable to find a way to present the uses of the General Church more fully before the General Assembly in June. He commented on the mooted question as to whether the publication of NEW CHURCH SERMONS Should be resumed, acknowledging our indebtedness to Mrs. Raymond Pitcairn for her work of providing mimeographed copies of sermons preached in Bryn Athyn. He noted that the support of the priesthood was a use of primary consideration. We cannot bind ourselves to provide that all new ministers should have one year under an experienced pastor, for we may need them elsewhere. Yet they ought to have adequate training.

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To send an untrained minister to an isolated post puts him at a disadvantage and may jeopardize his career in the church. As to our local schools, they are to be encouraged and possibly even by General Church aid.
     It is most imperative that we present all the uses of the General Church before the coming Assembly and that they be publicized as widely as possible, and by a continuous effort of clergy and laity alike.
     17. Following the suggestions made by the Bishop and a resolution passed by the Board of Directors, Mr. G. S. Childs moved, and it was resolved, THAT this Joint Council favors the plan to devote one session of the 1954 General Assembly to the consideration of the subject of "General Church Uses and their Support."
     18. The Report of the VISUAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE was read and accepted (see page 197).
     16. The Rev. Martin Pryke moved, and it was resolved, THAT the Joint Council ask the Board of Directors to consider the practicability of providing all the ministers with free copies of each new publication within the church, and of providing a complete catalogue of all General Church publications.
     20. The meeting adjourned, about 12:30 p.m.
          Respectfully submitted,
               HUGO LJ. ODHNER,
                    Secretary.
ANNUAL REPORTS 1954

ANNUAL REPORTS       Various       1954

     SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH

     During the year 1953 ninety-eight new members were enrolled in the General Church, while 45 deaths and 3 resignations are recorded. As of January 1, 1954, the adult membership stands at 2776, of whom 1677 reside in the United States of America and 1099 in other countries. (Separate figures for the U.S.A. are required by statistical agencies.)
                    
Membership, Jan. 1, 1953                          2726
(U.S.A.-1640, other countries-1086)
New members (certificates 4218-4315)           98
(U.S.A.-66, other countries-32)
Deaths (U.S.A.-26, other countries-19)      45
Resignations (U.S.A.-3)                3
Losses                               48
Net gain in membership                         50
Membership, Jan. 1, 1954                          2776
(U.S.A.-1677, other countries-1099)

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     NEW MEMBERS

     January 1, 1953 to December 31, 1953

     A. THE UNITED STATES

     Alexander City, Alabama
Mr.* Aubrey Thomas Allen
     * Corrected. See NCL 1954, page 289.

     Menlo Park, California
Mrs. Philip Coleman Pendleton (Christine Collier Heilman)

     Miami Beach, Florida
Mr. Leslie Robert Rogers Wilson, Jr.

     Chicago, Illinois
Mrs. Nils Bergman (Tekla Elizabeth Moller)
Mr. Robert Willis Gladish

     Evanston, Illinois
Mr. Arvid Victor Tessing

     Glenview, Illinois
Miss Greta Acton (now Mrs. Hunter L. Reynolds, Jr.)
Mr. William Norris Fuller
Mrs. W. N. Fuller (Anne Volt)
Mr. Hunter Love Reynolds, Jr.

     Baltimore, Maryland
Mrs. Jesse Eugene Galusha (Vera Ruth Needer)

     Berkley, Michigan
Mrs. Alfred Schoenberger (Dolores Marie Depken)

     Detroit, Michigan
Mr. Vance Lionel Birchman

     Duluth, Minnesota
Mr. Richard Vincent Dumas

     Minneapolis, Minnesota
Miss Joyce Hallie Boker

     Sewell, New Jersey
Mrs. James Dixon Taylor (Jane Wilson)

     Havelock, North Carolina
Mr. James Armstrong Holtvedt
Mrs. J. A. Holtvedt (Charlotte Smith)

     Bryn Athyn district, Pennsylvania
Miss Catharine Cornelia Arrington (now Mrs. Dean Smith)
Mr. John Charles Black
Mrs. J. C. Black (Ruth Virginia Cole)
Mr. Peter Glenn Bostock
Miss Claire Elizabeth Campbell
Mr. David Harris Campbell
Miss Drusilla Carswell
Mr. Edward Robert Dudlik
Mrs. E. R. Dudlik (Mary Jane Wallace)
Mr. Donald Coffin Fitzpatrick, Jr.
Miss Marilyn Gunther
Mr. Paul Sterling Gunther
Mr. Rinaldo James Hayes
Mrs. R. J. Hayes (Mary Louise Torpin)
Miss Dolores May Hess
Miss Lois Ann Klein
Mr. Carl Frederic Odhner
Mr. Jared Torsten Odhner
Mr. James Newton Peck, 2nd
Mrs. J. N. Peck (Katherine Simms)
Mr. James Lowrie Pendleton
Miss Judith Pendleton
Mr. Donald Leslie Rose
Mr. Donald Bruce Schnarr
Mrs. D. B. Schnarr (Charlotte Sylvia Dager)
Miss Mina Rosaleen Schnarr
Mr. Ronald Doering Schnarr
Mrs. R. D. Schnarr (Elizabeth Marie Moyer)
Mr. Bertrand Dean Smith
Mr. Kay Woodard Synnestvedt
Miss Rhona Synnestvedt
Miss Martha Louise Tyler
Mr. Charles Frederick White
Mrs. C. F. White (Jennie Elda Yarnall)
Mr. Charles Frederick White, 3rd

     Glenolden, Pennsylvania
Mrs. John Mullen (Elizabeth Marion Mantle)

     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mr. Saleem Abbed
Mr. William Alfred Munt
Mrs. W. A. Munt (Sarah Victoria Reynolds)
Mrs. Karen Laura (Kofod) Shadle
Miss Margaret Shepp
Mr. William Lafayette Weaver

     Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Mr. Grant Richardson Doering
Miss Edna Margaret Funk

     Edinburg, Texas
Mrs. Reginald J. West (Ruth Ellan Friend)

     Fort Worth, Texas
Miss Beverley Ann Williamson
                                                       
     Washington, D. C.
Mr. Lewis Nelson
Mr. Marvin John Walker

     B. CANADA

     Dawson Creek, British Columbia
Mr. William Esak
Mrs. William Esak (Margery Miller)

     Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario
Miss Gertrude Ruona Hasen

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Mr. Roger Brian Kuhl
Miss Betty Isabelle Steen

     Toronto, Ontario
Miss Elizabeth Lois Charles
Mr. Jack Michael McDonald
Mr. David George Starkey

     Wilson Heights, Ontario
Mr. Cecil John Parker
Miss Sylvia Dorothy Parker

     C. BRAZIL

     Rio de Janeiro
Snr. Arlindo Santoro
Snra. Levindo Alves Villela (Carmelina Capelli)
Snr Francisco Augusto Zebral

     D. GREAT BRITAIN

     Chadwell Heath, Essex
Mr. Stephen Colin Colebrook
Mr. Stephen Charles Gordon Colebrook
Mrs. S. C. G. Colebrook (Ellen Elliott)

     Hornchurch, Essex
Miss Catherine Rose Waters
Miss Hilda Margery Waters
Miss Ruth Margaret Waters

     Walton, Lancs.
Miss Muriel Audrey Cooper

     London
Mr. Gerald Hayden Gimbrett
Mr. Gilbert Owen Waters
Miss Gillian Eva Wyncoll

     Bath, Somerset
Mr. George John Stunden

     Caerns, North Wales
Mr. Harry Dean

     E. HOLLAND

     Bilthoven
Baron Joan Walrave van Haersolte van Haerst
Barones Anna Willemina van Haersolte van Haerst ('s Gravesande Guicherit)

     Zeist
Mr. Adrianus van Pernis

     F. SWEDEN

     Kortebo
Mr. Sam Mauritz Rune Fornander

     G. SOUTH AFRICA

     Durban, Natal
Mr. James Gordon Masson
Mr. Kenneth Arthur Waters
Mrs. K. A. Waters (Noel Nancy Fortescue)

     DEATHS

     Reported during 1953

Ahlberg, Mrs. Ellen (Holmstedt), Bromma, Sweden, Apr. 21, 1953
Boyesen. Mr. Frode Karl August, Oslo, Norway, Nov. 14, 1953
Braby, Mrs. Alfred Cyril (Maud Clarissa Cockerell), Couris Hill, Natal, July 24, 1953
Brewer, Mr. Harvey Irving, Glenview, Ill., Sept. 18, 1953
Brown, Mrs. Robert George, Streetville, Ont., Jan. 31, 1953
Burnham, Mrs. Ernest Justus (Heidi Brumaghim), Abington, Pa., July 9, 1953
Carson, Mr. Frederick W., Ottawa, Ont., Oct. 7, 1953
Cole, Mr. Charles Snowden, Glenview, Ill., Feb. 19, 1953
Crow, Mr. Walter Craig, Chicago, Ill., June 5, 1953
Dean, Miss Nesta Elizabeth, Liverpool, England, May 5, 1953
Follmer, Miss Ruth Elizabeth, Philadelphia, Pa., June 27, 1953
Forfar, Mr. James Johnson, Durban, Natal, Dec. 1, 1952
Fraser, Mr. John Alexander, Arlington, Cal., March 24, 1953
Gladish, Mrs. Laura (Wallenburg), Wyncote, Pa., July 1, 1953
Glebe, Mr. Gustav Valentine, Melrose Park, Pa., Nov. 13, 1953
Gyllenhaal, Mr. John Benade, Wilmette, Ill., Sept. 12, 1953
Halliday, Mrs. Charles C. (Helen Caldwell), San Francisco, Cal., Jan. 6, 1953
Hill, Mr. Joseph Edward, Cayley, Alberta, Dec. 26, 1951
Holm, Dr. Alfred Victor, Glenview, Ill., Jan. 8, 1953
Kirsheman, Mrs. (Laura Deppisch), Iona, Mich., Aug. 13, 1953
Lawebeig, Mr. Johan Waldemar Astolf, Strangnas, Sweden, Oct. 16, 1953
Magnusson, Mr. August, Degeberpa, Sweden, May 18, 1953
Masson, Mr. James Gordon, Durban, Natal, Dec. 10, 1953
McQueen, Mr. George Alexander, Chicago, Ill., Jan. 10, 1953
Merrell, Mrs. Charles G. (Lillie Hussey), Bryn Athyn, Pa., July 13, 1953

178



Morgan, Mrs. Charles Henry (Helena Maclren), Bexley, N.S.W., Oct. 29, 1952
Morgan, Mr. George, Bexley, N.S.W., June 3, 1952
Mumford, Mrs. George Herbert (Daisy Beatrice Roberts), Tewkesbury, England, Sept. 12, 1950
Norris, Miss Katherine Morrison, Evanston, Ill., Feb, 26, 1953
Odhner, Rev. Vincent Carmond, Bryn Athyn, Pa., May 28, 1953
Pemberton, Mr. Leonard Garth, Durban, Natal, April 11, 1953
Peterson, Mr. Victor Henry, Winooski, Vermont, Oct. 5, 1951
Powell, Mrs. Arthur H. (Mary Jane Denney), Abington, Pa., March 5, 1953
Ragnenet, Mrs. Victor Francois, St. Cloud, France, Jan. 13, 1953
Ridgway, Mr. Charles Rowland, Durban, Natal, Nov. 29, 1953
Ruckstuhl, Mrs. Albert, Malmkoping, Sweden, June ii, 1953
Semple, Miss Ida M., California, date unknown
Semple, Mrs. Julia Maud, California, date unknown
Stebbing, Mrs. Robert Archibald (Ruby Esbester Hart), London, England, June 24, 1953
Stoll, Mrs. Edward (Emilie Streich), Hollywood, Cal., Nov. 29, 1952
Synnestvedt, Mrs. Evan Lechner (Henrietta Ruth Field), Bryn Athyn, Pa., May 26, 1953
Walker, Mrs. Elizabeth Ann (Juengling), Glenolden, Pa., July 22, 1953
Walker, Mr. William Wayne, Detroit, Mich., July 17, 1953
Wilson, Mr. Joaquin Chandos, St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 23, 1953
Young, Mr. Frank Wesley, Canton, O., April 10, 1953

     RESIGNATIONS

Joy, Mrs. Rosalba O. (de Anchoriz), Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Taylor, Mrs. Harold N. (Evelyn Kobberoe), Spokane, Wash.
Whittenberg, Mr. Charles Allen, Herrin, Ill.

     SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION

     No statistical report of the work of the Mission in 1953 has been as yet received.                         Respectfully submitted,
          HUGO LJ. ODHNER,
               Secretary.



     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM: MEMBERSHIP STATISTICS
                Previous
Reported      Member-      New                                         Net      Total
in           ship           members      Died     Resig.      Drop'd      gain      members
Ju 1898      287                                                        167      454
1899           454                                                        50      504
1900           504           61           4      1                          56      560
1901           560           27           5      4                          18      578
1902           578           46           7      3                          37      615
1903           615           43           8                               35      650
1904           650           58           10                               48      698
1905           698           57           4                               53      751
1906           751           54           8      1           12           53      804
1907           804           40           7                    3           30      834
1908           834           46           11      5           5           25      859
1909           859           57           12                               45      904
1910           904           46           8      1                          37      941
1911           941           54           10      2                          49      990
1912          990           72           9                               63      1054
1913           1054           55           6      2                          47      1101
1914           1101           81           11                               70      1171
1915           1171           58           16                               42      1213
1916           1213           76           14      3                          59      1272

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1917           1272           41           20      2                          19      1291
1918           1291           70?           17                               55?      1346 ?*)
1919           1346?           66           28      4                          34      1351
1920           1351           101          17                                84      1435
1921           1435           131           12      5                          114      1549
Ja 1922      1549           56           7      3                          46      1595
1923           1595           109           18      3                          88      1683 **)
1924           1683           83           12      6           11           54      1732
1925           1737           60           19                               41      1778
1926           1778           66           27                               39      1817
1927           1817           69           21                               48      1865
1928           1865           73           26                               47      1912
1929           1912           66           27      1                          38      1950
1930           1950           66           24                               42      1992
1931           1992           75           29                               46      2038
1932           2038           36           25      2                              9      2047
1933           2047           58           18      4           9           27      2074***)
1934           2074           69           15      5(rev.+-13)                49      2136
1935           2136           71           32      2                          37      2173
1936           2173           93           26      3                          64      2231
1937           2237           71           31      6                          34      2271
1938           2271           59           33      117                     - 91      2180
1939           2180           66           43      4                          19      2199
1940           2199           77           31      6                          40      2239
1941           2239           51           38      12                         1      2240
1942           2240           82           34      5                          43      2283
1943           2283           65           26      3                          36      2319
1944           2319           84           33      1           20           30      2349
1945           2349           74 + 1      32      2           14           27      2376
1946           2376           77           29      1           5           42      2418
1947           2418           93           41-1      2           45 -1           7      2425
1948           2425           79           22      1                          56      2481
1949           2481           69           30      3           1           35      2516
1950           2516           102           39      4           7           52      2568
1951           2568           79           17      5                          57      2625
1952           2625           89           20      3                          65      2690
1953           2690           75           35      4                          36      2726
1954           2726           98           45      3                          50      2776
     *NCL1919, p.769f. **NCL1923, p.482. ***NCL1934, p.114.

     NOTE: The tabulations show some errors due to missing records. Based on the 4315 certificates issued within the period, the total should be 2791. (HLO).



     COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY

     January 1, 1953 to January 1, 1954

     MEMBERSHIP

     One member of the Council, the Rev. Vincent Carmond Odhner, passed into the spiritual world during 1953. As there was one ordination into the Ministerial degree, however, the total membership stands unchanged at thirty-eight.
     With two ordinations into the Pastoral degree; the total now includes three priests of the Episcopal degree, thirty of the Pastoral degree, and five of the Ministerial degree. Eleven members of the Council are retired or engaged in secular work; and although some of them assist with the uses of the Church, the active membership is still twenty-seven.

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     There is one Authorized Candidate in Brazil; one priest of the Pastoral degree in the British Guiana Mission; and nine priests of the Pastoral degree and two of the Ministerial degree in the South African Mission-the figures for South Africa being unchanged. The Circles at Paris and The Hague and the Society in Australia are still served by Authorized Leaders, the two Circles mentioned now receiving also the ministrations of a regular Visiting Pastor. A list of the Clergy of the General Church and its Missions appears in NEW CHURCH LIFE for December, 1953, pp. 564-567.

     STATISTICS

     Statistics concerning the SACRAMENTS AND RITES of the Church administered during 1953, compiled from 34 reports received up to February 27, 1954, together with the final though still incomplete figures for 1952, are as follows:

                                   1953      1952
Baptisms (Children, 133; Adults, 44)      177      158 (+ 19)
Holy Supper: Administrations           185      145 (+ 40)
Communicants                          4847      4481 (+ 336)
Confessions of Faith                    37      32 (+ 5)
Betrothals                               26      22 (+ 4)
Marriages                              33      29 (+ 4)
Funeral or Memorial Services               39      32 (+ 7)
Ordinations                              3      4 (-1)
Dedications: Churches                     0      1 (-1)
Homes                               11      7 (+ 4)
     The above figures do not include administration of Sacraments rind Rites in the South African Mission, or the number of communicants at National and District Assembly Holy Supper services, which was not completely reported. In addition to the total number of Marriages as given in the above tabulation there was one Blessing of a civil marriage. It is worthy of mention that of the total number of Baptisms reported for 1953, 25% were those of adults.

     REPORTS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE CLERGY

     The Rt. Rev. George de Charms, Bishop of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church, and President of the Academy of the New Church, reports as follows:

     BISHOP OF THE GENERAL CHURCH

     ORDINATIONS: On April 19, 1953, the Rev. Louis B. King was ordained into the second degree of the Priesthood. Candidate Roy Franson was ordained into the first degree on June 19, and on August 2, the Rev. Frank S. Rose was ordained into the second degree.

     PASTORAL CHANGES. The Rev. Louis B. King, who by episcopal appointment had been serving as minister to the Sharon Church in Chicago, Ill., was unanimously elected on April 18 to become Pastor of that Society immediately following his ordination into the second degree of the Priesthood. On December 9, Mr. King also accepted appointment as Visiting Pastor to the group in Urbana, Ohio.
     On July 26, the Rev. Morley D. Rich, who by episcopal appointment had been serving as Acting Pastor of the Michael Church in London, England, was elected unanimously as Pastor of that Society.

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     In response to a petition received on October 14, arrangements were made whereby the Rev. Roy Franson might become resident Minister to groups of General Church members residing in Dawson Creek, B. C., and Gorande Prairie, Alta., Canada. He entered upon his duties there on December 16.
     On November 9, the Rev. Gustaf Baeckstriim tendered his resignation as Pastor of the Stockholm Society, retaining, however, his position as editor of the magazine, NOVA ECCLESIA, manager of the Society Book Room, and Visiting Pastor to the Circle in Oslo, Norway. We regret that advancing age made it necessary for Dr. Baeckstrom to relinquish responsibilities which he has discharged so ably for many years; and we wish to express our grateful appreciation of his long and distinguished services to the New Church in the Scandinavian countries.
     On December 6, the Rev. Erik Sandstrom, who had served for many years as assistant to Dr. Baeckstrom, was unanimously elected as Pastor of the Stockholm Society.
     The Rev. Martin Pryke resigned as Pastor of the Durban Society, and as Superintendent of the General Church Mission in South Africa, on September 30. The Rev. B. David Holm, his assistant, was authorized to take charge until a new pastor and superintendent should arrive to fill the vacancies.
     On October 7, the Rev. A. Wynne Acton resigned as Pastor of the Olivet Church in Toronto, Canada, in order to accept a unanimous call to the pastorate of the Durban Society. At the same time Mr. Acton accepted episcopal appointment as Superintendent of the South African Mission.
     On October 13, the Rev. Martin Pryke accepted a call to succeed Mr. Acton as Pastor of the Olivet Church in Toronto.

     EPISCOPAL VISITS: On January 11, I visited the Advent Society in Philadelphia, where I preached and administered the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. I visited Chicago over the weekend of April 17, in order to preside at a special meeting of the Sharon Church Society called for the purpose of electing a pastor, and also to ordain the Rev. Louis B. King into the second degree of the priesthood. During the summer months I visited the General Church Societies in London and in Colchester, England, and in Stockholm, Sweden; as well as groups of our members residing in Copenhagen, Denmark, The Hague, Holland, and Paris, France.

     ASSEMBLIES: From August 1-3, I presided at the 40th British Assembly, held in London, England.
     I also presided at the Eastern Canada District Assembly, held in Kitchener, Ontario, October 10-12; and at the Chicago District Assembly, held in Glenview, Ill., October 30-November 1.
     At the Assembly in Kitchener I appointed a committee, under the chairmanship of the Rev. Norman H. Reuter, to study the question of organizing for the development of district uses, and to report its recommendations to the next meeting of the Eastern Canada Assembly, scheduled for 1955.
     At the Glenview Assembly I appointed a committee empowered to collect and administer funds, and to take whatever action may be found advisable to promote the uses of New Church education within the district. The Rev. Elmo C. Acton is chairman of this committee.

     THE BRITISH ACADEMY: At the request of the 40th British Assembly I have appointed the following gentlemen as Charter Members of the British Academy of the General Church:

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Rev. Messrs.      Alan Gill
               Morley D. Rich
               Frank S. Rose
Messrs.      Eric D. Appleton
               Donald A. Boozer
               Eric R. E. Briscoe
               Robert E. Bruell
               A. Victor Cooper
               Garth D. Cooper
                    John F. Cooper
               Geoffrey P. Dawson
               Percy Dawson
               David C. Finley
               H. Wallace Glover
               Colin M. Greenhalgh
               Harold C. Jones
               Reginald J. Law
               H. Keith Morley
               John Posthuma
               Denis Pryke
               Owen Pryke
               John Rowcliffe
               Harry Tinker
               Norman Turner
               A. Stanley Wainscot
               Alan N. Waters
     This organization is to be incorporated as a self-perpetuating body, with a membership restricted to members of the General Church resident in Great Britain. The Bishop of the General Church is to be ex officio President; and the members will elect annually, from their own numbers, a Board of Governors to conduct the affairs of the organization.
     The formation of this Academy is the outgrowth of seven years of study and investigation by a committee charged with the responsibility of recommending means for the development of New Church education in Great Britain. The ultimate goal is to provide training within the sphere of the Church at the secondary school level for all children of General Church families in Great Britain. While there is no immediate prospect of achieving this purpose, it is believed that persistent, organized effort over a period of years gives the best promise of eventual success. We would offer the fullest possible support and encouragement to those who are inaugurating this movement, on which we believe the future growth of the General Church in Great Britain will largely depend.

     OTHER ACTIVITIES: During the year I have presided at regular meetings of the Pennsylvania and Illinois Corporations of the General Church and at meetings of the Board of Directors. I wish to express grateful appreciation to the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton who, in addition to his duties as Executive Vice President of the Academy, presided over the Western Pennsylvania-Ohio-Michigan District Assembly, held in Painesville, Ohio, and made several episcopal visits during my absence in Europe.

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     PASTOR OF THE BRYN ATHYN CHURCH

     As Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society I have conducted services, presided over the meetings of the Board of Trustees and the Pastor's Council, and have performed various rites and ceremonies. I also presided over the annual and semi-annual meetings of the Society. During the year I preached eight times in the cathedral and conducted six doctrinal classes.
     The Society was fortunate in having the assistance of the Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh on the pastoral staff.
     I would express special appreciation for the excellent work of the Rev. Karl R. Alden in conducting introductory classes which have been extremely helpful to people approaching the New Church and desiring fundamental instruction in the doctrines. Also I would make grateful acknowledgment to the pastors who have preached by invitation from time to time.

     PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

     As President of the Academy I have presided at the meetings of the Corporation, the Board of Directors, the General Faculty, the President's Council, and the Faculty of the Theological School. In addition, I taught one course in the Theological School during the second semester, and a course in education in the Senior College throughout the year.

     The Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton served as Assistant to the Bishop of the General Church, as Executive Vice President of the Academy of the New Church, and as a Professor of Theology in the Academy. In the first of these capacities he presided at the Western Pennsylvania-Ohio-Michigan District Assembly, and visited Glenview, Detroit, and Washington, D. C.
     Rev. A. Wynne Acton was engaged as Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, and as Headmaster of the Olivet Day School.
     Rev. Karl R. Alden, Visiting Pastor to the Canadian Northwest and a teacher in the Academy and in the Bryn Athyn Elementary School, spent ten weeks of the summer vacation in the Canadian Northwest, traveling 10,000 miles. An account of this journey appears in NEW CHURCH LIFE for November and December, 1953, pp. 508-513, 553-556. In addition, he preached twice in Pittsburgh; once in Baltimore, Bryn Athyn, Montreal, Philadelphia, and Washington; and gave 17 missionary classes at his home.
     Rev. Gustaf Baeckstrom served as Pastor of Nya Kyrkans Forsamling, Stockholm, until his resignation on November 8, 1953. He continues as Visiting Pastor to Oslo, Editor of Now ECCLESIA, and Manager of the Book Room in Stockholm. Oslo was visited only once, but he reports that there will be more frequent visits in 1954.
     Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen reports that he has been engaged as Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society and Headmaster of the Pittsburgh New Church School.
     Rev. Harold C. Cranch served throughout the year as Visiting Pastor to the Western States.
     Rev. Charles E. Doering is retired but preached twice at Wallenpaupack. Pa., and once at Baltimore, Washington, D. C., and Wilmington.

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     Rev. Alan Gill, Pastor of the Colchester Society and Headmaster of its school, mentions that he was granted three months leave of absence on account of illness during the spring, and that the Rev. Frank S. Rose most ably undertook his duties in addition to his own.
     Rev. Victor J. Gladish, in secular work, preached four times at the Sharon Church. Chicago, and conducted one service at Linden Hills, Michigan, last summer.
     Rev. Frederick E. Gyllenhaal, Director of General Church Religion Lessons, preached five times in Bryn Athyn; once in Baltimore, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Toronto, and gave the address at two children's services in Bryn Athyn.
     Rev. Henry Heinrichs, although engaged in secular work, preached 8 times in Kitchener, 3 times in Toronto, and once in Detroit.
     Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Secretary of the Council of the Clergy, Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE, and a Professor of Theology in the Academy of the New Church, preached four times in Bryn Athyn and once each in Baltimore, Kitchener, New York, North Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Wallenpaupack, and Washington, D. C., and gave a doctrinal class in Baltimore, New York, Pittsburgh, and Washington. He has continued to serve as Chairman and Editor of the General Church Sound Recording Committee. He taught one course in the Theological School, two in the College, and one in the Girls' Seminary. In the fall he accepted appointment as Editor of THE NEW PHILOSOPHY.
     Rev. Louis B. King, after his ordination into the second degree of the priesthood, was in April chosen Pastor of the Sharon Church, Chicago, which he had served as Minister by appointment. In December he accepted appointment also as Visiting Pastor to the Urbana Group.
     Rev. Joao de Mendonca Lima reports that he has been engaged as Pastor of the Society in Rio de Janeiro.
     Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner, Secretary of the General Church, Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church, Professor of Theology in the Academy of the New Church, and Dean of its Theological School, preached 14 times in Bryn Athyn and conducted 12 general doctrinal classes. Elsewhere he preached three times and gave one address and one doctrinal class. In the Academy he gave three addresses and taught one course in Theology, two in Philosophy, and one in College Religion.
     Rev. Ormond Odhner reports that he has been engaged as Assistant Pastor of the Glenview Society, and as Visiting Pastor of the Circles in St. Paul-Minneapolis. Minn., Madison, Wis., and Fort Worth, Texas, and of groups in St. Louis, Mo., Rockford. Ill., Indiana, North Dakota, Illinois, Texas, and Louisiana.
     Rev. Martin Pryke served as Pastor of the Durban Society and Superintendent of the South African Mission until October 31, 1953.
     Rev. Norman H. Reuter, Pastor of the Carmel Church, Kitchener, and Headmaster of the Carmel Church School, in addition to his regular duties preached once in Bryn Athyn, Glendale, Ohio, and Glenview, and in Montreal, and twice in Toronto. He also conducted a doctrinal class in Glendale and in Montreal.
     Rev. Morley D. Rich served first as Acting Pastor and then as Pastor of Michael Church, London, England. In addition to his regular duties he preached and gave addresses in Colchester on several occasions; preached and gave classes at the annual West Country and North Country Gatherings; and addressed the British Assembly.

185


He also served as chairman, pro tem., of the British Education Committee and later as Acting Chairman of the British Academy; as President of the New Church Club; and as a member of the Advisory and Revision Board of the Swedenborg Society.
     Rev. Norbert H. Rogers, Pastor of the Detroit Circle and Visiting Pastor to the North Ohio Circle, reports that one of the most noteworthy events in Detroit was the change made in the place of worship.
     Rev. Frank S. Rose, Visiting Pastor to the isolated in Great Britain, to the Circles in The Hague and Paris, and to the isolated in Belgium, France, and Holland, made two visits to continental Europe, four to the isolated in England and Wales, and two to those in Scotland. In the course of these visits he conducted 41 services and 70 doctrinal classes. A partial report on his work appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE for May, 1953, pp. 249-250.
     Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh reports that he has given assistance to the pastoral office in the Bryn Athyn Church throughout the year, and has taught Religion in the Boys Academy since September.
     Rev. William Whitehead, Professor of History and head of the History Department in the Academy of the New Church, preached once in Pittsburgh, Urbana, and Washington, D. C., and twice in Philadelphia, and also gave a doctrinal class in Urbana and Washington.
     Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs, Jr., was engaged as Minister of the Philadelphia Society and of the New York and Northern New Jersey Circles.
     Rev. Raymond G. Cranch, in secular work, continued to serve as Visiting Minister to the Erie Circle, preaching there three times and giving three doctrinal classes and a children's Christmas talk. He preached once in Mankato, Minn., and called on several New Church people.
     Rev. Roy Franson reports that on December 15, he took up his duties as Minister to the Peace River Block District Group, in the Canadian Northwest.
     Rev. B. David Holm reports that he was engaged as Assistant to the Pastor of the Durban Society and Assistant to the Superintendent of the Mission in South Africa until October 29, 1953, from which date he served as Acting Pastor and Acting Superintendent.
     Rev. Dandridge Pendleton continued to serve as Minister to the Washington and Baltimore Circles, and as Visiting Minister in the Southeastern United States. A report of his work as Visiting Minister appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE for January, 1954, pp. 35-36.
     Respectfully submitted,
          W. CAIRNS HENDERSON,
               Secretary.

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     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM (A Pennsylvania Corporation) and THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM (An Illinois Corporation)

     REPORT OF THE SECRETARY

     FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1953

     MEMBERSHIP

     The membership of both Corporations comprised a total of 248 persons at both the beginning and the end of the year, as follows:
                                    Date of      Net           Date of
Members of                              12/31/52      Change      12/31/53
Pennsylvania Corporation only               1           Deduct 1      0
Illinois Corporation only                23           Deduct 2      21
Both Corporations                         224           Add 3           227
Total persons                          248           Add 0           248
     Total Members of
Pennsylvania Corporation                225           Add 2           227
Illinois Corporation                    247           Add 1           248

     The several Net Changes consisted of:
1 New Member of Illinois Corporation:      Cooper, Garth D., previously a member of Pennsylvania Corporation only
     5 New Members of both Corporations:
     Acton, A. Gareth               Odhner, Oliver R.
          Cockerell, Gordon D.          Pendleton, Dandridge
                                   Cooper, Geoffrey
     2 Deaths of members of Illinois Corporation only:
               Glebe, Gustav V.                McQueen, George A.
     3 Deaths of members of both Corporations:
          Cole, Charles S.                Gyllenhaal, John B.
                                   Fraser, John A.

     DIRECTORS

     The By-Laws of the two Corporations each provide for thirty Directors, ten to be elected each year for terms of three years. At the 1953 annual meetings, the vacancy, resulting from the death, December 1, 1952, of James J. Forfar, was filled by the election of Gordon D. Cockerell, and the nine other Directors, whose terms expired in 1953, were re-elected. Therefore, the thirty present Directors, and the year in which the term of each expires, are as follows:

187




1955 Acton, Daric E.      1954 Childs, Geoffrey S.      1955 Loven, Tore E.
1956 Acton, Kesniel C.      1955 Childs, Randolph W.      1954 McQueen, Harold P.
1954 Anderson, Reginald S.      1956 Cockerell, Gordon D.      1954 Nelson, Hubert S.
1954 Asplundh, Carl Hj.      1956 Davis, Edward H.      1955 Pendleton, Philip C.
1955 Asplundh, Edwin T.      1956 De Charms, George      1956 Pendleton, Willard D.
1955 Asplundh, Lester      1955 Glenn, Theodore N.      1956 Pitcairn, Harold F.
1954 Barnitz, Robert G.      1954 Heilman, Marlin W. 1956 Pitcairn, Raymond
1955 Blackman, Geoffrey E.      1956 Hyatt, Hubert      1956 Pryke, F. G. Colley
1956 Bostock, Edward C.      1955 Kuhl, John E.      1954 Synnestvedt, Arthur
1954 Brown, Robert M.           1954 Lee, Sydney E.      1955 Synnestvedt, Norman P.
     The Honorary Directors are Alexander P. Lindsay and Charles G. Merrell.

     OFFICERS

     The By-Laws of the two Corporations each provide for four officers to be elected for terms of one year. Those elected, at the Board Meetings of June 13, 1953, were:

     President De Charms, George
     Vice-President Pendleton, Willard D.
     Secretary Hyatt, Hubert
     Treasurer Gyllenhaal, Leonard E.

     CORPORATION MEETINGS

     The 1953 Annual Meetings of both Corporations were held at Bryn Athyn on June 13, these being the only meetings of the Corporations held during the year. The President, Bishop De Charms, presided and the meeting was attended by 50 persons, each a member of both Corporations.
     Reports were received from the President and Secretary and from the Committees on: Audit of Securities; Nomination of Directors; By-Law Amendments; Ministers Minimum Salary Plan; and Teachers Minimum Salary Plan.
     The By-Laws of both Corporations were amended to provide that the Committee on Nomination of Directors shall consist of five Corporation members of whom two shall and three shall not be Directors. The By-Laws of the Illinois Corporation were amended to provide that the title "Executive Committee" be replaced by that of "Board of Directors."

     BOARD MEETINGS

     Six meetings of the Boards of Directors of both Corporations were held during 1953. The President. Bishop De Charms, presided at all of them. The maximum attendance of Directors was 21, the minimum 111 and the average 16.5. Others who attended were Honorary Director Merrell and Treasurer Gyllenhaal.
     During 1953, the Board has considered and taken action with regard to a wide variety of matters in connection with the affairs of the Church. The results, for the most part, are reflected in other reports. For the rest, there is the foregoing and the three following items.
     
     1954 GENERAL ASSEMBLY

     The Twentieth General Assembly will be held at Bryn Athyn from Wednesday, June 16 to Sunday, June 20, 1954.

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     1954 ANNUAL CORPORATION MEETINGS

     The 1954 Annual Meetings of both General Church Corporations will be held at Bryn Athyn on Thursday, June 17 at 3:00 p.m.! E.D.T.

     PENSION & ANNUITY PLAN

     This Plan was first adopted to become effective June 1, 1947 and, as amended most recently on October 7, 1953, reads as follows:
     1. The General Church Pension and Annuity Plan, hereinafter called "Pension Plan," is a voluntary, cooperative plan between the Societies and Circles of the General Church and General Church of the New Jerusalem, a Pennsylvania Corporation hereinafter known as the "General Church," for the purpose of assisting Ministers and Teachers or other employees of the General Church and Ministers and Teachers of its Societies or Circles, who shall be designated hereafter as "employees," from the income of the General Church Pension Fund.
     2. The income of the General Church Pension Fund will be sustained by interest and dividends from Pension Fund investments, by voluntary contributions, and by contributions to be made to the Pension Fund by all the subscribers to the Pension Plan, amounting to ten per cent (10%) of all salaries paid by them to their employees who are eligible under the Pension Plan, whether in cash or otherwise.
     3. The Pension Fund shall be held and disbursed by the Treasurer of the General Church or his designated assistant, subject to the direction and administration of the General Church Pension Committee appointed by the Board of Directors of the General Church.
     4. Pensions shall be paid to employees after age sixty-five (6;) providing at least ten (10) years of service have been rendered. Employment may be continued after age sixty-five (65) by mutual agreement between employer and employee, in which case the terms of pension shall apply when retirement takes place.
     5. Annuities shall be paid to employees who become incapacitated while in active service, after ten (10) years of service have been rendered.
     6. In case of an employee, entitled to a pension or annuity under this Pension Plan, who has also been an employee of The Academy of the New Church: it is the intent of this Pension Plan that his services to the Academy and the General Church shall be considered cumulatively, and the Pension Committee will cooperate with the Academy in order to provide such employee with full benefits of the Pension Plan, and the cost thereof shall be shared on the basis of the years of service to each body.
     7. Pensions and annuities shall be computed on the following basis: At age sixty-five (65) or thereafter at date of retirement in the case of pensions or at the time of disability in the case of annuities, the beneficiary shall receive an amount annually, figured on the basis of his years of service. He shall receive a percentage of the average of the annual salaries paid to him during the five highest paid years of his employment with the General Church including its societies or circles and/or The Academy of the New Church, which years need not be consecutive; for ten (10) years of service 20%, and for each additional year 1% of such average annual salary; however, the total percentage paid shall not exceed 50% of his average annual salary, as defined herein.
     8. Salary shall comprise all money received including voluntary basket contributions plus the fair rental value of a dwelling house or the fair value of other benefits included in his annual compensation.
     9. The Pension Committee may in its discretion in exceptional cases recommend to the General Church Board of Directors modifications of this Pension Plan to provide greater or less pensions or annuities, and the Board of Directors shall approve or reject such recommendations.

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     10. The principal and income of the Pension Fund shall be subject in whole or in part to withdrawal and application to such uses of the General Church as may be deemed proper by the Board of Directors, who shall have the power to amend or suspend the Pension Plan at any time.
     11. Social Security or other benefits awarded by the Federal or State governments may be deducted from benefits allowed under the Pension Plan, at the discretion of the Pension Committee.
     12. The Pension Plan does not extend to the dependent spouses or dependent children of deceased employees.
     Respectfully submitted.
          HUBERT HYATT,
               Secretary.

     GENERAL CHURCH SALARY COMMITTEE

     The year 1953 has, in general, been one of progress. The self-sustaining societies have absorbed the recent increase in the ministerial salary schedule and those which have schools have met the minimum provided under the recently adopted teachers salary plan. In those groups which are not fully self-sustaining, marked advances have been made in taking on a larger share of the salaries. I regret to report, however, that for the first time since the initiation of the ministerial salary plan, a society has declared itself unable to meet the requirements. This occurred in Durban and was due to the death of several important contributors plus the fact that the new pastor is entitled to a considerably larger salary under the plan than was the old pastor. It is hoped that the situation can be rectified before too long.
     One other thing is quite clear, and that is that if the work of the Church is to be expanded to meet growing needs for pastoral service in distant fields, the contributions to the General Church must be increased since the small groups which are springing up are unable at the present time to meet the obligations of the Plan. If the work is to be done, the General Church must, perforce, take on the bulk of the salaries of the men to be employed in this work.
     Respectfully submitted,
          K. C. ACTON,
          LESTER ASPLUNDH,
          THEODORE N. GLENN,
          H. HYATT,
          PHILIP C. PENDLETON, Chairman

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     TREASURER OF THE GENERAL CHURCH

     REPORT FOR 1953

     1953 was a good year financially for the General Church. Income dipped slightly, but remained at the high level of the previous record year. Expenses on the other hand tumbled from the 1952 all-time high. The final result shows a substantial improvement this year with a 12% surplus of approximately $11,000, from which the Board of Directors has appropriated $500 for a reserve for republishing the Liturgy.
     Investment income after slipping last year recovered in 1953 to hold total income at the high level. Contributions, however, for the first time since 1947, declined. Actually a large number of average contributors made substantial increases in their donations and 22 new names were added during the year. Unfortunately, it was not sufficient to offset the loss of a few substantial contributions which, for understandable reasons, were lost for this year. Add to this the fact that an unusual number of contributions were designated for special purposes, and therefore did not show up under general contributions, and the overall picture looks encouraging.
     The big decline in expenses came in traveling. 1953 was an off year for moving activity, which saved the Church a considerable sum over the previous period. Of a lesser amount but perhaps of greater significance was a $3,000 drop in Salary expense. While a number of increases went into effect under the Minimum Salary Plan, several Societies assumed a greater share of the responsibility, relieving the General Church of a substantial burden. The Western Mission is noteworthy in this respect. In 1953, their first full calendar year, they carried the complete support of their pastor, and in addition 64%, of their members also contributed to the uses of the General Church, a record of which they are justifiably proud.
     Of course, not all expenses went down. Publishing costs were up. Administrative supplies and equipment were more expensive and Pension payments jumped appreciably. In fact, this year's expenditures were surpassed only by the record year of 1952. In the case of Pension payments, contributions to the Plan were more than adequate to cover the cost of benefits, and the excess along with the total fund income was put back into the Pension Fund.
     That, very briefly, is the picture. It sounds optimistic but let us look ahead. 1953 may well have been the lull before the storm. Remember that for each of many succeeding years income has increased rapidly. This year it slipped. And do not forget that it has been an exceptional year in the lack of unusual moving expenses. Already heavy expenditures are being incurred for 1954, and an Assembly year always brings many unexpected items.
     Then, too, there is a pressing need for expansion of uses in many parts of the Church. If the Church is to continue to grow some of these will have to be met with resulting expenditures. So a real need does exist.
     Yet 1954 could be a banner year. Right now it does not seem likely there will be a substantial recession, particularly in an election year. And incomes should remain high. With an easing of the tax situation and a more genuine competition for the dollar, more money will go into individual wants as compared to necessities. Still. three out of every five members of the General Church assume no responsibility for its financial support.
     Now more than ever, is the time for this group to reconsider their responsibilities to the Church. Certainly its support should rate high on the list of individual wants.
     Their help is needed and can go a long way towards assuring a successful year in 1954.
          Respectfully submitted.
               LEONARD E. GYLLENHAAL.

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     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSE

     UNRESTRICTED GENERAL OPERATING FUND
                                                   December 31,
                                        1953                1952
INCOME
Contributions Unrestricted
Individual Gifts                              $21,794.80           $26,082.95
Special Endowment Income                         21,341.53           21,254.00
                                             43,136.33           47,336.95
Contributions to South African Mission          3,941.76           2,403.81
Investments                                   19,869.99           18,567.41
Trust Fund Transfers
Includes income from Carswell, Extension, and Pension
     Funds                                   21,506.09           18,779.82
New Church Life Subscriptions                    2,728.68           3,588.23
Sundry                                    14.98                915.65
                                             $91,197.83           $91,591.83
     EXPENSE
Salaries
Includes Pension Contribution                $33,269.04           $36,637.93
Travel
Includes Travel and Moving expenses               7,075.83           14,787.76
Periodicals
New Church Life and Reading Calendar
     exclusive of Salaries                         6,367.32           5,822.13
South African Mission                         8,826.32           7,956.15
Western Mission                               4,609.79           41569.14
Administration
Includes Religious and Visual Education, Bishop's
     Office Treasury, Corporation, etc.          6,385.63           5,449.98
Pensions Paid to Pensioners                    12,851.32           10,462.46
Sundry                                    198.80           701.67
Total Operating Expense                     $79,590.05           $86,387.22
Income Surplus                              $11,607.78           $ 5,204.65

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     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM UNRESTRICTED GENERAL FUND CONTRIBUTIONS TO CURRENT INCOME ANALYSIS BY YEARS

                    Contributors
Year                Potential*      Actual      Percentage      Amount
1944                    1630 710           44          16,271.07
1945                    1653 787           48               18,428.82
1946                    1717      805           47               24,117.24
1947                    1727 503           46               29,431.98
1948                    1736      766           44           27,562.81
1949                    1812      777           43           28,260.43
1950                    1759     746           42               31,682.52
1951                    1850      721           39               10,502.52
1952                    1844      732           40               47,336.95
1953                     1847      754           41               13,136.33

     ANALYSIS BY SOURCE FOR 1953

                         Contributors
District               Potential*      Actual      Percentage      Amount
Washington, D. C.      20          15          75          $219.50
Western U.S.A. A.     98           63           64          339.21
Sweden & Norway           106          65           61          80.47
Toronto                100          57          57          540.25
Southern U.S.A. B      39          22           56          806.70
Southern Ohio               20           11           55          276.84
Glenview               138          73          53          751.05
Pittsburgh                63           32           51          1,627.72
Bryn Athyn-Regular     416           200           48          14,053.04
     Endowment                          14                    21,341.53
Australia                24           11           46          37.44
Central U.S.A. C          71           32           45          833.89
South Africa           69           30           44          104.93
Detroit                36           15           42          275.50
Colchester                48           16           33          74.55
Chicago                47           12           26          86.00
Eastern U.S.A. D           7          18           25          473.00
Eastern Canada E           21           5          24          187.92
Northern Ohio           31           7          23          228.50
Pennsylvania           28           6           21          149.00
Great Britain               109           22           20          159.27
New York City           17          3           18          100.00
Kitchener                90           13           14          60.70
Western Canada F           32           3           9          239.03
Philadelphia          54           4               7          41.50
Other                99           5           5          48.79
                    1847          754          41          $43,136.33

     * Potential Contributors consist of all members of the General Church (plus all non-member contributors) counting each married couple as one member.

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     A Arizona, Calif., Colo., Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mont., Nebraska, Nevada, N. Dakota, N. Mexico, Okla., Oregon, S. Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wash., Wyoming
     B Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Miss., N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Tenn., Virginia. W. Virginia
     C Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin
     D Conn., Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Mass., New Hamp., New Jersey, New York, R. I. . Vermont
     E Ontario Eastward
     F Manitoba Westward
     G Africa, Arabia, Cent. America, Europe, Indo-China, Jordan, Mexico, S. America, Unknown


     EDITOR OF "NEW CHURCH LIFE"

     The issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE for April, 1953, was enlarged to 64 pages to provide a variety of material in addition to the annual reports, but as the August issue was decreased to 32 pages the usual total of 576 pages was not exceeded. It is proposed to continue this practice. The total, in order of space used, was made up as follows:

                    Pages
Articles                269          
Sermons                66
Editorials                56
Church News           55
Reports                54
Announcements           23
Reviews                17
Miscellaneous           14
Talks to Children      11
Directories           7
Communications          4
Total                576

     Excluding editorials, reports, and news notes, the contents of NEW CHURCH LIFE in 1953 again came from a total of 37 contributors-30 ministerial and 7 lay, the latter including 2 women, as against 21 and 16 in 1952. The magazine was thus more a clerical journal in 1953. Grateful thanks are here expressed to all literary contributors.
     Special features in 1953 were the series of articles on the General Confession, to which 18 members of the clergy contributed; a series of six articles on "The Doctrine of Charity" by Bishop De Charms; Bishop Acton's scholarly study, "Some Little Known Facts Concerning Swedenborg's Memorabilia," which appeared in the March issue, and of which reprints were made; the revival of "Notes on the Calendar Readings" as a regular department; and the introduction of a new, occasional department headed "In Our Contemporaries." The year was marked also by an almost complete turnover of correspondents in the various Societies and Circles of the Church. One veteran correspondent entered the spiritual world, and several others justly decided that their length of service entitled them to retire from the field. To those who have gone we express sincere thanks; to those who remain, warm gratitude; and to the new writers who have entered our news columns, a hearty welcome and the hope for a long and pleasant association.

194



     Except in so far as is indicated by the list of special features there has been no change in editorial policy. But the editor is, as always, open to suggestion, and ready to discuss policy matters.

     CIRCULATION

     Figures as of December 31, 1953, supplied by the Circulation Secretary show a net gain of 22 paid subscribers in 1953, increasing the total in that category from 840 to 862. Total circulation is shown in the following tabulation:
                                        1952      1953
Paid subscribers                               840      862
Free to our Ministers, to Public Libraries,
New Church Book Rooms, Exchanges, etc.           132      126
Free to Men and Women in the Services           68      67
Total                                        1040      1055
     Respectfully submitted,
          W. CAIRNS HENDERSON,
               Editor.



     RELIGION LESSONS COMMITTEE

     This year I am revising all the lessons, questions and answers, and pictures for the Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings series, or the C, D, F, G, and H Lessons, etc. Each series will have forty lessons of one sheet, or two pages. This totals 200 lessons. All but the lessons for the H grade will have two insets for each lesson. Questions and answers for all but the C grade are also being revised. The questions and answers for the C or Genesis Lessons were discontinued, but at the suggestion of the counselor distributing them last year, they will be supplied again next year. Both simple questions and answers will be supplied with every lesson.
     All the revised lessons are submitted to Miss Eo Pendleton, who has given valuable suggestions for changes contributing to clarity and simplicity. Then each grade's lessons are submitted to the counselor for that grade. And many of the lessons have also been read by my assistant, Mrs. Samuel Croft, who, I might say in passing, is doing excellent work. This means four different opinions, and as in most instances I have to circulate the revisions and call for them, it entails delay. Add to this that all the insets and full page outline pictures are drawn by Mr. Donald Moorhead, speed-oscoped by Mrs. Richard Bostock, but thought out and suggested by me, and finally approved by me, and these have to be delivered and called for, and you will agree that there is added delay and I must perforce do considerable messenger service.
     Twenty-four lessons, questions and answers, and outline pictures have been distributed, and the full forty of each grade will have been distributed by the first of June. The work for these grades in stock will last for three or four years, and the stencils will be available for mimeographing more copies.
     In addition I have prepared questions and answers for our K and L grades for which Mrs. Frank Mitchell is the counselor.

195


These are High School grades consisting of the students who have finished the Life of the Lord Lessons sent out by Miss Virginia Junge of Glenview. The K Lessons consist of papers on the Lord's Prayer prepared by the Rev. K. R. Alden, and of short sermons on the Ten Commandments prepared by the Rev. Harold C. Cranch. The L class has completed the study of the Doctrine of Life and is now studying the Doctrine of Charity. A copy of these little booklets is given to each student.
     The Life of the Lord Lessons are also being completely revised and published in attractive form with many pictures illustrating the text. This is done in Glenview under the general supervision of the Rev. Elmo C. Acton. With the exception of $300, this work is paid for by Theta Alpha. Also all the costs of postage and envelopes for all the lessons, and contributions of $200 a year for art work for the lessons done in Bryn Athyn, are paid for by Theta Alpha. Theta Alpha has also completed this year the Christmas Representation, the figures of the three wise men and of their camels, and has distributed them. They have also arranged that certain of the work in the future shall be done by Theta Alpha in Glenview and in Toronto, and have sent instruction and material for the doing of the work to England and Australia.
     The work of the counselors and the teachers has been very satisfactory and is now bringing results that show its value. Many hundreds of letters were written during the first year, and the replies also were numerous. To report this phase of the work adequately would double or triple the length of this report, so I propose to reserve it for next year's report, especially as at that time two years' experience with the teacher plan will supply a clearer and more balanced picture of this part of the work.
     In closing, I want to stress the need for the children who receive the lessons to have their own copies of the Word according to the New Church canon. To supply this need the Academy Book Room bought in sheets, for binding here, 1000 copies of the Word according to the New Church canon, in large print and with short double columns, to make it easy for children to read by themselves. One hundred copies were bound in red buckram, but to date only 72 of these have been sold, probably very few to our isolated children. As the purpose of these Religion Lessons is to cultivate with children a delight in regularly reading the Word by themselves-the daily reading of the Word ultimately-it seems most desirable that every child should have this copy of the Word as his own; for if he owns an attractive, readable copy of the Word he will be more likely to read it, than if there is only one copy of a Bible in small print.
     Respectfully submitted,
          FREDERICK E. GYLLENHAAL,
               Director.



     SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE

     Of great benefit to the Committee was the acquisition last year of a studio within the Cathedral precincts. This has brought under one roof all the activities carried on in Bryn Athyn except the recording of functions held elsewhere than in the Cathedral and, for the time being, the operations of the Loan Library.
     The Committee can again report further though modest increases in its offerings, the number of places equipped to receive them, and the extent to which recordings were used. At the present time there are 770 tapes on the shelves of the Loan Library, approximately 150 of which are extra copies. A supplement to the recordings catalog was published last March, and it is intended to issue another catalog supplement early this year.

196



     An increase of about 5 percent in the circulation of records brought the total number of tapes charged to users to 814, an average of about 68 per month. Members of the clergy may be interested to know that this total included 318 services, 212 doctrinal classes, 143 Growth of the Mind classes, 60 children's services, and 58 addresses given at various Church and Academy functions. It is of interest also to note that there is a steady call for Christmas and Easter material, and a slowly increasing demand for material for New Church Day and Swedenborg's birthday.
     In addition to Committee-owned equipment and some 25 privately owned machines in Bryn Athyn, there are 58 machines in 49 locations; these latter including 18 states and the District of Columbia, and 5 countries outside the United States. Approximately 25 of these locations are now being served, and 15 of them receive recordings on a regularly scheduled basis. These figures scarcely reflect the true use of the service, however, as some of these centers have as many as 30 adults and children attending recorded services. Two groups have a recorded service every Sunday and a recorded class every week. Several others have service and class twice a month, and 6 subscribers are taking the Growth of the Mind series. Total contributions were $3,182.30, of which $912.30 came from users of the service, the average contribution per tape being $1.12. In spite of the expansion noted, it is estimated that the work can be handled effectively in 1954 without an increase in the $3,500 budget that was applied during 1953.
     The Committee is still working with a view to varying its offerings by increasing the number of recordings made in centers other than Bryn Athyn.
     Respectfully submitted,
          W. CAIRNS HENDERSON,
               Chairman.



     MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE

     With the current issue, THE GENERAL CHURCH COMMUNIQUE retires as a separate periodical, but the General Church Military Service Committee will continue to function according to the apparent need. After due consideration, the Committee, with the concurrence of Bishop Willard D. Pendleton, has decided that the somewhat static military situation does not necessitate a special periodical for the military group. At present we list 61 persons, 10 of whom are professional soldiers. Of the remaining 51, not more than 23 are truly isolated.
     THE SONS OF THE ACADEMY BULLETIN is eager for news and information about our soldiers. We anticipate the continuance of all our activities except THE COMMUNIQUE.
     Shortly we shall send out a card to our servicemen asking for an indication of literature desired. The NEW CHURCH LIFE and BULLETIN will be continued, but monthly sermons, THE NEW PHILOSOPHY, and NEW CHURCH EDUCATION, and Mrs. Raymond Pitcairn's list of sermons and classes, will be sent only if they are checked on the card. To mark and mail a stamped, self-addressed card should not take too much effort, though we know about human nature!
     If the soldiers themselves, or their families, would send addresses and/or news to the BULLETIN in Detroit it would be splendid. But at present there are very few communications sent directly to the Committee, and finding and correcting addresses involves many hours of work. We shall continue to peruse the address list monthly, and notify servicemen of other New Church men, service or civilian, in their vicinity.

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     And now a financial statement. Of the $400 allotted to the Committee in 1951, about $100 remains. Expenses have been low for several reasons. The monthly sermons are left over from World War II; the several periodicals have been sent gratis by the various publishing groups; and the only expenses incurred have been for THE COMMUNIQUE, mailing purposes, and Christmas gifts. I think all of us have an interest in, and sympathy for, the young people in the services. But if the country settles into a period of peace-time military training, we might well adopt an attitude somewhat akin to that which we have toward young people isolated because of college education or other reasons. Let us reflect that the situation is different from that existing during the war, when service personnel were in combat areas and were really isolated.
     Respectfully submitted,
          DORIS PENDLETON,
               Chairman.



     VISUAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Cash on hand, January 1, 1953                          $296.82
Receipts:
Rentals, etc., of slides                $26.70
Sale of slides, equipment etc.          144.16
Contributions                         20.00
                                                       190.86
                                                  487.68

Expenditures:
New slides for the Committee's Library     150.54
Slides and equipment for re-sale           111.16
Postage                              3.00
                                                       264.70
Balance on hand January 1, 1954                          $222.98

     Rentals of slides and sales of slides and equipment have approximately doubled in 1953 by comparison with 1952.
     The increased use of our library by our younger ministers and others is most encouraging.
     To meet the demand for Christmas and Easter slides especially, we have recently purchased additional sets of both.
     Respectfully submitted,
          WILLIAM R. COOPER,
               Director.

198


GREAT GULF FIXED 1954

GREAT GULF FIXED       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary                    Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.
     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     We wish to examine a piece of very specious reasoning that is sometimes heard in the church. It is that as evil spirits would be tormented in heaven, and as they experience in hell the greatest happiness of which they are capable, their hell is really heaven for them. Indeed it has even been said that in this sense is achieved with the evil the Divine end of a heaven from the human race. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth.
     For one thing, heaven and hell are each of an entirely different essence. For another, heaven is a state of freedom, of fulfillment, and of love that increases as it is extended; hell is a state of bondage, of frustration, and of self-consuming love. The delight of evil could find satisfaction only in what is forbidden to it; and although evil spirits do enjoy at regular intervals the pseudo-happiness that is felt when all things go as one wishes, they can achieve at best the absence of active unhappiness that comes with final acquiescence.
     In the Divine Providence, infernal spirits are eventually brought into the Lord's kingdom of uses, but they never enter into that heartfelt delight in the performance of uses which is the mark of His heavenly kingdom. Between heaven and hell this uncrossable great gulf is fixed. And although evil spirits find, in the Lord's mercy, that which is happiness to them, it is not such as in any sense to make a heaven of their hell; for it is their self-chosen destiny never to forget self.

199


DISTINCTIVENESS 1954

DISTINCTIVENESS       Editor       1954

     Differently from some other New Church men, we have long believed that the hope of the Church in an alien world, and with it the hope of all that is salvable in the human race, rests upon a true distinctiveness. Our studies in the Writings have led us to seek this, not for the sake of isolation, but as the most powerful positive means of preserving integrity of doctrine, purity of life, and the ability to serve the Lord most effectively in the work of saving men out of every religion on the face of the earth. And to this end we have sought to develop a distinct religious and social life and a distinct education, which center in, as they rest upon, marriage within the Church; trusting that in so doing we are establishing corresponding externals within which is a living internal-that we are, indeed, being distinctive as well as distinct.
     With the lesson of Christian monasticism before him, every thinking New Church man realizes sooner or later, however, that physical separation from the world is not enough. Many a religious who sought to flee the world in the conventual life found the world still present in the cloister and even in the privacy of the cell. And even if we could surround our walls with an impenetrable Iron Curtain we would still not have excluded selfish and worldly loves and ideas. In the siege that evil lays it has, in the proprium, a powerful fifth column within the walls themselves, and it is there that danger lies.
     True distinctiveness does not consist in isolating certain areas of living and marking them by peculiar customs, necessary as that is. Essentially it is something that is built up in the heart and mind. It consists in developing patiently through a life according to the spiritual truth of the
Writings new and distinctive motives, modes of thinking, criteria of judgment, and standards of conduct. And with this we may go forth from our protected centers to perform uses and proclaim the gospel of the Second Advent to those who will hear it; humbly confident that in not being taken out of the world we will be kept from the evil, and assured of having a distinctive church into which to welcome those who have been searching for the truth.
     Let there be no mistake as to what is meant here. It is a teaching of our doctrine that there can be no internal which does not have its own proper external, and as such an external the life and practices and customs we have developed are in the highest degree necessary. But if a church that is not distinctive has no reason for existence, a church that is merely distinct without being distinctive will soon lose the reason for its existence. It will eventually turn inward upon itself, and the seed of its corruption will be sown.

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GOOD FRIDAY 1954

GOOD FRIDAY       Editor       1954

     The New Church rightly deprecates morbid adoration of the cross. While recognizing that many cannot do otherwise, it may not take the way of tears to Calvary, to worship in shuddering ecstasy an outstretched form from which life has departed or lose itself in rapt contemplation of the precious blood. Yet reaction against extreme emotionalism may be as violent as that which inspires it, and in dissociating ourselves from the traditional observance of Good Friday we should take the utmost care to preserve the remembrance of its true significance as now revealed, and not deny or ignore its importance by refusing it special observance.
     It is made clear in the Heavenly Doctrine that the passion of the cross was neither salvation nor the act of redemption. But it was the last temptation whereby the Lord fully glorified His Human. It was the final combat in which He entirely subjugated the hells and achieved complete victory over the totality of evil. And it was the means by which the Lord took to Himself the power to regenerate and save men. The Writings indeed say that the angels do not think about the Lord's passion, and are not allowed to do so, but of His glorification and resurrection and reception of the Divine from Him. But they nowhere indicate that the church should not do so; and here, surely, is a glorious thing for the church to celebrate with a glad Te Dominum, in which humble and heartfelt gratitude is mingled with joyous thanksgiving.
     However, there is yet another aspect to be considered. We may never think of the Lord as moving serenely and mechanically through a pattern of events that the scripture might be fulfilled. As man born of woman He knew hunger, thirst, and fatigue; as the Son of Man He knew doubt even to despair in all His temptations; and in the passion of the cross, and the savagely brutal events that culminated in it, both these elements were present to the full. The agony in the garden which could produce such awful manifestations was a real agony; and the passion of the cross was an agony which ran the gamut of torture from the illusion of utter abandonment by the Divine to the endurance of cruel pain by a body in which was the fear of death as in the bodies of all other men.
     Certainly we should not overemphasize these things, or concentrate too much on the ultimates of the Lord's passion, lest even for a moment we lose sight of His Divinity. Yet neither may we discount or ignore those ultimates. For they were what the Lord was willing to endure that He might put Himself into the power of saving men. And if, in approaching the events of Good Friday, we obey the injunction to think of the Lord from essence, and from that of His person, we may do justice to the events without danger of falling into the emotionalism we deplore.

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FREDERICK EMANUEL DOERING TRUST 1954

FREDERICK EMANUEL DOERING TRUST              1954

     The above Trust holds monies available "for the purposes of educating such male children who are citizens of the Dominion of Canada as are selected by any minister of the General Church of the New Jerusalem in Canada, in consultation with the Trustees (Royal Trust Company, Toronto) provided, however, that such applicants shall embrace the faith of the New Church and shall be acceptable to my trustees."
     The obvious intention of the Will is that such male students shall receive their education at a New Church school. Therefore the parents of male children who are citizens of the Dominion of Canada, and who embrace the faith of the New Church, desiring to benefit from this Trust by sending their children to the Academy of the New Church during the school year 1954-1955, are asked to communicate, as soon as possible, with the Rev. Norman H. Reuter, 14 Willow Street, Kitchener, Ontario; the Rev. Martin Pryke, 35 Elm Grove Avenue, Toronto, Ontario; or the Rev. Roy Franson, Box 1744, Dawson Creek, British Columbia.
SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES 1954

SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES              1954

     GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS. Graded lessons and other material from pre-Kindergarten through Grade 11. Address inquiries to: Pastor-in-Charge, Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE. Tape-recordings of services, sermons, doctrinal classes, children's services, etc. Address: General Church Sound Recording Committee, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH VISUAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Biblical and other slides. Address: Mr. William R. Cooper, Director, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     NEW CHURCH EDUCATION. Published by Religion Lessons Committee: monthly, September to June, inclusive. Subscription, $1.50. Editor: Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal.
ASSEMBLY MUSIC 1954

ASSEMBLY MUSIC              1954

     The following selections will be used in the Divine Worship held during the General Assembly:

Offices 2 and 4
Hymns nos. 24, 52, 53, 55
Antiphon X-2-316
Anthems 5, 11, 13
Psalms 33, 48

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Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     THETA ALPHA ANNIVERSARY, 1904-1954

     This year of 1954 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Theta Alpha. In Bryn Athyn, on February 3rd, a commemorative banquet was held which was a real inspiration to all of the two hundred and forty-five persons who attended. Let us Set the stage for you before we tell of the serious subject of the evening.
     The food which delighted the palate was prepared by a committee of women headed by Marjory Wells (Mrs. Donald) Rose and Beryl Howard. The food for thought, which sent us home feeling that we had indeed shared a feast together, was prepared by our gracious toastmistress and President, Alice Henderson (Mrs. Bruce) Glenn, and four charming speakers-Alice Fritz, Janet Heilman (Mrs. George) Doering, Carol Waelchli (Mrs. Richard) Kintner and Ione Odhner (Mrs. Elmo) Acton. Margaret Bostock, who was in charge of the decoration committee, also designed the cover for the program which lay at each place.
     This will be a good souvenir, for besides announcing the program of speeches and songs, and giving the list of presidents who have served Theta Alpha during these fifty years, it tells a few interesting facts about the cover design, as follows: "The Greek letters Theta Alpha stand for Thugateres Akademias, which means Daughters of the Academy. Non Nobis Solum is our motto. It means Not For Ourselves Alone and signifies that we, the members of Theta Alpha, recognize that the blessings of the New Church are to be shared. The eagle brooding over her young . . . symbolizes the care that the women of the Church must take in the upbringing of the children. It appeared on a gold medal presented by the Academy of the New Church to the graduates of the Seminary from 1892 to 1922, when a regular diploma was substituted. Emeline Carswell (Mrs. Alfred Acton) and Augusta Pendleton (Mrs. Reginald W. Brown) were the first two girls to receive the medal. We must report that Mrs. Acton was-well, just her sweet, lovable self in her bashful response to the song we sang. It is a pity that Mrs. Brown was unable to be there to receive a tribute too.
     We also sang, during the evening, to Rachel Kendig (Mrs. A. Wynne) Acton who received a corsage as a "good-bye" token-she will be accompanying her husband to Durban, a General Church Society even more remote geographically than either of his previous pastorates; to the young ladies of the Senior Class, who were introduced by Principal Dorothy Davis; and to Cyriel Odhner (Mrs. Thorsten) Sigstedt, who, sad to say, was in the hospital and so did not hear her Theta Alpha song, Thugateres Akademias, written to an old Swedish tune sung by Faith Childs (Mrs. Douglas) Halterman and a group. Faith accompanied the old familiar favorites, "What Name Resounds," "Our Glorious Church," and "Our Own Academy." "Academia, Queenly, Peerless" was accompanied by Besse Edmonds Smith, who played it on the first occasion at which it was sung.
     The waitresses, who were efficient and refreshingly pleasant, were under the supervision of Charlotte Austin. An unseen young man, Gerald Klein, effectively monitored the loud-speaker system for us.
     It was both interesting and inspiring, as the evening progressed, to be able to study the faces and consider the personalities of the Former Presidents, the Charter Members, and the Councilors who flanked our young and devoted President, Alice Glenn, at the head table. The full list of Past Presidents includes Amena Pendleton Haines, Venita Pendleton Carpenter, Alice Potts, Elizabeth Simons Iungerich, Freda Pendleton, Besse Edmonds Smith, Dorothy Burnham, Ora Pendleton, Margaret Bostock and Cara Hyatt Synnestvedt. The list of living Charter Members includes Emeline Carswell (Mrs. Alfred Acton), and Augusta Pendleton (Mrs. Reginald W. Brown), who were the first recipients of the Academy Gold Medal.

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The three Councilors "who have done so much in initiating and planning the Religion Lessons" are Margaret Bostock, Eo Pendleton and Carita Pendleton de Charms, who was the first to give concrete form to the dream of the extension of New Church education, while educating her own children when they were among "the isolated." I wish that time and space would permit a thumb-nail sketch of each of these women who was able to be present. This I know, there would be one central theme, though with fascinating variations, returning throughout these sketches: a theme which is timeless. Steadfast devotion to the infinite truth of revelation as it is seen and applied in the present imparts a youthful flexibility to the wisdom of experience and an essential stability to the enthusiastic pioneering of inexperienced youth. We believe that all who were present must have felt this unifying influence. And so we here pay tribute to the present Executive Committee and all those who have worked with them untiringly to serve and help to develop this extension work, and thus direct our good intentions to a worthwhile use.
     So much for the setting of this 50th Anniversary Celebration! But how can we do justice to the spirit which pervaded the whole program?-a spirit which fulfilled past hopes and gave promise for the future! Here were speakers who exemplified true womanliness by their sweetness and their spicy charm, by the serious depth of their thought and the lightness of their humor. With simple dignity they offered us the fruits of their study and experience in the home, the community and the church. All that we can attempt is to give you a whiff of the personalities of the speakers and a mere taste of the flavor of their speeches. Fortunately these will be printed in a Supplement to the THETA ALPHA JOURNAL; and I suggest that any of my readers who have not access to this Supplement might obtain copies of the speeches by writing to the Executive Committee in Bryn Athyn.
     Alice Fritz gave a brief history of Theta Alpha as background. She left her name off the printed program because hers was not a serious "speech" on the subject of the evening. Nonetheless, she did a very fine job of condensing much interesting and informative subject-matter into a brief space, and offering it to us in a form and manner that were easy to listen to. Ideals, statistics, personalities, difficulties and achievements, changes and developments-all were there! and the continuity of purpose which was, and is, the furthering of New Church education.
     The toastmistress introduced the subject, "The Place of New Church Education in the Life of the Church." We give you but one sentence from her introduction: "It is important for us to weigh ourselves and our times against the measure of unchanging standards." Then she introduced the first of the three formal speeches.
     Janet Doering spoke on "New Church Education in the Home." We are sorry for the people who can only read what she wrote, for the lovely expression of her face and the warm, gentle tones of her voice told us, all unconsciously to herself, things about her own quality as a mother and a wife in her home which no words could convey. Indeed, each of the speakers, including the toastmistress, conveyed to her audience an impression of profound sincerity coupled with humility and a sense of humor, happy in her truly feminine role of study and application of the doctrines to the uses of the Church. Many women said to each other at the close of the evening, "That was a good banquet. I'm glad I came." That was women at their best. No apings of the masculine mind, no self-conscious under-rating of the feminine wisdom which grows out of study and application of principles in the experience of daily life. In keeping with her subject, Janet turned, for inspiration, to the great educator of early Academy days. We quote here only her opening sentences. "As I glanced through Bishop Benade's Conversations on Education, I decided to forget most of my original ideas and base this talk on a few of the principles he drew from the Writings. . . .Influx flows not into individuals but into the uses they perform. As the idea of New Church education took form in Bishop Benade's mind . . . he must at times have fairly burst with the possibilities of this use."
     Carol Kintner's subject was "The Place of New Church Education in the Community." All who know her will surely hear her voice as they read her words, for it is very expressive of her capable and energetic devotion to many community uses. But even while she is sounding so deadly in earnest her dry wit and kindly humor may be seen in the twinkle of her eye.

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We quote from her paper the opening paragraph which points up this delightful combination. "Be assured that I would not have attempted speaking this evening had not our good President asked me to do it at a vulnerable moment, namely, on the way out of church . . . after a sermon by Dr. Odhner that had hit home in his reference to the dangers of 'spiritual inertia.': . I knew it would be good for me to sit down and think a little bit about just where our New Church education enters into the life of our community."
     The final speech on "New Church Education in the Life of the Church" was delivered by Ione Acton. The charming speaker is well known to very many of you. Can't you picture her as she prefaced her serious remarks with approximately the following! "When asked to speak I was horrified! I am honored that our President should think of me as a speaker. It is very sweet of her. However, I have never thought of myself in that role, and being a minister's wife. I have been quietly but firmly trained not to speak in public. Maybe this is my chance! Please do not blame my poor husband for what I am about to say." After which she proceeded to give us a profoundly beautiful development of the theme that "the first use of the church is worship . . .in the hearts of all men, that there may be a heaven from the human race . . . the second use . . .instruction in the truths of the Word. This is the essential education!" We cannot quote more here, but assure you that this paper should be an inspiration to every woman in the Church. Yes, it was indeed a good celebration of Theta Alpha's 50th Anniversary.
     CREDA GLENN

     DURBAN, NATAL

     We must apologize for the long delay in submitting this report; a delay due to the absence in England of our very capable correspondent and the temporary appointment of an inexperienced substitute. But at the same time we would like to point out that the absence of a report does not mean that there has been any lack of activity in the Durban Society. On the contrary, there has been a marked increase in attendance at all services, classes, and functions.
     These, of course, have been carried on as in the past. That is, there has been a regular combined service every Sunday at 9:30, with the exception of the first Sunday in every month, when two services are held: one at 9:30 for the children, and a later one at 11:00 for the adults. Then, on the second Sunday of the month, an evening service is held in addition to the combined service in the morning. A fairly recent innovation by the women of the Society, and one which is much appreciated, is the serving of tea and biscuits after the evening service, which affords a pleasant opportunity for informal discussion on the topics of the day, both spiritual and temporal.
     In addition to the church services there are the weekly Wednesday doctrinal classes, the ladies' classes on Thursday mornings, children's classes, young people's classes for older school children, out-of-school young people's classes, married couples' classes, meetings of the Sons of the Academy, and, last but not least, the Women's Guild meetings.

     No doubt the return to Durban of several stalwarts of the Society had a part in the improved attendance. Frank Bamford, who has very ably taken over the duties of Church Secretary is now back with us after several years absence, together with Mrs. Audrey Bamford, Rosemary, and Jennifer. Miriam and Bob Mansfield, Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Buss and Jill Richburn, Mary and Wilfred Waters, and Gwynneth Levine, are all welcome returnees.

     On the other hand, several of our older and most loved and respected members have passed on to the other world. NEW CHURCH LIFE has already recorded the passing of Mr. J. J. Forfar and Mr. Garth Pemberton. Since then, we must report the deaths of Mrs. A. C. Braby, Mr. Bobs Ridgway, and Mr. Gordon Masson, all in the latter half of 1953.
     Mrs. A. C. Braby, nee Maud Clarissa Cockerell, and known to most of us as Aunt Maud, passed away on the night of July 24th in her 78th year. Throughout her long and useful life she was a devout and ardent worker in the Church, and although in the last few years ill-health was a handicap, she never allowed this to keep her from being a regular attendant at services and ladies' class.
     The evening of November 29th marked the passing of Charles Rowland Ridgway (Bobs) into the spiritual world. A lifelong member of the Church, Bobs had always been an appreciative reader of the Writings and possessed a keen and inventive brain. His cheerful disposition and unfailing good nature and generosity endeared him to all.

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     James Gordon Masson was called very suddenly to the other world on the evening of December 10th. Gordon had experienced in the last thirty years what must have been the unique opportunity of associating with every branch of the Church-The General Conference, The New Position, The General Convention, and The General Church. He had decided to join the last-mentioned only a few months before his passing, and had been baptized on October 11th by the Rev. Martin Pryke. It was only four days before his passing that he became an official member of the Durban Society. Another sad blow to us all was the departure of the Rev. Martin Pryke for Toronto. He will be greatly missed, we know, by each and every one of us. His unfailing efforts to promote and extend the work of the Church out here were an inspiration to us all. Most of all, perhaps, will he be missed by the young lads of our group, whose welfare and progress were his special concern. He had again this year taken them for a camping trip over the Easter holidays, and was constantly but unostentatiously planning pleasant and useful outings for their instruction.

     It was Mr. Pryke's suggestion that June 19th should be observed by us all as a full holiday, and a morning service was held. This was followed by a picnic at the Country Club Beach, and by the usual banquet in the evening, at which there were 81 people. Three excellent papers were heard, and the Rev. David Holm was a most capable toastmaster. The following evening the children's banquet was held, and on Sunday the week's festivities were brought to an end by the administration of the Holy Supper. Now that the ice has been broken in regard to observing New Church Day as a full holiday we hope that gradually all the men and women of the Society, as well as the school children and students, will be able to take this day off from work, so that we may meet and experience in full the distinctive New Church atmosphere of the day.
     This report would not be complete without a brief survey of the lighter side of our activities. This has followed the usual pattern of a monthly social supper in the hall immediately preceding doctrinal class, usually on the third Wednesday of the month, and a monthly morning tea, held after the 9:30 service, at the homes of various members. In addition, we have had an evening social at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Levine at Verulam, a braivleis at the Gordon Cockerells' home before they left Westville, and a picnic at Umhloti.
     The Sons of the Academy entertained us at an enjoyable supper during September, at which Mr. Wilfred Waters delivered a paper on Music. Then, while Mr. Pryke was in England conferring with the Bishop, a successful games evening was held. On his return. Mr. Pryke gave us a most interesting account of his activities in the United Kingdom, and urged all those who were considering a trip overseas to time their visit so as to include the Assembly in London in 1956.
     Then came the sudden news of Mr. Pryke's imminent departure, and a farewell party was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Billy Schuurman.

     On October 31st the usual children's Halloween party and braivleis was held in the school grounds. November is notoriously a month of strenuous study and last minute preparation for the school examinations, both private and public, and very little social life is attempted. During December, however, we took up the threads once more. On the evening of the 5th, the Women's Guild staged a bazaar at the hall, at which the sum of L77:0:0 was realized.
     On the 11th came the breaking up celebrations at Kainon School, where the little pupils, under Miss Pemberton's indefatigable and artistic direction, staged a short play written for the occasion by Miss Mongredien. Further happenings in December will be covered in our next report.
     We look forward, in 1954, to welcoming our new Pastor and his wife, the Rev. and Mrs. Wynne Acton, and in the meantime our spiritual leadership is in the very capable hands of the Rev. David Holm.
     DIANA BROWNE

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     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Convention.-THE NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER announces that the 131st session of the General Convention will be held in the church of the New York Society during the week of June 13th.

     The New Christianity.-The winter number of this periodical states that the Swedenborg Publishing Association, founded in 1873 by B. F. Barrett, has become the sponsor and publisher of the quarterly, which it has assisted in the past. The Association will seek to increase circulation through its promotion facilities. Some changes in policy may be expected, but the magazine and the Association have identical aims.

     Czechoslovakia.-From DIE NEUE KIRCHE We learn that on Christmas Day, 1953, the Rev. Jaroslav Immanuel Janecek, of Prague, passed into the spiritual world in his 83rd year. The first receiver in Prague of the Heavenly Doctrine, to which he was introduced through a Russian advertisement of Heaven and Hell, Mr. Janecek was in turn a teacher, a publisher, and editor of the Prague daily Hlas Naroda. Ordained in 1920, he worked zealously for the development of the New Church in his native land by conducting services, lecturing, visiting and corresponding with receivers, translating the Writings and collateral literature into the Czech language, and publishing a magazine, A NOVY JERUZALEM. A photograph of the Rev. and Mrs. J. I. Janecek appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE for November, 1938, p. 518. As stated here recently (NEW CHURCH LIFE, February, 1954, p. 94), the New Church in Czechoslovakia has been required by state decree to associate itself with a body of the Old Church.
     Italy.-We learn from the same source that the translation of Sacred Scripture by Dr. Giorgio E. Ferrari was reviewed by an Italian Jesuit, who condemned it on the ground that no. 110 would weaken the authority of the Pope. This pronouncement had an effect opposite to that intended by the Catholic reviewer. Unprecedentedly wide requests for the works of Swedenborg have been received from libraries and individual inquirers, with the result that the stock of books hidden in Trieste was soon exhausted and reprinting may be necessary. Dr. Ferrari is Secretary of the New Church in Italy and Director of the National Library in Venice.
ACADEMY PERSONNEL CHANGES 1954

ACADEMY PERSONNEL CHANGES       E. BRUCE GLENN       1954

     Miss June Macauley, who had been granted leave of absence for a year, will not return to the teaching staff.
     Miss Lois Stebbing, Acting Librarian, has been appointed by the Board of Directors as Librarian of The Academy of the New Church Library.
     Miss Winyss R. Acton has been engaged as a full time teacher in the upper schools.
     Miss Astrid Odhner has been engaged as a part time teacher in the Academy schools.
          E. BRUCE GLENN,
               Editor, THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

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GENERAL CHURCH CORPORATIONS 1954

GENERAL CHURCH CORPORATIONS       HUBERT HYATT       1954

     


     Announcements.
     The 1954 Annual Corporation Meetings of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in the Benade Hall Auditorium, Bryn Athyn, Penna., on Thursday, June 17, 1954, at 3:00 p.m., D.S.T. Notices will be mailed.
     HUBERT HYATT,
          Secretary.
TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1954

TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY              1954

     BRYN ATHYN, PA., JUNE 16-20, 1954

Wednesday, June 16
     10:00 a.m. First Session of the Assembly Episcopal Address
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     1:30 p.m. Young People's Luncheon
     8:00 p.m. Second Session of the Assembly Address: Rev. Karl R. Alden

Thursday, June 17
     10:00 a.m. Third Session of the Assembly Address: Rev. Ormond Odhner
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     1:30 p.m. Luncheon under the Auspices of the Women's Guild
     3:00 p.m. Meetings of the Corporations of the General Church
     8:00 p.m. Fourth Session of the Assembly Symposium: The Uses of the General Church

Friday, June, 18
     10:00 a.m. Fifth Session of the Assembly Address: Rev. W. Cairns Henderson
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     1:30 p.m. Sons of the Academy Luncheon and Meeting
     2:30 p.m. Theta Alpha Service and Meeting
     8:00 p.m. Sixth Session of the Assembly Address: Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton

Saturday, June 19     
     11:00 a.m. Nineteenth of June Service. Ordinations Sermon: Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     3:00 p.m. Administration of the Holy Supper
     4:00 p.m. Administration of the Holy Supper
     7:00 p.m. Assembly Banquet Toastmaster: Mr. Geoffrey S. Childs

Sunday, June 10
     9:45 a.m. Children's Nineteenth of June Service
     11:00 a.m. Divine Worship Sermon: Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen
Commencement Exercises of the Academy of the New Church 1954

Commencement Exercises of the Academy of the New Church              1954


     The Commencement Exercises of the Academy of the New Church will be held on Tuesday, June 15, at 3:00 p.m.

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TEMPTATION 1954

TEMPTATION       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV          MAY, 1954               NO. 5
     "And lead us not into temptation." (Luke 11:4)

     The prayer which the Lord taught His disciples to pray comprehends in a summary everything of spiritual life-more than even the heavens can ever come to understand. It contains every rightful human aspiration which men to all eternity can entertain. It is, like all else in the Old and New Testaments, written in the language of appearances. Yet its words are spirit and are life, full of hidden wisdom which only the humble heart can discern.
     When we ask our Heavenly Father, "Lead us not into temptation," it is an acknowledgment that nothing happens by chance, but that the Lord's governing hand is over all. He takes account of all things, and makes use of even evil conditions, when they arise, so as to turn their effects into eventual goods. The appearance therefore is that the evils which come upon us-not only the tragedies which result from man's wickedness and disobedience to the laws of God, but also the accidents and misfortunes, the famines and pestilences, for which men cannot be directly blamed-are punishments sent by God. As long as men are evil it is necessary that their first idea of. God should be that He rules with unlimited power rather than that He is all-forgiving and merciful. Thus the Lord appeared to the Jews to be angry and jealous; and He told them through Isaiah: "I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things" (45:6, 7).
     And now we pray, "Lead us not into temptation." We know that the Lord, who is love itself, would never lead us into situations of peril or temptation, and that He is not responsible for the evils which infest us. But we must also acknowledge that the permission of evil is a law of God-a law of the greatest mercy, since it allows for human freedom.

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Evil is never of the Divine will, but human freedom is. Temptations are evils which come upon us from without, and seemingly without our seeking, yet with Divine permission. Temptation is a spiritual struggle forced upon us by evil spirits. Yet the Lord still controls and modifies, restrains and permits, according to His love and wisdom; and therefore we pray Him to protect us against the snares and cunning of the hells. For when we thus approach the Lord for help, the evil of the temptation may be turned into good.
     It is man himself who unwittingly invites temptations. The complex thing which we call the human heart presents many contradictions. It may surprise us with explosions of bestial cruelty and uncleanness which stagger our reason, or with generous impulses of which we did not think it capable. For man is only a vessel of life, an instrument responding to the inflowing moods of all manner of heavens and hells. But he is a vessel composed of many faculties, degrees, and receptacles. His proprium is in itself wholly perverse, and easily inflamed by evil spirits with vain-glory and vengeance, with sensuality, avarice, envy, and lust for power. These evils are indeed natural tendencies of the heredity that lies slumbering in him until aroused and made his own. Yet over against these, man has also an understanding in which a conscience of truth can be built up from the precepts of the Word and its revealing doctrine.
     And doctrine teaches that if a man believed and acted from the truth that every good and every truth which are felt or acknowledged in his mind are really from the Lord through heaven, and that every evil and falsity that spring up as his own will and thought are in reality from the influx of hell, he would neither feel pride in the good and make it meritorious, nor appropriate the evil to himself and thus identify himself with it (DP 320).
     It is in order that this saving truth may be impressed upon man's mind that he is permitted to come into states of temptation-in which he feels the conflict of good and evil within him, and thus may recognize that he is neither good nor evil but a vessel receptive of influx; that he is bonded to neither, but has the freedom to choose what he shall become.
     Even when a spiritual conscience has been established as a new will or-as he feels-a "better self" within him, the old proprium is still active; unconsciously influencing his affections and thoughts, causing him to make light of his spiritual responsibilities, and turning even the appearances of truth into excuses for his own misdeeds. It is this subtle revolt of the unregenerate natural man which gives occasion for what is called temptation-the spiritual temptation referred to in the Lord's Prayer.

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For this prayer does not refer to the many hesitations, doubts and tribulations which are caused by the disappointments, dilemmas, and fears of natural life. A man who is devoid of a spiritual conscience feels no struggle between the spiritual man and the natural. If he is harrowed by doubts these concern his self-advantage or reputation, and whatever he decides is from his natural proprium. The remorse he might feel when he realizes the unfortunate consequences of his crimes or vices is not a distress of conscience but the result of fears and of the conflict of divergent natural affections.
     The Writings indicate that in the Christian world today few are permitted to undergo spiritual temptation; for in a consummated church spiritual truths are so transfused with various falsities that there could be no resistance. Yet it is true that in every religion men can be saved by living uprightly according to the teachings of their church. And if the ambitions of the world come to dominate them, the Lord permits that their self-confidence be broken by misfortunes and sickness and hardships of natural life, so that something of spiritual good may affect them. But such tribulations are not spiritual temptations.
     And since we cannot judge of our spiritual state, nor measure our inner strength or know the power of the hells, we must all pray: "Lord, lead us not into temptation." It would be presumptuous for us to invite temptation of any kind, natural or spiritual. We are not to seek contact or intimacy with evil. We are to shun evil and do good, do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. If we court temptation with pride in our power to resist we are defeated before we begin.
     There are those who misunderstand even this simple truth, and who cloister themselves away from the world and spend their time in prayer and fasting. Such do not know that they cannot flee from their own proprium except by forgetting themselves in the sphere of uses to others. It is through the uses of our calling and the obligations of our domestic life that the Lord can best protect us from temptations which we are not equipped to meet. The idle hand and the idle mind are ever most receptive to the influx of evil spirits. Certainly we are to shun pleasures or companionships which we see doing us spiritual harm. Certainly we need to guard ourselves and our dependents from contacts with evils and falsities which, like the leaven of the Pharisees, would poison and corrupt our thoughts. "Watch and pray," the Lord forewarns, "lest ye enter into temptation; for the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Yet where our duties call us the Lord will protect us. For there He leadeth in the paths of justice, and will set a table before us in the presence of our enemies.
     A regenerating man cannot shirk the temptations that come to him in the course of duty.

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We cannot refuse the cross of temptation if it is laid on our shoulders. "Whoso will come after Me," the Lord said, "let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me." "I am not come to send peace on earth, but a sword."
     But spiritual courage does not do away with either fear or caution. A coward is, of course, controlled by his fears, while a brave man's fear is placed under the control of his reason. We are allowed to pray that we may be excused from drinking the cup of bitterness; but if it is placed in our hands we must say with the Lord in Gethsemane: "Not my will, but Thine, be done." Temptation, or the contact with evil, is never the Lord's will. But the way which leads through temptations is still the Lord's way.

     Because man is infected with hereditary and actual evils it is indeed necessary for him to undergo temptations in order that his rational mind may be subdued and become spiritual (AE 654:62, 730:31). The lusts of the loves of self and the world can be broken only by means of temptations. Without victory in temptations man cannot be regenerated, nor can he enter into a new enlightenment (AC 5036; HH 194). Hence we are taught that the great multitudes of spirits who are in the good of life according to religions in which there are no genuine truths undergo temptations in the other life, whereby their falsities are shaken off and truths implanted. And those who are let into such temptations, or vastations of falsity, are all saved. Even those who die as infants, and are therefore educated in heaven, are admitted into a species of temptation as they grow up by being brought into contact with spirits in the world of spirits (AC 3407; HH 342; SD 3548).
     Although it is inevitable that temptations must be endured, and must be faced when they confront us, men have no obligation to seek them out. Man has a simpler duty-to cultivate an aversion to his evils because they are against the Divine will and precept. It is on man's life of daily repentance that his salvation depends. His exercise of free choice, his recurrent resistance to the lure of some evil longing, and his acts of self-compulsion to do what is just and right and learn what is true and good, all take place in the conscious externals of his thought and are not what are meant by spiritual temptations. Yet they prepare man for victory.
     The real battles of temptation are not fought by man. They are combats between evil spirits and angels for man's soul; and while they go on man grasps scarcely a thousandth part of the battle. For he is then in so bewildered and obscure a state that he can only vaguely sense the spiritual issues that are at stake.

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He feels an inward anxiety because he is being let into the states of his evil proprium-into an unbearable consciousness of his faults and of the sins of his past. Evil spirits suspend his power to think from his own faith and to will from his own love, that is, from his spiritual conscience. They intercept his communication with heaven, insinuate scandals against truths and goods, taunt him with hypocrisy, raise scruples of conscience about unimportant things, to accuse him, and take away his delight in truths; insinuating doubts even about the Lord's presence and aid (HD 196).
     In this mood he is crushed in spirit, comes into deep despair and even bitterness. And this is aggravated if the temptation is accompanied by ill-health, by a loss of honor, or by worldly failures. The keener a man's conscience is, or the greater his inward love for the spiritual things which are endangered, the more grievous is the temptation.
     Yet the temptation must run its course. The Lord in His mercy overlooks man's indignation and remonstrances, but He cannot often attend to the desperate prayers of those who are in temptation (AC 8179). Instead He is fighting man's battle in the spiritual world. There His angels draw forth the interior contents of the truths man still clings to but only superficially understands. And man, feeling himself forsaken, does not realize that the angels are using these truths of his own faith as weapons in this spiritual combat. For the interior ideas within those truths can meet and defeat the interior evils which the devils have sought to impute to the man-evils such as man never dreamed of but which were lying latent as logical implications within the external evils of which man had been guilty, or as hidden lusts within his unexplored heredity.
     In states of temptation man will not profit by relying merely on prayer or by giving up his active life of use. Yet the temptation is not over until he comes to acknowledge that from his own power he cannot desist from evil, or penetrate the subtleties with which the hells obscure his mind. His pride of self must be broken, and he must see and confess that the battle is the Lord's.
     And the Lord, in His second advent, has now uncovered and rendered impotent the designs by which evil spirits seek to beguile men's minds and extinguish what little sparks of spiritual love may still burn in human hearts. He has provided His church with an armory of faith against the hours of temptation.
     For the time is coming when spiritual temptation will again, and increasingly, become the means of opening the channels of influx from heaven. During temptations man, being in externals, perceives only the evil things which the spirits inject. But when the combat is past man enters, undeservedly, into the fruits of the victory.

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His spirit is admitted among angels, and joy and consolation inflow and fill even his natural mind, which is then humbled and content. His cup of life runneth over. And to him who holds fast to the Lord during temptations this promise is given: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon Him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and My new name." Amen.

     LESSONS: Isaiah 45. Matthew 10:24-39. Arcana Coelestia 6324, 6325.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 484, 483, 490.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 41, 103.
LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     5. Hallowed Be Thy Name

     The name that is to be hallowed is that which has just been spoken in the prayer the Father in the heavens, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. As has been seen, that name expresses the Divine love of the Heavenly Father towards all His children in the heavens and on earth. All the many other names of God in the Word are but various expressions of that love in its manifestation and operation; wherefore all these are also to be understood by the name that is to be hallowed.
     To "hallow" means to keep holy, to regard as sacred, to reverence, to set apart for the worship of God and therefore, to reserve from common or profane use. The Lord's name cannot be hallowed unless there is the shunning of the opposite evil, which is forbidden by the second commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God vain." The first thing that suggests itself as being of this evil is cursing and swearing. This prevails largely, especially in certain environments and associations When it is heard there should be aversion because of its enormity; and, realizing this enormity, there should be no doing of it one's self.
     But far more than this is meant by hallowing the name of the Lord. This is evident from the fact that His name is mentioned ill hundreds of places in the Word. In the Psalms we find that we are to sing Praises unto His name, to exalt His name, and to bless His name; and in the book of Revelation we read that those whom the Lord had saved sang: "Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name, for Thou alone art holy."

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By the name of the Lord, in these examples, is meant His quality as we have come to know it. It is this quality that is to be praised, exalted, blessed, and glorified. When some name of His is given there is meant the quality which it expresses; as in the prayer, His quality as Father in the heavens. So also when there are other names of His, as where it is said: "His name shall be called Wonderful, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
     When it is said only "His name," the context will indicate what quality is meant. This may be better understood when it is considered that when the name of anyone we know is spoken it brings to mind all that we know about him. We think of how he looks and talks and acts, and whether we like or dislike him. So his name means for us his quality. Just so the Lord's name stands for all we know or think about Him, or all His quality which we have come to know from the truths of the Word which all reveal His quality. These truths are all so many mirrors of the Lord wherein we see Him and come into His presence. All the Word is such a mirror, for the Lord is the Word itself and the truth itself. His qualities there revealed are of two kinds. The one kind is the knowledges concerning the Lord Himself, the other is the knowledges concerning those things which proceed from Him, such as those which He teaches concerning charity, freedom, and regeneration; which things also make up the idea of the Lord because they are from Him.
     It can therefore be evident that the Word is the name of the Lord that is to be hallowed. The evil which is opposite to this is the profanation of the Word. Of this there are several kinds, some more grievous than others. Only one of these shall now be mentioned, one that largely prevails. It is the making of jokes from the Word; also ridiculing it, or portions of it; and, still worse, the use of its stories for the exciting of vile lusts. In regard to this evil the same is to be said as has been said in regard to cursing and swearing, namely, that there should be aversion, and especially that it should not be done or even permitted to enter the thought. Otherwise the name of the Lord is not hallowed.
     The Heavenly Doctrine tells us that by the name of the Father that is to be hallowed the angels understand the Lord's Divine Human (AR 839). This can also be our understanding. The term, Divine Human, is one peculiarly of the New Church. It is completely unknown elsewhere, and this because what it means is unknown. We know, however, that God from eternity came on earth by assuming a Human. In that Human the Father, the Divine, stood revealed as to all His quality, and so it was called the name of the Father.

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That Human, that name, the Lord glorified or made Divine-the Divine Human in which He returned to the Divine, into the Father of Eternity, as the one only God, the one only Divine Man, revealing to angels and men all the quality of the Divine. God the Father, the Divine in itself, is invisible and unapproachable. But in the Divine Human He is visible and approachable; so that through, and in, His Divine Human angels and men can be united to God the Father.
     That by the name of the Father is meant the Divine Human is evident from such passages in the Word as this: Jesus said, "Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again" (John 12:28). From this and other passages it is evident that the Father is hallowed in the Son, and that this is the meaning of "Hallowed be Thy name."
CONJUNCTION WITH THE LORD 1954

CONJUNCTION WITH THE LORD       Rev. ELMO C. ACTON       1954

     (Delivered to the Council of the Clergy, Bryn Athyn, Pa., February 3, 1954. The first of two addresses on this subject, see pp. 221-236.)

     "The understanding of every subject is according to the ideas; being none if there is no idea, obscure if the idea is obscure, perverted if the idea is perverted, and clear if the idea is clear" (AC 3825). In presenting the subject of conjunction with the Lord for your consideration we have in mind the mutual consideration of the ideas under which we visualize such conjunction. Indeed, is it not true that the essential use of this Council is clarification and purification of the ideas by which we understand the doctrines of the church, abstractly and in application to worship and use. Ideas are the words of thought, and so there can be true thought on a subject only so far as the ideas which compose it are clear and distinct (AC 6624). By distinct and clear ideas the truths of doctrine are infilled with faith, and unless the things of our faith are impressed upon the mind with such ideas they are merely matters of persuasion. "It is of much importance what sort of idea a man has acquired for himself concerning the truths of faith" (AC 4622, 6610).
     And the Writings further teach that it is important to discover the sensual ideas upon which our interior thought rests. For everything is first introduced into the mind under some spatial, material or sensual idea. There can be no thought which, in the last analysis, does not come to rest in some sensual image.

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"Things that are Divine, or that are infinite, are not apprehended except from finite things of which man can form some idea. Without an idea derived from finite things, and especially an idea from the things of space and time, man can comprehend nothing of Divine things, and still less of the Infinite" (AC 3930; cf. 2520, 9300). The illustration of this is our thought of God. Unless we picture Him as a Man we can form no true conclusions concerning His Divine and His infinity. Therefore "the angels have an idea of a human shape; otherwise no idea, or an unbecoming one" (AC 7211).
     Each one must form and examine his own ideas. He must look into his thought and discover whether or not he has formed to himself clear and distinct ideas concerning those things in which he professes faith. And by mutual consideration of the doctrine we can help one another in this, and contribute to the development of the thought of the Church.
     Every truth in a man is circumstanced according to his understanding of it, or according to the ideas he forms within himself of it, and from which he thinks. "He who by his own investigation has not acquired for himself some idea concerning these things, receives but a faint idea, if any, from description; for a man receives only so much from others as he either has of his own or acquires for himself by looking into the matter in himself; all the rest passes away" (AC 3803). Many doctrines will seem abstract, and of little value to the life of the church; but in reality the very life of the church depends upon the purity of the abstract ideas in which we visualize the interior doctrines of the church; for in every case correct thinking must precede genuine good living.
     This is a universal principle, and it interested me to read the following concerning its application to scientific development. It is written by A. N. Whitehead, a well-recognized modern philosopher. "You cannot think without abstractions; accordingly, it is of the utmost importance to be vigilant in critically revising your modes of abstraction. It is here that philosophy finds its niche as essential to the healthy progress of society. It is the critic of abstractions. A civilization which cannot burst through its current abstractions is doomed to sterility after a very limited period of progress. An active school of philosophy is quite as important for the locomotion of ideas as is an active school of railway engineers for the locomotion of fuel" (Science and the Modern World, p. 59). The church, it seems to me, must develop in a similar way in regard to the things of doctrine, for it is the affection of truth that makes the church and that is its essential good.
     In general in the Eastern religions, and in several sects derived from them in the Christian world, conjunction with God is pictured as complete loss of self-life and final absorption into the Infinite.

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In the Christian religion, conjunction with the Lord is pictured for the most part as physical nearness-the ecstasy of continually beholding the face of the Father in heaven, or the beatific state of living in the presence of the Lord. This idea has arisen from the doctrine that man can contribute nothing to his salvation, and heaven or conjunction with the Lord is the reward of being permitted, out of pure mercy, to be in His presence. Divine qualities are imputed to man through faith; are, as it were, poured into him without reaction on his part.
     The New Church doctrine of conjunction with the Lord stems from the revealed quality of the Divine love itself, for all conjunction is of love and its derivatives. The Divine love wills to give itself to others outside itself; it wills that they should feel its life in themselves as their own; and it wills to be one with them, that is, to be conjoined in love. From this love creation took its origin. It is life, and it is uncreatable. Consequently it could not create beings in whom there was anything of life in itself. For if man had in his essence anything of life in itself, God would be loving Himself in loving him. "It is impossible for Him to love others, and to be loved reciprocally by others, in whom there is anything of infinity, that is, anything of the essence and life of love itself, or anything of the Divine" (DLW 49). Creation, then, is not a creation of life, but a creation of forms receptive of life; of finite forms which in themselves are dead, but which are made to live by the influx and reception of the Divine life. There is no organic in man, natural or spiritual, which in itself is not dead; for all of man's life from first to last is from the Lord alone, yea, is the Lord (see AC 3938). Man's life, therefore, is not continuous with the Divine, but contiguous with it. Life is adjoined to man as a vessel of life, as sight is adjoined to the eye.
     But since the Divine love wills to give itself to others so that they may feel it as their own, therefore there is the universal appearance in all things of creation that they live from themselves. This appearance is of the Divine love itself, and it is communicated to all created things. Minerals appear to develop of themselves in the bosom of the earth. The seeds of the vegetable kingdom appear to germinate and grow of themselves. Every animal appears to have its own life within itself. And in the human body each degree of reception appears to have its own degree of life-the eye to see, the ear to hear, the nose to smell, the tongue to taste, and the hand to feel.
     As I see it, man does not differ from animals in this appearance, and in the freedom of love or affection which such an appearance gives. Man differs from animals in the quality and nature of the receptacle. The human organic which first receives the Divine life is formed of discretely superior substances, and it is the reception of life in these substances that endows man with truly human qualities.

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It should be clear that there are no degrees of life, but only degrees of the vessels receptive of life, and that this gives the appearance that there are degrees of life.
     The inmost organ receptive of life with animals is of the "ultimate spiritual;" and life inflowing from the Lord produces in this vessel only instinct, or "the affection of knowledge into which they are born." They have the appearance of this affection and its instinct as their own, but because they lack the superior degrees they have no freedom of choice, hence no reciprocation and no conjunction.
     But man is possessed of an organic created out of spiritual as well as natural substances, and the reception of life from the Lord in his spiritual substances produces love and wisdom, from which come the ability to acquire science and knowledge. Because he lives on two planes, the natural and the spiritual, and has the appearance of self-life on both, he also has that freedom of choice which is the very medium itself of conjunction. The freedom of love is not the freedom which effects conjunction. It is conjunction. The freedom of choice, the freedom to choose between right and wrong, between truth and falsity, that is the freedom which effects man's conjunction with the Lord. Therefore it is said that the as-of-itself is the medium of conjunction with the Lord; for from the use of that freedom man can react to, can reciprocate, the active which is of the Lord alone. In this freedom of choice is man's reaction, and this freedom, with rationality, is intimately conjoined to man's life; "so intimately that they may be said to be enjoined upon his life, therefore they appear as his own" (DLW 116). And since they appear as his own, and are sensated as his own, he can react from them and reciprocally conjoin himself with the Lord. But since these two are the Lord's with him, and always remain the Lord's, in reality it is not the man who conjoins himself with the Lord but the Lord who conjoins man with Himself. For man's life consists in the appearance of self-life. The appearance is in the receiving vessel from the Divine love itself, but the reality is that all is from the Lord. The Lord alone has proprium in a true sense.
     But as man reacts, as of himself, the Lord from within disposes and orders man's organic vessels of reception according to the form of heaven, that heaven which is the Divine of the Lord. The harmony of this order man feels in himself as his own, as love in himself, and in it he is in the Lord and the Lord is in him. Order is often defined as the Divine in heaven and the church. From this we gather that man's essential cooperation, or reciprocal action, is twofold: first, the learning of true order from the knowledges and scientifics of the Word, and, second, the shunning of all that is opposed to that order.

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Temptations are said to be essential to conjunction, for in temptations man acts as of himself against the evil and falsity which are opposed to Divine order. In this way the vessels which are in man's rational and natural are said to be softened, so that the Divine from within can dispose them to be in harmony with the order of heaven. From heredity they are turned in an opposite direction; by temptation they are loosened and made pliable, and so are reduced by the Lord to the reception of new life. In this state the perceptions of the variations and changes of the forms of the vessels in man's rational and natural are the goods and truths by which man is conjoined to the Lord and the Lord to man; for they are from the Lord alone, and they are the Lord, and yet man feels them in himself as his own (see AC 3318).
     In this way we can see how the goods and truths of the regenerate man, by which there is conjunction with the Lord, are of the Lord alone, and are only adjoined to man as light is to the eye. "The Lord's conjunction with man is by His Divine truth, and this in man is of the Lord, thus the Lord's, and by no means man's, consequently is not man. Man indeed feels it as his own, but still it is not his, for it is not united to him but adjoined. Not so the Divine of the Father. This is not adjoined, but united to the Lord's Human, as the soul to the body" (AR 222).
     In this same line of thought it is frequently taught that man's part in conjunction is to shun evils as sins against God, that is, man's part is to shun that which is opposed to the order of heaven. In this way again the lower vessels of man's reception are made compliant to the flow and order of the two superior degrees which are the Lord's with man. "There is no correspondence unless lower things are made subject to higher ones through subordination; and when they have been made subject, the higher things act in the lower exactly as a cause acts in its effect. From all this it can be seen how the case is with the reciprocity of man when the Divine flows in" (AC 8778). "Man of himself cannot come near to the Lord and be conjoined with Him; but the Lord will come near to the man and be conjoined with him. . . . This takes place when the man desists from evils, for to desist from evils has been left to man's will, that is, to his freedom" (AC 9378).
     We picture man's conjunction with the Lord, then, as consisting in the disposition and ordering, from within, of the organic vessels of man's mind according to Divine order, so that the variations and changes of state of the vessels are in correspondence with the inflowing life. Man perceives these changes as goods and truths, and feels them as his own, although they are continually produced in him by the Lord. Goods and truths are uncreatable.

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They are substance and form itself and they can be communicated to man only as light to the eye. It is therefore said that charity is man's ability to be held in good by the Lord just so long as he shuns evils as sins against God. It is said that a man-angel is ruled by the Lord from within and from without; but a man-devil is ruled by the Lord from without, but by self-love from within.
     The reciprocity of conjunction on man's part is not an active. Man is merely reactive and the conjunction is effected by the Lord alone. However, for the reception of the active from the Lord, a full life of the as-of-itself on man's part is necessary. Heaven is therefore a kingdom of uses, a kingdom in which the Divine of the Lord can be conjoined to man exactly in proportion to his reaction in the performance of use.
     Love is conjunction, and all conjunction, active and reactive, is of the Lord alone. The Divine love acts and the Divine love reacts. The Divine love acting is the Divine good, and the Divine love reacting is the Divine truth. The Divine action is from the Lord and is the Lord alone; the Divine reaction is with angels and men, appearing as their own action-the Divine truth appearing as their own truth. By the Divine action, or good, the Lord is in the angels; by the Divine reaction, or truth, the angels are in the Lord. By the Divine action and the Divine reaction there is conjunction, and a third thing is produced which is a use in heaven.
CONJUNCTION 1954

CONJUNCTION       Rev. LOUIS B. KING       1954

     (Delivered to the Council of the Clergy, Bryn Athyn, Pa., February 3, 1954.)

     Conjunction does not mean union or assimilation; it distinctly implies a contiguous relationship-an adjunction of two separate entities which act as one, in unity and harmony. Three conditions must be satisfied before a state of conjunction exists. 1) There must be two separate entities. 2) Their relationship must remain that of contiguity. 3) The two must appear and act together as one. Thus the term "conjunction" is used in the Writings to describe an intimate relationship between two objects which causes them to appear and to act as one, when yet they remain separate and apart without the slightest intermingling of their substance. If the substance of one should become a part of the substance of the other, then one object or the other would lose its identity or the two would be merged into one. This would bring about a union instead of conjunction. But "because the Lord and man are distinct, it is called a conjunction" (AC 1021e).

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     The Lord conjoins man to Himself, and yet there is no admixture of substance. Nothing of the Lord's Divine becomes man's own, and nothing of man's finite nature enters into the Divine; but the Lord uplifts finite man and adjoins him to the Divine, in such a way that he feels the Lord's infinite life to be his own. "Between the Lord's Divine Essence and His Human Essence there was a union; but between the Lord and the human race there is a conjunction Jehovah or the Lord is life His Human Essence also was made life and between life and life there is union. Whereas man is but a receptacle of life and when life inflows into a recipient of life, there is conjunction.
     The principal and the instrumental do indeed appear to be conjoined together as if they were one, but still they are not one; for the former is by itself and the latter is by itself. Man does not live from himself, but the Lord in His mercy adjoins man to Himself and thereby causes him to live to eternity; and because the Lord and man are thus distinct, it is called conjunction" (AC 2021).
     "Between the Lord and Jehovah, there was union; but between man and the Lord there is not union, but conjunction man by no means conjoins himself by his own power, but by the power of the Lord; so that the Lord conjoins man with Himself" (AC 2004e). "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives; and man became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7). Notice that "man" is referred to prior to the "breath of lives." He is but a dead, organic vessel apart from the Infinite. However, he becomes an eternal being when the Lord's life is adjoined to him as if his own.

     There can be no conjunction without reciprocation, and no reciprocation without an ultimate. The Lord's Divine love is such that it wills that what is its own should be man's (see AE 971). Thus in the beginning the Divine love willed to create men outside of itself, that they might receive the Divine and return it in forms of uses, and thereby be conjoined with the Lord. However, the Lord could not create men immediately from Himself, for if this were done, they would be Divine-there would be no reception and return of His infinite love. So it was necessary for the Divine love to Ro forth and, by means of the Divine wisdom, create successive degrees of substance until there existed fixed matters at rest such as are in earths. Then, for the first time, creation subsisted upon a permanent basis of dead substance, outside of the Divine (see DLW 167).
     Out of these fixed substances, ultimate forms could be organized to receive infinite life, proceeding from the Lord. Such an organic or vessel of life is man.

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Into him the Lord's Divine love inflows, as the only active force in the universe. And that same Divine love reacts in and through him, man beholding the Divine reaction as his own life, and indeed it so appears.
     The ultimate is that fixed point at which the Divine proceeding becomes the Divine returning. Man is nothing but an ultimate vessel receptive of this life. It is the Lord's life that acts into him and returns through him, elevating man, in accordance with his willingness or consent, into a state of conjunction with the Lord. Man is no agent in these things, but a reagent, as of himself. "Conjunction without what is reciprocal is therefore not possible" (Life 107).
     As there is no conjunction of an active with a passive without what is reactive, God alone acts; and man suffers himself to be acted upon, and reacts in all appearances as of himself, although he does so internally from God (see Infl. 14:4). "Thus the Lord is the agent and man the reagent . . . as of himself" (SD 6032e); for, "the reactive is also from the Lord" (AE 616). Because the Lord makes the Divine as if it were man's, "reciprocal conjunction is effected" (AE 971).
     Conjunction is, therefore, the end of love; it is the delight of love; and love, which is the Lord's life inflowing, effects it (see AC 379, 389, 1038, 1039, 1013, 1055, 1121, 2034: 4, 2177: 5, 3068e, 3875, 3987). But no conjunction takes place unless there is an ultimate into which love may act, and through which it may react. Thus we are taught that all power is in ultimates, but is from primes; for prior things are in simultaneous order in the ultimate (cf. AE 726, Verbo 15e, 57).
     It is not necessary, however, for the ultimate to be stirred in a conscious manner in our every effort to conjunction with the Lord. It is enough that we acknowledge it as the basis for conjunction, and that without the ultimate as a foundation there would be no conjunction on any plane. We begin to see its importance when we consider what would be the case if the ultimate were removed. What, for instance, would creation be if fixed matters at rest were suddenly removed? Could any created thing subsist? Could there be any conjunction on any plane of life? Would there be any reception and return of the Lord's life? And what would the spiritual sense of the Word effect apart from the Sacred Scriptures? What power would the Writings carry if the letter of the Word was not inseparably intermingled with its teachings?
     And so in other things. The ultimate, although not consciously consulted in each action, is nevertheless the foundation for all conjunction, regardless of the degree in which it takes place. Thus all spiritual conjunction of husband and wife is founded upon ultimate, bodily conjunction, although the latter becomes less and less an object of their attention as conjugial love increases during life on this earth.

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     With regard to more intangible subjects, such as the doctrines of the church, the same need for ultimates exists. The doctrine of the Divinity of the Lord's Human, for example, is founded upon the ultimate teaching concerning His virgin birth. Destroy this basic teaching, and the whole doctrine of the Lord's Divinity falls into nothing. We have witnessed this in the Christian Church. Again, our doctrine of the glorification of the Lord's Human Essence is based upon the many clear statements in the Writings that the Lord, unlike all other men, rose with the whole of His body. Regardless of how we interpret this teaching, we must take care lest we destroy the power and basic idea conveyed in its literal sense.

     The Infinite in the Finite, as if man's own, provides a ratio between the Infinite and the finite, whereby conjunction is possible. "There is an appearance that no conjunction is possible between the Infinite and the finite, because there is no possible ratio between them, and because the finite cannot contain what is infinite; nevertheless, such a conjunction is possible, both because the Infinite created all things from Himself (DLW 282-284) and because the Infinite can look only to what is infinite from itself in things finite, and with finite beings this infinite from itself can appear to be in them; whereby a ratio between the finite and the infinite is provided, not from the finite, but from the infinite in the finite; and by this also the finite becomes capable of containing what is infinite, not the finite being in itself, but as if in itself, from what is infinite from itself in him" (DP 54).
     The infinite from itself in the finite, is the Divine of the Lord, proceeding by continuity to man. And since man is an ultimate vessel receptive of life, the Divine proceeding can be in him as if his own. Thus the basis of conjunction with God, is not in any way from man, or from anything proper to him, but from the fact that the Divine of the Lord can appear to be in him as his own; and also from the fact that he, man, has the conscious ability to will and reason from the Lord's own in him.
     If the infinite could not appear to be man's own, there would be no ratio between the infinite and the finite-there would be no basis for conjunction. Thus we read: "Eternal things are all things which are proper to the Lord, and from Him are seemingly proper to man. The propria of the Lord are all infinite and eternal, thus without time, consequently without limit and without end. Those things which are thence as it were proper to man are similarly infinite and eternal; but none of them is of man; but they are of the Lord alone in man" (DP 219).
     "Inasmuch as the finite has in itself nothing of the Divine, there is in man or angel no such thing as his own, not even the least; for a man or angel is finite, and only a receptacle in itself dead; what is living of it is from the Divine proceeding conjoined to it through contiguity, which appears to it as its own" (DP 57).

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     Since the Divine of the Lord is conjoined to man by "contiguity" it remains the same after reception as before. The only change possible would be that of finition or creation. Yet this is not effected by reception, for creation is prior to reception.
     Now perhaps there seems to be a contradiction in the above teachings, namely, that the Divine comes to man by continuity, but is conjoined to him by contiguity. Actually the two statements emphasize the same truth. It is said that the Divine comes to man by continuity, to emphasize the fact that the Divine is never finited by reception. And because the Divine is not in any way changed by reception its relationship to man after reception must be that of contiguity, for the Divine and the finite are always separate and apart. It is true, then, that the Divine comes to man by continuity, but is conjoined to him by contiguity.
     As a matter of interest, we can have no thought of the Divine proceeding apart from created media. Prior to the existence of the spiritual sun, there was no Divine proceeding as such. But once the spiritual sun existed, out of which were successively compounded discrete degrees of created media, the Divine could proceed by continuity from one medium to the next. Yet at any given point in this proceeding, the relationship between the Divine and the substantial medium receiving it was one of contiguity.

     Only the Infinite can finite itself by creating or compounding successive discrete degrees of substance. The Divine or Infinite, proceeding to the finite, is never finited by reception. There is no such thing as a finite Divine or a Divine finite. The Divine is infinite in its proceeding and in itself. The finite, on the other hand, cannot proceed as an extension of the infinite, but is created from it and out of it, and exists a dead entity apart from it. "On this subject see the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, from beginning to end. Consequently, when what is finite proceeds from the Lord, as is the case in many things in man, it does not proceed from the Lord but from man; and it can be said to proceed from the Lord through man, because it so appears" (DP 219:2).
     And again in the same number we read: "Nothing can proceed from any one except what is in him . . . nothing but what is temporal can proceed from man, and nothing but what is eternal from the Lord. For the Infinite cannot proceed from the finite. . . . And yet the Infinite can proceed from the finite, although not from the finite but from the infinite through the finite.

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Neither, on the other hand, can the finite proceed from the infinite. Yet the finite can be produced by the infinite, but this is creating, not proceeding" (DP 219).
     Man is unable to perceive sensibly the difference between his finite Vessel and the Divine proceeding which enlivens it; but the rational mind can and must acknowledge the truth-that the former is death itself, whereas the latter is life itself. As to its esse and existere the finite is completely devoid of the Divine (see DLW 53-55); otherwise the Lord, in loving finite man, would be loving Himself (cf. DLW 49).
     The truth is that "the Lord's Divine love is such that it wills that what is its own shall be man's, and as these things cannot be man's because they are Divine, it makes them to be as if they were man's. In this way reciprocal conjunction is effected, that is, man is in the Lord, and the Lord in man, according to the words of the Lord Himself in John (14:20), for this would not be possible if there were not in the conjunction something belonging as it were to man. What a man does as if from self this he does as if from his own will, from his own affection, from his own liberty, thence from his own life; unless these were present on man's part, as if they were his, there could be no receptivity because nothing reactive, thus no covenant and no conjunction" (AE 971:5).
     According to this number, reception cannot be separated from the appearance that what is adjoined becomes a part of that to which it is adjoined; when yet reception of the Divine means the exercise of Divine things as if they were man's own. However, this adjunction to the finite does not finite the Divine, for if this were so, then the Divine will that His infinite things should be as if man's own would never be fulfilled.
     But let us consider the difference between that which proceeds to man from God, and that which returns to God from and through man. The former is the infinite life which adjoins itself to man through his soul. But when that life returns there is adjoined to it something of limitation from man-the appearance that the life is his own. Thus although the infinite life remains Divine after its adjunction to man, still, man does not feel its presence as it is in itself, or as it is in the Lord; but he feels it as his own finite life, when yet it is the Lord in him. By acting into man's soul, the Lord adjoins Himself to man. And when this life acting into man's soul reaches the ultimates of the human organic and is returned as a breath of life, man as it were conjoins himself with the Lord by consenting to the action and reaction of the Divine in him. Thus man and God act together as one, which constitutes conjunction or the active and reciprocal of eternal life.
     But what is the cause of man's limited perception of the Divine presence in him?

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It is caused, not by the Divine, but by an appearance which arises from the receiving vessel itself, because that vessel is created and finite; and when it is caused to live by the immanent presence of the Divine, all that proceeds from it is finite and limited, whereas that which proceeds through it from the Lord is Divine.

     Appearances arising from the substance and form of the finite vessel provide a nexus between the Infinite and finite whereby man is enabled to conjoin himself reciprocally with the Lord. It is really "the Lord [who] conjoins man with Himself by means of appearances" (DP 219:5). The appearances themselves are provided so that man may approach the Lord with his conscious mind and thus, as of himself, conjoin himself to the Lord by acting in accord with His Divine will.
     But what is an appearance? An appearance is that which seems real to us when, actually, it is our sensual approach to reality. An appearance, considered as a limitation apart from that which appears in and through it, can be defined as an extension or proceeding of the finite which limits man's conscious approach to the Divine. Appearances arise whenever the Divine enters a finite vessel and enlivens it. They are, therefore, real extensions of the limitations of man's organic which, as it were, finite the Divine. The result of this "as it were finition" is a limiting of man's awareness of the Divine in him, as well as a limiting of its effect in his life. Let us remember-whatever proceeds from the finite is finite, and whatever proceeds from the Divine is Divine (see DP 219). Thus the Divine of the Lord, proceeding through man, remains infinite; but appearances proceeding from man's finite nature are adjoined to the infinite as it returns in and through the human organic, causing all activity or life of that vessel to appear finited; when yet it is not in itself, but only seems to be because of appearances induced upon it from the finite.
     All that is produced in man's mind and proceeds from him as his life is really a two-fold proceeding. It consists of the Divine proceeding from the Lord, and finite appearances proceeding from man which are adjoined to the Divine so that more or less of it may appear in and through these limitations. Appearances, which are a proceeding from man's own and proper to him, do not in any way finite the Divine; but either obscure it, as is the case with an evil man, or seem to finite it, as is the case with a good man. Thus even celestial angels are limited as to their reception and use of the Divine. This is because appearances arising from their finite nature limit their approach to the Divine; nevertheless, that which they feel and see, as well as that which other angels see in them and through them, is the Divine of the Lord appearing.

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     In the Divine Providence (see 219), we are warned to separate in our thought that which proceeds from the Lord, the Divine, and that which proceeds from man, limitations; although the two are so adjoined that they apparently proceed as one life-as man's life. If it were merely the infinite by itself that acted into man and returned through him, then in place of the term "conjunction" the term "union" would be applied; for the Lord would be uniting life in itself with life from itself. But in order that man may become conscious of the Divine, and approach Him as of himself, a limitation from the man himself is adjoined to the Divine in its return. It is by means of this limitation or appearance that man becomes aware of the Lord's presence; thus by means of appearances the Lord conjoins man with Himself (see DP 219).
     We have been speaking of the Divine merely as life; however, the teachings concerning conjunction apply equally to the Divine when it comes to man as infinite good and truth. By means of the Divine as life the Lord conjoins Himself to man. By means of Divine good and truth, man reciprocally conjoins Himself to God; although this reciprocal conjunction also is really effected by the Lord. In all cases, however, when the Divine enters finite man, be it as life, good, or truth, it is not finited by his reception, but its effect in his life is limited by the appearance arising from his finite nature.
     Without appearances, which are real extensions of the finite, produced by the presence of the infinite touching the finite, the infinite could not draw near to man's conscious mind, and finite man could not approach the infinite and perceive anything of His presence.
     Now we have defined appearances as limitations proceeding from the finite vessel, and as such, they are fallacies, when compared to that which appears in and through them. We say fallacy because appearances, apart from that which appears, are merely limitations originating in the organs of sense. Thus the eye beholds a fixed object according to an appearance, which appearance is an extension of the eye's limitation. The appearance is a fallacy when compared to the object of sight as it is in itself; nevertheless it is the object that is seen in and according to the appearance or limitation.
     The Writings, when speaking of appearances, refer not only to the limitation but particularly to the nature of that which appears in and through it. Thus rational appearances are so called because that which appears is rational. Sensual appearances are so called because that which appears is sensual. Again, the Writings refer to "real appearances," which are so designated because they are the Divine appearing within limitations.
     Two men may observe the same tree.

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Yet it will appear entirely different to the man with keen vision than it will to the man with poor vision. In the case of each man, the tree will be seen in an appearance according to the state of his respective organ of sight. Both men will see the tree, although it will affect each differently according to his individual reception.
     If we consider the sky as infinite, and we behold it through the eye, which is a finite organ, is not our sight of the sky limited by the way it appears, or is present in us through the eye? And does not the nature of the organic determine the nature of the appearance exactly? At best we can see but a portion of sky at one time. Yet no man can say that the eye limits the sky itself. The sky, whatever it is in itself, is adjoined to the organ of sight, and man beholds it in an appearance which is an extension or proceeding of the limitation of his finite organ of sight. Thus the appearance provides a "nexus" whereby the finite can approach the infinite and act with it, which cooperative consent is reciprocal conjunction. This is true whenever and however the Divine of the Lord comes to man. It is adjoined to him, and an appearance arises through which he may consciously approach the Lord and cooperate with the Divine will, as of himself. "Because there is with man a nexus with the Divine, and his inmost is such that it can receive the Divine, and not only receive it but also appropriate it to himself through acknowledgment and affection, thus through reciprocation, therefore man, because he has been implanted in the Divine can never die; for he is in the eternal and infinite not only by influx thence, but also through reception" (AC 5114). By influx the Lord adjoins His Divine to man and is thus "in man." By reception, through appearances, man can acknowledge and approach the Lord and thus be "in Him." And when the Lord is in man, and man is in the Lord, a state of conjunction exists.
     We speak of the Word as the Lord, as infinite, Divine truth; and yet we acknowledge that there are appearances adjoined to that infinite truth which limit our understanding of it and, therefore, its effect in our lives. And these appearances or limitations originated in the finite minds of angels and men, who served the Lord as instruments of Divine revelation. The appearances in the Word are Divinely ordered by the Lord, so that they might contain infinite truth; nevertheless, these appearances are finite and merely fallacies when separated from the Divine that is in them. But because the Divine is in them they are also called truths.
     "Truths themselves are such [Divine in themselves, see AC 3404:4] that they can never be apprehended by any angel, still less by any man, for they surpass all their faculty of understanding. Still, in order that there may be conjunction of the Lord with them, truths Divine inflow with them in appearances, and when they are in them they can be both received and acknowledged.

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This takes place adequately to the apprehension of each; wherefore there are appearances, that is, angelic and human truths of threefold degree" (AC 3362). Notice that appearances are called human and angelic truths, not the truths themselves. This is because appearances are limitations from man through which he beholds the truth which is Divine. These appearances or "human and angelic truths" apart from the Divine truth which appears in and through them, are empty forms, as dead and useless to spiritual life as the dust of the ground apart from the Lord's life.
     "Doctrinal things that are from the Lord are not truths in themselves purely Divine, but are appearances of truth; but still truths Divine are in appearances . . . appearances are also called truths" (AC 3364e).
     Because Divine truth itself is within appearances, appearances are called truths. Therefore, when the Writings refer to human or finite goods and truths they refer to these appearances, which in themselves are fallacies, but which are man's only approach to the Divine.
     But when the Writings speak of genuine good and truth they refer to the Divine of the Lord as it appears in and through limitations arising from man-they refer to the Divine of the Lord as it affects the human race through good men. "The love and wisdom in which angels are, and which make heaven, are not from the angels but from the Lord, and in fact are the Lord in them. And since love and wisdom are the Lord in heaven, and love and wisdom make the life of angels, it is also clear that their life is of the Lord, yea, is the Lord" (DP 28).
     "The Divine of the Lord in heaven, is love to Him and charity toward the neighbor" (HH 13).
     "To do good for the sake of good . . . makes heaven, because this good is the Lord" (HH 9).
     "Every good which in itself is good . . . cannot flow from man, but from the Lord alone; for . . . the Lord must be in the good, yea, He must be the good; for it proceeds from Him and what proceeds from someone, this draws its essence from Him, for it is He Himself in His own. . . . There is no other subject than man through which the Lord out of Himself produces good" (Char. 201).
     "Every good of love and every truth of faith which is in man is not of man but of the Lord with him; for it is the Divine proceeding, which is the Lord in heaven with the angels and in the church with men" (AE 460).
     "The Divine truth which is from Him, and is received by the angels makes heaven" (AC 9503).
     "With such the Lord is present in the goods of love and truths of faith that are in them from Him.

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For these are the Lord in heaven and in the church; since the things that proceed from Him are not only His but are Himself" (AE 25).
     "Men in themselves do not constitute the church, but the Lord with them; so neither do the angels regarded in themselves constitute heaven, but the Lord with them; for the Lord does not dwell in any proprium of man or angel, but in His own with them; thence it is that when it is said church or heaven, the Divine of the Lord is meant with those who are there" (AC 10,153).
     Divine good and truth in their descent through the heavens to become the Word on earth, were successively received and clothed in appearances arising from angelic and spirit minds. When man reads the Word in the letter he takes on these appearances of truth within which truth Divine resides. The life of regeneration is based upon man's ability to penetrate these appearances-to remove them and thus approach Divine truth and good more directly. But even if man penetrates or removes all appearances of truth originating from the minds of others, even if he becomes a celestial angel and good and truth inflow immediately into his mind, still, there will always be appearances, or limitations of perception, arising from his own finite nature which will limit his awareness of the Divine in him. To all eternity his mind will be perfected-to all eternity the limitations of perception from his organic mind will become less and less gross-but never will he perceive the Divine good and truth in itself, but always through an appearance or limitation.
     In the case of the Lord, however, He alone removed all appearances of truth. Only He received intellectual truth and made it His own. This He did because His soul was life itself and not, as man's, a receptacle of life. When the Lord received the letter of the Word He removed all appearances of truth, so that a union took place between His infinite soul and the Divine truth of the Word. Thus by removal of appearances the Human Divine was made the Divine Human, as was His soul from eternity (see AC 3405).
     "Successively, as the rational was made Divine, the clouds of appearances were dispelled" (AC 9117, cf. 2814, 1911:7, 2814). The last step in this process was the dissipation or "de-creation" of that finite vessel from which appearances originate.
     "Human rational truth is in appearances which cannot be put off; and the appearances are those which are born from sensual things, which induce a belief that Divine things themselves are also such, when yet they are exempt from appearances" (AC 2196:2, cf. 2209).

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     There is a conjunction of the Lord with man and a reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord. The soul exists from conception. It is the first receptacle of the Lord's life in man. However, inflowing life does not effect a conjunction with man until there is some return or response. This return takes place with the first breath of life; for it establishes a state of conjunction between God and man-a relationship of Divine action and finite reaction as of self-which is the beginning of man's individuality and conscious life. Whether the mind of man is developed or not, and regardless of the way in which it develops, the Lord still conjoins Himself with the soul of each man. This conjunction is on the plane of the soul, though founded upon bodily life.
     By this conjunction with man's soul, the Lord secures to man his eternal life as well as his inviolate human faculties, rationality and liberty. Thus we read: "If God were to do violence to the free will, the habitation of man in God would perish, and there would only be that of God in man; and this habitation is in all, both in earth and in the heavens, and also in those who are in the hells. But there is no reciprocal habitation of man in God, except with those who live according to the laws of order" (TCR 74:3). Thus the Lord conjoins Himself with all men, the evil as well as the good, by means of their soul, which is His possession (see AC 1999). For the internal man of the angels is the Lord's possession (AC 1745e). This conjunction, however, is not described as reciprocal until man opens his mind with knowledges, and by means of truths, which are vessels, receives and returns the Lord's Divine good and truth as of himself.
     "From the Lord, through man's internal, life continually flows into man's rational, and through this into his external, and in fact into his knowledges, and this life not only adapts them to receive the life, but also disposes them into order, and so enables the man to think, and finally to become rational. Such is the conjunction of the Lord with man, without which man could not think at all, still less be rational. . . . Man, however, on his part, by means of knowledge, advances to meet this life which is from the Lord, and thereby reciprocally conjoins himself. Man by no means conjoins himself by his own power, but by the power of the Lord; so that the Lord conjoins man with Himself" (AC 2004; DP 19:4).
     "Good inflows through the internal man into the external and there conjoins itself with truths insinuated from without" (AC 4352:2).
     "It is the rational by means of which the external is conjoined with the internal. Affection inflows into the rational from the Lord through the internal" (AC 1589:2).
     But there is another source of influx into man, other than this immediate influx into his soul.

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This other influx is from the Lord through the heavens. It is particularly described as the Holy Spirit.
     "The Lord's presence with man through angels and spirits, by and according to which man is enlightened and taught" (see Lord 46). "Enlightenment which is attributed to the Holy Spirit, is indeed in man from the Lord, but nevertheless, it is brought about by mediation of spirits and angels, . . . because the man who is in enlightenment and illustration is then placed in the midst of such angels and spirits as receive from the Lord more enlightenment than others" (DLW 150).
     The influx of the Holy Spirit, which is the Divine of the Lord mediated or clothed with appearances or limitations from angelic and spirit minds, is received in the interiors of man's conscious mind. He feels these affections as his own, whether good or evil. Thus, "man has what is evil and false from hell through evil spirits, and what is good and true from the Lord through angels" (AC 904).
     The Divine of the Lord passing through the heavens to man has adjoined to it appearances which are extensions of angelic minds. These appearances are limitations which can contain and re-present the Divine of the Lord in man's conscious mind. Thus they limit man's perception of the Divine in him, but in no wise limit or finite the Divine itself (see AC 5510: 3, 2524e).
     But the Divine of the Lord passing through the heavens and thence into the hells, and then to man through the mediation of evil spirits, is clothed with appearances that do not merely remain fallacies but actually become falsities, for they have been twisted and confirmed by evil loves. Such appearances cannot contain or re-present the Divine, for they are opposed to the Divine and continually endeavor to withdraw from it (cf. AC 7344:2).
     Now what is the relationship between the influx of infinite love flowing into man's soul and the influx of the Holy Spirit flowing mediately through the heavens into man's interior mind? By means of the former the Lord conjoins Himself to all men. By means of the latter the Lord permits good men to conjoin themselves reciprocally with Him, which is accomplished when man acquires truths as the vessels of rational thought into which the Holy Spirit may act and react. Man is conscious of this reaction as his own volitional and intellectual life.
     So it is that all enlightenment with man, all perception, comes to him mediately through the heavens. He is conscious of these perceptions and affections as his own. It is this influx of the Holy Spirit that comforts man, that inspires him to receive the truth from without-the Divine truth which will form in his natural and rational minds those vessels by which he will conjoin himself with the Lord.

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However, man does not order these vessels himself. This is done by the infinite love which enters immediately into his soul; and which not only sustains his bodily life and his faculties of rationality and liberty, but also inflows into his rational and thence his natural mind, to soften and dispose the interiors and exteriors of these minds so that conjunction or cooperation with the Lord will be possible. Conjunction is, therefore, often spoken of as the influx of love which disposes interiors and finally exteriors to its order.

     The Divine of the Lord makes heaven but the angels constitute it. The Divine of the Lord makes the all of heaven and the church with man (see AC 10151), because nothing of man's proprium enters into them. By proprium, in this case, we mean all that which is properly man's apart from the Divine. This includes finite substance, which in itself is dead; also the forms induced upon that substance; and finally, those appearances or limitations which are extended, or which proceed from the finite vessel when it is enlivened by the Divine.
     Heaven could not exist without both God and man. And because the essence and quality of heaven is from the Lord, yea, is the Lord appearing, it is said that His Divine makes heaven. It is His Divine that is seen and felt there; it is seen and felt within appearances, that is, according to limitations. These limitations, which differentiate heaven from the Divine in itself, are from men (angels). They are extensions of finite forms imposed upon the Divine from human minds, which, as it were, finite the Divine. Since these limitations proceeding from the angels are proper to them it is said that the angels constitute heaven. But since it is the Divine of the Lord that appears in and through these limitations it said that the Divine of the Lord makes heaven.
     The Divine in itself is the Infinite above creation, but the Divine from itself is the Infinite adjoined to the finite. "The Divine which is from the Lord in the supreme sense is the Divine in Him; but in the relative sense is the Divine from Him" (AC 4696e).
     "The Divine in itself is in the Lord, but the Divine from itself is the Divine from the Lord in created things." (DP 52e).
     "The Divine is not in man's being but adjoined to it" (DLW 60e)
     "Man is a being that is capable of so receiving the Divine as to see and perceive it in himself" (DP 324).
     It is this Divine in them which causes them to be and to be called angels of heaven (see AC 9166: 4). For "goods and truths are good and true in proportion as the Divine of the Lord is in them" (AC 10272).

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     "Infinite things of love and wisdom proceed from the Lord and flow into all in heaven and therefrom into all in hell, and from both of these into all in the world . . . both universally and most particularly and every least particular is also infinite" (DP 294:6).
     Since, therefore, the Divine is infinite, and can be predicated of the Lord only, and since man is finite and a recipient of life, it is concluded that the Divine proceeding of the Lord makes heaven, while finite man and the limitations proceeding from him constitute it.

     The Lord dwells in His own in man, but He is conjoined to man. Just as there are two definitions of man's own, a) that which is proper to him apart from the influx of life, and b) that life which he feels to be his own; so are there two definitions of the Lord's own. First there is that which is truly His own, His infinite love and wisdom. Then there are indefinite varieties of finite forms which are capable of containing His infinite life. And because these finite formations can contain the infinite, they may also be called Divine, though actually they are but correspondences of the Divine. Such are the literal truths of the Word.
     Thus the internals of men and angels are called the Lord's possession (see AC 1745e). Again, it is said that the human internal is nearest to the Lord and belongs to the Lord Himself (cf. AC 1999; HH 35; LJ 25: 5). Man's soul is called the Lord's own because He Himself has so ordered it that His infinite life may be adjoined to it. When this adjunction takes place man feels it as the ability to will and think, which abilities are Divine. "These faculties are in man from the Lord, and are not appropriated to man as his, for what is Divine cannot be appropriated to man as his, but can be adjoined to him and thereby appear as his; and since this Divine with man is in the least particulars of his life, it follows that the Lord governs every least particular, in an evil man as well as in a good man, and the Lord's government is what is called the Divine providence" (DP 285).
     Inasmuch as the essential of conjunction is that of two separate beings acting together as one, the Lord is conjoined to His own in man; for man's action is really the Lord's life reacting in him and through him, by his consent. But conjunction also implies a relationship of contiguity between the two separate beings involved. In this regard, the Lord is conjoined or adjoined to man-a vessel of life.
     Again we are taught that the Lord cannot be conjoined to man's proprium. By proprium is here meant those inverted forms impressed Upon the organics of man's mind which invite the influx of evil and falsity from hell. Because these forms are twisted and recede from the Lord, His Divine cannot be in them or seen through them. But there are other, orderly forms which are likewise impressed upon man's mind.

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These forms, although limitations, can contain and re-present or mirror something of the Divine. In one sense these orderly forms can be called man's own, yet actually they are from the Lord. So in this sense also, the Lord conjoins Himself to His own in man.
     It is a truth, as the Writings so often declare, that the Lord conjoins Himself to man. Nevertheless, the man himself becomes, as it were, the Lord's own, in so far as he has regenerated and become a vessel through which the Lord's good and truth may be seen by others and affect them.
     Summary. Conjunction describes a) the mutual approach of God and man; b) their acting together as if one, from the same life; and c) their contiguous relationship to eternity. The Lord's approach to man, and thus His action, is His influx as life, as Divine good and truth. But man's approach to the Lord is his acknowledgment that all life, all good and truth, are Divine and from the Lord. Man's cooperative action is the Lord's life reacting in and through him by his consent.
     The Divine of the Lord is always infinite. It comes to man in three ways: immediately into his soul as life; mediately into the interiors of his conscious mind, as the enlightenment of good through the heavens; and as forms of revealed truth from without. The Divine is never finited by reception-it only seems to be because limitations, which are appearances arising from the finite vessel, are adjoined to the Divine and thus limit man's awareness of its presence as well as its effect in his life. All that is genuinely good and true proceeding from the life of man, draws its essence from the Divine that is in him and through him; while all limitation is an extension of the finite, from the man himself. Thus the limitation which proceeds from man is adjoined to the Divine proceeding from the Lord, so that they appear as one proceeding-they appear as the finite life, thought, perception, and affection of man. Nevertheless, all that is genuinely good and true in these is the Divine of the Lord appearing; whereas all that is limited and proprial in them, is man's own, adjoined to the Divine.
GREATEST AND THE LEAST 1954

GREATEST AND THE LEAST              1954

     "Heaven does not consist in desiring to be the least in order to be the greatest, for in that case the person is really aspiring and wishing to be the greatest; but heaven consists in this, that from the heart we wish better for others than for ourselves, and desire to be of service to others in order to promote their happiness, and this for no selfish end, but from love" (AC 452).

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     The May readings in the Old Testament Word (Isaiah 10-31) include the major portion of the first of the three parts into which the prophecy through Isaiah falls. This prophet, whose name means "salvation of Jehovah," was called to his office in 750 B.C., and continued in it through the reigns of four kings of Judah for about fifty-five years. He held the same position with regard to these kings that Elijah and Elisha had held in reference to the monarchs of their times. The prophets Amos, Hosea, and Micah were his contemporaries, and all four paint the state of Judah and Israel in somber colors. The first portion of the book deals with the approach of the Assyrian armies which were eventually to destroy Samaria, but touches also upon the restoration of the chosen people. What is here depicted in the internal sense is the drawing near of the Last Judgment.

     In the Arcana readings (nos. 9553:3-9685) we continue with the representation of the tabernacle and its furniture; the portion of Exodus expounded describing the lampstand, the curtains, the boards, and the veil. The tabernacle itself with its threefold division into holy of holies, holy place, and court represented the Lord as to the Divine Human, the three angelic heavens, and the church on earth in its three degrees, for which reason its pattern was shown to Moses in heaven; and by the things which were in the tabernacle were represented the holy things of heaven and the church. Thus the lampstand represents Divine truth proceeding from Divine good, or the Divine spiritual in heaven and the church, from which is all enlightenment there; the curtains which covered the habitation and protected it represented the truths of faith, and the goods and truths of the letter of the Word. The same was represented by the veils; and by the boards which supported the curtains were represented those goods which are the support of heaven. In the celestial and spiritual senses the description of the tabernacle tells the whole story of the Lord's glorification and of man's regeneration.
     Between the chapters are doctrinal inserts dealing with the first earth in the starry heaven and the subject of freedom. A universal definition of this term is furnished in the statement that "all that is called freedom which is of the will" (AC 9585). If the will is good the freedom is heavenly; if it is evil the freedom is infernal and is bondage.

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IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1954

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES              1954

     In an article entitled "The Lord's New Church and a Man-made Universal Church" which appears in the winter number of THE NEW CHRISTIANITY [PP. 21-25], Dr. Giorgio E. Ferrari contributes a well-reasoned view on the subject of the New Church and the ecumenical movement. The author, some of whose translations have been reviewed in these pages, is generous in appraising the reasons New Church men might have for wishing to participate in the movement and in conceding possible outcomes, and shows sympathetic insight into the problems involved. But although he agrees that "church unity is demanded by love and by a New Church as the integrated heart and lungs of the Universal Church," he notes also that there is "an irreducible distinction as to faith and apposite wisdom between the old and the new Christian churchhood."
     Dr. Ferrari admits that the pan-churchmen "need to be directly confronted with the certified teaching as to the sole effective ground of their noble dream of human association and rebirth, namely, that provided in the Word and now effected by the Lord according to the Writings of His New Advent." But writing as a close observer of the European scene he warns of the prevalence of an attitude of shallow ecumenity in the Christian churches, and he deplores the readiness of some ecumenical positions in the New Church "to disregard or obstinately to slur over precisely the explicit foundation by the Lord of His New Christianity.
     The author observes soundly that it is not a question of a particular direction in doctrine or beliefs, but of regard or disregard for the Divinely provided plan and program for the renewal of the church. And in our opinion he goes to the heart of the question when he asks: "Is the Lord, or is He not, the actual protagonist and specific maker of the New Christianity, through certain particular new arrangements of a new dispensation! Did lie perform a Last Judgment and a New Advent through the opened Word, for a radically new Church? Or did He send the disciples through the spiritual world, and His servant-philosopher Swedenborg on earth, to assemble the previously existing Christian denominations into a 'universal church'?"
     As stated by the author, the problem is: "What was expressly wrought by the Lord for the new religious, civil, and cultural epoch of mankind, and what took place or is taking place within church denominations and cultural movements as a possible conscious or unconscious consequence?" And although he sees the need for "a special New Church witness in the universal church, and for a special Swedenborg scholarship in the new culture," he concludes that it is "absolutely essential to keep the New Christianity of the Lord's New Church spiritually distinct from the indefinite New Christianity."

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     The same periodical reviews and translates a portion of Professor Gerhard Gollwitzer's Die Durchsichtige Welt. fin Swedenborg Brevier [The Transparent Universe. A Swedenborg Breviary]. This work apparently presents a number of topics in Swedenborg's own words, interspersed with the compiler's running commentary, and contains short sections on Swedenborg's life and effect, a bibliography of his works, and lists of collateral literature. According to the reviewer, the excerpts are related to aspects of the contemporary intellectual and spiritual situation of mankind groping after a new order.
REVIEWS 1954

REVIEWS       Various       1954

SONS OF THE ACADEMY BULLETIN. Winter, 1954. Published quarterly by the Sons of the Academy at Royal Oak, Michigan.
     When the first issue of the new streamlined BULLETIN came off the assembly line in the motor city we decided to withhold comment until another number had appeared. Now we question that decision. It is understood that the editors are trying to interest a section of the New Church reading public whose tastes are met only in part, or not at all, by our other publications, and we have heard with pleasure of their success in that direction-success on which we offer warm congratulations. Using the term in its most general sense, we do not dislike the new format; and the size of the magazine, directed to the pocket, is eminently in keeping with one of the major uses of the Sons. But there are certain features of the make-up to which we do object and which recur here.
     The most cursory examination of the issue before us shows that the publication suffers from an excess of boldface, an upper case deficiency, and a rash of italics in the most unexpected places. In fact the only thing we missed was an occasional punch line in gothic! An assortment of fonts and type faces may be used in a gossip column, where each paragraph is a complete item; but its introduction into a feature article does sore violence to the unity of thought presented. It is therefore unfair to the author and a tax upon the patience and comprehension of his gentle reader, as well as being a device which casts some doubts on his intelligence.

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The editor's function is to aid in the communication of ideas by choosing an appropriate format, not to interrupt the communication with crackling static of his own devising.
     We have no doubt that "Big Sis" was written with the utmost good will; but even allowing for the "kid brother" approach it displays a gaucherie that goes far beyond the demands of verisimilitude. However, if this diagnosis sounds serious the prognosis is entirely favorable. The editors are capable men and they are succeeding in the task they have set themselves. Our only plea is that they eliminate certain features which some in their church wide potential readership do find exasperating rather than helpful. After all, one can avoid the appearance of being a stuffed shirt without adopting two-tone shoes, unpressed slacks, and a gaudy sport shirt as uniform wear for all occasions.
     W. CAIRNS HENDERSON

THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. A Study in Biblical Prophecy. By Hector Waylen. The Alden Press, Oxford, England, 1954. Pp. 35.

     This pamphlet is, we are informed, a section taken from a work in preparation entitled Swedenborg and the Apostle Paul; with Essays on the Symbolism of the Bible. The author's previous writings have exhibited a certain eclecticism together with a special and limited acceptance of Swedenborg; and his approach here to biblical prophecy is indicated by the statement that Swedenborg "never appears to have seen how much of the ancient symbolism of the Zodiac underlies many parts of the Bible. . . .The Zodiac was not only a symbol of human life, it was a prophecy, pictured in the heavens, of the life and work of the coming World Deliverer, Jesus the Christ" (p. 3). After interpreting portions of Daniel and the book of Revelation in the light of this conviction, the author concludes that the Bible is, on the whole, superior to non-Christian forms of religion; that we may accept Jesus as the only-born Son, "the Wisdom in Him being wholly derived from God"; and that "the Christian Church will become 'New' in that while recovering and retaining the good and truth wherewith it began, it will discard errors of the past" (pp. 34, 35). It is not likely that many readers of this journal will accept either Mr. Waylen's premise or, in the round, his conclusions.
     THE EDITOR

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MODEST PLEA 1954

MODEST PLEA       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary               Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.
     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     We would here enter a modest plea that the word "convert" be expunged from our New Church vocabulary. In a religious sense it means a person who has been won over by emotional experience, argument, or the labors of others; and in many sects it still denotes one who has turned from sin to holiness. Those who come into the New Church do not make this latter claim; and it is our view of the matter, based on the Lord's teaching to the apostles and in the Writings, that those who receive the Heavenly Doctrine have been secretly prepared by the Lord, and have then come to acceptance through the as-of-self exercise of liberty and rationality. This idea is not expressed by a term which is not indigenous but is gaining ground, and although we cannot suggest an alternative we do plead for its abolition.
QUESTION OF ANGELIC IDEAS 1954

QUESTION OF ANGELIC IDEAS       Editor       1954

     A reader has drawn attention to the fact that although many angels live in cities it is said in the Writings that they are altogether ignorant of what a city is, and can have no idea of a city, because their ideas are spiritual and celestial (see AC 402). The immediate meaning is, of course, that the angels can have no idea of any city in the Word; but although we can only suggest an answer to the wider question, we think that the key is the statement that angelic ideas are spiritual and celestial. The idea of a city is complex but natural.

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When we think of a city we think of its location, climate, history, and outstanding features; its commerce and industry; its cultural and recreational facilities; its churches, hospitals, schools, and homes; its administration, tax rate, transportation, and incidence of crime; the opportunities it offers for making a living and the kind of life that is possible in it; and the qualities popularly supposed to be characteristic of its inhabitants. None of these things can enter into the thought of an angel, whose ideas are entirely spiritual. When the angels look upon their own heavenly cities, or think of others they may have seen, none of these things enter their minds. The subjects of their thought are the spiritual and celestial things to which the things in their cities correspond; and in this way we can understand that angels, even though they may live in cities, have no idea of what a city is.
USE AND GOOD WORKS 1954

USE AND GOOD WORKS       Editor       1954

     Recently we were asked what is the difference between these two terms. When the latter is used in the Christian sense, as referring to eleemosynary acts, there is a world of difference; for almsgiving, relief of distress, and supporting public institutions are only the benefactions of charity. As the phrase, good works, is used in the Writings, however, it does not relate to what the world thus calls good works but to the works of spiritual charity, which are to do well to the neighbor in our business and other functions and relations to him from willing well. And considering the term as thus used we find several lines of teaching in the Writings.
     There are passages which state plainly that use is identical with the works of spiritual charity. But there are other passages which identify use with the well-wishing from which well-doing should proceed, use the term as embracing both, or define use as something that is prior to well-wishing-as charity in its first origin. Here, however, is no confusion of teaching but an emphasis in turn upon different aspects of the subject. As use inflows from the Lord through heaven it is evidently prior to all the other things here mentioned. Indeed it is man's reaction to the influx that produces well-wishing, and from it well-doing. But it is a teaching of the Writings that the ultimate in any series is the complex, containant, and basis of the preceding degrees; and for this reason the works of charity in which well-wishing, and within it influx from the Lord, terminate are also spoken of as uses.

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SACRAMENTS AND RITES 1954

SACRAMENTS AND RITES       Editor       1954

     Newcomers have been known to wonder why marriage is not a sacrament in our church. The reason is to be found in direct statements of the Writings that there are only two sacraments, Baptism and the Holy Supper (see TCR 670, 721). Matrimony is included in their seven sacraments by the Roman and the Greek Orthodox Churches; and Anglo-Catholicism has compromised between this and the Protestant acceptance of only the two sacraments of the Gospels by naming it a "sacramental rite." In recognizing only two sacraments the New Church neither distinguishes itself from the Catholic Church nor follows the Protestant tradition. It simply accepts the teaching of the Heavenly Doctrine; and it acknowledges the Divine institution of marriage, and the fact that it is essentially a solemn religious act, by designating it a rite of the church. The other rites are, of course, Confirmation, Betrothal, Ordination, Dedication, and Burial of the Dead.
     The question leads, however, to another inquiry; namely, what is the essential difference between the sacraments and the rites of the church? As far as we have been able to ascertain there is no direct teaching on this matter. But the answer would seem to be in the statement that Baptism and the Holy Supper, which are said to; be the only sacraments, are the two universal gates to eternal life, and that there are no other universal gates (TCR 721). This, essentially, is what sets the two sacraments apart from the rites of the church-the fact that the latter, although they may perform important spiritual uses, are not universal gates to eternal life. When the spiritual uses of the two sacraments are done, Baptism introduces into reformation and into the church, the Holy Supper into regeneration and into heaven. The rites of the church do none of these things, and their efficacy depends upon those things having been done or being done. Therein is the real distinction.
     It is indeed our hope that marriage will introduce into conjugial love. But conjugial love is given to those men and women who, by entering into reformation and regeneration, are being introduced into the church and into heaven as to their spirits. This is recognized in the idea that conjugial love is not to be attained by direct striving, but by shunning evils as sins and entering more and more interiorly into the uses of the church. Although marriage is most holy it is therefore not a universal gate to eternal life, but the means whereby those who have entered through such gates may receive the richest blessings of eternal life; and for that reason it is not a sacrament of the church.

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FALSITY OF IGNORANCE 1954

FALSITY OF IGNORANCE       Editor       1954

     The presence of the Lord is in innocence and charity. It is therefore a teaching of the Writings that if men are ignorant of the truth through no fault of their own, the falsity in which they are is accepted by the Lord as truth, if there is somewhat of innocence in it. And when falsities flow into good, as they do when men live according to them from ignorance, these falsities are regarded by the Lord as things like truths and are accepted as such-when there is innocence in the ignorance, and according to its quality, and when the intention is to do what is good. The Divine mercy could do no less. Even human wisdom recognizes that ignorance does not condemn. Yet this teaching will not be rightly understood unless others are considered in connection with it.
     Because men are taught mediately and the truth of the Word could not reach everyone in the world through missionaries, because the truth of the Word has been perverted in the Christian Church and false doctrines taught, and because men are not responsible for having been born into a certain religion, the Lord does accept the falsity of ignorance in this world, if there is innocence in it and the intention to do well. Here He accepts that falsity as truth where the truth is not known. But the Lord does not accept falsity as truth in the other life, no matter how much of innocence there may be in it. In the spiritual world, where the truth is available to all, only truth can introduce into heaven.
     If it were otherwise, then indeed it would not matter to what religion men belonged, and there would be no need to reject falsity and seek the truth; for all religions, whether true or false, would be equally efficacious in leading men into heaven, provided they had somewhat of innocence and meant to do well. But the doctrine is that no one is reformed in a state of ignorance because all reformation is effected by means of truths and a life according to them. Those of whom we are speaking are not saved by their falsities but by their intention to do what is good, the simple charity in which they have lived, and the innocence in their ignorance in which the Lord could dwell with them; and these do not save in the sense of introducing them into heaven, but by building up in them a state in which they will receive the truth that alone can prepare them for heaven. And in that preparation they may have to endure those hard things they could not suffer on earth, since they must be reformed in the world of spirits. Therefore the falsity of ignorance should not be favored and may not be regarded with indifference. It is to be dispelled wherever possible, for, in the end, only the truth can save.

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APOSTOLIC WRITINGS 1954

APOSTOLIC WRITINGS       Editor       1954

     In two recent issues we wrote on the importance of reading the Word in the Old and New Testaments and the Writings. Now we would draw attention to the apostolic writings. The Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles are not books of the Word, because they were not inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore do not contain the continuous internal sense. But this does not mean that we may exclude them from our readings as of no interest or value. They were written for the purpose of establishing the Christian Church, and they teach the general truths of Christianity, frequently in a very powerful manner. They are the earliest and most trustworthy source books in the history of the Christian Church and doctrine; and in a private letter Swedenborg called them "good and useful books of the church" which insist "upon the doctrine of charity and its faith as strongly as the Lord Himself in the Gospels and the book of Revelation" (Docu. 224).
     These writings-the Acts and the twenty-one letters of the apostles-are therefore well worth our attention. The Pauline Epistles especially, with their close reasoning, may not appeal to the average reader, though they contain many truths expressed in passages of arresting beauty. But there need be no such difficulty with the Acts of the Apostles. As the Gospels describe the Lord's life on earth, the Acts records the continuation of His work after the ascension through the operation of the Holy Spirit, as manifested in the preaching and miracles of the apostles. For this reason it has sometimes been called the "Gospel of the Spirit," although it is not, as has been said, a book of the Word. But the compiler, who was also the inspired writer of the third Gospel, was led, as his preface shows, to regard the acts of the apostles as a continuation of the Lord's work; to think of the risen and ascended Lord continuing by the influx of the Holy Spirit through the apostles the work which He began when on earth-an idea for which there is support in the Writings. And attention is focused on the Lord throughout, as the giver of the Holy Spirit and the subject of the apostolic witness.
     Here we have the earliest sketch of the formation and spread of the Christian Church; and as we follow the selection of incidents made by the chronicler we read of the first apostolic sermon and miracle, the first organization of the church, the first persecution and the first martyr for the faith, the first Gentile converts, and the first establishment of the church in Europe. Here is interesting and valuable material, the thoughtful reading of which may arouse an interest in the apostolic letters themselves, in which are to be found the doctrines developed as the church expanded from a synagogue to a catholic communion.

246


COMMUNICATIONS 1954

COMMUNICATIONS       Various       1954

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     In your January issue, the Rev. Ormond Odhner writes to suggest that in Apocalypse Explained 803, elationes animi would be better translated by "pride" or "conceit" than by "elation of mind" Cpp. 4142].
     Earlier translators have had the same thought. In the first English edition of the work, published by the Swedenborg Society in 1814, the phrase is translated as "puffed-up mind." This term is used in all subsequent editions published by the Society until the 1923 revision (the present Standard edition), where "conceit" is used.
     FREDA G. GRIFFITH,
          Honorary Secretary, Swedenborg Society.

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     "Education: The Work of Charity for All the Church" [NEW CHURCH LIFE, September, 1953, pp. 394403] deals thoughtfully with a problem of growing concern to all of us in the General Church. "We are all to support it [New Church education] on all its levels, regardless of our individual state of parenthood, regardless of whether or not our particular children can benefit from the schools we now have, and regardless, in fact, of the needs of any particular one of our schools or of all of them" [p. 402]. This is a challenge, I believe, which all General Church members are duty bound to accept, since "New Church education on all its levels for every child who can possibly benefit from it-this is the work of each and every member of the Church for the sake of the good of the Lord's New Church itself" [ibid.].
     The author presents the case for New Church education as forcefully and concretely, perhaps, as it has ever been presented. He also suggests some possible solutions of the problem, including universal free tuition in all our church schools. Without either agreeing with or opposing this suggested solution we would like to consider one of the current problems of New Church education in this connection.
     Indications seem to be that the costs of educating our children in the Academy in the next decade will have to be met by more and more of our people contributing greater amounts than they have in the past. This will be necessary if the potential enrollment increases, as it is expected to, at a greater rate than Academy endowment income and individual contributions increase.

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     Now, any approach toward universal free tuition to handle this particular problem suggests that all of us, parents and Iron-parents, should be contributing toward the group objective of the education of all our children. As far as non-parents are concerned this seems a worthy approach. But should the parents of potential students be governed, perhaps, by a somewhat different set of values? It seems to us that the parents themselves should still assume the primary responsibility for the education of their children, which includes a financial responsibility. Have they not, indeed, assumed this in having their children baptized into the church?
     Is it fair to the parents, or to others, to substitute a group responsibility for the individual responsibility which is theirs? The group can assist them when assistance is needed, but should they not first do all that is within their power to finance their own children's education.
     The group voluntary method of raising funds has so often depended in the past on the last minute support of the willing and able few; and while the few are still willing, we are told that they are increasingly less able. Also, in this instance, the group voluntary method of collecting funds is not a proven method of accumulating savings for the future. Most urgently needed now is a growing fund to finance the increasing costs of an expanding Academy enrollment. Individual savings based on individual motivations, the desire of parents to provide for the education of their own children, would seem to us the firmest base on which to build as far as support of education in the Academy is concerned, at least for the present time.
     Universal free tuition may become practical later on, and it may be the answer as far as the lower schools are concerned. Certainly it deserves our best thinking.
     These are some questions which are unanswered in this writer's mind. It would be interesting to learn the reaction of others.
     HUGH A. GYLLENHAAL
FORMED BY THE LORD 1954

FORMED BY THE LORD              1954

     "Man supposes that he has a will for good, but he is quite mistaken. When he does good, it is not from his will but from a new will which is the Lord's; thus it is from the Lord that he does it. Consequently when he thinks and speaks what is true, it is from a new understanding which is from the new will, and it is from the Lord that he does this also. For the regenerate man is an altogether new man formed by the Lord, and this is why he is said to be created anew" (AC 928).

248


Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     WASHINGTON, D. C.

     As spring draws near it is time once again for a report from Washington. Spring always seems to come early down here, and we are reminded of it by letters from Bryn Athyn about the senior boys and girls coming to see Washington. Groups of from two to eight or ten are invited to stay at different homes, lately the homes of some of the seniors themselves-Allens, Boatmans, Stebbings, and Trimbles. We enjoy planning to have them and look forward to getting acquainted with new young people each year.
     Last winter Mr. Pendleton gave us a class on the Tabernacle. He showed us the plan of the Tabernacle, using a large blackboard; and explained the correspondence between angels in heaven and men on earth and how the rituals and sacrificial rites in the Tabernacle kept a contact between them. Lately his classes have again been on conjugial love and have dealt with the states of those who learn to build up their life together-husbands and wives who approach conjugial love together-and of those who separate or obtain a divorce. A woman seems to have a sixth sense in understanding her husband's states of mind and must help him to apply his wisdom to life; and men and women must work together to prevent separation or divorce, according to the laws of conjugial love given through Swedenborg. At our supper before class on Swedenborg's birthday we used blue and yellow in Swedish flags, napkins, candles, and cakes. Our class explained the transition from his scientific to the theological works.
     Our Women's Guild elected Mrs. Fred Grant as president, Mrs. Lewis Nelson as secretary, Mrs. Philip Stebbing as treasurer, and Mrs. Marvin Walker as social chairman. The men's group elected Mr. Fred Grant as president, and Mr. Marvin Walker as secretary-treasurer. In the fall we had a shower for Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. White (Colleen Stockham); and at Christmas time we all enjoyed a party for the children at the home of the Marvin Walkers, when the children were presented with gifts from the church. On Christmas Eve we had a service, and as we have so seldom done so on that date we rejoiced to have our worship at the time of the Lord's birth. Our Christmas music was played by Mrs. Robert Hilldale.
     In January we were happy to have Mrs. Marvin Walker and her two sons baptized into the Church. The Fred Grants had a party for the entire group in February, for which Mrs. Stevan Iungerich and Mrs. Marvin Walker planned a humorous white elephant exchange and several games which enlivened the evening. We missed our minister, who at that time was undergoing an appendectomy at Abington Hospital. However, we sent him our best wishes for a quick recovery and our hopes that he would soon be back with us.
     We welcome back to our Circle the William Kintner family which is back with us now for the third time. The Edward Allens, Miss Jean Horigan, Miss Lois Stebbing, and Miss Zoe Iungerich all visited their relatives here during the winter. More recently, Mr. Cyrus Doering, here to take a course in Civil Defense, visited with his brother Karl.
     ELIZABETH H. Grant

     FORT WORTH, TEXAS

     Signs of spring remind us that it is high time me let our General Church friends hear of some of our activities during recent months. For our doctrinal classes this year we chose to hear the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton's lectures on Conjugial Love. They have proved most stimulating and enlightening. The only trouble is that so many times we would like to ask questions and enter into the discussion which is sometimes included on the tape. Perhaps someday a system can be worked out whereby, after hearing a tape, we can record our questions and discussion, return them, and later receive an answering tape-though this would entail much more work on the part of the ministers and is probably not feasible.

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Our lay discussions, however, are very interesting, and problems that we are unable to work out for ourselves can always be jotted down and then taken up with our Visiting Pastor.
     Mr. Odhner was able to arrange longer visit with us last fall. He arrived on Wednesday, November 25th, and stayed through the 29th. This meant that on Thursday morning we were able to have a Thanksgiving Service specially for the children. Fourteen children came forward to present their offerings of fruit, while the congregation: accompanied by Brad Williamson on the violin, sang "With Songs and Honors Sounding Loud." The sermon was one that children of all ages could understand; and after the service the fruit, beautifully arranged, was taken to the little patients in the Cook Memorial Hospital for Children here.
     On Friday morning Mr. Odhner "moved" to Fort Worth to be with George and Beth Fuller, and that evening we had a class on storge and the love of children at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Haworth. The class was preceded by a simple and impressive service dedicating their home. On Saturday afternoon there were two classes for the children at the Williamson home, and in the evening we held a banquet at the home of Bob and Rae Pollock. A delicious meal was prepared by the ladies and was served on our newly acquired tables, two long tables which can be folded for easy storage when not in use. They were the work of George Fuller, Bob Pollock, and Don Haworth and are another addition to our slowly growing church property. A class on the Divine Providence followed. At the Sunday service the Holy Supper was administered and the sermon was on the tribute money. It was an inspiring four days for everyone and a special treat to have our Pastor here at a festival time. Mr. and Mrs. Bruser and children of Baton Rouge, La., spent Thanksgiving with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Schoenberger of Dallas, who also entertained Mr. Odhner on that day.
     This year the women of the Circle have been meeting on the first and third Thursday of each month to hear the recordings of Bishop De Charms' Growth of the Mind. They are indeed rewarding, both to those who have children and to the grandmothers. The women were able also to purchase Christmas gifts, which were presented after service on the Sunday before Christmas, for the ten children in the Sunday School. The ladies have also learned to make red wool balls from continuous thread, to be given to new babies in the Circle, and they have two ready to be presented when the babies are baptized.
     At the annual business meeting in January, Don Haworth was elected president, succeeding Cyrus Doering who will act as vice president this year. Tom Pollock was unanimously reelected treasurer, and Marjorie Williamson secretary.
     Our Swedenborg's birthday celebration was delayed until February 6th by illness, but at that time we had a fine banquet with 22 present. After the toasts, five of the children recited Swedenborg's rules of life. The tables were then cleared and Don Haworth then gave the children a short talk on the life of Swedenborg. We then heard a recording of a Swedenborg's birthday celebration in London.
     Two babies were born in December, and at the beginning of February Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Doering moved to Fort Worth, where he has accepted a position with Consolidated Vultee Aircraft. We welcome these additions to our Circle, and hope there will be many more babies and grown-ups; and we extend a hearty invitation to visit our Circle when in Texas.
     MARJORIE WILLIAMSON

     STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

     As readers of the January issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE may have noticed, a pastoral change took place in the Stockholm Society last fall. The Rev. Gustaf Baeckstrom then resigned after having performed his pastoral duties for thirty-eight years. During that long period of time he was greatly appreciated for his successful activities, and for his kindly disposition which always inspired confidence and sympathy. His successor in the pastorate, the Rev. Erik Sandstrom, is one of his former Sunday School pupils.
     It may be of interest to recall at this time how the Stockholm Society was founded. In the opening years of the present century there was already a New Church society under the leadership of Pastor C. J. N. Manby in this city. At that time Mr. Alfred Stroh stayed here while engaged in research in the field of Swedenborgiana, and he used to attend Mr. Manby's services.

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But he also gathered in his and his mother's temporary home a group of seven people to read and discuss the Writings. Among these were Miss Cyriel Odhner, his assistant, and Miss Nancy Liden and Miss Sophie Nordenskiold. Thus Miss Liden and Miss Nordenskiold had already heard about the Academy movement when they went to the Swedenborg Congress in London, in 1910, and there met the Rev. C. Th. Odhner and Mr. John Pitcairn, with whom they afterwards had many animated discussions about the principles of the General Church.
     Miss Nordenskiold and her friend were soon convinced of the necessity of baptism into the New Church; but Mr. Manby, who had also attended the Congress, disagreed and declined to officiate. This was done later in the year by Mr. Odhner, who with Mr. Pitcairn had gone to Stockholm for a short visit. Further disagreements with Mr. Manby followed, and the two ladies left his society to join the General Church. Several other people also became interested and joined; among them Mr. Gustaf Baeckstrom, Mr. Bertram Liden, one of Miss Liden's brothers, and Mrs. Hildegard Ljungberg Odhner, the mother of the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner, the well-known theologian and teacher, and Mrs. Cyriel Odhner Sigstedt whose recently published biography of Swedenborg has been received with so much interest and appreciation among New Church people. A group was formed in 1912, and the Rev. S. C. Bronniche, who sympathized with the Academy movement, came from Copenhagen to baptize the members. Soon afterwards Mr. Baeckstrom decided to give up his business career and study for the ministry in Bryn Athyn. In his absence Mr. Edvard Sandstrom led the services in a place rented for the purpose, and was thus, in sense, one of his son's predecessors. After being ordained in 1915, Mr. Baeckstrom came back, settled down, and married Miss Greta Wahlstrom, whose mother and grandmother were both of the New Church. The society was recognized by the State in 1916, and formally became a Society of the General Church in 1922. It now has about a hundred members.

     To honor him on the occasion of his retirement, Dr. Baeckstrom was presented with a large Orrefors vase of heavy crystal and a bunch of red and white carnations. On one side of the magnificent piece there is an etching showing a seven-branched candlestick, and the opposite side is adorned by Dr. Baeckstrom's initials. In addition to this there is an inscription expressing the gratitude of the Society for the distinguished service of its late leader. We may still have the pleasure of hearing him preach occasionally, as he has kindly promised to do so when Mr. Sandstrom is away on his pastoral tours.

     Swedenborg's birthday was again celebrated this year in the reception rooms of a restaurant where we often meet for social events-a nice, cosy place. We began by singing in unison. Pastor Sandstrom then recited the 45th Psalm, after which we heard a tape-recording of the Bryn Athyn choir singing it. I then repeated a talk on Theta Alpha which had been given last fall to a small audience, and a suggestion that we convey our congratulations to our sisters in Bryn Athyn upon the fiftieth anniversary of Theta Alpha was unanimously accepted.
     After refreshments had been served, Pastor Sandstrom spoke of an interesting event in connection with the history of Swedenborg-the transfer of his remains from England to Sweden nearly half a century ago. He read Mr. Alfred Stroh's description of the solemn ceremonies that took place when the coffin was conveyed to Uppsala Cathedral. One of our oldest members, Mr. Holger Areschough, had been an undergraduate at Uppsala at that time, and thus an eyewitness of the event. He told us about it and assured us that he had never experienced anything more impressive. Among us also was Mrs. Hedvig von Axelson, to whose late sister the present head of the Swedenborg family, Captain Emanuel Swedenborg, was then married. She gave us the interesting information that her brother-in-law had used all his influence to prevent the authorities from having Swedenborg's remains deposited at Warnhem in his father's tomb. It would have been much more difficult for many visitors to find their way to that small place in Verstergotland.
     SENTA CENTERVALL

     KITCHENER, ONTARIO

     Christmas, the biggest religious festival of the year, always receives the most preparation, making December a busy and exciting month in any society of the Church. In this the Carmel Church was no exception.

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Classes and sermons preceding Christmas helped to build up a state for a rich and full celebration of the Lord's coming. Our festivities commenced with the tableaux on the Sunday evening before Christmas, when young and old gathered to see the story of the Lord's birth and sing Christmas hymns. The five scenes shown were Joseph and Mary paying their tax to a Roman official, the Nativity, the shepherds in the field, the wise men at the gates of Jerusalem enquiring of a soldier "Where is He that is born King of the Jews?" and the open Word on a golden altar with a jeweled crown above depicting the second coming of the Lord.
     The Christmas Eve festival service, with all the babies present and many holiday visitors, carried its special sphere of joy; and on Christmas morning the sermon at the adult service was, very fittingly, on Peace.
     On the Sunday evening after Christmas the young people enjoyed a party at the pastor's home, and on Monday the school children had a party at the church with the usual games and gifts and good things to eat.
     The holiday season also included a gay New Year's Eve party at the church. The hall was decorated in blue and silver, with black top hat motifs an the walls and balloons adding splashes of color. Dancing filled the program and a delicious lunch was served after midnight. An entertainment special was a poem by Keith Niall in which he encountered Father Time, who gave timely advice to many members of the Society.

     After New Year our routine was restored. The Women's Guild met and reelected all the officers but the secretary for another year. The Sons were privileged to have Mr. Robert E. Synnestvedt speak at their January meeting on the future of the Academy as an international university. Miss Nancy Stroh addressed a Society-School meeting in February on the teaching of mythology. Mr. Reuter visited the Montreal Circle in January, and after attending the meetings of the Council of the Clergy at Bryn Athyn in February gave an account of the proceedings to the Society.

     Swedenborg's birthday was celebrated on January 29th with a very enjoyable banquet. Mr. Reuter was toastmaster and speaker of the evening, and he talked on the real purpose of celebrating Swedenborg's birthday. In his paper he pointed out that we cannot understand how Swedenborg became the instrument of revelation unless we understand discrete degrees, the difference between the spiritual and the natural, and correspondences. Swedenborg was described as an independent rational thinker who stood alone in his day with no one to understand him. For entertainment after the banquet the social committee had arranged a program of five short movies which were much enjoyed.
     The children had a party in honor of Swedenborg's birthday the following morning. They played games before their luncheon, and also saw some of the movies. The children of grades one, two, and four were the speakers, and they talked on incidents in Swedenborg's life. A Swedish dance was performed by all the members of the Carmel School.

     A special event for the ladies was banquet on February 24th in honor of the 50th anniversary of Theta Alpha. The tables formed a square and looked very cheerful with yellow programs and bouquets of daffodils. A large bouquet of 50 red and white carnations from the Sons also helped to decorate the room. After the Church had been toasted, and the purposes of Theta Alpha read, natural food was enjoyed. Three excellent papers were presented: "The History of Theta Alpha" by Gertrude Hasen, "A Use of Theta Alpha in Society Life" by Mrs. Harold Kuhl, and "The Aims of New Church Elementary School Education" written by Joan Kuhl and read by Laura Kuhl. A fitting message from the President, Mrs. Bruce Glenn, was read; the Ten Commandments were recited in Hebrew; and Academy songs filled out the program.
     For lighter entertainment following the banquet all the ladies were given a chance to write a song in honor of the occasion. Much merriment accompanied the writing and singing of at least ten productions. The finale was a fashion show of schoolgirls' styles in ten-year periods from 1904 to 1954. For the most part, those taking part had attended high school in Bryn Athyn in the year they depicted. The result was highly entertaining.

     A committee from the Women's Guild arranged the program for the social on February 26th. A good crowd turned out to enjoy the fun of going to school again.

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A spelling bee, singing class, arithmetic binge, and recess games such as "Wink" and "Earth, Air, Water, Fire" made a lively program, and all the pupils did not show their best behavior. Prizes of bubble gum, lollipops, and cracker-jacks went to the luckier students. For literature class everyone was given an opportunity to recite, and quite a few of the older people had "crammed up" on poems from their school days. Lunch hour found all the pupils ready for their sandwiches and ice cream on sticks. Mrs. Norman Reuter and Miss Dorothy Kuhl were head teachers, and Mrs. Alfred Steen and Mrs. Henry Heinrichs were the other members of the committee.
     VIVIAN KUHL

     HURSTVILLE, AUSTRALIA

     At the celebration of the anniversary of Swedenborg's birth on January 31, 1953, four papers dealing with Swedenborg's Rules of Life were presented by Messrs. Alfred and Theodore Kirsten and Ossian and Norman Heldon. Appreciation was clearly shown by the keen discussion that followed.
     The Sunday School picnic was held at National Park under ideal weather conditions, and it gave the children ample opportunity to let off some of their vitality in and out of the water all day long. Credit is due to the ladies of Theta Alpha who did the catering.     
     Since this writer was unable to attend the children's party he must draw on the report which appeared in our monthly calendar. "If Lewis Carroll could have been at our church on Saturday, March 17th. to see the characters of his book Alice in Wonderland come to life so realistically he would have been delighted. Most of them were there. Alice, of course, delightful White Rabbit, the King, Queen, and Knave of Hearts, the Mad Hatter and his friends the March Hare and the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, the Duchess, the Cook, the Heralds, the Frog Footmen, the Painters, and last but not least, the Baby who turned into a Pig. The story was related by Mr. Norman Heldon, and the characters came to life from an arranged tableau as they were mentioned. Some games followed which were inspired by the story, followed by a most delightful supper. The cakes and biscuits also seemed to have an "Alice in Wonderland" flavor about them. The church was decorated with many flowers, and there were some excellent paintings done by Mr. Fred Fletcher, namely, Alice's two large bottles labeled "Drink Me," the Mad Hatter's Hat, and the Caterpillar's Mushroom. The casual observer would have noticed that the children heartily enjoyed themselves. The party was arranged and directed by the newly formed chapter of Theta Alpha."
     In May, Theta Alpha was able to arrange a film night at which Mr. Hughes of Hurstville generously gave an evening of entertainment with his films. The most interesting was a close-up of a titmouse tearing bark off a tree and then weaving it into his nest. The main features were pictures in color taken on a trip through England and the Continent. They were most delightful and full of interest.

     New Church Day was celebrated on Sunday, June 20th. In a nearby park the children had some games in the afternoon and then adjourned to the church where Theta Alpha had spread a banquet for them. Talks were given by Brian and Ken Heldon, as well as by the superintendent of the Sunday School; Mr. Ossian Heldon, and a representation arranged by Mrs. T. R. Taylor was explained to the children by Mrs. Fletcher.
     The adult celebration followed at 6:30 p.m. In spite of it being an exceptionally cold night the Women's Guild managed to provide an excellent hot dinner. The toastmaster, Mr. Norman Heldon, put a number of questions concerning the Last Judgment and the Second Coming, and these were dealt with in turn in papers by Messrs. Alfred and Theodore Kirsten, Lindthman and Ossian Heldon, and Fred Fletcher. A greeting was read from the Rev. C. Douglas Frock, who stated that the members of the Adelaide Society were with us in spirit on this occasion. This message was received with much pleasure.

     Sons meetings were held regularly throughout the year at the homes of the members in turn. The highlight was, of course, the banquet on Sunday, November 15th, with, as usual, good food in abundance. Mr. T. R. Taylor made his initial appearance as toastmaster, and with his inimitable informality and humor acquitted himself most creditably. A warm welcome was extended to our American visitor, Mr. Forrest Dristy of South Dakota. Invited to tell us how he came into the New Church, he told so how his father-a rancher in his younger days, with time on his hands and interested in religion-ordered a copy of one of the works of the Writings, followed this with some others, and became a receiver of their teachings.

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Forrest stated that he himself had read enough to convince him of the truth of the Writings and that he intended to read much more in the future.
     On December 6th the members of Theta Alpha also gave a banquet, their first, which proved a great success. The splendid floral arrangements, the good things in plenty on the table, together with the papers read by the ladies and the interesting discussions that followed them, all helped to create an enjoyable sphere that will be remembered for some time.
     As the result of some hours of effort put in by Mr. Ossian Heldon the long disused tennis court was reconditioned sufficiently to allow the children's Christmas party to be held in the open. As it was an exceptionally hot day this was much appreciated. The children seemed to have a particularly happy time. As well as the Christmas tree with its crop of presents other good things, together with refreshments, were dispensed by the ladies of Theta Alpha.
     At the combined service on Christmas Day a touching address by the Rev. William Whitehead was read, and a beautiful representation of the manger scene was placed near the chancel and was viewed by the children during the service.
     Much happiness has been felt in our small society in 1953 having been a record year in regard to the number of baptisms performed. Four infants, two boys and two girls, were baptized during the year. The service is very beautiful and it makes a deep impression upon those in attendance.
     Swedenborg's birthday was celebrated this year with a banquet as usual, but instead of papers we heard extracts from The Livings Thoughts of Swedenborg by the Rev. E. A. Sutton. The readings, done by Mr. Norman Heldon and Mr. Theodore Kirsten, were followed with great interest and provided material for lengthy discussion.
     ALFRED KIRSTEN
SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION 1954

SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION              1954

     Organized for the preservation, translation, publication, and distribution of Swedenborg's scientific and philosophical works; the promotion of the principles taught in them; and their relation to the science and philosophy of the present day. Annual fee for membership, including THE NEW PHILOSOPHY, published quarterly, is: United States, $3.00; Canada, $3.00 Canadian; Great Britain and Australia, 12/-. Address Miss B. G. Briscoe, Treasurer, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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GENERAL CHURCH CORPORATIONS 1954

GENERAL CHURCH CORPORATIONS       HUBERT HYATT       1954




     Announcements.
     The 1954 Annual Corporation Meetings of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in the Benade Hall Auditorium, Bryn Athyn, Penna., on Thursday, June 17, 1954, at 3:00 p.m., D.S.T. Notices will be mailed.
     HUBERT HYATT,
          Secretary.
BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1954

BRITISH ASSEMBLY       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954

     The Forty-first British Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in Colchester, England, from July 31 to August 2, 1954, the Rev. Alan Gill presiding.
     All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. Those wishing either hotel or home accommodation should apply to Mrs. John F. Cooper, 33 Lexden Road, Colchester, Essex.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS,
          Bishop.
ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 1954

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH       E. BRUCE GLENN       1954

     The Annual Joint Meeting of the Corporation and Faculty of the Academy of the New Church will be held in the Benade Hall Auditorium on Saturday, June 5, 1954, at 8:00 p.m.
     After reports by officers of the Academy Schools, and discussion thereof, Mr. Charles S. Cole will deliver an address. Subject: "An Introduction to Philosophy in the College."
     The public is cordially invited to attend.
          E. BRUCE GLENN,
               Secretary.
SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION 1954

SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION       WILFRED HOWARD       1954

     The Fifty-seventh Annual Meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, May 19, 1954, in the Auditorium of Benade Hall at 8:00 p.m.
Reports.
Election of Officers.
Address by Professor Eldric S. Klein: "Swedenborg's Journey of 1733.
     WILFRED HOWARD,
          Secretary.
ASSEMBLY MUSIC 1954

ASSEMBLY MUSIC              1954

     The following selections will be used in the Divine Worship held during the General Assembly:
Offices 2 and 4
Hymns nos. 24, 52, 53, 55
Antiphon X-2-316
Anthems 5, 11, 13
Psalms 33, 48 GREAT REWARD 1954

GREAT REWARD              1954

     "The Lord never looked for any prize of victory for Himself. His prize of victories was the salvation of the whole human race; and it was from love toward the entire human race that He fought. He who fights from this love demands for himself no prize, because this love is such that it wills to give and transfer all its own to others, and to have nothing for itself" (AC 1789).

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TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1954

TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY              1954

BRYN ATHYN, PA., JUNE 16-20, 1954

Wednesday, June 16
     10:00 a.m. First Session of the Assembly Episcopal Address
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     1:30 p.m. Young People's Luncheon
     8:00 p.m. Second Session of the Assembly Address: Rev. Karl R. Alden
     
Thursday, June 17
     10:00 a.m. Third Session of the Assembly Address: Rev. Ormond Odhner
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     1:30 p.m. Luncheon under the Auspices of the Women's Guild
     3:00 p.m. Meetings of the Corporations of the General Church
     8:00 p.m. Fourth Session of the Assembly Symposium: The Uses of the General Church

Friday, June 18
     10:00 a.m. Fifth Session of the Assembly Address: Rev. W. Cairns Henderson
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     1:30 p.m. Sons of the Academy Luncheon and Meeting
     2:30 p.m. Theta Alpha Service and Meeting
     8:00 p.m. Sixth Session of the Assembly Address: Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton

Saturday, June 19
     11:00 a.m. Nineteenth of June Service. Ordinations Sermon: Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     3:00 p.m. Administration of the Holy Supper
     4:00 p.m. Administration of the Holy Supper
     7:00 p.m. Assembly Banquet Toastmaster: Mr. Geoffrey S. Childs

Sunday, June 20
     9:45 a.m. Children's Nineteenth of June Service
     11:00 a.m. Divine Worship Sermon: Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen
Commencement Exercises of the Academy of the New Church 1954

Commencement Exercises of the Academy of the New Church              1954

     The Commencement Exercises of the Academy of the New Church will be held on Tuesday, June 15, at 3:00 p.m.

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SECOND COMING 1954

SECOND COMING       Rev. DAVID R. SIMONS       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV          JUNE, 1954               NO. 6
     "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come." (John 16:12, 13)

     The promise of a source of truth by which the Lord Jesus Christ would tell His disciples things they were unprepared to receive at His first coming is unmistakably given in the New Testament. Something of what this new truth would be like is also stated. It would involve the inner spirit of truth; it would be a guide to all truth; it would not speak of itself, but what was heard; and it would reveal things to come. "These things," the Lord said, "have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father" (John 16:25).
     Christians who search the New Testament Word can distinguish two differing ideas about the second coming of the Lord: one, that there will be some agency by means of which He will come and yet that it will be the Lord Himself who comes. The other, that this agency is spoken of as a detached Spirit of Truth, a Comforter who will testify of the Christ: "But 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" (John 15:26). This Comforter is also identified as the Lord Himself: "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him . . . I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:16, 17)

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     Careful reflection on the passages concerning the second coming of the Lord in the New Testament, a sincere analysis of how the Lord fulfilled the Old Testament by His first advent, and a realization of why the Jews rejected their Messiah, can prepare Christians to recognize and receive the Lord in His second coming. Although the Lord comes exactly as He promises in His Word, still He does not come as men expect. We are therefore to "watch for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come . . . be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh" (Matthew 24:42, 44).
     Every devout Jew at the time of the First Advent was aware of the promises of Scripture that a Messiah would come to save His people. Many were acquainted with the particular teachings about His coming. Yet few received Him when He came. They were for the most part suspicious of the Lord's teachings. They viewed them as contrary to Scripture. Despite the fact that the Lord made His relation to the Old Testament perfectly clear, saying, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17), His words were considered blasphemous. His new doctrine was rejected. The old bottles could not contain the new wine of Christian truth.
     However, the teachings of the New Testament did not repudiate the Old, but made it living and full. Rather than destroying them, the Lord filled the law and the prophets with new meaning. He showed men an inner layer of truth by which the Scripture might be understood and become more effective in their lives. Far from taking away the need for such teachings as the Ten Commandments, Christian doctrine made them more fully applicable to life, thus providing the means whereby evil might be fought directly. "We have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill," the Christ taught; "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment" (Matthew 5:21, 22). It is not enough merely to refrain from murder externally, but man must reject hatred and unrighteous anger from his mind. "Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:27, 28). It is not merely actions of the body that are to be shunned, but intentions as well. The emphasis of Christian doctrine is on internal things of the mind and heart, on the cleansing of the inside of the cup and the platter.
     Any Jew who was willing to think deeply could see that this new doctrine did not do away with the law, but actually made it full by revealing its inner purpose and spirit.

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He was therefore free to recognize that the day of the Lord was at hand, and to receive Him with joy and thanksgiving.
     That the Lord fulfilled the prophets was even more apparent. Was He not born of a virgin in Bethlehem? Did He not come up out of Egypt? Did He not ride into Jerusalem a King? And was He not hated without a cause, led as a lamb to the slaughter, rejected of men, and, as Jonah the prophet had represented, resurrected on the third day? Anyone who sincerely compared the life of Christ with the Old Testament could see that He literally became the Word in the flesh. The direct evidence is convincing; the indirect overwhelming. For once the mind was affirmative to His coming-that He was indeed the promised Messiah-His presence throughout Scripture became increasingly obvious. Once the mind was disposed to accept the first coming of the Lord, it could travel with Him to Emmaus and hear Him beginning at Moses and the prophets expounding in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).
     And as if this evidence was not enough, the Lord told men directly who He was. In Nazareth, after reading from the prophet Isaiah, He put down the book saying: "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:21). To the woman of Samaria who knew that when the Christ should come He would tell all things, He said: "I that speak unto thee am He" (John 4:26). The leaders of the Jews were shocked and enraged when the Lord identified Himself with Jehovah God, who spoke to Moses at the burning bush and called Himself "I Am." For "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). And He led His disciples to know Him as the way, the truth, and the life-one with the Father, their Lord and their God.               
     But because the Jews were so external, because they could not lift their minds to the inner fulfillment of Scripture, because they were possessed by their own preconceived ideas of how the Christ would come, they failed to receive Him when He revealed Himself. Blinded by natural loves-the desire for wealth, power, and national salvation-they could not see the truth in human form nor open their minds to His spiritual salvation. For one brief moment on Palm Sunday, when the Lord seemed about to fulfill their earthly ambitions, they hailed Him as their king; but when they discovered that His kingdom was not of this world and that He came to save them from their own evil loves, they cried for His crucifixion. None but a remnant of the Jewish Church received the Lord at His first advent. "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:10, 11).
     For sincere Christians who await the second coming of the Lord, a clear understanding of His first advent can be most useful.

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For from a knowledge of how the Lord fulfilled the law and the prophets, how He revealed Himself directly, and how the Jews rejected Him because He did not cater to their preconceived ideas, Christians can be prepared to receive Him when He makes His second coming. This they can know with sureness, they must not look externally for this coming, but to the Spirit of Truth. They must not look for salvation from national calamity, but for a truth which can save them from their own evils. They must seek for a new doctrine-one that unveils the inner content of the Ten Commandments and presents a new fulfillment of the law. They must see through the "letter that killeth" to the "spirit that giveth life." They can expect the Lord to reveal Himself in His own way and so not be blinded by their preconceptions of how and when He will come. And finally, they can expect Him to identify Himself when He comes-to state that this is His coming, and to invite all to receive Him and to enter His New Church.
     A mind so conditioned and prepared, a mind willing to examine the claims of a New Christianity in the light of Scripture, is a mind prepared to accept the Lord as He reveals Himself in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. For all the requirements of New Testament prophecy are fulfilled by this new doctrine. The Writings given from God out of heaven, that is, revealed through a mind ordered and elevated to receive Divine truth directly from the Lord, tell the "many things" the disciples could not bear. They are a revelation of spiritual truth which relates to all truth. They do not speak of their human author, but of things heard and seen. And they show us things to come-the world of the human spirit as it lives here and in eternity.
     As the Lord at His coming fulfilled the law, in His new coming He unfolds Christianity in its fullness-the inner laws of the human spirit in its body as it lives in this world and in the world to come. Whereas the Old Testament was seen in an entirely distinctive light from the New, so both the Old and the New Testaments shine with meaning when viewed from the interior light of rational truth in the Writings.
     The Old Testament law condemns murder and the New the anger that is its cause. The Heavenly Doctrine enters more interiorly into the commandments and reveals layer within layer of meaning. It shows how the commandments apply naturally in our external relations with men, how they apply spiritually in our relations with the eternal minds and spirits of men, and celestially in our relation to our God, the Lord. We learn from the work called the True Christian Religion that "not to kill . . . also means not to inflict any deadly harm on a person's name. . . . In a broader natural sense [it] means enmity, hatred and revenge. . . . In the spiritual sense, murder means all the devious modes of killing and destroying the souls of men . . . of turning them away from God, religion, and Divine worship by insinuating scandalous thoughts against these. . . .

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Such murderers are all the devils and satans in hell," whose states are described fully, elsewhere in the Writings. "In the celestial sense to kill means to be rashly angry with the Lord, to hate Him, and to wish to blot out His name. It is said of such that they crucify the Lord, and this they would do, as the Jews did, if He were to come again into the world as before" (no. 311).
     That the Heavenly Doctrine is a new law is further evident from its treatment of the Seventh Commandment. The Old Testament forbade adultery in act, the New in thought. The Writings enlarge on these teachings showing that the intention of a lust is a spiritual deed. Man is not made chaste merely by abstaining from doing, but by abstaining from willing because it is a sin against God. So far as anyone abstains from adulteries merely for external reasons-from fear of the law and of reputation or "on account of some natural or moral law, and not at the same time on account of spiritual law, he is nevertheless inwardly an adulterer" (TCR 316). Such a one believes that adulteries are not sins, and therefore in spirit he commits them, even if he does not commit them in the body; and in consequence, when after death he becomes a spirit, he speaks openly in favor of them. In the spiritual sense "to commit adultery" means to adulterate the goods of the Word and to falsify its truths. This is done by those who deny and profane the holiness of the Word, and ridicule all things of the church and of religion, which are from the Word (see TCR 316, 314, 315). Commandment after commandment is unfolded as to its inner meanings, as a law of the human spirit, an eternal law of life. Neither the Old Testament nor the New is repudiated by the Heavenly Doctrine. Both are made full and complete. Their inconsistencies and mysteries are rationally explained.
     These rational truths would have been beyond the grasp of the disciples and of the primitive Christian Church. Their minds could not have comprehended them. How could men understand spiritual law who had no real conception of natural law? How could men who knew little about the consistencies of order by which the Lord rules the external world ever have grasped the consistencies of order by which the internal world of the mind and spirit are governed! As the individual man is prepared by growth to understand things naturally, so the human race had to advance to an age of rationality before the Lord could reveal Himself plainly. "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things!" (John 3:12).
     Christians who look for an external coming of the Lord, like the Jews who expected an earthly king, will look in vain. The Word has already been made flesh. To repeat this miracle would be useless.

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The Lord has already come into the world and glorified His Human, and this for all time. What is needed, and what the Writings provide, is an interior understanding of the First Advent-of the New Testament and of the Old which it fulfilled.
     The Heavenly Doctrine fulfills New Testament prophecy to the least detail, but not in an external way. The Lord has not come in physical clouds. There has been no cosmic disturbance in which the sun was darkened and the moon's light dimmed. The stars have not tumbled from their appointed places in the external world. Yet what about the world of the human spirit! Who would say that the sun of love to the Lord has not been darkened! Who does not recognize that the moon of genuine faith in the Lord scarcely shines among men? Who is not aware that the stars of heaven-the knowledges of good and truth in the Word-have fallen from importance in our modern world! And who does not realize that the literal Word of the Old and New Testaments is full of mysteries which men do not understand-that it is veiled in clouds! It is to unfold these mysteries of faith, it is to show the living spirit, the consistent threads of truth within the letter, that the spiritual sense has now been revealed. "This revelation is [what is] meant by the second coming of the Lord" (AE 641). The scribe of the Second Advent teaches that "in order that the Lord might be continuously present with me! He has unfolded to me the spiritual sense of His Word, wherein is Divine truth in its very light, and it is in this light that He is continually present. For His presence in the Word is by means of the spiritual sense and in no other way; through the light of this sense He passes into the obscurity of the literal sense, which is like what takes place when the light of the sun in day-time is passing through an interposing cloud. The sense of the letter of the Word is like a cloud, and the spiritual sense is the glory, the Lord Himself being the sun from which the light comes, and thus the Lord is the Word" (TCR 780).
     That all inspired revelation can be the Lord with man is because the Lord is the Word. Even as the real man is his spiritual qualities of love and wisdom, his will, purposes and thoughts, in "like manner, but in a preeminent degree the Lord is Divine love and Divine wisdom" (TCR 778).
     Thus "whether you say 'the Lord' or 'the Divine truth' it is the same: since all Divine truth is from Him, and therefore He Himself is in it" (AE 411). This makes clear why the Lord said of His new revelation that it should both testify of Him and that He should come by means of it.
     The Lord on earth openly identified Himself. In the Heavenly Doctrine He plainly states His coming: "This revelation is [what is] meant by the second coming of the Lord," He teaches in the Apocalypse Explained (no. 641): "This immediate revelation is the advent of the Lord," we are taught in the treatise on the Athanasian Creed.

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The most direct declaration was written by command on all copies of the Heavenly Doctrine in the spiritual world and on two volumes in this. Here the Lord says: "This book is the Advent of the Lord, written by command" (Autographed by Swedenborg on the flyleaf of the Summaria Expositio).
     The direct evidence is convincing. The indirect-the manifold teachings about the spirit of man, the spiritual sense of the Word, and about the Lord Jesus Christ-is overwhelming!
     "Who in the Christian world," the Writings ask, "could ever have known anything about heaven and hell, had it not pleased the Lord to open the sight of some one's spirit and show and teach him?" (TCR 851). Who would know anything about the spiritual sense of the Word as a consistent thread of meaning within all the Scriptures? Who would know anything about the creation of the natural universe from the spiritual sun? Who would know anything about the origin of evil and why evil is permitted by a merciful God? Who would know anything about the laws of the Divine Providence by which the Lord rules the human race, the inner purposes of creation, and the modes by which those purposes are carried out? And who would really know the Lord Jesus Christ as the one God of heaven and earth, who has not left us comfortless but has come and revealed Himself in the fullness of rational truth so that we can enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith, and so that a New Christianity, a spiritual Christianity, may be established among men?
     We must distinguish between the presence of the Lord and His coming. Of this distinction we read: "The Lord's presence is unceasing with every man, both the evil and the good, for without His presence no man lives; but His coming is only to those who receive Him, who are such as believe in Him and keep His commandments" (TCR 774). That all may believe in Him, and this from an interior sight of His truth, that all may receive Him and keep His commandments spiritually, He extends an "invitation to the whole Christian world to [His New] Church, and an exhortation that they receive the Lord worthily, who foretold that He would come into the world on account of [this church] and to it" (Summary of the Coronis LV). And in the heavens He has "called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world and . . . sent them all forth throughout the whole spiritual world to preach [this] gospel, that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, whose Kingdom shall be for ages and ages" (TCR 791). Amen.

     LESSONS: John 16:12-33. Matthew 24:29-51. TCR 777, 779.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 459, 479, 476.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 67, 93.

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WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN 1954

WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN       Rev. W. CAIRNS HENDERSON       1954

     A New Church Day Talk to Children

     The Lord had twelve disciples who followed Him in the world. They followed Him because they loved Him, and He loved them in return. Because His love is always the same, the Lord loved them equally-Judas, who betrayed Him, just as much as the rest. Yet it is said that the Lord loved one of the disciples more than the rest. This was John, who was called, the beloved disciple. And John was beloved for this reason. The Lord loves all men equally, but the more they love Him, the more He seems to love them. The twelve disciples represented, or stood for, the church that was to come; each of them standing separately for one type of people who would be in the church; and John stood for those who love the Lord best. That is why the Lord is said to have loved him more than the rest, and is why he is called the beloved disciple, and was the one who leaned on the Lord's breast at the Last Supper.
     For this reason a wonderful promise was made to John after the Lord's resurrection. When the Lord had asked Peter three times if he loved Him, Peter had pointed to John and said: "And what shall this man do?" The Lord had replied to him: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" In a very short time the Lord was to rise up above the heavens. He was to go from the sight of the disciples, and they would not see Him again until they, too, put off their mortal bodies and entered His other world. Yet the Lord had said that He would come again, and the promise was made that John alone among the disciples would see Him once more while he yet lived on earth.
     This promise was fulfilled in a wonderful way, just as it had been made. John lived to be a very old man. The other disciples all died before him. But although he was an old man he was very active. He was in charge of an important part of the church, and we know from his epistles that he dearly loved his work and the men and women in his church, because when he wrote to them he always called them, his little children. Then, when he was ninety years old, what seemed a terrible thing happened. The Roman government said that he must leave his work and spend the rest of his life all by himself on a little island in the Mediterranean.

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This kind, gentle old man was torn away from the church and the people he loved, was made to stop all his work, and was sent away as an exile to the Isle of Patmos.
     But strong as the Romans were they could not have done this to John unless the Lord had permitted it, and the Lord allowed them to send John away because He had a still more important work for John to do, and the time had come for the promise made to John to be fulfilled. One Sunday a very wonderful thing happened to John in the Isle of Patmos. The eyes of his body were closed, and the eyes of his spirit were opened, so that he was suddenly in the Lord's other world, in heaven. You know that we are actually living in two worlds even now, but because only the eyes of our bodies are open we see only this world. Yet if they were closed we would no longer see this world but would see the spiritual world just as we see this one now. That was what happened to John, and how he came to be in heaven as to the spirit while still a man in the world. And as soon as John came into heaven as to his spirit he saw the Lord. In fulfilment of the promise made to him he saw the Lord in His second coming, saw Him as the Son of Man in the midst of the seven golden candle sticks, clothed in white, and white of hair. And in wonderful visions he saw all the things that would happen to the Christian Church at its end, saw the forming of a new heaven, and the coming down from it of a new church.
     Among the many wonderful things seen by John was the vision described in our lessons from the Apocalypse, a book from the Lord in which John wrote down all the things he saw in heaven. He saw a woman clothed with the sun and having the moon under her feet, and a crown of stars on her head. This was a vision of the New Church which was established on the Nineteenth Day of June, of this New Church which is clothed with good by the Lord, which stands firmly on faith in Him, and which is adorned with knowledges of good and truth from the Lord. In the Lord's Word the church is called a woman. It is called the bride of the Lamb, and you will remember that in the Ten Commandments the mother we are to honor is the church. It is in this way that we are to think of the New Church to which we belong as a mother who cares for us, feeds and clothes us, teaches us to do things for ourselves, protects us, and cares for us in health and sickness. And if we really think of the church in this way we will love it with all our hearts, as true sons and daughters should.
     That is one of the things we may learn from this vision of John. And another is this. Because John loved the Lord, the Lord opened the eyes of his spirit to see Him where He was, even while John still lived on earth. John was given to see into heaven, to see the Lord in the midst of the seven candlesticks, and to see visions of His New Church.

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And if we learn to love the Lord as John did, and come into the state of John in the Isle of Patmos, the Lord will do the same thing for us. He will not do it in just the same way. There is no need for us to see into heaven to see Him and His church, because the Lord, heaven, and the church have been revealed to us in the doctrines of the New Church. But if we truly love the Lord, heaven will be opened to us. We will be given to see Him in that doctrine, and to love Him with all our hearts.

     LESSONS: Revelation 1:4-6. Revelation 12:1-10.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 425, 478, 476.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. C12, C16.
INVITATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT 1954

INVITATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT       Rev. MORLEY D. RICH       1954

     As New Church Day approaches, we may, perhaps, find ourselves returning to the little posthumous work entitled Invitation to the New Church. And possibly we may also obtain each time a fresh inspiration and stimulus from it.
     For there are so many arresting and thrilling statements in it; so many tremendous prophecies made about the New Church in a very matter-of-fact manner; so much in it which leaves no doubt in the affirmative mind as to the Divine authority of the Writings and as to the inevitable institution of the New Church, even in externals, as a distinct and separate ecclesiastical body or organization as sharply separate from the former church as was the Christian Church from the Jewish. And even though it was not seen through the press and published by Swedenborg himself, we cannot suppose that he would have written such things down had they been at all doubtful in his own mind.
     As examples of these statements, we may consider the following: "The manifestation of the Lord in person, and the introduction by the Lord into the spiritual world both as to sight and as to hearing and as to speech, surpasses all miracles; for we do not read anywhere in history that such intercourse with angels and spirits has been granted from the creation of the world. For I am daily with angels there, even while I am in the world with men; and now for twenty-seven years. Evidences of this intercourse are the books which I have published. In addition to these most manifest evidences, there is the fact that the spiritual sense of the Word has been disclosed by the Lord through me; which has never before been revealed since the Word was written with the sons of Israel; and this sense is the very sanctuary of the Word; the Lord Himself is in this sense with His Divine and in the natural sense with His Human.

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Not a single iota of this sense can be opened except by the Lord alone. This surpasses all the revelations which have hitherto been made since the creation of the world" (43, 44).
     Nevertheless, though these "surpass all miracles," they are not important to the establishment of the New Church. For we read: "That this church is not instituted and established through miracles, but through the revelation of the spiritual sense, and through the introduction of my spirit and, at the same, of my body, into the spiritual world," [not so that men might be persuaded by such miracles, we note] but, "so that I might know there what heaven and hell are, and that in that light I might imbibe immediately from the Lord the truths of faith, whereby man is led to eternal life" (Syllabus VII).
     We would notice the first part of this statement-that though "this church is not instituted and established through miracles," nevertheless it is and is to be instituted and established. This is important, because it is meant quite literally and externally as well as spiritually. None but a foolish idealist who has not the wit to observe and to evaluate the external and necessary work of New Church publication, worship, instruction and education-which are necessary in order that the New Church may live at all internally and spiritually-would ever insist that these statements are to be interpreted by correspondences as meaning only a purely internal or spiritual institution and establishment, thus removing the ground from the New Jerusalem and leaving it like a palace suspended in mid-air, never to descend and live with men even as to externals.
     Again, in the same work, it is written: "These are evidences that this has been granted for the sake of the New Church, which is the crown of all the churches, and which will endure forever" (39). Again: "The manifestation of the Lord, and intromission into the spiritual world, surpass all miracles. This has not been granted to anyone since the creation as it has been to me. The men of the golden age indeed conversed with angels; but it was not granted to them to be in both spiritual and natural light at the same time. By this means it has been granted to me to see the wonderful things of heaven, to be together with the angels like one of them, and at the same time to draw forth truths in light, and thus to perceive and teach them; consequently to be led by the
Lord" (52). And finally: "For this reason it has pleased the Lord to prepare me from my earliest youth to perceive the Word, and He has introduced me into the spiritual world, and has enlightened me with the light of His Word more proximately.

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From this it is manifest that this surpasses all miracles" (55).
     It is obvious that if a man reads such unequivocal statements carefully there is bound to occur a judgment with him. Either he has to accept these statements as true, and therefore believe whole-heartedly in the establishment of the New Church both as to internals and externals as a distinct and new church of the Lord on earth, and as based upon a revelation which is not only Divinely authoritative but is also part of the Word itself, since "the spiritual sense of the Word has been disclosed" therein and since "this sense is the very sanctuary of the Word," and "the Lord Himself is in this sense with His Divine" (44); or else he must reject everything, if he is to consistent and logical. And we are sure that experience and observation clearly show this to be true-that such a judgment occurs with every man who genuinely enters the New Church or who completely rejects it; and there is no doubt in our mind that if such clear-cut judgment does not occur in this world, then it undoubtedly takes place with those who equivocate, for a variety of reasons, in the world of spirits.
     But this is, perhaps, sufficient to recall to our minds the raison d'etre for celebrating the birthday of the church and the sending out of the twelve apostles into the spiritual world.

     What we would like to turn your attention to particularly now, is the statement contained in No. 25 of the Invitation: "Unless the present little work is added to the preceding work, the church cannot be healed. For it would be only a palliative cure, a wound in which the corruption remains, and which vitiates the neighboring parts. Orthodoxy is this corrupt matter itself, and the doctrine of the New Church indeed effects a healing [medication], but only extrinsically [or externally]."
     This short statement is so intriguing and puzzling that we have been stimulated to examine it many times, as well as the Invitation as a whole. It certainly establishes this brief work as highly necessary to the New Church, and leaves no doubt as to its authority and the necessity of its publication, even though posthumously.
     But is not a man cured of the false orthodoxy of Christianity when he accepts the doctrines of the New Church and comes into her courts! Did we not feel, each one of us, when we accepted the Writings and entered the church for ourselves, that now at last we had the truth, and that nevermore would we be afflicted by the diseases of Christian orthodoxy!
     What does it mean by "the doctrine of the New Church"? How is the word "healing" being used here?

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And to what degree or level is the adverb "extrinsically" or "externally" being applied in the passage? Since, unless this present work had been added, the church could not be healed, just what it in this little work that can accomplish what none of the previously-revealed doctrine of the New Church can effect, except only externally?
     Preliminarily, let us point out that an examination of the passages preceding this one clearly indicates that the word "orthodoxy" as used here, means the false and corrupt orthodox doctrine of the dead Christian Church. But we must also carefully notice that what is to be healed is not primarily this orthodoxy, which in fact is the corrupt matter proceeding from the internals to aggravate the wound and eventually kill the man. The corrupt matter is only the effect of the spirit's disease. So it is the wound itself which is to be healed-that wound in the spirits of men which has been produced by internal conditions; not by the false dogmatic theology of Christianity which is, after all, only the effect of the wound and the tool of the devil.
     For our reading of the Writings should leave us with no doubt that the stated, external doctrine of a church is not that which wounds and damns the human spirit. The orthodox doctrine of any church is but the effect and symptom of its internal state as to leadership and as to ruling or leading love. If the doctrine is false, it will indeed limit the area of free choice which its members will have; it will serve as a channel through which the hells may promote evils in the world without the simple realizing that they are evils. It will enable unscrupulous men to enslave the good spiritually, as in the case of those bound down in the lower earth. And it may, as it did, eventually threaten to extinguish all hope of salvation and eternal life-just as the unchecked growth of corrupt matter in a wound would eventually spread to and choke the heart and lungs to death.
     But no false theology has ever been able to remove essential salvation from men; and since the Lord's two advents, falsities of theology have never even been able to threaten this seriously. Thus, even though the simple in heart were enslaved in the world of spirits for centuries, yet when the Lord came and effected judgments by His truth they were at once lifted up into heaven; for though their minds had been enslaved and darkened, though they could hardly therefore comprehend the truth, though they had been susceptible subjects of evils, still they were not sinners, and their inner, ruling loves, which fitted them for salvation and heavenly life, had not been affected by the falsities.
     So it is that the stated theology of any church is only external and natural, both as to its nature and influence or effect; and if, as in the case of the former church, it is false, it can now be cut away and removed by the scalpel, by the precision tools which are the literal, revealed truths of the New Church.

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But this is only a removal of the external corrupt matter growing in the wound; it is not a healing of the wound itself.
     Such an operation indeed effects a healing of the understanding, but this is still only an external healing. And in relation to this there is a teaching of the work on the Divine Providence which says: "[Man] is permitted to think and to will his hereditary evils, but not to say and do them; and meanwhile he learns civil, moral and spiritual things which also enter into his thoughts and remove these insanities; and by these means he is healed by the Lord, but yet, no further than to know how to guard the door, unless he also acknowledges God, and implores His aid it would have been possible for the Lord to heal the understanding in every man, and so cause him to think not evil but good, and this by means of various fears, by miracles, by speech with the dead, and by visions and dreams. But to heal the understanding alone, is to heal man outwardly only; for the understanding with its thought is the external of man's life, and the will with its affection is the internal of his life; wherefore the healing of the understanding only would be like a palliative healing, whereby the internal malignity, shut in and wholly prevented from going out, would consume first the near and then the remote parts, even till the whole would be mortified. It is the will itself that must be healed, not by an influx of the understanding into it, for that does not take place, but by the instruction and exhortation from the understanding" (DP 281, 282). Notice how arrestingly similar are the words and phrases used here to the passage from the Invitation no. 25.
     We would here emphasize first the teaching that by means of the civil, moral and spiritual things which he learns, and which enter into his thoughts and remove the insanities of hereditary evils, a man is "healed by the Lord, but yet, no further than to know how to guard the door." In other words, by the enlightenment and reformation of his understanding through knowledges a man comes only into the ability "to guard the door" of his mind against the influx of hereditary evils and their attendant falsities; he does not yet come into the ability of opening the door on the other side of the room of his mind to Him who constantly waits and knocks. And so it is but a palliative healing. Furthermore, according to the passage, if this external healing of the understanding were to be effected permanently by itself, it would indeed by a very tragic thing for the man; for it would merely shut up his hereditary will, thus making his spirit but a completely sealed room-sealed off from any influx of life whatever; and this would be spiritual death-not merely a state of hell-but actual death even as to infernal life. And so we may begin to see the answers to the questions, "Where and what is the wound which is here meant, and which is not the mere corruption of modern orthodoxy as taught by the old Christian Church?"

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     The wound is in the will itself-the will of the natural mind on all its levels-sensual, moral and rational. And it is the dividing trauma caused by and permitted on account of the original Fall, namely, the elevation and domination of the loves of self and the world over the loves of God and the neighbor. It was like the stroke of a sword which cut and divided the firm and healthy flesh produced by the right relation and connection of these loves, and which also severed the silver cord between man and the Lord, which led to the present immensity of hereditary tendencies to evil in every man; and which, finally, led to doctrines and life which further separated men from God, and cut them off from the very well-springs of life and hope. It is this wound in the will itself, to phrase it in the terms of revelation, "that must be healed, not by an influx of the understanding into it, but by instruction and exhortation from the understanding" (ibid).
     Now we would here bring forward that if the understanding of a man is to heal his will "by instruction and exhortation," it must itself be properly instructed, not only in the doctrine of the New Church generally, but particularly, it would appear, in the doctrines which are brought forward in the Invitation. It would seem clear that there is that in this little work which will most effectively and finally equip the understanding to give that instruction and exhortation to the will which will effect an eternal healing of its wound. What is this? What is this miraculous doctrine which will accomplish such a thing?
     We do not pretend to see this in every teaching of this little work as yet. But we believe that there is at least one doctrine contained in several of its passages which may be clearly seen to be interiorly healing through the agency of the understanding. This is the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit, certain aspects of which are stated more clearly and fully here than in any other work of the Writings. We refer to nos. 23, 50, and 57, from which numbers we shall now speak.
     It is familiar to us that after the Fall, the human race progressively lost connection with the Divine. Men were cut off from the spiritual world, and they had less and less awareness of the presence of God in the created universe. To their conscious, natural minds, God became invisible, unapproachable and unknowable. Thus it was that, because the human mind is so constituted that it naturally craves something visible and comprehensible to which to look and worship, correspondential images were made by them-images which, though they were not at first worshiped as God, were later set up as idols to be worshipped as deities in themselves Increasingly, men's understandings failed them when they tried to think of the Divine as being present in the natural universe.

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     The final effects of this turning from the Divine were such that the Lord came twice in order to remedy them. For it was from this severing of the connection that there arose such falsities as that God simply created the world and set it running like a clock, and that therefore He presides only over the universal things, leaving man alone by himself to work out all other things; that man must therefore act from himself without benefit of Divine aid or guidance in the particular things of his daily life, that because he is in original sin, and because the Father is far removed from him, man can be saved merely by faith, blind faith alone in Jesus Christ, the Mediator and Intercessor, the only-begotten Son of God. And, finally, it was from this that the human race degenerated into such a hopeless and helpless state that an incredible loneliness and anguish prevailed, secretly or openly, in every human heart.
     In relation to the passages of the Invitation concerning the Holy Spirit specifically, we find also that it was from this cutting off that the Christian falsity concerning the Holy Spirit eventuated; namely, the doctrine "that the Holy Spirit is given, or that it is lost." For the Christian Church, in common with the whole human race, degenerated into thinking about spiritual matters and about the Divine from time and space. And, because men could not conceive of the genuine omnipresence of God even in the minute things of nature, but rather pictured Him as a being entirely removed from the world as a place, perforce they also postulated the doctrine that when a man merited it, God sent His Spirit to him through space from one place to another, and conversely, when a man did not deserve it, or "fell from grace," God took away His Holy Spirit.
     And so it is that we come to see at least one of the teachings of this little work which, if used by the understanding to instruct and exhort the old will, will effect a real cure. The teaching, as contained in the passage concerning the Holy Spirit before-mentioned, is this: "the Holy Spirit is the Divine which proceeds from the Lord; and the Lord is perpetually present with every man, the evil as well as the good. Without His presence, no one can live; and the Lord constantly acts, urges, and strives to be received; wherefore, the presence of the Holy Spirit is perpetual" (no. 23). Again: "All things which people speak concerning the Holy Spirit fall to the ground, as soon as it is believed that man is not life, but only an organ of life; and thus that God is constantly in man, and that He strives, acts, and urges that those things which belong to religion, and consequently those which belong to the church, to heaven and salvation, shall be received" (no. 50).

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And finally: "all those things which the orthodox at the present day say concerning the sending of the Holy Spirit fall to the ground, as soon as it is known that the Lord is constantly present with every man, and causes the man to live; and that He resides with man in order that even if he does not go and meet the Lord, he still has rationality, which would be impossible without the Lord's presence" (no. 57).
     Certainly, if the understanding imbibes this central idea and conveys it to the will, there will be a profound effect. For it involves that the will will be able actually to feel the presence of the Lord, to feel it as a sustaining power. A man will know as never before that he need no longer act from his selfhood, which is nothing but evil, but that he can act as of himself from the Word, with the constant re-assurance of the Lord's continual presence and aid, even in the most minute things of his life.
     But, we should notice that the understanding is not only to instruct the will, but is also to exhort it from this revelation. Now to exhort implies urging to action; and the further inference seems obvious, namely, that the full and final healing of the will's wound is effected by its action, as-of-self, in the life of religion.
     Man is not "given the Holy Spirit," for the Lord's Spirit is constantly omnipresent; but man receives this Spirit, and he receives and becomes conjoined with it by life, and always accompanied by delight. This delight is not felt all at once, or overwhelmingly, but gradually as the Holy Spirit itself is received, and in inconspicuous and generally unnoticeable ways. And this is what will heal the wound in each man and the church in each man; not a sudden miraculous conversion carrying him away in a flood of enthusiasm, but a slow accretion of delight over the years of day-by-day shunning of evil and performance of use in the small things of life.

     It is this teaching which needed to be added in this little work of the Writings. It is by the daily, unremarkable adherence to use and shunning of evil that we are given, drop by drop, that delight which will eventually form in us a great well of love to the Lord and the neighbor. And this is the unobtrusive, unnoticed sign of the Holy Spirit working in us.
     The same principle applies to our life in the New Church. For the daily life of the New Church is not a series of unreal, artificial outbursts of emotion, conversion, and spectacular isolated efforts. Her events and functions are not, therefore, to be great extravaganzas of religious drama in which her members go off at an emotional tangent, only to return the next day to the same conflicting evils and falsities as before, without change or improvement.

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For should we expect this, even unconsciously, we could not be gifted with the true Holy Spirit-that Spirit of faithful truth which leadeth unto all truth-nor would we attain that constancy of daily life and religion which is the product of the unassuming and subtle spirit only.
     Every now and then in our lives we may be blessed with a more acute perception of what the New Church really is, and of the value of mutual association and cooperation in her uses and functions. And usually, as with the other fields of our life, this perception is granted through the common, everyday, external tasks necessary to her earthly existence. Furthermore, this comes to us in a more forceful manner when, as sometimes happens, there is a particularly large task to be accomplished.
     The stranger to this work could never believe that external labor for an internal purpose could ever bring a genuine delight. But this is because the human race has lost the perception of that delight which lies within use, and which is the product of the Holy Spirit.
     Perhaps it could be said that it is easier for us to see the internal or spiritual use involved in a work for the church than to see it in our own occupations. And this, too, is because of our fallen human nature, which does not perceive, save rarely or from doctrine, how our ordinary, secular occupations serve our eternal spiritual welfare. But because it is easier to see this in connection with the church, therefore our delight in her work is more perceptible to us.
     And so the wound of the will is healed. It is healed by the truth announced through the twelve apostles, that "the Lord Jesus Christ doth reign." And it is healed by the further and implementing truth that, since His reign is universal throughout creation, therefore, as the Invitation proclaims: His Spirit is continuously present with every man, longing to be received or invited by man's as-of-self effort in opening the door.
LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     6. Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done

     When the name of the Father is hallowed by the approach to and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine Human, then can the prayer be continued into its next petition: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven so upon the earth."
     The kingdom that is to come and the will that is to be done are the kingdom and will of the Father in the heavens manifest in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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The Father's kingdom became that of the Lord in His Divine Human, as is evident from the following and other similar words: "The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son" (John 3:35); "The Father hath given the Son power over all flesh" (John 17:2); "All things are delivered unto Me of My Father" (Matthew 11:27); and "all power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18).
     The Father's will is that there be belief in the Son as the Savior of the world, as appears from these words: "This is the will of the Father, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life" (John 6:40); "For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:15, 16); "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36).
     In prayer for the coming of the Lord's kingdom there is a looking to Him as the King, who reigns according to His Divine law, which is the Divine truth. In prayer that His will be done there is a looking to Him as the Savior, who in His love gives eternal life to those who live according to the Divine truth.
     The Divine truth going forth from the Lord makes heaven, or, what is the same, makes His heavenly kingdom. The Divine truth is His. The kingdom is His. As the kingdom, and as the Divine truth, He comes to and is present with the angels. But in order that He may come there must be reception of the Divine love that is within the Divine truth, which reception consists in the doing of His will. His will is His love, and this love or will is done when, through man's doing of what is of love to the Lord and of love toward the neighbor, the love becomes of man's life; which love the Lord bestows as the Savior that by means of it there may be salvation.
     The reception of the kingdom and thus of the Divine truth, and thus of the Lord's will and of His Divine love, makes it to be on earth as it is in the heavens. By the earth is meant the church, that is, the church with those within whom it is. We read: "The Lord's kingdom is in heaven and on earth, and His kingdom on earth is the church" (AR 749). The kingdom on earth which is specifically meant at this day is the New Church; for we read again that "into the kingdom of the Lord, which is treated of in the Apocalypse, all are to come who may belong to the Lord's New Church, which is the New Jerusalem" (AR 839).
     How great the longing, and how earnest the desire for the fulfillment of this petition in the prayer should be, may be known from the spiritual significance of Revelation 22:17, which is given as follows: "Let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.

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And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely, signifies that he who knows anything of the Lord's coming, and of the New Heaven and the New Church, should pray that it may come; and that he who desires truths should pray that the Lord may come with light; and that he who loves truths will then receive them from the Lord without any labor of his own. The words in this verse have the same signification as the following in the Lord's Prayer: 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven so upon the earth.' The Lord's kingdom is the church, which makes one with heaven" (AR 956).
SPIRITUAL WORLD: JUNE 19TH, 1770 1954

SPIRITUAL WORLD: JUNE 19TH, 1770       Rev. ORMOND ODHNER       1954

     The 19th of June is celebrated as the birthday of the New Church because the Writings teach that the church on earth descends from the church in heaven, and because they teach also that in the year 1570 the Lord called together in the spiritual world the twelve disciples who had followed Him on earth, instructed them in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and sent them out to preach that doctrine throughout the spiritual world. This He did on the 19th day of June.
     At the end of the True Christian Religion, the last theological work published by Swedenborg, we read: "After this work was finished, the; Lord called together His twelve disciples, who followed Him in the world, and the next day He sent them all out into the whole spiritual world, to preach the Gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, whose reign will be for ages of ages, according to the prediction in Daniel and in Revelation; . . . and that they are blessed who come to the marriage supper of the Lamb. This was done on the 19th day of June; in the year 1770" (TCR 791).
     Apparently this took place after the completion of the first draft of the True Christian Religion, for references to it are found in two other places in the published work. Thus, at number 4, we read: "It is a noteworthy fact that some months ago the Lord called together His twelve disciples, now angels, and sent them forth throughout the spiritual world with the command to preach the Gospel there anew, since the church that was established by the Lord through them has at this day become so far consummated that scarcely a remnant of it survives."

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And at number 108, we read: "To show that the Divine Trinity is united in the Lord is the chief object of this work some months ago the twelve disciples were called together by the Lord, and were sent forth through the whole spiritual world, as they formerly were through the natural world, with the command to preach this Gospel; and to each apostle was assigned a particular province; and this command they are executing with great zeal and industry."
     The apostles, then, were sent out by the Lord to promulgate the true theology and religion of the New Church throughout the spiritual world, on June 19th, 1770; and since the church on earth is said to descend from the church in heaven, we celebrate the 19th of June as the natal day of our Church.

     We believe, however, that if we would really comprehend the meaning of these events there is one particular Divine truth we must ever hold in mind in considering them. This is the teaching that the spiritual world rests upon the natural, that the heavens rest upon men, that the church in heaven rests upon the church on earth, as does the mind upon the body, thought in speech, and will in act.
     Hence, if the church on earth be pure, heaven is in a state of integrity, the angels are wise and happy, and the hells are in order. But if the church on earth be perverted, hell breaks loose, swarms through the world of spirits, and attacks the foundations of the heavens, the angels lose their wisdom and happiness, and influx from the Lord through the heavens to men begins to fail. Again it is as with mind and body. If the body be healthy, the mind may exist in a state of perfection; if, however, the body be diseased and long remain diseased, first, the mind cannot carry out its thoughts and desires; and second, it begins to become unsound as poisons infest the system. With this in mind, that the state of the heavens depends upon the state of the church on earth, let us investigate the conditions in the spiritual world which led up to the events of the 19th day of June, 1770.
     When men first began to enter the spiritual world, there was no distinction into heaven, the world of spirits, and hell. There was simply one state into which everyone went, there to receive the blessings of God's love. As the Most Ancient Church increased, this state became the more happy and blessed. But when that church began to fall, evil spirits began to enter this after-death state and pervert it. Eventually, at the end of that church, this state became more hell than heaven. Evil men gained control of the good, and at last influx from the Lord through that state to men was shut off.
     The Lord then brought upon this after-death state a spiritual judgment, represented in the Word by the Flood. He separated the evil from the good and confined them into a hell.

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The good were formed by the Lord into a heaven. And a great gulf, the world of spirits, was fixed between the two.
     After the Flood a similar thing occurred. As the Ancient Church deteriorated, and more evil men than good entered the world of spirits, the evil again seized control of that world, lording it over the good. When this new evil condition reached its height-when, once again, influx from God to man was shut off-the Lord came into the world, broke the power of the evil over the good, separated the evil into a new hell and formed the good into a new heaven. And once again, a great gulf, the world of spirits, was fixed between the two heavens on the one side and the two hells on the other.
     Into this world of spirits went all those from earth who died after the Lord's advent. At first the majority of them were good, and that world was as a heaven. But gradually the Christian Church deteriorated, more evil men than good went into that world, the evil again seized control over the good, and by the year 1757 influx from God through the heavens to men was again shut off.

     Now in order for any man to go to heaven, he must first have learned pure and genuine truths from the Word itself, and have made them his own through spiritual temptations At first Christians could do this, and so could be regenerated either here on earth or immediately after death. But when the church divided the Trinity into three persons, and when from a love of dominion it further perverted the Word, its members could not be regenerated because they could not find truths sufficiently pure to uphold them in spiritual temptations.
     The Writings therefore teach that since the year 325 no one in the Christian Church has undergone any spiritual temptations Millions of them, of course, were saved; but they did not enter heaven until after the Last Judgment of 1757, when pure truths from the Word were again taught them. Until that time, evil men who feigned a Christian life ruled over the great masses of spirits in the world of spirits, enslaving them and teaching them falsity instead of truth, even as they had done on earth. Those who had been regenerated before the decline of the Christian Church were hidden away by the Lord; those who were externally as well as internally evil were also separated from the rest. But the great mass of spirits were ruled by hypocritical priests and leaders, who kept them from going to heaven and thus also kept themselves out of hell.
     It may be wondered why the Lord permitted this terrible condition to continue so long. Let us, therefore, see why. First, as the church on earth is corrupted, heaven begins to lose its integrity But the effect is first felt in the world of spirits.

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Hypocrites entering there from the world establish themselves in power over the undiscerning, simple good; they set up for themselves imaginary heavens, and prevent the processes of judgment from being carried out. And they were permitted to do this until influx through heaven to man was almost choked off.
     It is our firm belief, however, that it is the laity of the church rather than the clergy who are primarily responsible for this clogged-up condition of the world of spirits. Priests interiorly evil but externally good will quickly be judged to hell after death, under normal circumstances. But when the laity also sins, in a certain particular way, all is over. Hypocritical priests will ever be judged to hell, until the day when the laity, like ignorant sheep, sit and smugly nod their heads in agreement with whatever the pope or cardinal or priest has to say; until the day when the laity becomes enamored of the personality of a priest rather than his use; until the day when the laity, through its own fault ignorant of the teachings of the Word, cares not much what the priest teaches, as long as it can bask in the reflected glory of his brilliant oratory, suave manners and witty repartee.
     Just this sin was committed by the Christian laity in its early days. Just this clogged up the world of spirits and gave hypocritical priests control of the simple good. For this vain adulation of personality, this friendship of love, continues after death. The simple good refuse to let their demi-god priest be judged to hell. And lest their sensibilities be eternally injured, the Lord lets these priests and leaders remain to rule over the simple good for ages of ages, until their evils become apparent.
     A striking example of this is directly associated with the 19th of June. Arius, an early Alexandrian priest, apparently just for the sake of an argument, one day denied the Divinity of Christ in a conversation with his bishop. Arius could have been squelched with ease. But Arius had a most pleasing personality; Arius was a most popular priest. History records that "seven hundred virgins," many of them rich spinsters, hung on his every word. What started out as a foolish argument suddenly split the Alexandrian Church, for those seven hundred virgins would not let their darling Arius be downed in anything. The controversy spread all over the Catholic Church, splitting it in two. Doctrinal logic seemed to favor Arius, but his position would have destroyed Catholic power, for if Christ were not Divine, then He could not have given Peter, and his successors, the keys to the kingdom. Constantine, the Roman Emperor who had just joined Christianity and was now supported by it, saw this huge block of his supporters about to crumble. To bring the Church back together, he immediately summoned the Nicean Council-that Council which brought an end to true Christianity by dividing the Trinity into three Persons, in order to refute the teachings of Arius.

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And the first session of the nefarious Council opened in the year 325 on the 19th day of June.
     Thus, when the Christian clergy turned from truth to falsity, and when the Christian laity committed the sin of becoming so enamoured of the personalities of their priests that they would not let them be judged to hell after death, then, once again, the world of spirits became filled with evil men feigning innocence And the Lord permitted this condition to continue so long because He would not injure the sensibilities of the simple good, who, sheep-like, followed their hypocritical leaders. And, again, He permitted it, for a heaven is an immense place: myriads of uses are performed in each heaven, and because there were so few good spirits to perform them, the Lord let evil men who pretended to be good continue in power in the world of spirits, until at last there were enough good spirits from Christianity to perform them.
     When, however, evil had openly reached its height in the world of spirits, and when also there were finally enough good spirits to perform all the uses of a new heaven, the Lord brought an end to this state of affairs. Judgment was rendered. The evil were sent into hell, the good were formed into a new heaven. And this was effected through the revelation to men on earth of the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem.
     In the year 1756 the last volume of the Arcana Coelestia had been published in London. Genuine truth had again been revealed to men. At least one man had accepted it, and probably others had rejected it. A true church on earth had begun. And what happened in the spiritual world as a result of this is amazing, almost beyond belief. Once again the church in heaven had a suitable foundation on earth. Judgment between good and evil could again take place in the ultimate world, and hence also judgment could again take place in the world of spirits. Spirits again could be given discernment between truth and falsity. The simple good in that world could at last gain truths sufficient to sustain them in overthrowing their hypocritical leaders. Judgment began. The world of spirits was literally turned upside down.
     Yet this did not happen all in a day. Coincident with the publication of the volumes of the Arcana, premonitory shudders of judgment had shaken the world of spirits. Storm clouds gathered over the imaginary heavens. Angels appeared and exhorted the simple good to leave their hypocritical priests Minor earth tremors leveled a few cities to the very ground.
     Then, in the late fall of 1756, the real judgment, in all its ferocity, began on the Catholics.

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Earthquakes, fires, tidal waves and hurricanes smashed the great cities, the magnificent palaces and churches, the Papists had built. Mountains sank in at the top, turned into whirlpools, dragged screaming multitudes down into hell. Typhoons from the East snatched up whole cities and all their inhabitants, and cast them into fetid seas. And by January 6th, 1757, the imaginary heavens of the Catholics were no more.
     On this earth Swedenborg was drawing out books of doctrine from the Arcana. Heaven and Hell was ready for the press. The Last Judgment on the Reformed churches began, a judgment of equal terror, and by the middle of April, 1757, the Protestant imaginary heavens had sunk into hell. The world of spirits was cleared of those hypocrites who had been permitted to hold power because they feigned a Christian life. The evil were sent into hell. Those fully regenerate spirits whom the Lord had hidden away at last were set free.

     But still a new heaven could not be formed. The simple good who had so long been ruled by hypocrites, and other spirits also who had not yet undergone spiritual temptations, all needed instruction in the genuine truths of the Word that they might withstand the assaults the hells were about to make upon them. And in the years between 1757 and 1770 they underwent these assaults, these spiritual temptations, as new truths were given them, coincident with Swedenborg's publication of the books containing the formally organized doctrines of the New Church-books such as the Divine Providence and Conjugial Love.
     But here it should also be noted that men on earth were beginning to accept the doctrines of the New Church. Drs. Beyer and Rosen were being persecuted, in Gottenburg, for their belief in the so-called "Swedenborgian heresies."
     We come now to the year 1770, when, it would seem, our spirit friends had at last conquered in their spiritual temptations; they had reached that state of peace which always follows temptation, and were ready to receive that fuller instruction in the truths of the Word which every man receives following victory in spiritual temptation-that fuller instruction which would enable them to live to eternity as angels in heaven.

     And so, in the year 1770, on the 18th day of June, the Lord called together the twelve disciples and instructed them in the doctrines of the New Church-in the particular truths of the internal sense of those two statements of truth that the Lord Jesus Christ reigns to eternity, and that those are blessed who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
     The next day, June 19th, He sent forth these apostles of His new revelation throughout the universal spiritual world, to preach these doctrines-these doctrines that the Lord is the one only God of heaven and earth, and that those are saved who shun evils as sins against Him-exactly the same doctrines which are contained everywhere in the Writings.

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Each apostle was assigned a particular province of that world to evangelize, and this task, it is written, they are now performing with zeal and energy.
     It may seem strange that it was necessary to preach these two fundamental truths in the spiritual world. Surely, no one could have gone into heaven unless he already believed that the Lord is the only God and that evils are to be shunned as sins against Him. But that is just the point! Hardly anyone had gone into heaven since the Lord's advent. They were detained in the world of spirits, midway between heaven and hell. They had not yet been formed into a heaven.
     When the Christian Church was still pure, and good men were entering the world of spirits from it, this was as a heaven. But when that church declined, and more evil than good entered that world, it at length became as a hell; for those Christians entering it no longer worshiped the Lord as the one only God of heaven and earth, no longer shunned evils as sins against him. And as conditions in that world further deteriorated, blocking influx from heaven to men, no one on earth could undergo spiritual temptations. Thus, since everyone who goes to heaven must undergo spiritual temptations, no one did go to heaven.
     No one was fully regenerated. The few good people in that world, the fully regenerate, were hidden away by the Lord. The others, the vast majority-even though they were fundamentally good and desired heaven, and eventually entered heaven-these Christian millions had no truths from the Word sufficiently pure to make possible their full regeneration. They did not understand clearly how the Lord is the one only God; they did not know what really is meant by shunning evils as sins against Him. And their hypocritical leaders saw to it that they remained in ignorance, for only this state of ignorance enabled them to retain their power. Nowhere in the world of spirits was there one to teach the genuine truths of the Word, according to which alone can there be entrance into heaven; and as a result, Christians and gentiles both remained for ages under the rule of the hypocrites, even as for longer ages Christians and gentiles on earth have remained in churches unable to teach them true theology.
     It was, then, after the Last Judgment was over, and after the spirit multitude had been strengthened in genuine truths and had made them their own through spiritual temptations, at last reaching a state of peace sufficiently pure to enable them to be fully instructed, that the twelve disciples were sent out by the Lord to teach in fulness the same truths revealed to men in the Writings.

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     Yet why did the Lord choose His twelve disciples for this work! They were not more intelligent than other spirits. They were not admired more than others. Indeed, a study of their lot before the Last Judgment is likely to make us smile, until we realize how closely their state resembles our own.
     Apparently they remained together after death, for we are told that they all decided to separate Paul from their numbers, because Paul cantankerously insisted that he, not Peter, should have the keys to the gates of heaven. (Peter, said Paul, was an ignorant person without a whit of spiritual understanding.) They continued to misunderstand the Lord's teaching, still wishing to sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Because of this, they were often remitted into their earthly state, that of uneducated fishermen, and in it they were frequently incited by trouble-making evil spirits to proclaim their deep belief that no one could enter heaven unless he, like the disciples, had died a martyr's death. Again, throughout all the centuries before 1770, they remained disappointed that the Lord had not made His second coming in their generation, as they thought He had promised. They were pestered to boredom by Christian spirits who wished to see these twelve founders of the Church-pestered so much that at last other spirits were employed to impersonate them. And yet, though many desired to see them, the twelve did not live in any exalted positions; myriads of others were more respected and honored than they.
     Why, then, did the Lord choose these twelve rather simple men to evangelize the universal spiritual world to His second advent? Although they were simple and not yet fully regenerate, they had been very helpful to Swedenborg when he was writing the Heavenly Doctrine. He met them often, and they affirmed that the Lord he wrote of was the same Lord and Savior they had seen, followed, and believed here on earth. Again, they affirmed that the truths Swedenborg was writing were one with the genuine doctrine the Lord Himself taught on earth. But undoubtedly the main reason they were chosen as the spiritual evangelists of the new revelation was that they on earth had seen and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ-because they on earth had accepted His teachings, albeit in the simple way alone possible to them, and hence their faith was founded in the very ultimates of their brains.

     Many have theorized over the reasons that they, individually, have been brought into the Lord's New Church, why they have been so chosen out of many. To avoid falling into conceit, it has been commonly concluded that we are in the New Church because, intrinsically, we are worse than others, and could not be saved without the truths of the Heavenly Doctrine.

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There may be some truth in this, although it does seem strange that the Lord would choose the worst people on earth to found the church among men. There may, however, be some truth in it; but it must be tempered with the understanding that no one from any of all the earths in the universe can now be saved without the truths of the Heavenly Doctrine. If they do not accept them on earth, they must accept them after death, before they can enter heaven.
     This suggests that there may be another reason why the Lord has brought us into the New Church. The apostles were chosen to evangelize the spiritual world on that June 19th, 1770, because they on earth had accepted the Lord. A faith accepted on earth has more firmness, more strength, than a faith accepted after death, though both lead to salvation. This is indicated by the teaching that those who die as infants enter heaven equally as those who die as adults, but must always depend on those who die as adults for certain basic sense-impressions which they lack. And it is confirmed by the teaching that that which a man really believes on earth actually changes the form of his brain and thus of the limbus, which for evermore contains his spirit. And it is easy to imagine that such a change was wrought in the disciples when, on earth, they at length realized that they were seeing the one and only God.
     If, then, the disciples were chosen because they had accepted the Lord on earth; and if a faith acquired on earth is firmer than a faith acquired after death, it may follow that the Lord has chosen us to receive His new revelation on earth because we are of a genius peculiarly adapted to spreading this doctrine to others after death. Is not such strength and firmness necessary that one may be a good teacher? Why else would a geography teacher wish to see with his own eyes the lands concerning which he teaches!
     The New Church, we are taught, will increase on earth according to its increase in the world of spirits. (Note that it is said "in the world of spirits," not "in heaven.") In that world today there are still millions waiting to be given the Heavenly Doctrine, waiting for teachers to teach them these truths, that they may enter the New Heaven.
     Is it not possible that the Lord has chosen us for this use? We may not go about as active preachers and teachers, but each of us in his own individual way can help others to come into possession of these truths through which alone they can enter the New Heaven that is founded on the belief that the Lord is the one only God of heaven and earth, and that those go to heaven who shun evils as sins against Him.
     But if this is the use for which the Lord has chosen us, and it seems more than likely, then our duty is clear. That one may be an apostle, he must first be a disciple. That one may be a teacher, he must first be a student.

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To lead others to the truths of the New Church we must first know what those truths are. We must know the particular tenets of faith involved in those two teachings of the twelve apostles on that 19th day of June in 1770, that the Lord God Jesus Christ doth reign, whose kingdom shall be for ages of ages, and that those are blessed who are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
SWEDENBORG'S VISION OF A UNITED CHRISTIANITY 1954

SWEDENBORG'S VISION OF A UNITED CHRISTIANITY       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1954

      (By Walter Marshall Horton, S.T.M., Ph.D. The New Church Press, New York, 1946. In address delivered at the Church of the Neighbor. Brooklyn Heights, New York.)

     A REVIEW BY THE REV. GILBERT H. SMITH

     It seems a strange thing that this booklet should not have received more notice in New Church journals because of its specious argument.
     The opinion here expressed is altogether my own; but I can see no other good reason for offering it to you who read the NEW CHURCH LIFE than to induce you to accept it as your opinion. For the thesis put forth by Dr. Horton is by no means a trivial matter. In my opinion, for any considerable part of the New Church membership to accept his thesis as representing the teaching of Emanuel Swedenborg would be a tragedy and a triumph of the dragon.
     Dr. Horton is introduced as Prof. of Theology at Oberlin Graduate School of Theology, and the pamphlet we are reviewing is copyrighted by the New Church Board of Publication. The astonishing proposition he puts forth, seconded by William Wunsch, former professor at the New Church Theological School at Cambridge, Mass., is based almost exclusively upon a brief quotation from our doctrine, as follows: "I have heard that churches which are in different goods and truths, provided their goods relate to love to the Lord, and their truths to faith in Him, are like so many gems in a king's crown" (TCR no. 763).
     This is a tiny capsule of doctrine to offer as the remedy for all the ills of Christendom. It is also highly potentized by Dr. Horton to cure the New Church itself, as organized, of its narrow sectarianism, and so to enable it to take its place in the great ecumenical movement of Christian churches. As Prof. Wunsch expresses it, the New Church will then, by collaboration with other churches, be able to help serve the spiritual needs of the "One World."
     The quotation cited is repeated in the Apocalypse Revealed and elsewhere in the Writings.

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It presents an attractive, all-redemptive picture-all the churches of the Lord, or all variations of the true church throughout the world, shining as so many gems in a king's crown.
     But note that there is an important proviso, or certain conditions to be fulfilled, before these churches can so appear: "their goods must all relate to the love of the Lord, and their truths must have relation to faith in Him." Then they would appear as so many gems in the crown.
     Dr. Horton makes the unwarranted assumption that the churches throughout the Christian world today, at least the Protestant connection, do fulfil these conditions; that they are all members of the Lord's kingdom, each contributing its peculiar gifts of genuine good of love to the Lord and genuine truth of faith in Him. But the real truth is, as Swedenborg steadfastly asserts, that genuine love of the Lord as the sole Divinity, and the genuine truths of faith in Him from His Word, no longer exist in the Christian churches-except only with some individuals who remain inarticulate and submerged in the general flood of falsity which constitutes the consummation of the age.
     In the present Christian Church as a whole, as represented by its leaders and teachers, there is nothing of the true love of the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; and nothing of true faith in Him. This is what Swedenborg said in 1770, when the disciples mere sent out in the spiritual world to proclaim the doctrine of the New Jerusalem. How then could that quotation about the gems in a king's crown refer to modern Christian sects? Has anything happened in the natural world since 1770 to change the whole character of the so-called Christian religion, Christian in name only? Dr. Horton says, Yes: they have jettisoned their narrow dogmas and learned to cooperate.
     The pamphlet cheerfully ignores what Swedenborg has told of the Last Judgment, and in fact ignores the very existence of evil and falsity in the Christian world. It is presumed that the only condemning evil and error has been the unwillingness of churches to collaborate with one another in the simple belief in the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God. It is presumed that the acme of spiritual life consists in the fusing together of all Christian denominations into one great brotherhood, an inter-faith fellowship united in action, guided by "goods" and "truths" held in common.
     But our doctrine teaches that at the time of the Last Judgment even common and general goods and truths were entirely extinguished in the former Christian Church which was judged. The whole Word had been falsified and its goods adulterated. By combining a quantity of bad ingredients, therefore, into one pottage, the hope is to produce a most delectable dish.

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     The New Church, as Dr. Horton says he understands Swedenborg, "has room within it for many different ecclesiastical organizations (like the many gems in the king's crown)." But here for some reason the figure is changed: the New Church instead of being represented as only one shining gem among others in the crown, is now said to be the whole crown within which there is room for many different ecclesiastical organizations. "It is literally true," says he, "that in the eighteenth century the protestant churches were being judged and renewed . . . but thanks to the strength of the revitalizing forces which gathered during those critical years, it turned out to be a mere pause, after which Christianity advanced during the nineteenth century more rapidly than ever before" (pp. 8, 9).
     Swedenborg, however, says nothing about the old Christianity being "renewed" and "revitalized" after the great judgment, but rather that the dead forms of Christian ecclesiasticism would continue as before, and that over the dead body "the eagles would be gathered together," that is, the keen-sighted leaders of the vastated church trying to revive and salvage it.
     There is a footnote in the paper giving the views of the historian Latourette on the history of the Church-a writer whose views of it are about as near to Swedenborg's views as the north pole is to the south. Latourette calls the period 1815-1914 "the great century of Christian Advance," and points to the phenomenal growth of 'United Protestantism' as evidence. Witness also 1) the International Missionary Council; 2) the Life and Works Movement, uniting many denominations to solve the problems in the economic, political, and educational fields; 3) the Faith and Order Movement, designed to remove irritating doctrinal differences. And the formation of the World Council of Churches centered at Geneva is described as Swedenborg's idea of how the goods and truths of different churches should be related to one another.
     Through the planning of this World Council "inter-denominational religious centers" are being established in Europe, to one of which it is remarked with pride Mr. Rockefeller gave half a million dollars.
     "In our country," we read on p. 12, "we all know how greatly the Federal Council of Churches has helped direct and channel the religious life and thought of the Protestant churches, and to bring Protestantism into conference and cooperation at some points with Jews and Catholics. . . . [It] presented a unified body of Christian public opinion, and brought this public opinion to bear at crucial moments upon the President, the Congress, and the Department of State. . . . When the Federal [National] Council was honestly able to agree with the Synagogue Council and the National Catholic Welfare Council, as for example in the Dumbarton Oaks proposals, the combined influence of these bodies upon national policy was overwhelmingly powerful, whereas the voice of a single denomination speaking on such a theme would have been a voice crying in the wilderness."

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     "I am convinced," says Dr. Horton, "that if Emanuel Swedenborg returned to earth today he would see in the movement for a United Christianity, or the 'ecumenical movement,' as it is commonly called, the New Church of which he dreamed, and he would urge the Church which bears his name to help in the movement" (p. 12). "And he would say (p. 13), Why do you call me your founder when you do not correspond to my vision? This is not the Church I saw in my dreams. I saw a crown glistening with many gems, each reflecting the luster of the others." The crown seen by Dr. Horton, would be no such crown, but only a cheap handicraft of synthetic diamonds and paste pearls.
     "But God has now brought us all," continues the author "to a new day when the disposition of Protestantism has been deeply transformed and renewed. And when Protestants are actually united with some Catholics . . . in the ecumenical movement, into this new ecumenical Christianity you can enter without compromising your founder's teachings or your own convictions." Such is the general outline of what Dr. Horton regards as Swedenborg's "Vision of a United Christianity."
     In NEW CHURCH LIFE (October, 1953) appears an excellent editorial on "The Universal Church" and in relation to the ecumenical movement, from which I quote: "There seems to be a tendency, however, reflected in some recent articles, to identify the universal church with an alleged revived Christianity, to regard the ecumenical movement as evidence thereof, and to see the role of the New Church as that of a reform sect within the universal church. But it [the New Church] must also have clearly in mind its function as the heart and lungs within the body of the universal church. If we can imagine a heart and lungs rejecting their uses and attempting to enter into those of other parts of the body, we are picturing a body that is not long for this world."
     Here, as I see it, is the fallacy of that suggestion of the dragon, nothing less,-meaning faith alone without any semblance of repentance-that Swedenborg hoped to see exactly what we do see now taking place among the leaders of Christian thought, and in such socialistic organizations as the National Council of Churches: the fallacy lies in the belief that all is well with the world; that the Christian religion has moved ever upward and on; that there never was a Last Judgment, or that it did not amount to much; that there never was much for Christians to repent of except a narrow separatism; and that the highest good is the ability to influence public opinion and politics and do good on a global scale.

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     All these things are involved in the fallacious hope that the former Christian Church shall yet triumph and that the New Church should identify itself with it. But the truth is that there is not among men today, except with those who will be of the New Church, any good that has regard to the Lord and love to Him, nor any faith that acknowledges the Divine of the Lord in His Human.
     The churches in great variety which were seen by Swedenborg as lustrous gems in a king's crown, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be identified as the various denominations and sects of the modern Christian world.
ANNUAL REPORTS 1954

ANNUAL REPORTS              1954

     The first of the two reports printed below was received too late for inclusion in the published report of the Secretary of the Council of the Clergy, the second was inadvertently omitted from that report. Rev. Erik Sandstrom reports that he was chosen Pastor of the Stockholm Society, of which he had been Assistant Pastor, on December 6, 1953. During the year he also paid four pastoral visits to Jonkoping and one to Gothenburg. By special invitation he visited Copenhagen five times and Frederikshavn in North Denmark once. He was invited to give three public lectures on New Church subjects to non-New Church organizations. The attendance at the first two lectures was 40, and at the third 116.
     Rev. David R. Simons continued to serve as an Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society, Principal of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School, and a part time teacher in the Academy of the New Church. In Bryn Athyn he preached 7 times, and gave 19 children's services and 4 doctrinal classes. He visited Baltimore and Washington once each, and had charge of one teacher-training course in the Academy.
CORRECTION 1954

CORRECTION       Editor       1954

     In the April issue, page 176, in the list of new members of the General Church, please read Mr. Aubrey Thomas Allen instead of "Mrs."

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     Our readings this month in the Old Testament Word (Isaiah 32-49) conclude the first portion of this prophetical book, cover the second section (chapters 36-39) entirely, and introduce us to the third part (chapters 40-66). The first five chapters continue the theme of impending desolation, but announce judgment on the oppressors and foretell the restoration of the spiritual Israel in promises of striking beauty. In the second part is described the Assyrian invasion of Judah and Sennacherib's vain attempt to capture Jerusalem from within by undermining the morale and faith of its beleagured inhabitants; the deliverance of the city; and Hezekiah's sickness, recovery, and old age. The miraculous going back of the shadow on the sundial of Ahaz, in whose reign the promise of the Virgin Birth had been given, signified the postponement of the Lord's advent and the arrestment of the judgment.     
     The third portion of the book is set apart by an entire change of subject-matter In it the prophet writes as if the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity had already occurred; and as ii the exiles, longing for deliverance, could be assured that Judah had paid in full the penalty of her sins. The chapters included in our readings foretell the destruction of Babylon and Chaldea and the restoration of Jerusalem by Cyrus the Persian, describe certain aspects of the promised Messiah's life and power, and touch upon His work of redemption.
     Because of its entirely new viewpoint and different tone, biblical scholars have postulated a "second Isaiah" and have ascribed to that "prophet of the exile" this portion of the book. The Writings are silent on this question; but the internal evidence, and the laws of inspiration revealed in the Writings, seem to leave no doubt that these chapters were written at a later date and by another hand. If this conclusion is rejected we must account for the fact that Cyrus was predicted by name, name that could not have been known by the prophet, some 175 years before his invasion of Babylon; and that some of the doctrinal content is directed against religious concepts with which the Jews did not become familiar until they were exposed to Persian thought-which runs counter to what we know about the mode of Divine inspiration (see WE 6884, note 1; cf. AE 401:18). It cannot be too strongly stated, however, that the "'deutero-Isaiah" theory does not affect the Divine inspiration and authority of these chapters, the internal sense of which is expounded in the same way as that of the earlier chapters.

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CITY AND THE BRIDE 1954

CITY AND THE BRIDE       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary               Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.

     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     In the spiritual visions granted to him, the Seer of Patmos was given to behold the future New Church under two aspects-first as a holy city descending from God out of heaven, and then as a virgin bride prepared for her husband. The idea was one, though presented in twofold form. The first vision, exterior and representative, portrayed the New Church as to the Heavenly Doctrine-that holy city of truth within whose protecting walls it works and worships and plays; the second, interior and spiritual, was expressive of that in which its very life consists.
     It is of doctrine that the church is a bride when it wills to receive the Lord, and a wife when it receives Him and is conjoined with Him through the Word. The very life of the New Church is the love of the Lord's wisdom revealed in the Heavenly Doctrine and the directing of the wisdom received to spiritual uses; and it is in the will and act of learning, understanding, and applying the spiritual truth of the Writings that the New Church becomes, more and more, the bride and wife of the Lord.
     This truth may well be pondered again as we prepare to celebrate another birth anniversary of the New Church, for to love it truly is to love both its doctrines and its life. We must indeed enter in through the gates into the city, but to the end that within its walls we may be prepared for an eternal conjunction with the Lord; for this crowning church is not only the holy city. It is the city and the bride.

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NEW TESTAMENT TRANSLATION 1954

NEW TESTAMENT TRANSLATION       E. C. MONGREDIEN       1954

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     Referring to the review, in your February issue, of the translation of 14 chapters of the Gospels which my Committee gave me permission to publish, although it is subject to later revision, I think it will be in the general interest if, as Secretary, I reply to it at once and somewhat fully. It will give readers an idea of the general principles that have guided the Committee. My best course is to take the points raised by R (this stands for the "the reviewer") one by one; any reader of this letter should have the review before him for reference [NEW CHURCH LIFE, February, 1954, pp. 81-83].
     "Strong rhythmic language. This is a matter of feeling and early association, and we probably all feel alike. I could say a good deal both for and against. The Gospels themselves were not written in literary Greek. The Committee's aim has been good, simple, modern English. E.g., "Begin not to say" may be strong and rhythmic. Modern English is "Do not begin saying." I have occasionally used the new translation in a service, and have found it quite satisfactory for good delivery, if one adopts an appropriately simple spirit.
     All the points, except one from Mark, are from Matthew. 1:24: "bidden" is now archaic, and the verb "bid" is used almost entirely for business purposes. Of the 14 fresh translations of the Gospels published since the Revised Version-we have them all but one for reference-one keeps "bidden"; one has "directed"; two, "told"; eight, "commanded." "Fear not to take," however, is hardly a command. I omit including one of the translations as being too free.
     2:2. Our idea was to distinguish between the "worship" that could properly be expected from members of the then church, and the homage that non-members would pay to a king. The title that the wise men knew was "King of the Jews."
     2:8. "When you have found" requires a noun-subject in English. AV was obliged to insert a "him" in italics. But there is no "him" in the Greek, nor does the context need it. All that Herod said was "make inquiry concerning the child," nothing more. When they had made inquiry and found out what they could, they were to let him know. We found ourselves constantly up against such small deviations from what the Word actually says eleven of the other translations erroneously have the "him." One (Fenton) reads: "discovered all," correctly omitting "him." Moreover the wise men did not "find" Him. They were led to Him by the star. AV is incorrect.
     3:1. No one today would say or write: "After the service was over came the minister out into the vestry."

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It is an archaic phrasing. In addition, the word for "come" in Greek (erchomai), used 411 times in the Gospels, is not the word used here. It is paraginomai, used only 14 times in the Gospels. Why did he use it in place of erchomai, except to give a different meaning! AV is incorrect. The other translators have "appeared," "arrived preaching," "began to proclaim," "came on the scene" (quite dramatic!), "began his mission." Clowes has "presented himself."
     3:8. Both "suitable" and "fit" would require "for"; that is quite the wrong preposition as it could carry the idea of a preliminary to repentance, not its effect. We tried to avoid ambiguities as far as possible. My own suggestion, outvoted, was "proper to."
     4:3. "Tell" may seem weaker than "command," but to argue that way is backhanded. We have to translate what the Greek says. There are six words for "command" used regularly in the Gospels, but not here. The word here is one of the two words so frequently used for "say," "tell," "speak." It occurs some 600 times. It is just a colloquial form, like our English "tell him to come here." The others have: "order" (3); "command" (4); "bid" (2); "tell" (3).
     7:28. There are several Greek words expressing varying degrees of astonishment, difficult to assort. We are watching the various instances as we come to them, to make final choices. Lexicon has for the word used here "to drive put of one's senses by a sudden shock, amaze, astound." It may mean that the crowd were "shocked" or "aghast" at the things said against the scribes and Pharisees, or with concern at their own lives. The words "as one having authority" rather suggest an internal sense to the effect that those in simple good were ready to accept the truth. They were "struck" in the right way. The others have: "filled with amazement at"; "astounded at"; "wondered at"; "stunned at"; "astonished at the power of"; "dumbfounded at"; "found themselves amazed at."
     Mark 2:28. What is gained in accuracy. The idea of malting is not in the Greek. The word used stands for the frequent expression "it came to pass." The root idea is, "Come into a new state of being, to become;" When John said, "I was in the spirit," it is this verb that he used; he had "come into" that state. Why it is so expressed may not be clear. That the internal sense demands it we may be sure. Others have: "made for the sake of man"; "created for the sake of man"; "came into being for mankind"; "made to serve man."
     Now for the supposed inaccuracies. 1:19. A person is only in "disgrace" when the fault is known. In the early days of pregnancy, she would not be in disgrace as yet, and Joseph did not wish her to become so.

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R makes the astonishing mistake of supposing Joseph was "inclined to make her a public example," just the opposite of what the Word says.* "To disgrace" is much the same as "to expose," and is not incorrect. Others have: "to proclaim her guilt"; "to expose to shame"; "to put her to shame" (2); "to disgrace her" (3); "to degrade her"; "to expose her to publicity"; "to see her disgraced"; "to make her a public example."
     * R did not really make this mistake. The word "not" was inadvertently omitted so that "not inclined" became "inclined."
     5:16. The "so" (autos) is the first word in the sentence and refers back to the candle giving light to all in the house; it equals "like the candle, let your light," etc. The following "that they may see" (so that they may see) takes care of R's point.
     5:25. A very interesting clause. To begin with, the picture that AV's wording presents is all wrong. Two adversaries don't as a rule go along to the court together. If you ought to agree with your adversary, why not do so before you start going to the courts? Moreover, the words "lest at any time" suggests that they were not then going to the courts at all. It is indeed an error on the part of the Revised Standard Version (the new American authorized version, 1953) to bring in the word "court." Something is wrong with the picture because the translation is incorrect. First, the Greek does not say "agree with." It says "be being well disposed (a present participle) to your opponent." Then our rendering differs from all the others in continuing "until (not "while") you are with him in the way" (or "in the way with him"). The Greek conjunction here ('eos,'otou, or its contracted form 'eos,'ou) occurs in 15 other places in the Gospels and is translated in 13 of them by "till" or "until"-"till she had brought forth" (Matthew 1:25); "till; the whole was leavened" (Matthew 13:33); "until the Son of Man be risen" (Matthew 17:9); "till it be accomplished" (Luke 12:50); "until ye be endued" (Luke 24:49); "until they called the parents" (John 9:18); and so on. In 2 only is it rendered "while." This precept follows upon reconciliation with "brother" (charity). Here it is reconciliation with "opponent" (truth). Faithful obedience to the truth (being well disposed to the opponent until there is conjunction with it (until you are with him) in life (in the way). If you do not do this, then the time will come that judgment will overtake you. This is good spiritual sense. There is nothing unnatural in the literal sense, and it exactly agrees with the Greek, within which the internal sense resides. All others have fallen into AV's erroneous reading.
     5:29. Should read "pluck it out." A typist's error.
     7:16. The Greek verb ginosko (to know) is used 110 times in the three synoptic Gospels, and is mostly rendered by "know," once or twice by "aware of," a few times by "perceive," and a few by "understand."

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But the Greek word here is epiginosko, a less used word occurring only 14 times in the Gospels. It is another case of a difference in the Greek-and the Greek is the Word, the AV is not-requiring a difference in the rendering. A. T. Robinson's Greek New Testament Grammar points out that the epi- gives a perfective sense to the verb, like "up" in our expression "burnt up." There is quite a good lexicon rendering-"recognize." R actually shows that our rendering is correct, for he says, "we recognize people whom we do not know." Quite so, a good point, and though we do not know them, we recognize them by something in their appearance, in their manner, etc. And that is just what the text says. You do not know them, and they are in disguise, but "you will recognize them by their fruits." Thank you, R. The proper rendering was missed by AV and by six others. One (Phillips) has "you can tell them" (quite a happy choice). Recognize (4).
     5:32. Having found fault with our deviating from AV, R now finds fault with our agreeing with it. This particular question is very tricky because the Greek words were variously used. He says the Greek word for fornication (porneia) "here specifically means adultery." Where does he get this from? Moulton and Milligan's vocabulary has under porneia, "rare in classical Greek; originally meant 'prostitution,' 'fornication,' but came to be applied to unlawful sexual intercourse generally." Paul uses it in this broader sense, and he was on the scene. The same word is employed in the same connection in Matthew 19:9. The latest translation of Conjugial Love renders the word in both places by "whoredom," see CL nos. 255 and 468. Swedenborg uses Latin scortatio. The Revised Standard Version's "unchastity" is quite inadequate and might mean anything. The second point is minor, viz., my English dictionary (1938) gives fornication as meaning "sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons, or between an unmarried and a married person." More examination is required to sort out the confusion.
     Personal pronouns. Any irregularities will be smoothed out, but we have been retaining the second person forms for prayer to the Lord and also for precepts addressed to the individual, as "Thou shalt not steal."
     Leathern girdle. "Waist" would hardly do. We have to think of the correspondences of the human body. The loins and the members adhering thereto correspond to genuine conjugial love (AC 5050), whereas the stomach, duodenum, etc., which are within the waist (level with the navel, I should say) have quite a different meaning. Many early representations of gods and men show the girdle well below the navel or waist. "Loins" is more accurate and needed by the internal sense.
     All the points raised by R, as well as a few others that I have received, will be gone over by the Committee in due course.

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One of the objects in making these 14 chapters public was to be able to receive and examine such queries. We claim no superior knowledge, but we work exactingly to keep within the Greek and procure good grounds for what we do. Nevertheless we are ready to examine any suggestion and, if its grounds are in accordance with the principles that guide us, will accept it gladly.
     Here are the names of the translations that I have been quoting, all published since the Revised Version of 1881. As will have been seen from the above, they vary much, having no idea that the internal sense is contained within the correspondent vessel, so that the letter as it is in the Greek must not be altered.
     Ferrar Fenton (approximately 1885); Dr. R. F. Weymouth (1902); James Moffatt (1913); Dr. C. C. Torrey (1933); G. M. Lamsa (1933); Rev. E. E. Cunnington (1935); the Very Rev. F. Spencer (1937); Charles B. Williams (1937?); Mgr. Knox (1945); J. B. Phillips (1952); E. V. Rien (1952); American Revised Standard Edition (1953).
     The one I did not quote is Edward Vernon (1951). And there is another, Goodchild, owned by a member of the Committee. All carry on, more or less, the opinion of Fenton that "unless the Sacred Scriptures are translated afresh into current spoken English, a belief in the Christian Religion as a Faith will perish, for by the unavoidable ignorance of the old translators, and the obsolete dialect of the AV and subsequently of the RV, its documentary basis has become unintelligible to us."
     E. C. MONGREDIEN
NEW SOCIETY 1954

NEW SOCIETY              1954

     On April 24, 1954, the Detroit Circle was formally recognized by Bishop De Charms as the Detroit (Michigan) Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem under the pastoral care of the Rev. Norbert H. Rogers. This announcement is of unusual interest for the General Church as well as for our friends in Detroit, for not since Michael Church in London, England, was received in 1921 has a new name been added to the list of societies. The occasion is therefore one for mutual congratulation as well as for the extension of warm good wishes to the Detroit Society, which we gladly express in the name of the General Church.

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Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     OBITUARY

     Miss Helene Iungerich

     Miss Helene Iungerich, who passed into the spiritual world on March 12, 1954, in her 77th year, came of a family which for three generations had given members to the New Church. Born in Philadelphia, she was educated at the Irwin School and at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. In the early 1900's she and her family moved to Bryn Athyn and became members of the General Church. Her keen mind was always seeking truths, and she attended classes under Bishop W. F. Pendleton and others given by Miss Lillian G. Beekman. Her appreciation of those lessons was life-long. In her late twenties she had become aware of the meaning and importance of the doctrines, and this awareness turned into a faith that was wholehearted and unwavering.
     During her early years in Bryn Athyn, Miss Iungerich was intensely interested in the pageant form of biblical representation. A pageant from the Old Testament produced on the hillside which is now part of Cairncrest was largely directed by her. No doubt many still remember the Christmas pageant which was planned to take place outside the as yet unfinished cathedral. In the light of a Christmas star, high over the spot where the Word was placed, shepherds and sheep were grouped on the hillside. The tableau of the infant Lord and Mary, surrounded by living animals, was placed in one of the carpenter shops, and after a service of prayer and reading the congregation was to file past. All did not go according to plan. But there was unforgettable beauty in the sphere of the tableau in the dusky mist; the star over the Word has been, ever since, a part of the Bryn Athyn Christmas-and Miss Iungerich smiled many times over the struggle of that night.
     At the Academy of Fine Arts Miss Iungerich came to know well the late Thomas Anshutz. Later she spent many years studying in Europe. She attended the Academy Julienne in Paris and studied in Spain, England, and Mexico. In the course of her life she met and worked with a number of the leading artists of our day.
     A woman of high intellect as well as great talent, she was most impatient with the dull and standardized art forms popular in her youth-an era now recognized as one of the poor periods in the history of art. She was convinced that art forms must "grow from an inner concept of the mind, based on an analytical study of the laws of harmony"; and she was distressed that children were trained away from painting what they saw to painting what they were told to see; a problem she spent many hours reading and writing about and discussing.
     As her interest in the teachings of the Writings deepened, she began her life-long endeavor to work out applications of spiritual truth in art forms. Only lately she was planning work centered in the doctrine of correspondences, which fascinated her. Shortly before her death she mentioned her eagerness to reach the spiritual world, where her questions might be fully answered.
     Chief among the influences in the world of art that affected her were those of the impressionist school. She was inspired by the spontaneity, vitality, and sincerity of those painters; and influenced especially by Kandinsky's theories of colors and motion, and by the work of Matisse, Picasso, and others, she evolved her own style of expression.
     This style, motile and glowing, has been recognized and applauded by some of the foremost artists of our time. Always by invitation, a fact of which she was justly proud, Miss Iungerich exhibited her work in galleries throughout this country; always in one-man shows, since she would not enter any other kind. For many years she was a director of the New York Society of Independent Artists. But even more important in the development of her vital style than the recognition of her contemporaries was the essential search for ultimate artistic portrayal of spiritual realities.

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Few people achieve a life so wholly dedicated to their convictions.
     Miss Helene Iungerich was a sister of the late Rev. Dr. Eldred E. Iungerich. She is survived by a sister, Mrs. Wilfred Howard, of Bryn Athyn.
     ZOE IUNGERICH

     GENERAL CHURCH

     Authorized Candidates in the Theological School of the Academy will assist and gain experience of pastoral work in the following centers during the summer: Mr. Robert S. Junge in Kitchener and Toronto; Mr. Frederick L. Schnarr in Pittsburgh and Detroit; and Mr. Jan H. Weiss in Glenview and Chicago. In each instance the Candidates will be in the first place named from June 27-July 25, inclusive, and in the second from August 1-29, inclusive.

     LONDON, ENGLAND

     Services.-This period included a series of sermons by the Rev. Morley D. Rich from the book of Numbers on natural good as opposed to the genuine good of the natural. In this series it was shown that Korah's rebellion represents the state of those who act from strong natural affection, and who appear to have support from the primary doctrines of the church, yet lack true affirmation and humility. They are really opposed to the order of spiritual government, thus to Divinely ordained distinctions of degrees of love to the neighbor, and neither understand the permissions of Providence nor the nature of mediation; and though their rebellion seems to be prompted by considerations of justice it is really inspired by self-love.

     Doctrinal Classes.-Led by the Pastor, the Society has begun a new series of classes covering the doctrine of use. From the general definition that use is the doing of good from love by means of wisdom we were led to the specific teaching that use is spiritual influence. A distinction was made between external actions as uses by courtesy and the spiritual use itself. There was lively discussion of the possibility of deriving delight from functions which impose monotonous and unpleasant conditions, but all agreed that hard work discouraged morbid attention to every little state of mind and symptom of body. It was shown also how the Divine Providence uses men's hopes and efforts in hidden ways for the accomplishment of ends which may be quite different from those contemplated by the men themselves.
     The class for young married people on the subject of conjugial love continues to call forth wonderment at its illustrations of parental influences in relation to the doctrine of remains. The latest class, on "Remains of the Conjugial," traced the growth of the child through various forms of environment and spiritual associations up to the state of the conjugial itself. It was shown that this involves also a true understanding of the marriage of the Lord with the church. The young people's class is at present engaged in a study of the nature of the Word.

     Women's Guild.-Our ladies seem to be increasingly occupied with various matters in connection with the renovation of church furnishings, though doctrinal engagements remain constant. The Rev. Frank S. Rose gave an address on "Externals and Order;" and at another meeting three ten-minute papers were given by Mrs. R. Bruell, Mrs. P. Dawson, and Miss E. Elphick on the subjects of "Conversation," "Excitation," and "Reflection." There was also a paper by Mr. P. Dawson on "How Doctrine Works."

     Miscellaneous.-Swedenborg's birthday was celebrated by a society lunch, followed by a paper by the Rev. Frank Rose on "Swedenborg as an Englishman." On this occasion your reporter was absent and so cannot comment on the American view of becoming anglicized!
     By the time this report appears print the Rev. and Mrs. Morley D. Rich will be visitors in Bryn Athyn, and we shall already be looking forward to our reunion with them as well as to our part in the uses which their trip will stimulate. In the meantime we wish them a restful change from increasing work here, though we hope they will do some work on behalf of the 1956 General Assembly in England.
     Col. and Mrs. W. G. Lowe of Durban, South Africa, have returned home after a holiday which served also to refresh this Society.
     COLIN M. GREENHALGH

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     CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

     Lack of news has not meant lack of activity in Sharon Church, though some things may be left out in trying to make up for lost time. The Wednesday suppers and classes on the North Side, and classes on the South Side, have been well attended. As before they are held every other week and have been interesting and varied in subject-matter. Two classes on dreams were enlightening and stimulated discussion, and there was a class on New Church education which brought out some outstanding points in connection with the value of education in the church. Mr. King handed out copies of an examination he had given while teaching in Bryn Athyn. Fortunately he did not require answers, but himself went quickly over the correct answers and then mentioned the answers he had received from his pupils. On February 17th, Mr. and Mrs. King prepared the Wednesday supper, after which he gave a report on the Ministers' Meetings in Bryn Athyn. A series of talks on conjugial love, which is still being continued, began the same evening. With each talk Mr. King gives first a brief view of the beliefs of other churches as found in their publications.

     At our annual meeting in January Mr. King presided as pastor for the first time. The reports all showed a very encouraging state of affairs. It was announced that two members had offered to donate $2,000 toward enlargement and remodeling of our church building if the rest of the Society would match that amount. It was unanimously agreed to try to do this.

     Most of our social activities have had also the aim of raising money. Mrs. Schroder was the charming and bountiful hostess at two canasta parties; bake sales helped to increase our profits; and the proceeds of a bazaar, ably directed by the Misses Elma and Bobbie Cronwall, were over $700, which was beyond our fondest hopes.
     Early last December the Sons gave their annual banquet, to which the ladies are invited. Just sitting down to a delicious meal which they have not had to prepare is always a special treat for the ladies, and in addition we had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Kenneth Holmes give an impartial survey of the United States foreign policies from the beginning to the present time.
     We started the new year well by attending an "open house" held by the Kings. Then, on February 10th, we had a special dinner and reception for the Rev. and Mrs. Harold C. Cranch. It was the first time we had been able to greet them both since they left and a very happy occasion. Mr. Cranch gave an interesting account of his activities in the west.
     The last social event to date was an art exhibition dinner, originated and arranged by Mrs. E. Betz. The smorgasbord was prepared mainly by the Kings. Everyone was asked to bring one or more pieces of art, and there was an interesting variety of pictures, glassware, vases, etc. After all the entries had been looked at and enjoyed, Mr. Rudolph Barnitz auctioned off some paintings that had been donated. In the kitchen upstairs an expert with black mustache and red beret served liquid refreshments. All felt that the evening was a success in every may.

     Mr. Rudolph Barnitz has remodeled our chancel. All agree that there is a big improvement and the work done is much appreciated. The paintings that Mr. Cranch made some years ago for a Christmas service are now placed on either side of the altar, and lovely blue drapes in the background give a symmetry to the chancel that it never had before.
     VOLITA WELLS

     TORONTO, CANADA

     On January 20th after the closing of doctrinal class, the Toronto Society sprang a surprise shower on their Pastor, the Rev. Martin Pryke, to welcome him formally into their midst. It was quite evidently a real surprise and a most happy one, as he received many useful and practical gifts for his new home. It also proved to be a particularly merry occasion.
     The children of the day school held their banquet in honor of Swedenborg's birthday at the church hall on Friday, January 29th. After supper they read papers which they had prepared concerning different phases of Swedenborg's life. The adults' celebration was held on the Wednesday, preceding. We were all disappointed that Mrs. Cyriel Sigstedt was unable to be with us due to illness. However, we did hear via the medium of radio, a conversation between Emanuel Swedenborg and a questioner.

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The answers to the questions were all verbatim quotations from the Writings of Swedenborg, but the unit was the work of the Rev. Cairns Henderson. It was ably performed by the Rev. Martin Pryke and Miss Edina Carswell.
     This year the winter Executive Committee meeting of the International Sons of the Academy was held in Toronto. It was indeed a pleasure to be the host Society and welcome so many visitors from other Societies. On the Sunday morning following these meetings we were privileged to hear the Rev. David R. Simons preach to us on the descending of the New Church "as a bride adorned for her Husband." An outstanding moment in the service was the singing of the 48th Psalm with so many good male voices added to our usual quota.
     As the Sons Meetings were held over the Valentine weekend, the February social was put off till the end of the month and took the form of a Square Dance. As always, this form of dancing was enjoyed, and the evening proved to be a very happy one. On Saturday, March 20th, the Ladies Circle held a Home-cooking and Games Night at the church hall. After the sale of cakes, cookies and candy, Court Whist was played. The evening was a great success both financially and socially.
     Following the supper on March 24th, the Semi-Annual Meeting of the Society was held in place of the doctrinal class. Our Pastor in giving his first report to this Society paid tribute to the Rev. A. Wynne Acton, and went on to express his own appreciation of the more than cordial welcome extended to him. Next came reports from our day school teacher, Miss Joan Kuhl, and from the various other organizations of the Society. The last report given was by the Property Committee who tendered their resignation, and members were elected for a new committee.
     On Tuesday, March 30th, Mrs. Jean Bradfield, Mrs. Bunny Bevan and Mrs. Grace White entertained at a shower for Miss Betty Alderson who was soon to be Mrs. Bob Anderson. It was a splendid shower and she received many lovely gifts.
     The ladies were privileged to have the Rev. David Simons address them at their April meeting. In his paper on New Church education he impressed on us the fact that all that is true of Baptism is true also of New Church education. Neither can confer faith or salvation, as each man is in freedom to choose or reject regeneration. At the Wednesday class he demonstrated New Church education in action. He showed how it is one thing to have truths but another thing to bring them down to practical life. With his bag of tricks Mr. Simons gave us practical examples of the truths of doctrine brought down to simple demonstrations.
     Part of the commemoration of Palm Sunday was the bringing of floral offerings to the Lord by the children. The Rev. Martin Pryke gave a talk to the children wherein he told them the story of the ride to Jerusalem and asked them to open their hearts that the Lord might reign King over all. Again in his sermon our Pastor dwelt further on the same theme, reminding us that it is our choice whether we open our hearts to receive the Lord as a King. But that we may so accept Him to reign within us is His everlasting desire, and He constantly seeks to effect it and to aid us so that in this world we may prepare for life everlasting.
     Good Friday is one of the few times in the year when we have an evening service. On this occasion our Pastor conducted a service of five lessons. On Easter Sunday the Sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered. The theme chosen for the sermon was "Why seek ye the living among the dead."
     KATHERINE BARBER

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     It is always a special treat for the Pittsburgh Society when a New Church minister comes to visit. Late in December, the Rev. Karl R. Alden came here to baptize a grandchild, and while he was with us preached one of his fine extemporaneous sermons. The Rev. A. Wynne Acton came to help us celebrate Swedenborg's birthday; and more recently, over the weekend of the Sons Executive meeting, we actually had three visiting ministers.

     The Swedenborg's birthday banquet for the children takes top honors this year. It is given by Theta Alpha and the members of the chapter go all out to make it a really beautiful affair; sending invitations, making place cards, decorating, and serving a fine dinner. The Rev. and Mrs. Wynne Acton were the honored guests this year.

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The entertainment and speeches are all prepared by the children in the day school. The youngest children acted out in pantomime stories from Swedenborg's life; another group had a panel of experts who gave answers about Swedenborg; and the children in the upper grades each gave a short paper. The main talks, however, were given by the Pastor and the Rev. Wynne Acton. One boy acted as toastmaster. The whole affair is a very happy one for the children and it well prepares them for future responsibilities in the church.
     The adult celebration took the form of a smorgasbord and was held the following night. John Frazier, our toastmaster, had a lively program of speeches and songs. Lee Smith was asked to tell about the celebration of Swedenborg's birthday by the Convention church on the North Side, which he had attended the previous evening; Mr. Acton gave a fine speech on Swedenborg's historical background; and the Pastor finished the evening on a high plane. We were certainly made to feel the heritage that Swedenborg has left us.

     One Friday night in March our social committee put on an affair which they called "Talent Night." The auditorium was gaily decorated, and we all sat around little tables watching skits on the stage and special dances and songs, all introduced by a master of ceremonies. Some of the numbers were done so well they almost seemed professional. Refreshments were served and we sang together like a happy family having a good time together. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Blair, who were in charge, were impressed by the way in which everyone cooperated.
     During the weekend of April 10th this Society played host to the visiting Executive Committee of the Sons of the Academy, and we were surely happy to welcome them. We had guests from Bryn Athyn, Cleveland, Detroit, Glenview, Kitchener, and Toronto-35 in all, including their wives. It was a big weekend and it started with Friday supper followed by a fine doctrinal class. The auditorium was filled. We were honored to have the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson give the class, on the Lord's glorification and resurrection. Visiting Sons kept arriving all evening, and some the next morning.
     Saturday was, of course, the big day. The Sons had their special meetings, luncheon, and discussions; and the women, too, had a luncheon and an evening party.

     On Palm Sunday we had a special service, with many guests adding to the sphere and to the singing. A new choir sang special numbers. Our grade school children carried palms and marched in singing. The Rev. Wynne Acton conducted the service, in the enforced absence of the Pastor through sickness, his subject being, "The Lord hath need of it." He spoke of how we need the Lord and the Lord needs us. In the evening there was an adult service at which the Rev. Raymond G. Cranch preached.
     A Holy Supper service was held on Good Friday evening, and in spite of a torrential downpour of rain there were 70 communicants. Easter morning dawned bright and clear, and at church that day we believe we had the largest Easter service ever held here, with 176 people present including the children. All the children, down to the smallest one able to hold a flower, carried a flower or a plant and marched in singing. The choir again sang. The Pastor gave us an inspiring talk which made us feel the real joy of Easter.
     One of our boys, Walter Williamson, a jet flyer in the army, has just received a Distinguished Flying Cross for work well done during the war in Korea. Congratulations, Walter!
     We are happy to report two baptisms, an infant baptism in January and an adult baptism in March. The latter was that of Mr. Frank William Edmundson, and are welcome him to the Church.
     LUCILE S. BLAIR

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GENERAL CHURCH CORPORATIONS 1954

GENERAL CHURCH CORPORATIONS       HUBERT HYATT       1954




     Announcements.
     The 1954 Annual Corporation Meetings of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in the Benade Hall Auditorium, Bryn Athyn, Penna., on Thursday, June 17, 1954, at 3:00 p.m., D.S.T. Notices have been mailed.
     HUBERT HYATT,
          Secretary.
BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1954

BRITISH ASSEMBLY       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954

     The Forty-first British Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in Colchester, England, from July 31 to August 21 1954, the Rev. Alan Gill presiding.
     All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. Those wishing either hotel or home accommodation should apply to Mrs. John F. Cooper, 33 Lexden Road, Colchester, Essex.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS,
          Bishop.
WESTERN STATES ASSEMBLY 1954

WESTERN STATES ASSEMBLY       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954

     An Assembly of members of the General Church in the Western United States will be held from Friday, July 30 to Sunday. August 1, 1954, at the Glendale New Church, 346 Riverdale Drive, Glendale 41 California, the Bishop of the General Church presiding.
     All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. Those wishing to make arrangements for accommodation should communicate with the Chairman of Arrangements, Mr. Stuart Synnestvedt, 1702 Don Carlos, Glendale, California.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS.
     Bishop.
ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 1954

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH       E. BRUCE GLENN       1954

     The Annual Joint Meeting of the Corporation and Faculty of the Academy of the New Church will be held in the Benade Hall Auditorium on Saturday, June 5, 1954, at 8:00 p.m.
     After reports by officers of the Academy Schools, and discussion thereof. Mr. Charles S. Cole will deliver an address. Subject: "An Introduction to Philosophy in the College."
     The public is cordially invited to attend.
          E. BRUCE GLENN,
               Secretary.
TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1954

TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY              1954

     BRYN ATHYN, PA., JUNE 16-20, 1954

Wednesday, June 16
     10:00 a.m. First Session of the Assembly Episcopal Address
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     1:30 p.m. Young People's Luncheon
     8:00 p.m. Second Session of the Assembly Address: Rev. Karl R. Alden

Thursday, June 17
     10:00 a.m. Third Session of the Assembly Address: Rev. Ormond Odhner
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     1:30 p.m. Luncheon under the Auspices of the Women's Guild
     3:00 p.m. Meetings of the Corporations of the General Church
     8:00 p.m. Fourth Session of the Assembly Symposium: The Uses of the General Church

Friday, June 18
     10:00 a.m. Fifth Session of the Assembly Address: Rev. W. Cairns Henderson
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     1:30 p.m. Sons of the Academy Luncheon and Meeting
     2:30 p.m. Theta Alpha Service and Meeting
     8:00 p.m. Sixth Session of the Assembly Address: Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton

Saturday, June 19
     11:00 a.m. Nineteenth of June Service. Ordinations Sermon: Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon
     3:00 p.m. Administration of the Holy Supper
     4:00 p.m. Administration of the Holy Supper
     7:00 p.m. Assembly Banquet Toastmaster: Mr. Geoffrey S. Childs

Sunday, June 20
     11:00 a.m. Divine Worship Sermon: Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen
Commencement Exercises of the Academy of the New Church 1954

Commencement Exercises of the Academy of the New Church              1954

     The Commencement Exercises of the Academy of the New Church will be held on Tuesday, June 15, at 3:00 p.m.
Nineteenth of June 1954

Nineteenth of June              1954

     A Nineteenth of June service and celebration for the children of the Bryn Athyn Society will be held on Sunday, June 20, at 4:30 p.m.

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GENERAL CHURCH, ITS USES AND ITS NEEDS 1954

GENERAL CHURCH, ITS USES AND ITS NEEDS        GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV          JULY, 1954               NO. 7
     (Delivered to the First Session of the Twentieth General Assembly, Bryn Athyn, Pa., June 16, 1954.)

     We would open this Twentieth General Assembly with grateful acknowledgment of the manifold blessings the Lord has poured out upon us in the past; and with a prayer in our hearts that His Providence may continue to protect our church. Our Assembly has a threefold purpose: to increase our faith, to strengthen the life of the church with each one of us, and to promote its growth wherever it may find receptive soil in the minds and hearts of men. It is true, indeed, that no one but the Lord Himself can do any of these things. But it is equally true that they cannot be done, even by the Lord, except so far as men desire them, consciously seek them, and persistently labor for their achievement. We gather, therefore, to ask Divine help, inspiration, and guidance in the performance of our part in this work.
     The faith that has brought us together in this Assembly is the profound conviction that by means of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, the Lord Jesus Christ has come again into the world, a living Savior, to raise up a new spiritual church, and by it to establish His kingdom over all the nations of the earth. In these Writings we see the glorified Divine Human of the Lord, whom alone we would acknowledge and worship as our King and our God. But for the most part it is just as true today as it was when the Lord came in the flesh that men do not recognize Him. When the Lord asked His disciples, saying: "Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" they replied: "Some say that Thou art John the Baptist: some Elias; and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

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Referring to this confession of his faith, the Lord said to Peter: "Upon this rock will I build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:13-18). So also, in our day, there are those who regard the Writings as an inspired commentary on the Bible. There are others who acknowledge them in part to be a Divine revelation, while denying that they are the Word. And there are still others who regard them as a letter of the Word from which regenerate men are to derive a new and higher revelation. But we believe that in them the Lord Himself speaks to men directly, that from His own Divine wisdom He may teach them and lead them in the way of everlasting life. In humility of spirit we would hearken to His words, striving continually for a deeper and a truer understanding of them. We would accept them as the Divine law that is to govern all things of our life, believing that only as we obey this law can the Lord Himself build His church within us. This faith, deep rooted in our hearts, is the living essence of our church.
     In potency, at least, this same faith has been present from the very beginning of the New Church. It could hardly have been otherwise because it is implicit in the Writings themselves. It is based on their own testimony as to their Divine origin, concerning which Swedenborg solemnly declares: "I have not been allowed to take anything from the mouth of any spirit, nor from the mouth of any angel, but from the mouth of the Lord alone" (Verbo 13). Because of this, the belief that the Writings are the Lord speaking directly to men was held by some of the earliest receivers of the Heavenly Doctrine; and in every succeeding generation there have been a few who have openly professed it. But the state of the church was so mixed, and divergent opinions as to the real status of the Writings were so strongly held, that no clear definition of that faith, and certainly no organized acceptance of it, were possible. However, we may now see in retrospect that for more than a hundred years an ecclesiastical body dedicated to the establishment and preservation of that faith was in process of formation in the womb of time. Through such leaders as Robert Hindmarsh, Samuel Noble, Richard de Charms, William Henry Benade, and others, the Divine Providence was laboring secretly to bring it to the birth. We may note, indeed, the gradual stages of its development: first, by the inauguration of a distinct priesthood in 1788, followed by the establishment of a new order of worship drawn from the Heavenly Doctrine; then, by a reform movement within the General Convention which led, in time, to the formation of the Academy as a separate church; and finally, by the organization of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, under the leadership of Bishop W. F. Pendleton, in the year 1891. This is the body to which we belong; and we give it our loving allegiance because it is at present the only instrumentality in the world designed to maintain and defend our belief in the plain teaching of the Writings as the "rock" on which alone the Lord can build His New Church.

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     After nearly half a century of slow but steady growth, the General Church is still in its early infancy. Its adult membership numbers less than three thousand; and of these, nearly half are scattered in individual families, small groups, and circles located in fifteen different countries of the world. Intercommunication is greatly hampered, not only by the distances that separate them, but even more by the fact that among them we find at least ten different national languages. Any organization of such widely diverse membership is, of course, subject to many divisive influences. National loyalties, cultural traditions, customs, and modes of thought-all place natural obstacles in the way of complete mutual understanding and co-operation. In addition to the weaknesses and dangers that beset every association of human beings, our church is called upon to wage a constant struggle against the well-nigh overwhelming forces of an utterly alien world; and during its brief history it has repeatedly been threatened by severe conflict within its own borders. Yet the Providence that has guarded and nurtured it through all its vicissitudes is truly marvelous in our eyes. Its trials and temptations have but served to deepen the faith of its members, and to bind them more closely to one another by ties of mutual love and charity. We profoundly believe that the remarkable spirit of unity which has characterized the General Church has been due entirely to our common faith in the Divine source, and the Divine authority, of the truth revealed by the Lord in the Heavenly Doctrine. That truth itself embraces all mankind. It transcends all external barriers, and provides a uniting medium of common knowledge, understanding, affection, and inspiration to all who receive it, wherever they may be throughout the world. This will ever be true where men look to that truth, not according to any human interpretation, but solely as the Lord Himself reveals it in the Writings.
     At this Assembly we would stress the great importance of the General Church as an organized body indispensable to the establishment of the Lord's kingdom throughout the world. In doing so we would by no means confuse the organization with the church itself. Regarded as to its living essence, the church is a spirit of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor; and these can exist only in individual human minds. The organized body of the church consists of individuals, each of whom is imbued with the desire to cultivate this spirit. But no one can cultivate the spirit of love to the Lord and charity except in co-operation with others. The only way in which we can truly serve the Lord is by serving one another. This is the reason why we are taught that the Lord, at the day of judgment, will say to the faithful: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Matthew 25:40).

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The church, like heaven, is a kingdom of uses. It is formed for use, and it grows by means of use. The sole purpose of its organization is to provide channels for the exercise of co-operation and mutual service designed to strengthen and increase the spiritual faith and charity which together make the living church of the Lord. The soul and mind of the church cannot live except in a body through which it may speak and act, and by means of which its love and its faith may find ultimate expression. The only body at present capable of giving expression to our love and our faith is the General Church of the New Jerusalem. It performs uses which are invaluable to the spiritual life of each one of us.
     All use, however, is necessarily mutual and reciprocal, because of the Divine law that influx is according to efflux. As we give, so only can we receive. The Lord can inflow with His love into our minds only as far as we open our hearts to others. For this reason the church grows with each one of us as we join in the performance of the uses for the sake of which it is organized. This is true in spite of the fact that the most vital of all the uses of the church are those which each individual must perform for himself. Every one must approach the Lord in the Writings directly. Every one must read the Writings, reflect upon their teachings, and seek to understand them for himself. Every one must undergo the conflict of temptation necessary to the shunning of his own hereditary evils as sins against God. Yet even in the fulfillment of this individual duty every one needs the help, encouragement, and inspiration of close association with other New Church men. He needs to join with others in public worship and instruction. He needs organized help and co-operation in the religious education of his children. Out of these needs there arise uses that belong specifically to local groups, circles, and societies of the church. But none of these could be long sustained if there were not a general body of the church capable of performing essential services which no local organization could possibly maintain.
     What, then, are those uses for which we are dependent upon the General Church, and without which all the other uses of the church would eventually languish and die? These uses are many; and they are bound to increase both in number and in complexity as the church grows. In speaking of them we must include the Academy, to which several of the most vital uses of the General Church have been entrusted. Viewed from the standpoint of use, therefore, the Academy is really an essential part of the General Church.
     The first and most important of all uses for the establishment of the New Church is the preservation, publication, translation, and dissemination of the Writings themselves.

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This is one of the cardinal functions of the Academy; and one in which we gratefully receive and acknowledge the assistance of other New Church publishing agencies. By co-operative effort a great deal has been accomplished in this direction; but much still remains to be done. We regret to say that the development of the church in many countries is still seriously hampered because so few of the Writings are available in the native language of the people.
     Next in importance to the distribution of the Writings is provision for a priesthood, adequately trained and educated, ordained and organized to administer effectively the Divine law and worship, in accord with the teaching of the Heavenly Doctrine. To this end the Academy maintains a Theological School under the direct supervision of the Bishop of the General Church.
     But the real work of the priesthood begins when the period of preliminary training has been completed. That work consists in bringing the ministrations of the church to all its members, wherever they may be, as far as circumstances may permit, and as far as the necessary means may be provided. In our efforts to fulfill this responsibility, it always appears to our human eyes as if the "harvest" were plentiful, "but the laborers are few," and we must constantly pray "the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest" (Matthew 9:37, 38). Yet we are ever filled with wonder and gratitude when we reflect how fully the Lord has answered that prayer through all the history of our church. The number of able and devoted servants who, in each generation have given their lives to the work of the church, is truly remarkable considering how small is our membership. But even so, it has been possible to provide only occasional ministrations to many of our widely scattered groups and circles.
     We profoundly believe that the greatest hope for the growth and extension of our church lies, not primarily in promiscuous missionary effort, but in the help and encouragement that can be given wherever a few earnest receivers of the Heavenly Doctrine are gathered together in the Lord's name. In each such place there is an active center of spiritual thought and life, from which the sphere of the church, that is, the sphere of love to the Lord, of the love of spiritual truth, and of charity toward the neighbor, may go forth to others, and may open the way of approach to the church to all who come in contact with it whose minds have been prepared, in Providence, to receive the Lord in His second coming. In each such center there are children and young people whose instruction and education in the teachings of the Writings is of the utmost importance to the growth of the church in the next generation. This is true, not only of groups and circles, but also of every New Church home so situated as to be inaccessible to any organized society.

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     As we have pointed out, all the uses of the General Church arise out of this central need to bring increasing help in the form of effective spiritual ministrations to all its members. To this end the priesthood is organized as a Council of the Clergy, which meets annually to hear and consider reports from all parts of the church, and to consult together as to how best to provide for its protection and growth. Moreover, it is a primary function of the episcopal office at all times to provide the opportunity, as far as may be possible, for every minister and pastor to serve wherever his abilities may be most needed, and where they may be of the greatest value to the church as a whole; this being done, of course, with the full consent and concurrence of those to whom he ministers.
     In our address to the Eighteenth General Assembly, in 1946, we pointed out that the work of the church had been greatly restricted, "first by the economic depression that occurred in the decade of the 1930's, and later by the World War," which had just ended. Meanwhile, the needs of the church had continued to grow; and "with a depleted force of ministers and teachers" we found ourselves "suddenly confronted with important demands that could not immediately be met." To this challenge there was a prompt and energetic response. Since that time there has been a steady advance in providing more effective ministrations throughout the church. Young men have been entering the Theological School in encouraging numbers to replenish our supply of available ministers. Pastors have made every effort to visit the new groups and circles wherever our members have been brought together by the development of postwar industries. A number of these have sprung up in the Western United States; and a mission center has been established in Los Angeles from which the Rev. Harold Cranch is now able to meet their needs more fully. He is endeavoring to cover a very wide field, but he has organized all the groups under his charge into a district for mutual assistance; and with the generous help of volunteer labor he even has a church building now under construction. We are planning to hold an Assembly there this coming August. Each summer for the past ten years the Rev. K. R. Alden has visited members and friends of the General Church in Western Canada; and his work there has culminated in the opportunity for the Rev. Roy Franson to serve as resident minister to two groups in the Peace River District. It is anticipated that from there he will be able to visit others in the surrounding country. The Rev. Ormond Odhner and the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton divide between them the task of ministering to our members scattered throughout the Southern United States, visiting them twice a year. In addition, the pastors of our established societies provide regular visits to the groups and circles in the surrounding area. With the help of the British Finance Committee it has been possible to employ a third minister in England; and the Rev. Frank Rose now devotes his entire time to promoting the growth of the church among the isolated families and groups in Great Britain, besides paying two visits a year to our centers on the European Continent.

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     In order to supplement the personal services of the priesthood, three important agencies have been developed by; lay initiative, all of which are doing work of outstanding value to the church. The General Church Religion Lessons, inaugurated a number of years ago by the members of Theta Alpha, has recently been organized and greatly expanded under the leadership of the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal. Graded religious instruction adapted to the needs of children from preschool to high school age, has been prepared, and is continually being revised in the light of experience. Through the devoted efforts of a rapidly growing organization of New Church women, this material is distributed by mail to provide weekly lessons for children now numbering between five and six hundred; and every effort is made to keep in touch, by correspondence, with both the children and their parents, in order to give as much counsel and help as possible in the struggle to provide the essentials of New Church education. In addition, the Sound Recording Committee has arranged for the purchase and distribution of tape recording machines for the use of an increasing number of families and groups, both in this country and abroad. A rapidly growing library of recordings makes services, sermons, lectures, children's addresses, and other valuable material available to a far wider congregation. The many advantages offered in this way, especially to those who receive only occasional visits from a minister, are obvious; and we believe they will be more and more widely appreciated as the members of the church become accustomed to their use. And finally, on her own initiative, Mrs. Raymond Pitcairn undertook several years ago to duplicate and distribute sermons and doctrinal lectures. This has proved to be of inestimable value; and the demand has now grown to such proportions that it has been adopted as one of the important uses of the General Church, under the personal direction of Mrs. Pitcairn.
     In spite of all these efforts, it is obvious that a large proportion of our membership is receiving only very occasional ministrations; and we deeply regret the fact that even one of our societies, that in Hurstville, Australia, has been without a pastor for the past eight years. In this connection we wish to pay high tribute to Mr. Lindthman Heldon, and those who have so ably and enthusiastically worked with him, for the way in which they have maintained a full program of society activities. The spirit of loyalty to the Heavenly Doctrine, and the united support of the church by the entire congregation there, have been a delight and inspiration to all of us.

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     Much as we desire to provide the persistent and concentrated leadership which is necessary to help small groups develop into circles, and circles to become self supporting societies, it is evident from what has here been said, that the difficulties are very great; and we must, of course, recognize our limitations. Yet we are assured that as we all work together, each one doing his share according to his means, it will be possible to increase our ministrations, as the Lord in His Providence raises up young men inspired to enter the field of the priestly use.
     In stressing those uses which can be performed only by a general body of the church, we are by no means unmindful of the heroic struggle sustained by every society and circle to meet the many local needs essential to its own life and growth. These are indeed the most immediate and pressing obligation that confronts its members. At the present time, especially in Glenview, in England, and in Bryn Athyn, the anticipated increase in enrollment within the next five or ten years makes it imperative to enlarge greatly the facilities of our local schools. This places a sudden and unusual strain upon our available resources; but it is unavoidable if we are to fulfill our responsibility to the children whom the Lord has placed in our care. The challenge is being met everywhere with courage and determination; and we have every confidence that the Divine Providence will sustain our hands. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the support of local uses is in itself a vital contribution to the work of the General Church. This is strikingly illustrated in the case of the plan recently adopted to provide a living salary for ministers, and pensions for both ministers and teachers. This undertaking could not possibly succeed without the wholehearted participation of our societies and circles-a participation that has exceeded our highest hopes, and for which we feel a deep sense of gratitude.
     We cannot close without adding a brief word concerning the South African Native Mission. This, also, is a use of the General Church; one which we did not seek, but which came to us in Providence through circumstances beyond our control. After a long and unavoidable delay, the Rev. A. Wynne Acton is now on his way to accept a call to the pastorate of the Durban Society, and to become Superintendent of the Mission by episcopal appointment. The latter task is rendered increasingly difficult because of new laws and regulations recently enacted by the South African Government. Just what effect these will have on our mission work is still uncertain; but we are obligated to do whatever may prove to be possible, in compliance with them, to sustain the efforts of those ministers and leaders of the Mission who have remained loyal to the principles of the General Church at great personal sacrifice. We have been deeply touched by their devotion to the Heavenly Doctrine.

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We cannot but believe that the Lord is directing their destiny, even as He is directing ours; and that He will sustain the tender beginnings of the New Church among them.
     Such is the nature of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, its primary uses, and its needs, at least in general outline, as we see them. Small in numbers, worldwide in extent, subject to all the frailties of our human nature, it has an untold source of strength in the Divine truth revealed by the Lord in the Writings of His Second Coming. So far as we receive that truth into our hearts, build it into our minds, and remain faithful to it in our lives, the Lord will be with us with the infinite power of His merciful Providence to guide us, and protect us. He will build His church within us, founded on that eternal "rock"; and "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." However great may seem the tasks that confront us, we have the sure promise of His Word that He will answer the prayer of those who ask from the heart: "O Lord, help us day by day to do Thy will, and to keep Thy law, that, in Thine own time, Thy kingdom may be established on the earth, as it is in heaven."
REPORT OF THE ASSEMBLY 1954

REPORT OF THE ASSEMBLY       Editor       1954

     Publication of the Report of the Twentieth General Assembly begins in this issue with the printing above of the text of the Episcopal Address by Bishop George de Charms which was delivered and discussed at the first session. The report will be continued in the issues for August through October and will contain the text of the other addresses and of the sermons, the Journal of the Proceedings, the reports of officials, and accounts of the Banquet and other features of the program. A complete index of the report will be included in the Index for 1954 under the subentry "General Assembly, Twentieth."
     EDITOR

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PROGRESS 1954

PROGRESS       Rev. KENNETH O. STROH       1954

     "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26)

     Spiritual progress is advancement toward interior things. But apparent advancement is not necessarily a sign of spiritual progress. It may be only change, and the appearance of a normal, merely natural cycle of life.
     For all life is composed of an unbroken series of progressions of one kind or another. Man is conceived in the womb, is born, is educated, reaches maturity and finally old age. Within each of these progressive steps there are others. Men are continually, leaving one state and entering another. They graduate from institutions of learning to enter a life of usefulness, assuming at the same time the duties and responsibilities which previously they had been unable to bear. When they take the marriage vows they begin a stage in life that is very different from any known before. When men leave this world at death, and enter the other life, they find opened to them vistas of beauty and usefulness, the possibilities of which they may have dreamed, but of which they had no adequate idea. Life involves a series of progressions to eternity, and it is right that men should be able to look forward eagerly to each new step in the series.
     Human organizations and societies grow similarly. Nations, from the early days of pioneer life, become larger and stronger, finally taking respected positions as powers in the world. Professions go forward, as, for example, the medical profession, whose advancement during recent years in knowledge and skills has greatly increased its usefulness to society.
     Some men have taken these developments as being each a proof of another step in the natural evolution of mankind from its primitive beginnings toward its true destiny. And some adherents of the New Church have interpreted scientific advancement, increased material comforts, and change in the world, as indications that the holy city, the New Jerusalem, is visibly descending from heaven and is slowly permeating the minds and hearts of the peoples of the earth.
     Yet these signs of activity among men are in themselves merely natural and are no sure signs of spiritual progress-are no proofs of any advancement toward interior things; and the cycles of human life may easily be the appearances of degeneration, of retrogression.

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Men, societies, nations, and the church can all step backward as well as forward. The results of so-called progress should be good, but they can also be bad. The general quality of progression is determined by the degree in which new responsibilities are seen, accepted, and met. For every step in life involves new responsibilities, new needs. And if the step is to be a forward one, the new duties these imply should be performed as adequately as it is possible for men to perform them. Anything less than this partakes of retreat rather than of advancement. For it is a law of nature that nothing can remain static. Life cannot stand still. It must step either forward or backward. And if it does not do the first it will most certainly do the second.
     This natural law derives its origin from a similar spiritual law. For neither is it possible for a man to stand still spiritually. He must advance in love to the Lord and toward the neighbor, or else he will recede from these loves. And it is not allowable for him to love the Lord and himself in an equal degree; for then he would be among those called "lukewarm," who are not fit for either a good use or an evil use. Thus spiritual progressions are also of two kinds. Man may be led upward toward heaven, or he may be dragged downward toward hell. He may listen to the Divine Word, may become a disciple of the Lord and follow Him faithfully, from a spiritual love of the Divine teaching. Or he may reject the Master's leading and follow his own selfish desires-through the wide gate, down the broad, easy road to destruction.
     But the Lord has not left men comfortless. He has told them how they may find their way through the strait gate to the narrow way which leadeth unto life. He has told how men can become His disciples and follow Him in the path that bears the promise of true spiritual progress. And He has said: "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. . . . So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26, 33). And in describing the state of the church at both His first and second comings the Lord said: "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division. . . . The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law" (Luke 12:51, 53).
     Yet the Lord does not wish anyone to hate his father and mother, or wife, or children, or brothers, or sisters.

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This would be contrary to the spiritual love which is implanted in everyone from heaven-the love of parents for their children and of children for their parents. It would be contrary to conjugial love, the love of, husband and wife; and it would be contrary also to mutual love, which is the love of brothers and sisters for one another. In fact, the Lord even teaches that enemies must not be hated but should be loved. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matthew 5:43, 44). He also taught that He came actually to give peace and to take away dissensions.
     What, then, did the Lord mean when He told the multitude that if any man would be His disciple he must hate father and mother, wife and children, brethren and sisters, and even his own life? It is revealed in the Heavenly Doctrine that the names here used refer to spiritual relationships: loves and affections that are dear and priceless to man, things that are properly his own from birth, all things that constitute his proprium. But of himself man is, by birth, nothing but evil. His proprium-his own loves and affections-all look toward hell. They all lead him to regard himself above all else, and to prize the possessions of this world for their own sake.
     Therefore the "father" man is to hate is the father of all wickedness and perversity, namely, evil and the love of evil; and the "mother" he is to abhor is falsity and the love which leads him to take delight in falsities (see AE 724, 725). These two, the loves of evil and falsity, are what make up man's proprium, his self life. And all the things that belong to man's own loves, his own life, are interdependent. They are formed and joined together like the generations descending from one father and mother; and they may even be distinguished, we are told in the Writings, into families and households. And from these two come all related desires of evil and falsity-the "children, brethren, and sisters." Such is the organization of man's proprium. Such is the household of his mind before regeneration.
     It is this household of unworthy loves and affections that man is to shun if he would be the Lord's disciple. He must leave behind this spiritual family-greed, jealousy, and the lust of domination-if he would be victorious in spiritual temptations and would progress along the pathway that leads to heavenly life. The Lord invites all men to partake of this life. He invites all men to the Word, in which they may find the instruction that shows the way to this life.
     The Word is like a heavenly feast, offering spiritual nourishment in abundance to all who will approach and partake of it.

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Therefore the Lord likened heaven and the church to a great supper. The master, it will be recalled, invited many to dine with him. But many, who were rich, declined the invitation, making excuses of one kind or another. One needed to view a recently acquired piece of ground. Another desired to prove five yoke of oxen he had just bought. A third said: "I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." When the master heard these things he became very angry, and he sent his servants into the streets and lanes to bring in to the supper the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind. And he filled the house with these, saying: "None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper" (Luke 14:16-24).
     The rich are those who are rich in spiritual things-who have the Word, and thereby know the Lord and can serve Him in the uses of His church. But when they ignore this heavenly heritage and decline the Master's invitation to the feast, they are like those who made excuses. One will be absorbed with a parcel of ground. Consumed by natural ambition, he will place all his attention on external goods separated from internal goods-on worldly honor and wealth-which to him are most satisfying and grand. He will be delighted with external satisfactions for their own sake and will not be receptive of the satisfactions of heaven, being unwilling to read the Word and look to the Lord. Another will be absorbed in his oxen. He will allow himself to be governed by the pleasures of all those natural affections or desires that lead away from heaven. And a third will have "married a wife." By confirming falsities in a life of evil he will have fallen in love with his own self-will, and will have contracted a marriage of evil and falsity; which marriage is the essential of the life of hell.
     None of these three can taste of the Lord's supper. Instead the Master sends His servants to bring in the poor, the sick and needy. The Lord seeks out those of a gentile state who have not previously been of the church. He searches for those who have lived a life of charity, yet have not known the truth because they have not had the Word, although they have still longed for the truth. He also searches for those within the church who are humble, believing that of themselves they know nothing because all knowledge, intelligence and wisdom are from the Lord alone. These gratefully accept the Lord's invitation, and enter wholeheartedly into the church, and finally into heaven. They are willing to leave behind them the selfish and worldly loves that were their own from birth-their spiritual brothers and sisters. Of them the Lord has said: "And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit life everlasting" (Matthew 19:29).
     These are making real, spiritual progress such as is described in the Writings-progress toward interior things.

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Such true progress is said to be "not an advancement into knowledges [scientifics], for this frequently exists without any advancement toward interior things, and very frequently with a departure from them. Neither is it an advancement into knowledges [cognitions] of interior truth, for these cognitions avail nothing unless man is affected with them. An advancement toward interior things is an advancement toward heaven and the Lord by means of the cognitions of truth implanted in the affection of them, thus by means of affections" (AC 4598). This advancement is likened to that of a man who has been standing in the darkness of a thick mist, but who gradually steps out of it into the clear light of a glorious spring day-the light of heavenly wisdom.
     Such is the nature of all true progress. Thus it is not something that can be measured by any worldly yardstick conceived in the natural mind of human beings, for it is the nature of man's advancement in regeneration. And it is also the nature of all real progress in the growth of the church.
     If the Lord's church is to be strong, healthy, and progressive, its members must be willing to heed the words of the Master: "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also he cannot be My disciple."
     They must be willing to put aside personal prejudice, jealousies, selfish ambitions, perhaps sometimes even a few worldly pleasures, if they are to be worthy instruments for the establishment of the Lord's New Church on earth. And they must also be willing to accept the Lord's invitation to dine with Him, shunning the excuses it is so easy to make. They must each go to the Heavenly Doctrine in search of interior truths, that thereby they may be conjoined with the Lord in a bond of love and through the life of heavenly use.
     But above all, the members of the church must hearken to the Lord's call to hate their own life. That is, they must be willing to forsake the notion that anything men do entirely of themselves is of any lasting value. They must accept fully the truth that all success, all victory in temptation, all good, all progress, are from the Lord. Nothing is from man. Men appear to make decisions that have far reaching effects on the future of the church, and it should so appear. Men are given to see their responsibilities in order that they may meet them or not in freedom, may thus retain the quality of humanness, and so may choose whether or not to make the church their own. And they cannot do this without the appearance that they are acting entirely of themselves.
     Still, they should recognize and acknowledge that all growth in the church, all progress, is from the Lord-and from no one else.

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Men can choose whether or not to make the church a part of their lives. But they should know that, fundamentally, the church is the Lord's. It is His kingdom on earth. He loves it, guides it, cares for it in the most minute ways-ways it is impossible for men to realize. Men may fail the Lord. The church does not necessarily have to remain among those who at present espouse its cause. It may be transferred to other people in a manner and time that no man can foresee. For the Lord is building it-His kingdom, His house on earth; and "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it" (Psalm 127:1).
     The New Church is to be the crown of all the churches that have existed since the beginning of the world, and we have the promise that it is to endure for ages of ages. As we allow the Lord to rule, and to guide us in our decisions, by means of the principles of His Heavenly Doctrine, and as we come to love those principles above all else-even above life itself-we may enter His heavenly kingdom, His church, the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. And thus will we be making true spiritual progress, advancement toward interior things. Amen.

     LESSONS: Luke 14:15-35. Coronis 5.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 447, 498, 574.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 53, 100.
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1954

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES              1954

     A Committee on the Growth and Prosperity of the Church submitted to the General Conference in 1952 a report which recommended, among other things, recognition of the doctrine of the priesthood contained in the Writings. The Rev. J. G. Dufty, who had vainly urged that the report be not printed, opposed that section of it in an article entitled "Priesthood versus Ministry" which was published in the NEW-CHURCH HERALD for December 6, 1952. In a more recent article, "Priesthood versus Ministry and Order in the New Church" [NEW-CHURCH HERALD, April 10, 1954, p. 60], the same writer returns to the subject. Both of Mr. Dufty's articles should be read for an understanding of his position, but there are a few points on which comment may be offered.
     The reader of the second article will not fail to note the not too subtle insinuation of the title that a priesthood and order are incompatible, and he may observe what seem to be certain inconsistencies in the argument. Mr. Dufty protests that the report does not refer to the letter of the Word, but his authority for asserting that all doctrine should be drawn from the letter is, of course, the Writings.

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He objects to going back to the priesthoods of the Old Testament-and here he has a point which is well understood-but himself goes back to the practice of the primitive Christian Church as authority for the contention that Baptism and the Holy Supper may be administered by laymen. And his authority for saying that "all attempts at ritualistic representation therefore are without efficacy or sanction, except in the two sacraments," can only be the Writings. Dufty believes in an ordained ministry, but he regards a priestly order as synonymous with the claim to personal superiority and the demand for authority and power. This assumption has beclouded the issue since the days of Robert Hindmarsh. If doctrine should, not be determined by ambition, neither should it be formulated by fear of possible disorders-disorders for which there is no sanction whatsoever in the teachings of the Writings.

     In a short article published in the NEW AGE [PP 45, 56], Mr. D. M. Taylor takes issue with those members of the Church who call themselves "Swedenborgians." His cogent argument is as follows: "We know what is meant when someone is described as a Lutheran; our friend is simply a follower of Martin Luther and his opinions as to what the Lord said and meant. A Swedenborgian must, therefore, be a follower of Swedenborg and his opinions. The implication is that a man named Swedenborg had some opinions of his own concerning religious matters, and that these could be just as right or just as wrong as those of Luther." He points out also that the term, as an answer to inquiry, is more likely to involve us in explanations about Swedenborg, and says: "How much better it is to say that we are New Church men, for in that way we create the opportunity to offer the essentials of our faith by explaining the term 'New Church.'" Mr. Taylor would not have us deny our debt of gratitude to Swedenborg; but would have it acknowledged as to a faithful servant, and in such a way that "we do not allow him to overshadow the Master."

     DIE NEUE KIRCHE [pp. 246ff, 252ff] contains a criticism by the Rev. Adolph L. Goerwitz of an article by a Dr. Hutter, who says: "It is not advisable to go the way of the New Church, which places Swedenborg's Writings on the same level as Holy Writ." Mr. Goerwitz' comment is that "this comparison is made only in what one might call the more conservative wing of the New Church, which officially is called the 'General Church of the New Jerusalem' but ordinarily is called the 'Academy.' Otherwise, that which has been given in Swedenborg's works is called in the entire New Church a 'revelation from the Word.'" The first part of this comment can probably be accepted with more assurance than the second, which seems to describe the party of the center rather than the extreme liberal wing.

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PUBLIC SERVICE 1954

PUBLIC SERVICE       SIGFRIED T. SYNNESTVEDT       1954

     (An address given to the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Sons of the Academy, May, 1953, and to the Bryn Athyn Chapter, March, 1954.)

     The title given to this address is "Public Service." Included in that phrase are all the myriad types of public service to be found on the local, state, and federal levels-elective offices as well as civil service positions-from the most local, seemingly most trivial, least time-consuming job up to the worst job in the world, that of President of the United States.
     What is the general attitude in our country toward this field of use? The question of what the general attitude in the Church is will be taken up later. Public service in the United States has long been looked down upon; and this does not refer simply to Republicans dissatisfied with the past twenty years of Democratic rule, nor to Democrats who were equally dissatisfied with the twelve Republican years that preceded them! We are referring to the general attitude of most of the people through most of the lifetime of our republic. Although great men have served the United States, especially in times of crisis, good men have too frequently failed to aspire to public office and poor ones have too frequently taken their place.
     James Bryce, famous English political scientist, who spent many years in the United States studying our system of government in the late nineteenth century, wrote of this in his epic two volume work The American Commonwealth. He was disturbed especially by what he considered to be the most noteworthy area in which the American democratic system had badly failed-the government of our medium and large sized cities. He felt also that, much more often than not, mediocre men served the country in important posts, and he wrote one chapter called "Why Great Men are not Chosen President."
     Lincoln Steffens, one of the best known of the muckrakers at the turn of the century and after, made a considerable part of his reputation writing about the weaknesses of our city governments and the generally low caliber of men in public office. He called a collection of these articles "The Shame of the Cities," and began another series on "The Shame of the States."

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     More recently, in the 1952 campaign, events indicated that Mr. Stevenson, while governor of one of our most populous states, had felt it necessary to make special arrangements to attract good men to work at Springfield. And even more recently than that, President Eisenhower has had some difficulty in getting all the men he felt were needed to run the executive arm of our national government at Washington. Senate confirmation of some appointments was held up, and several men finally declined to take the proffered posts.
     The word "politician" is used more often than not, we think, as an epithet rather than a term of approbation. The picture of the politician who ends a long, rambling oration with the comment, "These, Mr. President, are the conclusions on which I base my facts," is certainly a common one. Another common idea is found in the definition: "A politician is a person who approaches every question with an open mouth."
     There are a number of reasons for this situation; some of them slightly less meaningful than they were forty or fifty years ago, but still important factors in the decision of many well qualified persons not to seek public office of any kind. First of all there is the matter of pay. While it is true that some civil service jobs, both local and federal, pay wages as good as those offered by private employment, and sometimes even slightly better, these positions are to be found almost entirely in the minor classifications. As a public official, elected or appointed, moves up the ladder of job importance and responsibility he is apt to find himself dropping further and further behind his classmates in salary or wages.
     Now high wages and salaries are not the only things that make jobs attractive even in our materialistic age. The earning of a high salary does not necessarily indicate that one is either a good or an effective person. Yet it is true that remuneration is-in a rough, general way-some indication of a man's worth, and that income does form a substantial part of the attractiveness of any job.
     Appointees frequently take large pay cuts in transferring from private to public life. United States congressmen receive only $12,500 in (taxable) salary, plus a $2,500 tax-free expense account. The President receives a taxable salary of $150,000, plus $40,000 tax-free for expenses, for running one of the most difficult, demanding, and important jobs in the world. Such a position in industry, if one existed, would carry remuneration on an astronomical scale.
     The situation in state employ is, for the most part, much worse. A few progressive states, notably New York and California, have reasonably adequate salary scales. In our own Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, however, although it is one of the better states, the Governor receives $25,000, other important officials receive only $15,000, and state legislators $3,000 a year.

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So far as I know, the worst salary scale is that of North Dakota-from $9,000 for the Governor to $5 per day for members of the legislature, who must travel to Bismarck in the freezing winter months, and who receive no traveling or living expenses. Six other states press North Dakota closely for the dubious honor of being the place least attractive to civil servants, and most of the remaining ones are not much better.
     The truth is that we Americans have tended, for the most part, to deceive ourselves into thinking that we save money by paying low salaries to public officials. Unfortunately, when all things are considered, the reverse is usually the case. The further truth is, of course, that the American economic system, which has helped to make us the most fantastically productive country in the history of the world, offers a great deal more in the way of salary to persons in important private positions than to those in public offices. This is not to advocate monstrous across-the-board salary increases for all public officials, though some increases should definitely be given at once and a study of the whole subject is needed. It is simply a statement of the case as it now is.
     A second major deterrent to good citizens entering public life is uncertainty of job tenure. While the vast majority of civil servants are career employees protected by the merit system, many other public offices are not so insured, and indeed they should not be. When the people choose a new administration, local or national, they are changing previous policy to a greater or lesser degree, and all important policy making positions should be declared vacant and then filled by election or appointment. Otherwise policy would not change, and the voice of the people could be ignored by bureaucrats. There seems to be no solution to this problem, except, possibly, a return to the old feudal rule under the Divine right of kings. There tenure was at least assured. In many instances, fortunately, good citizens have been willing to serve the public, and have continued to do so at great personal sacrifice; in many other instances, unfortunately, they have not. In any case, lack of tenure is a deterrent.
     A third serious stumbling block is the very nature of public life. As soon as one enters a position of consequence in public affairs he runs the risk of criticism, censure, and even vilification, from many directions. To paraphrase an old adage, it is impossible to please all of the people all of the time, and some of the people any of the time. The holding of public office has been compared to life in a goldfish bowl, and the analogy is not a bad one. Such a situation militates against good persons running for elective office as well as accepting appointive office. And it would seem that the pressure has increased rather than lessened in recent years. Added to the always present honest disagreements and differences of opinion as to policy there are now, in these times of world struggle, questions of security and loyalty.

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Whoever may be responsible, the fact is that public officials are increasingly under suspicion and investigation from many directions, and not infrequently by fellow public servants. These are troublous times in which we need a wealth of the best talent the country has available to meet and solve our foreign and domestic problems; and the very nature of existence in the marine glasshouse of public life works against this end.
     Whether or not these three things-inadequate pay, lack of tenure, and exposure to abuse-are the most important reasons for the general attitude of the American people toward public service is perhaps open to question. Doubtless many others enter the picture as well. The fact is that the attitude is there. All too often the common feeling is one of "it's time for another set of pigs at the trough." As one person said before the last election: "We should have an open season on politicians." He then added, somewhat illogically, that the best way to punish errant public servants was to stay away from the polls. "Don't vote at all. That will show them how displeased we are!" This, we submit, is exactly the thing not to do.

     How does the attitude in the Church compare with the average attitude found elsewhere? Do we, as a group, feel more strongly, less strongly, or about the same as others about public office? There have been some New Church men who aspired to and held government posts above the local level.
     First and most important there was Emanuel Swedenborg, prophet and seer of the Divine revelation for the New Church, and also one of the finest public servants Sweden ever had. His long years as an Assessor in the Board of Mines are known to all of us. Perhaps somewhat less well known, however, is his service in the Diet, made possible by the fact that he was the oldest surviving son when his family was ennobled. This activity he continued long after he had entered upon his use as a revelator. He never missed a session of the Diet if he could possibly avoid it, and although he rarely spoke because of his ineffectiveness as a speaker he often wrote telling opinions on current problems. One of these, written in his controversy with Anders Nordencrantz, who had roundly criticized public officials small and great, showed his concern for the continuance of democratic government if criticism became too widespread and destructive. Indeed his opinion then has applications today.
     "If an individual who has an honest heart and loves the welfare of his country should have all his shortcomings and faults added up and published among the people," he wrote, "is not his honor thereby assaulted, and is not he himself, in the eyes of all men, looked down upon as contemptible and unworthy?

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     "Every human being is inclined by nature, and nothing is easier or pleasanter for him to do, than to find faults in others and to pass an unfavorable judgment upon them, inasmuch as all of us are inclined by nature to see the mote in our brother's eye and not to see the beam in our own eye. . . . All proud and evil disposed men place prudence in finding fault with and blaming others; and all generous and truly Christian souls use prudence in judging all things according to circumstances, excusing such faults as may have arisen from weakness, and inveighing against such evils as may have been done on purpose.
     "The same also happens, in a general way, in governments. Faults, numberless faults, may be found in all, so that volumes might be filled with them. . . . If in this world there should exist a heavenly government, consisting of men who had an angelic disposition, there would nevertheless be faults in it caused by weakness together with other shortcomings; and if these were ferreted out, reported, and exaggerated, this government, too, might be undermined by calumny, and thereby gradually a desire might be raised among the well disposed to change and destroy it" (Memorial to the Diet on the Nordencrantz Book, as quoted in The Swedenborg Epic, Cyriel O. Sigstedt, New York, 1952, pp. 293-294).
     One of the most interesting cases in the United States was that of the Rev. George Field who was an ardent, active evangelist in the midwestern states in the mid 19th century, and who also served as chaplain of the Michigan State Senate. The fact that the Auditor General (Hen. D. V. Bell), two state senators (John Allen and H. P. Bush), the Deputy State Treasurer (Amos Hall), and the Surveyor General of the United States residing in Detroit (Lucius Lyon) were New Church men had something to do with the appointment; and one jealous editorial in a Baptist paper, the Christian Herald, went so far as to talk of the "established state church."
     Then there was Judge Von Moschzisker of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, who is remembered in New Church annals as one of the judges in the Kramph Will case. At the present time another Justice of that same court, the Hon. Allen M. Stearne, is a New Church man. And a well known Bryn Athyn resident once ran for U. S. Congress and also for Judge of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.
     There have been other significant direct contributions by New Church men in public life which have not been mentioned here. But the number is not great, and our attitude toward public office does not seem to differ markedly from that of the rest of the nation. After all, we are citizens of the United States as well as New Church men and we are influenced by the society in which we live.

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While we read NEW CHURCH LIFE we also read "Old Church LIFE" and TIME and the same newspapers. We tend to accept the same evaluation of non-church matters as others.
     In addition, it is believed that we have laid most stress on three occupations or uses-the priesthood, teaching, and various business activities. This trio is, of course, vital to our existence and. development as a church. We have always had the inspiration and guidance of a well trained clergy. We need as well an adequate supply of teachers to cultivate that most fertile field of evangelization, our children. And finally, neither of these could exist without the financial support of the many members of the Church who are business and professional men, salaried employees and wage earners.
     In the early Academy days, when numbers were so few, doubtless none were available for any but these uses. But have we not grown to the stage where we can "spare a few" qualified persons for jobs in public service! An attempt will be made to answer that question at the end of this address. In the meantime, if job preferences are a reliable indication, we will certainly not be adding many to the short list of New Church public servants. In the Kuder preference tests given each June to graduating seniors only a fractional percentage have evidenced any interest in public work of any kind.
     It might be well to raise the question, before going further, as to whether or not all this has any meaning for New Church men. What if New Church men have not flocked to jobs in public life, and what if present indications are that this trend will continue? Are not New Church men just a little less expendable than others? After all, we are still a very small group, and we cannot waste our energies. We will all vote, but let someone else run. We have more important uses to perform. So it may be said. But these are important uses!
     The teaching of the Writings on the subject indicates the importance of public office. That order is heaven's first law, and therefore all creation's first law, is too well known to need enlargement here. Many passages might be cited telling of social and civic order in heaven. There are magistrates, princes, rulers, and officials there; and although I know of no place where it is so stated, there must be societies that are ruled democratically by the angels-at least I hope so.
     What about civil order here on earth! Without it mankind could scarcely exist, and would be in no very favorable position to perform uses and thus prepare for a life in heaven. We read: "Without order what would an empire or kingdom be but a gang of robbers, a large body of whom would slay thousands, a few at least slaying these many? What is a city without order, or even a household without order? (TCR 679).

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Again: "Our country is to be benefited from love, according to its necessities, which chiefly regard its sustenance, its civil life, and its spiritual life. He who loves his country, and from good will benefits it, in the other life loves the Lord's kingdom; for there the Lord's kingdom is his country" (AC 6821).
     Bishop W. F. Pendleton stated in a sermon entitled "The Stream of Providence" that "man is regenerated, and heaven is formed, according to . . . [the] law of influx, namely, by the operation of the Lord from things first into things ultimate, and by things ultimate into that which is intermediate. The supreme necessity of order in ultimates will thus be seen, that a genuine plane of reception and reaction may be formed-order in nature, order in the civil state, order in the church, order in the ultimates of the life of man."
     In the Arcana there is a very pertinent series of numbers beginning with no. 10,789. There it is stated: "There are two kinds of things with men that must be in order, namely, the things that belong to heaven and the things that belong to the world. The things that belong to heaven are called ecclesiastical, and the things that belong to the world are called civil" (AC 10,789). "As priests are overseers for the administration of the things that belong to the Divine law and to worship," the following number states, "so are kings and. magistrates for the administration of the things that belong to the civil law and to judgment."
     What type of persons should be active in civil and judicial life? The Writings speak plainly on this subject. Persons "wise, God-fearing, and skilled in the law" are spoken of as necessary for the proper performance of those uses (AC 10,804). Further than this, it is made plain that just as all truth, even natural truth, is from the Lord, so all things civil, moral, and natural receive all life from above, from spiritual things. To quote: "That man would have no freedom of choice in civil, moral and natural things if he had none in spiritual things is evident from this, that spiritual things, which are called theological, have their seat in the highest region of the mind, like the soul in the body. They have their seat there because there is the door through which the Lord enters into man. Beneath these are things civil, moral, and natural, which in man receive all their life from the spiritual things that have their abode above them; and because life from the highest regions flows in from the Lord, and man's life is an ability to think and will freely, and to speak and act therefrom, it follows that his freedom of choice in political and natural affairs is from that source and no other. From that freedom man has a perception of what is good and true, and of what is just and right in civil matters" (TCR 482).
     These passages are not used to suggest that New Church men are necessarily best qualified for public work.

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But neither are they necessarily not qualified for civil affairs. Certainly some of them should be more qualified, if their New Church education has been the type that we all want it to be. Yet we believe, as already stated, that there is an anti-public service attitude both within and without the church in the United States. The question remains, therefore, "What can be done?"

     First of all, it seems legitimate to raise the question as to whether our present attitude to politicians and feeling about them are fully justified. Does the field of public service have such a terribly black record-a record that warrants its reputation and the pessimistic '[time for another set of pigs at the trough"! We do not think so.
     Part of this reputation stems we believe, from certain misconceptions and faulty judgments-popular myths, if you will. It is really a matter of yardsticks. One cannot measure the height of two rose bushes, fences, or children with two different rulers and come up with very accurate or useful generalizations about their relative heights. If on one ruler the inch markings are one inch apart, and on the other only five-eighths or one-half inch apart, the results will be distorted.
     I believe that we do not always use the same mental yardsticks when comparing public servants and activities and private persons and occupations. We expect certain standards of ethical conduct from our public servants and when they fail to live up to them we raise the proverbial roof, but do we always act the same way in judging private affairs? There is absolutely no question that there have been times when government officials have violated public trusts. Three times in our nation's history, under presidents chosen from both parties, scandals have reached major proportions. At other times, and indeed probably at all times, a certain amount of waste, inefficiency and graft goes on; so that the word, bureaucrat, has picked up a definite meaning which roughly involves a good proportion of all three.
     In comparison, most of us generally equate private business and professional work with lack of waste and with efficiency and honesty. But is this the entire picture! Is one side so rosy and the other so terribly black? Do we always use the same yardstick when measuring the two fields of activity?
     The business and professional worlds, and private activity in general, have their problems of wastage and graft, of incompetence and favoritism, but frequently they do not come to the attention of the general public. Take the gift system. In many selling jobs, and wherever sub-contracting is an important item, the practice of giving Thanksgiving turkeys, Christmas watches or pen and pencil sets, or a bottle of good bourbon on any occasion, may be an essential expense item for remaining in business.

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It is an unpleasant and undesirable system all round. For the salesman or sub-contractor it is a heavy financial drain; for the recipient it is an embarrassment-even though the turkey may be very good! This gift system, when practiced in public life, rightly receives the severest type of criticism and censure. Influence peddlers, five and ten-percenters and deep freezers, get what is coming to them whenever they are caught. But in private affairs the system is accepted as an integral part of business life.
     Then there is the expense account system. Legitimate expenses incurred in the doing of one's job, public or private, should, of course, be recoverable, but the practice of padding the expense account in private business is too well known to need much comment. The high taxes of the past decade have tended to increase this abuse, because business expenses may be written off the income tax bill; but the practice went on before, and will doubtless continue after taxes are lowered substantially, if they are.
     A third thing is the kick-back or fee-splitting system practiced in some of the professions. The 1947-48 case in San Francisco involving doctors is the most recent big scandal of this type to come to public attention. That the system is practiced elsewhere much of the time by a minority of doctors, dentists, oculists and others, can scarcely be doubted. Articles in various current periodicals, including the A.M.A. Journal, attest this fact.
     A fourth type of private activity which comes under severe censure when practiced in public life is the contract or sale based on personal acquaintanceship or relationship, or on a common membership such as having gone to the same college, or belonging to the same fraternity or the same club. Unfortunately this does sometimes take place in public life; but when it does, and is exposed, the persons involved are considered violators of the public trust. The statutory rule on nearly all levels of government is open bids and open prices.
     One further example of the not always so perfect picture in private business is the outright deal with the underworld. This was recently brought to light very forcibly in the investigation of the New York waterfront. Not only was a tie-up between certain public officers and the water-front thugs rather definitely established, but it was admitted by pier and steamship owners that vast sums of bribe money were paid each year by their companies to shady underworld characters, some of them murderers, to keep peace on the piers. This was partly the protection racket, but it was clear from testimony before the Congressional committees that little if any effort had been made by some of these owners to work against the system because it saved them money and trouble by keeping the stevedores in line.

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Deals of this type are doubtless not very widespread, but they do exist.

     As a first step in improving civil order, then, should we not do some checking of the yardsticks which we use to measure public and private activity? When we are sure that all the inch marks are one full inch apart, we have a more solid stepping off place from which to improve both public and private ethics.
     A second possible area for improvement might be in our school program. A curriculum proposal presently favored by the Social Studies Department calls for moving the American history course back to the junior year of high school and putting a new course in American government, basic economics, and problems of American democracy in the senior year. This would provide needed opportunity to learn more about our republic and its workings. An important part of this would be the provision of greater opportunity to study and explore the various areas in which our democratic system has failed to meet the high standards we want for our citizens and our country. The activities of this type of expanded program might interest more of our students in public service. The President's proposal for an eighteen year old voting age would, if passed, further stimulate this interest.
     A third area of change can take place only in the home. As parents we can influence our children for or against public service and public servants. Our personal prejudices and political biasses enter into this. If our local and national administrations and their policies are handled by "our party" and please us we tend to overlook their faults. By the same token, if we are displeased we tend to condemn the whole of public service. What we should strive to do is to help our children to see that corruption and wrongdoing are to be deplored in the officials of either party or in private business; that these things should be distinguished from honest disagreements as to policies and actions; and, above all, that good public service and proper civil order are vitally important to all of us and are our responsibility.

     Finally, it is believed that we should all re-examine our own activities in public service. There may be jobs which we could perform that would be of real use to society. This is not to advocate that we all throw our hats into the ring for the 1956 Presidential nomination! But are we all doing our full part in creating and maintaining good government? Are we not inclined to spend little or no time on these things, to let someone else do it or worry about it?

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     As a minimum, we can all try to be well informed, to have an orderly and varied reading program which partakes of both the liberal and conservative viewpoints, and which keeps us abreast of things and makes our twice yearly trek to the polls an act of fully intelligent participation. In addition, there are large numbers of party and public jobs which can and must be done by good citizens if good results are to be obtained. From the many local offices on councils, commissions, school and election boards, which are not full time jobs, to the all important party organizational posts of committeeman and committeewoman, there are contributions for public spirited citizens to make. And it is to be hoped that in the not too distant future New Church men will be aspiring to judgeships, congressional seats, and administrative posts where the Divine commandments of the Decalogue and the doctrine of use to the neighbor may be put into practice.
     In one very important field such participation may be vital to the continuance of the New Church in this country, and in the near future. We refer, of course, to the protection of our system of private religious education.
     In the past few years there have been increasing attacks on the private schools; and the most significant, perhaps, was that made last year in a widely publicized speech by ex-President Conant of Harvard, who characterized private secondary schools as a divisive influence in American life. Conant was obviously thinking of the recent growth of Roman Catholic influence in education. The Catholics are constantly pressing for a share in the public money for education in areas where they are powerful enough. The federal school lunch program and the use of public school busses to transport children to parochial schools may not be important in themselves, but they are a beginning. And the historical fact is that the Catholic Church has always, and; everywhere, worked to secure a stranglehold on the education of the young.
     So far in the United States the Catholics have served as a protection for all private schools, including our own. But this is not because of any fondness they have for us or for our beliefs! The Jesuits and their brethren are both our allies and potentially our worst educational enemies.
     In the future we must be able increasingly to fight our own battles, with our own public servants and legislators bearing the brunt. But it is not only for purposes of educational safety and development that we need New Church public servants. The fact is, that civil order is necessary to regeneration, and that the more perfect the civil order on this earth is, the better are the opportunities for use and for a life of regeneration leading to heaven. And a good civil order, "good government," needs vast numbers of "good citizens" to run it.

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     [EDITORIAL NOTE: After graduating from the Boys' Academy, Mr. Sigfried T. Synnestvedt entered the U. S. Navy in World War II. On leaving the service he returned for a year in the Academy of the New Church College and then transferred to Michigan State College, where he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees, majoring in the social studies. He joined the teaching staff of the Academy in 1950, and is engaged as an Instructor in History and English in the College and the Boys' Academy.]
ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 1954

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH       E. BRUCE GLENN       1954

     A recent communication from the Commission on Institutions of Higher Learning of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools will be of interest to members of the Church who follow the affairs of its educational arm. The Academy College, accredited in 1952 by the abovementioned Commission, submitted this spring a progress report on its activities for reaffirmation of its accredited status. Action of the Commission was entirely affirmative; and part of its communication, signed by the Commission's chairman, follows:
     "I am happy to report that the Commission voted to accept your Report of Progress and especially to commend the Academy of the New Church for its accomplishments. May I, therefore, on behalf of the Commission, felicitate you, the members of your staff, and your Board of Governance on your new achievements."
     The practical effect of these encouraging words is that-barring unforeseen changes in policy by the Commission-the Academy College and its course of study remain fully accredited by the Middle States Association for the duration of the accreditation period (thirteen more years), and that this status is recognized throughout the accrediting associations of the United States.
     E. BRUCE GLENN,
          EDITOR, JOURNAL OF EDUCATION

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LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     7. Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

     This petition, like all the others in the prayer, is to the Father in the heavens; and the bread which He gives is Himself in the Divine Human, so that by reception there may be eternal life. This the Lord Himself taught in the discourse recorded in John 6:27-58, which should be read, and from which we take only the following: "My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven; for the bread of God is He that cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever."
     What is meant by the daily bread being given this day is told, as follows: "'Daily' and 'today' signify what is perpetual. This appears evident from the manna, which rained from heaven daily, with a double portion on the sixth day for the sabbath on the next day, concerning which in Exodus 16:16-23. The manna signified the Lord's Divine Human; and whereas the Lord's Divine Human is heavenly food, which is no other than love and charity, with the goods of love and faith, this food in the heavens is given to the angels every moment by the Lord, consequently forever and to eternity. This also is what is meant in the Lord's Prayer in the petition, 'Give us this day our daily bread,' that is, every instant to eternity" (AC 2838).
     Our interior thought should be of the heavenly bread. And there can also be, and should be, the exterior thought of the earthly bread. Sometimes the one thought, sometimes the other, will be the more prominent, according to one's state and the circumstances of the time. By the earthly bread is meant food, clothing, and shelter; knowledge and intelligence, especially in what pertains to one's use; domestic happiness; necessaries and comforts of all kinds; in short, everything pertaining to earthly life. These the Lord, the Heavenly Father, gives; and but for His giving we would not have them.
     The appearance is that this is the only petition in the prayer that asks for what is natural; all the others asking only for what is spiritual. Yet this is not so, for there is involved in it something most vital to spiritual life, namely, trust that the Lord in His providence gives what is needful and best for our earthly life.

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We pray for that trust, so often weak and greatly in need of being strengthened. But trust in Divine Providence in what pertains to earthly life is a subject for more extended consideration than is possible here. We can only refer to the teaching of the Writings that while men should provide for the present and the future, they should do so without anxiety and with trust in the Divine Providence. It is for this trust, both in things earthly and in things spiritual, that this petition prays.
NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     The prophecy through Isaiah is concluded ill the July readings from the Old Testament (Isaiah 50-65, Jeremiah 1:1-5:18), which also introduce us to the second of the major prophets. In the closing chapters of Isaiah the Lord's Messianic work is described, the restoration of Israel promised, the destruction of enemies and the end of idolatry announced, and the creation of a new heaven and earth foretold. Although a number of other topics appear, at least once or with more or less frequency, the predominant subjects in the spiritual sense are, in that order, a new church, redemption and salvation by the Lord, and the total devastation and rejection of the church. It should be noted that the new heaven and earth spoken of are not those formed by the Lord at His second coming but the heaven and church established by His first advent. Isaiah 53, which presents to view the "suffering servant" or "man of sorrows," stands alone among the Messianic prophecies as an actual description of the person the Lord and a true account of the things He suffered when on earth. Possibly the only other prophecy which approaches it in the latter respect is the 22nd Psalm.
     Jeremiah, a priest of Anathoth whose name means "exalted by Jehovah," was called when a youth and prophesied in Jerusalem and other cities of Judah for forty years, until the final capture of the city. This prophet of woe, whose inspired counsel called for implicit trust in the Lord and a course against every dictate of human prudence, is himself a striking example of utter submission to the Divine will. Shy and timid, subject to despondency and sadness, he was called to a task requiring undaunted resolution and rare courage; one which set him alone in a hostile world and cut him off from the normal pleasures of life. Yet with unswerving devotion to duty he maintained his work to the end.

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It is specifically stated in the Writings that Jeremiah represented the Lord, that He should be born in order to teach all Divine truth, the state of the Jewish Church, and the rejection of the Divine truth by that church; and in the inspired story of this prophet, whose life and mind are described and revealed more fully than those of any other, the representation of the Lord can be clearly seen-provided it is ever borne in mind.
     The Arcana readings (nos. 9818-9915:2) illustrate superbly the life that is given to the letter by the internal sense. Apparently dealing only with the priestly vestments, the verses expounded are seen to contain profound arcana. Of particular interest is the explanation of the Urim and Thummim by which Jehovah was consulted-a subject about which there has been much speculation among biblical scholars. A further treatment is to be found in AE 431:3.
ACADEMY MUSEUM: AN APPEAL 1954

ACADEMY MUSEUM: AN APPEAL              1954

     The Academy Museum is starting a collection of New Church ecclesiastical vestments. If there are any families of former ministers who have in their possession vestments no longer in use that they would like to have preserved, it would be greatly appreciated if they would donate them to the Museum. They will be carefully stored in a specially constructed cupboard, labeled, and catalogued, with their complete history or all available information. The Academy Library also would like to have pictures of ministers, past or present, in their robes.
     Miss Constance Pendleton of Bryn Athyn, who is in charge of this collection, is making a study of the history of the use of vestments in the New Church. If there is anyone who can give information about the robes worn in the Academy or elsewhere, she asks if they will kindly communicate with her. She would like to know something about the style, color and material used, by whom worn, in what place, and at what time. She would especially like to know when the use of the blue and red outer robes of the Academy was changed to the present all white robes with colored stoles, as no record has been found of the change.

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REVIEWS 1954

REVIEWS              1954

CONJUGIAL LOVE. By Emanuel Swedenborg Swedenborg Society Standard Edition. Translated by Alfred Acton. The Swedenborg Society (Inc.), London, 1953. Cloth, pp. 484 + v-xxxix.
     Our English versions of the Writings show the influence of various schools of thought. Some translators, believing that their primary duty was to render the original accurately, have favored words of Latin derivation and have used Latin word order and sentence structure to convey the content as fully and as faithfully as possible. Others, holding advanced views on the need for accommodation, have rendered what they regard as obsolete Latinisms by contemporary words, in some instances paraphrasing rather than translating, and thus changing the meaning intended to be conveyed. And others, impressed as were the first with the importance of fidelity, have sought to render the meaning by the nearest equivalents which good English usage permits, and then to arrange these equivalents according to that usage so that the content is conveyed both fully and clearly in standard English. In so doing, however, they have not sacrificed the distinctive terms of the Writings.
     This translation of Conjugial Love may fairly be said to belong to the first of these three groups, which in the opinion of this reviewer is much to be preferred to the second. Although this may represent a certain reversal of trend, however, it is by no means a defect in a standard edition. Dr. Acton's competence as a student of Swedenborg's Latin, both in manuscript and in printed text, has long been established, and his meticulous care and accuracy as a translator are well known. His close adherence to the original places the English reader as nearly as possible in the position of one who reads the Latin, which increases the usefulness of the volume to the average New Church man and makes it of value to the serious student who is unable to read the original. And anyone who is familiar with the vocabulary and style of the Writings will have no difficulty in following the text with ease, pleasure, and satisfaction. In this he will be aided by the production itself. The publishers have achieved a surprisingly slim volume, set in clear type and issued in the now standard format which has so many features to commend it.
     One small but important gain that we noted is the consistent use for the external mind of the word "animus," which is defined and distinguished from "mens" in a footnote where it first occurs (no. 5: 4); and we were glad to see that "proprium" and "cognitions" are carried over as English words which have found a place in our New Church vocabulary, though we do wonder, perhaps inconsistently, if "science" is a happy rendering of scientia.

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It is important that the exactness of terminology achieved in the Writings should not be lost in translation, and these are steps in the direction of preserving the expression of distinctive ideas in distinctive terms. Of particular interest is the printing, on page 484, of a translation of the Announcement (The Theological Works Hitherto Published by Me) which appeared on the last page of the original edition of Conjugial Love. This concludes with the statement: "Within two years you will see the Doctrine of the New Church, predicted by the Lord in the Apocalypse Chapters xxi, xxii, in fulness."
     The volume is equipped with all the aids furnished in the larger works translated and published by the Swedenborg Society. Although the index has been shortened considerably it does not seem to have lost anything in usefulness. The rest of the appendix consists of a page of corrections of the Latin text-the original, Hofaker, and Worcester editions; a short list of changed paragraph numbers-151b-156b have become 156a-156f; an index of Scripture passages; and, as has become a standard practice of the Society, a table of passages which are repeated in other works. The text itself is equipped with a number of footnotes, some of which indicate changes in the Latin text, while others define or distinguish terms or explain allusions that might otherwise be overlooked or puzzle the reader.
     In his preface to the text, Dr. Acton expresses appreciation of the help given to him by the Rev. D. J. Sutton, his consultant, who read through the whole of the manuscript and made many valuable suggestions for the improvement of the translation. And it is our feeling that as the translation is studied the Church will express appreciation to Dr. Acton for work done with characteristic vigor and thoroughness.

THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH. By Emanuel Swedenborg. Edited by Frank F. Coulson. The Swedenborg Society (Inc.), London, 1954. Cloth, pp. 78 + iii-viii.

     For several years now the Swedenborg Society has been actively engaged in issuing new translations and editions of the Writings, making use of the talents of various translators, consultants, and editors. This little volume is the latest to be received under that policy. The translation was originally made by the Rev. E. C. Mongredien, who had as his consultant the Rev. A. Wynne Acton. Mr. Coulson's work as editor has consisted in revising and preparing it for publication in the light of the Rev. S. H. Worcester's notes on the Skara manuscript; and we are informed that the "translation now presented has aimed at faithfulness to the original combined with clarity and perfection of English" (Preface).

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The original manuscript of this posthumous work is now lost, but two independent copies, the Nordenskjold and the Skara MSS., were made by others. The former is now in the possession of the Swedenborg Society. The whereabouts of the latter, once in the possession of the Rev. R. L. Tafel, are not now known. But the Rev. S. H. Worcester, editor of the Latin edition published by the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society, had access to it, and a photographic copy of his notes of all variations between the Skara and the Nordenskjold MSS., was obtained by the Swedenborg Society.
     In the preparation of the edition under review these two versions and the Latin text as edited by Mr. Worcester were carefully compared and consulted. The edition has been based on the Nordenskjold version, which on the basis of internal evidence the editor believes to be a substantially accurate copy of what Swedenborg wrote; and all significant variations of the Skara version have been entered in footnotes. An interesting change has been introduced in Holy Spirit IV:7 (p. 46), where the Latin reads: "sed quod e clerico recipiatur secundum fidem vitae ejus." The editor explains that Worcester assumed the "e" to be a copyist's error for "a" and rendered: "but it [the Holy Spirit] is received by the clergyman according to the faith of his life." He notes, however, that the two MSS., have "e" and translates: "but it is received from the clergyman according to the faith of his [the recipient's] life." For this, as he observes, the Latin is imperfect, but his rendering is in agreement with the teaching of the two following numbers.
     A volume has been produced which not only appears to have achieved the aims with which the work was undertaken but will also be of value to the student who is interested in problems of textual criticism as they apply to the Writings. We congratulate the Swedenborg Society, therefore, on its publication.



     RECEIVED FOR REVIEW

ARCANA COELESTIA. By Emanuel Swedenborg. Third Latin Edition, Volume III (nos. 2760-4055). Edited by Philip H. Johnson, B.A., B.Sc. The Swedenborg Society (Inc.), London, 1953. Cloth, pp. 844.

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EXTENDING THE HORIZONS 1954

EXTENDING THE HORIZONS       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary               Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.
     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     A recent obituary in a society news sheet said of the friend named that after graduating from the Academy he took two years of college in Bryn Athyn. The local editor will pardon, we trust, this use of what may have been a typographical error to introduce something that should be considered before Commencement fades into the background. Perhaps because many of our parents did not go to college here, there is a tendency on the part of some to identify the Academy with the secondary schools. This comes out constantly in casual talk. Someone spoken of as an Academy graduate turns out to be the holder of a diploma from the boys' or girls' high school, a young person introduced as a senior in the Academy to be in the upper class in the Boys' Academy or the Girls' Seminary, and so on; and we would say nothing to minimize their status.
     Those who have completed here four years of high school have finished a unit of New Church education-a worthy achievement of lasting benefit that is not to be depreciated. But with the development of the Junior College in the last decade has come a challenge to extend the horizons of our thinking. For some time yet the Senior College will remain largely a normal and pre-theological school, though only until steady working toward that goal enables it to broaden its offerings. But we may no longer think of the high school graduate as the final and complete product of New Church education below the teacher training or pre-theological level. Our proud slogan-a New Church education for every New Church girl and boy capable of benefiting from it-should have as its end, and with the same proviso, the Junior College.

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PRESENT ENEMY 1954

PRESENT ENEMY       Editor       1954

     Two countries in which our church has been established celebrate this month their national day. As we survey the world and the times in which they will do so, it is impossible not to recognize in secularism rather than in corrupt theological dogma the present enemy of state and church alike, or to see the anomalies this foe has created. The Writings tell us that when men reject religion they transfer its attributes to that which is preferred-a phenomenon that was markedly observable in Nazi propaganda; and although secularism is, strictly speaking, a philosophy of life which rejects all forms of religious faith and worship, its apotheosis, Communism, proclaims science as its messiah and has attributes akin to religious zeal and devotion which at times arise to fanaticism. On both sides of the Iron Curtain, moreover, millions of people have thrown off all fear of God; and in its stead men are forming a world in which dread of the future, and fear of man for man, is far more horrifying than any terror of the hereafter which the fire and brimstone preachers could generate in their sultriest periods.
     The future is deeply hidden from us. We cannot foretell the events through which the Lord will secretly lead His church; cannot foresee the crises, even the apparent disasters, through which He may bring it to victory. But we can be certain of His leading. We can know that the old enemy in his present guise will not be conquered by sullen suspicion, frantic fear, or homicidal hate. Evil and falsity are not overcome by these, their own products, but by good and truth calmly and positively applied in use. From the moral and civil resources it still has-resources which are yet planes for the Lord's presence and operation-the free world must draw the positive affirmations and program it can. And from the spiritual resources vouchsafed to it the church, as the heart and lungs of that world, must draw the faith that casts out fear and imparts sanity, enabling it to perform with courage, conviction, and decision its seemingly remote but indispensable uses.
FREELY GIVE! 1954

FREELY GIVE!       Editor       1954

     Reflection upon the General Assembly just concluded, the observance of New Church Lay in which it culminated, and the ordination service which gave peculiar point to that celebration, has caused us to think again about certain words of the Lord: "Freely ye have received, freely give." The apostles were setting out on a mission of teaching, healing, and exorcism. But they could evangelize and restore to bodily and mental health only as many of those whom the Lord had prepared as their zeal and energy directed.

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Therefore the Lord so charged them. For power would be given as they strove to use it, and the more they did so from a love for the salvation of souls the more would they receive.
     The Lord's words express the law revealed in the Writings that influx is according to efflux, and that if the efflux is checked the influx is checked (AC 5828). Spiritual gifts cannot be stored away. They can be imparted only in the measure that they are used in service to others, and the more they are so shared the more are they increased. This law is of particular interest now. The spirit of an Assembly is one not only of grateful thanksgiving for benefits so freely bestowed but also of supplication for their continuance and increase; and this prayer may be granted by the Lord only under the law noted.
     We may see the operation of this law in an Assembly itself; for the sharing of the treasures of understanding received through study, of zeal for the uses of the General Church, and of the joy we feel in coming together for the advancement of the church, results in a sphere of love and loyalty which the Lord could not impart except through those efforts. And if that sphere, inspiring renewed and greater activity, is not to be dissipated, the same efforts to share those gifts must be carried back into our societies, circles, groups, and isolated homes. They must be carried into our painful, often faulty, day by day endeavors to develop the life of spiritual charity with our neighbor. They must be carried back as renewing forces into our homes and schools that our children and young people may receive that portion of understanding and love of the doctrine and life of the church that is their heritage. And without prejudice to our educational uses, they should he carried back as a resolve to share the riches so freely given to us with those as yet in the darkness of ignorance, but whose minds are being prepared by the Lord for reception of His truth, and who in His providence may be led to us. For the essence of love is a desire to share with others its most precious gifts, and a church concerned entirely with its own is falling short of its use. As these things are done the Assembly will indeed be a blessing; for into our efforts the Lord will inflow with His life.
LOVE OF RELIGION 1954

LOVE OF RELIGION       Editor       1954

     The Writings, when enumerating the moral virtues, mention also certain other virtues which are spiritual. These are of a discretely higher order because they do not flow from rational or moral wisdom but from love to the Lord and toward the neighbor. In a true church they are the virtues that are most highly regarded, and they are of the greatest importance; for it is only in the measure that they have entered into a man's moral virtues that these remain permanently after death.

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Although there are said to be others, the spiritual virtues named are love of religion, charity, truth, faith, conscience, and innocence; and it is said that justice and judgment bear rule in them, and that they map be referred to zeal for religion, the common good, one's country, and one's parents, married partner, and children.
     We propose to comment on these virtues during the next few months, speaking first of the love of religion. Evidently this virtue is more than love of religious ceremonies, which may only afford aesthetic or sensual gratification, stir the emotions, or compensate for drabness and frustration. It is more than love of what is commonly called a religious life, which may breed a sense of merit and superiority and foster an intolerant spirit. And it is more than love of doctrine, which may be merely intellectual. These things have their place, and when the true love of religion is present are its signs; but they are not that love itself because the things to which they are given are not religion itself.
     In itself, we are told, religion is the marriage of the Lord and the church. Its end is the formation of an angelic heaven from the human race, and its use is to impart spiritual things to man through a revelation of Divine truths from the Lord and man's willing and acting according to these precepts. Its generals are the acknowledgment and adoration of the Divine Human and the shunning of evils as sins against God in a life of repentance; and its very life is the doing of good according to doctrine, which life is its immediate end.
     The genuine love of religion is therefore the spiritual love of these things. To have it is to love and desire that the church may indeed be the wife of the Lord, to wish for conjunction with the Lord, to place one's ends in the life after death and look to what is eternal, to love truths from the Word and shun self-intelligence, to long for the conjugial and shun its opposite, and to love not only the doctrines but also the life of the church-that life which consists first in repentance and then in the performance of the uses of charity.
     So to love the internal and external things of worship and religion-as uses for receiving the spiritual, and as means of entering into life eternal-and to desire them for all degrees of the neighbor, is to have love of religion. And this is indeed the first of the spiritual virtues and that which makes moral life to be spiritual in origin; for it produces true and just desires, judgments, and acts, on every plane of life.

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"SCIENTIFIC" OR "PHILOSOPHICAL"? 1954

"SCIENTIFIC" OR "PHILOSOPHICAL"?       HAROLD F. PITCAIRN       1954

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     What is the most appropriate term for Swedenborg's pre-theological works? A good many years ago these works were called the "scientific works," but in recent years this term has been dropped, for the most part, and they are now usually called the "philosophical works." There seems to be good reason for the change, because many people consider that these works are more philosophical than scientific, at least so far as the modern connotation of the term "scientific" is concerned. However, one sometimes has wondered if this change in terminology is really warranted.
     In some English translations the Latin term "scientifics" [scientifica] is rendered "memory-knowledges," but in other translations it is rendered "scientifics." It would seem that the latter rendering is better translating. However, "scientifics" as used in the Writings sometimes has a different connotation than the term as used in modern parlance. For instance, the Writings treat of "scientifics" of the letter of the Word.
     The study of philosophy is generally regarded as one of the highest of intellectual pursuits, and no doubt should serve to sharpen intellectual powers of analysis. On the other hand, most of the philosophies which have been formulated contain fallacies, if not falsities, and this is likely to result in erroneous thinking and false conclusions.
     The objective of most philosophers is to discover what truth is, and this from pure reasoning, but the great divergence of opinion as to what truth is among those who are recognized as great philosophers is noteworthy. Maybe this is why Pilate asked the Lord: "What is truth."
     The question as to whether the pre-theological works should properly be called the "philosophical works" is prompted by the following quotation: "It may hence be concluded how poor and worthless philosophy is, from which, nevertheless, men are called learned, inasmuch as every little boy is more learned from himself, or in himself" (SD 226). Potts' Concordance gives sixty-eight partial quotations or references on philosophy or philosophers, most of which are derogatory.
     In spite of this, Swedenborg considered himself a philosopher before his spiritual eyes were opened. In Influx or Intercourse of the Soul and the Body no. 20, he tells how from being a philosopher he became a theologian.
     It should be noted that in two respects Swedenborg is unique among the philosophers. 1) He never wavered from the premise that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only God of heaven and earth. The Catholics and many of the Protestants acknowledge that Christ is God, but only one of three persons in the Godhead. 2) Because of his preparation for becoming the revelator of the Second Coming he had a providential guidance in his philosophical studies which no other philosopher enjoyed.

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Because of this we conclude that it is appropriate to continue our custom of calling the pre-theological works the "philosophical works."
     HAROLD F. PITCAIRN
TWO MUCH QUAFA AND NOT ENOUGH PIM: 1954

TWO MUCH QUAFA AND NOT ENOUGH PIM:       GILBERT H. SMITH       1954

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     Could I get a brief word edgewise into the LIFE? What does the BULLETIN OF THE SONS OF THE ACADEMY mean when it says: "Most material in LIFE is not written for publication"? I am sure everything I have offered the LIFE has been written for publication.
     But I will say this. In general it seems to me our New Church journalism contains too much QUAFA and hardly any PIM! What do I mean by that? When I finish reading a solid and sound article by a New Church writer I hate to have to put it down as being almost entirely QUAFA, when a little PIM would have saved it and made it more readable.
     Well, QUAFA is a made up word using the initial letters of certain significant words, e.g., UNO, UNESCO, ADA, CIO, etc. QUAFA is admittedly slightly sarcastic. The Q and the U stand for Quotations Unlimited, from the Writings, of course. A by itself stands for Affirmation of General Truths. F and A together stand for Fine Abstractions.
     A couple more letters could have been added, namely, D and R, but this would have destroyed the sound. D would have been for Definitions, and R for Rules and Regulations, on the spiritual plane, of course. But QUAFA carries the main idea of the nature of most of our present journalism. And while QUAFA is wonderful in itself, it is little good to the general public without some amount of PIM.
     The meaning of this word is Practical Illustrative Material. And the great value of it lies in the application of doctrine to life, which is what draws the interest of most New Church readers.
     Readable publications, I think, should contain enough PIM to enable the QUAFA therein to interest the reader, and to help him in the important matter of living. It is not the rules and definitions of a game that elicit delight but the actual playing of the game. While it is most valuable to know in general the laws and rules of spiritual life-the abstract truths about the Lord, regeneration, worship, and providence which are abundantly supplied by the writers of QUAFA, and which are most excellent for a course in theology-yet how much more to be desired is a lot more of the Practical Illustrative Material to give point to the doctrine, and to shed spiritual light on natural affairs.

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     Let me add to this, as something to think about at the coming Assembly, that we need not only a full time editor of New Church literature, but more especially do we need our own printing plant. Without this we shall always be handicapped in our publication uses.
     GILBERT H. SMITH
South Shaftesbury, Vermont
SPIRITUAL LOVE OF COUNTRY 1954

SPIRITUAL LOVE OF COUNTRY              1954

     "Even if I cannot love my country on account of its spiritual good, I can do so with regard to its moral and civil good, so far as this is not dependent upon its spiritual good, even if that country hates me. Thus I must not in hatred regard it as an enemy, nor as a stranger, but must still love it; doing it no injury, but consulting its good, in so far as it is good for it" (Char. 86).
USE OF CONTRASTS 1954

USE OF CONTRASTS              1954

     "What is good, nay, what is blessed and happy, no one can perceive with an exquisite sense unless he has been in a state of what is not good, blessed, and happy. From this he acquires a sphere of perception, and this in the degree in which he has been in the opposite state. The sphere of perception and the extension of its limits arise from the realizing of contrasts" (AC 2694).
BROAD LIBERAL IDEA 1954

BROAD LIBERAL IDEA              1954

     "One day an Old Dogma met a Broad Liberal Idea. 'Who are you,' he asked. 'I am," replied the Broad Liberal Idea, 'the daring faith that believes religion to be ethics and worship indissolubly fused into one great command and inspiring unity; that it is a manful recognition of the tender grace and awful sweep of things, and a high and pure resolve to convert this recognition into a voluntary energy of devotion to the Eternal Power that makes for righteousness.
     "'What do you mean by all that,' asked the Old Dogma. A Scoff standing by replied, 'Peace, old fossil; cannot you see that if a Broad Liberal Idea is narrowed down to a plain statement it becomes a dogma?'" (Anshutz, Fables).

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Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     DETROIT, MICHIGAN

     Our Swedenborg's birthday celebration held on February 11th, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bertil Larsson, with 32 in attendance, and we were very pleased to have the Rev. A. Wynne Acton address us on that occasion. He spoke on Swedenborg's work in the House of Nobles and gave us a brief history of Sweden during Swedenborg's time. Everyone enjoyed this talk very much. Mr. Acton spoke also to the older children's class and joined with them in celebrating Swedenborg's birthday.
     A few weeks later our Pastor the Rev. Norbert H. Rogers, received congratulations by the score. In April he became a citizen of the United States of America. More recent evidence of his complete transformation is his new-found ability to pronounce the word "schedule" like a true American!
     Mr. Rogers began a series of classes this year for adults who have become interested in our church during the last few years. The classes have been on the doctrines and beliefs of the New Church. Held on an average of twice monthly they have been well attended.
     Easter weekend brought with it another addition to our growing list of church functions. For the first time, Mr. Rogers conducted an evening Holy Super service on Good Friday. Our Easter morning service filled our small quarters to capacity. Fifty-four adults and twenty-nine children attended the service. Each child brought a plant as an offering, and all the children joined with Mr. Rogers in the Easter recitation.
     April 24, 1954, will go down in the history of the General Church in Detroit as a memorable date, for on that day we became officially a Society of the General Church. Bishop De Charms had come to Detroit for the weekend to discuss with us our future as a society and the many topics related to building a church and a school. On Saturday evening we gathered at the Oakridge Women's Club for supper followed by a Circle meeting. After a wonderful address by
Bishop De Charms the meeting was open for questions and discussion. Before the meeting ended it was resolved unanimously to ask the Bishop for society status-a request that was immediately granted. Everyone was then invited to the Norman Synnestvedt home to celebrate this happy occasion.
     Early in May we received from the State of Michigan the charter for our incorporation. The next step, we hope, will be the purchase of property for a church building, which, again, we hope, will be started some time next year.
     The years ahead will be full of hard work and excitement for all as we look forward to the fulfillment of a dream that has been with us in Detroit for many years-a place of our own to worship the Lord and carry on all the uses of the church.
     It was a happy promise for this year of hope that top news in January, the month that ushered it in, was new babies. Two little girls, and one little boy, were added to the growing number of children that inspires much of our effort to build for the future.
     FRANCES SMITH

     BALTIMORE, MD.

     The Minutes of a joint meeting of the Washington and Baltimore Circles held in Laurel, Md., on April 4, 1954, show that Bishop De Charms made the following statement: "I propose, on or about September 1st next, when a new year of church activity begins, formally to recognize the Washington Circle and the Baltimore Circle as societies of the General Church, under the joint Pastorship of the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton, who will at that time be prepared, by ordination into the second degree of the priesthood, to undertake this responsibility."
     The Bishop's proposal at that time was the culmination of much discussion on the part of both circles. Our situation as societies will be unique, in that for Baltimore at least our new status will depend largely on Washington, without whose proportionately larger support of a pastor we could not undertake this move.

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However, beginning next fall, with adult doctrinal classes held every week instead of bi-weekly, we shall have a full schedule of weekly church activities-children's classes, adult classes, and services, with the hope of an occasional joint service and some social activities with Washington. Bishop De Charms pointed out that we must have especially in mind the free and individual development of each society, with the possibility of one requiring the full time of a pastor before the other. We look forward to the new responsibilities and benefits of our future status, and are eager to do our share as we see it in the
immediate possibilities of the present, but humble in the knowledge that it is the Lord who builds the church.
     Our joint meeting was held in the Veterans' Hall in Laurel where, prior to the meeting, Bishop De Charms assisted by Mr. Pendleton conducted a service which was followed by a luncheon for the adults, the children being fed and happily entertained at the home of the Rowland Trimbles. There were 84 children and adults at the service, this total including 27 voting members from Washington and 22 from Baltimore. Mrs. De Charms was a most welcome visitor. Before and after this historic event we had a variety of activities, notable for the number of different members of the clergy who presided. On January 27th we celebrated Swedenborg's birthday with a supper in the chapel for old and young alike. After that our activities proceeded in the normal way, with the usual fine instruction from Mr. Pendleton, until February 26th, when he had a sudden appendectomy. That weekend we were without services, but on March 6th and 7th the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson kindly took his place. He presented an interesting class on conscience, bringing in the different things that contribute to it and showing that the only true conscience is that which is received from the Lord by regeneration. His sermon was on "The Testimony of Jesus.
     On March 13th our recuperated minister returned, bringing with him the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton who gave us such an intriguing class on correspondences, representatives, and significatives that we glimpsed for a moment the thrill the Most Ancients must have had in seeing the whole of the natural world vibrant with spiritual meaning. It was pointed out that the Writings are written in rational correspondences, and that only as we have a basis of natural truth
in our minds can we see the spiritual truth to which it corresponds Before this class we had a supper to welcome both members of the clergy. Both were on the chancel next day and the sermon was preached by Bishop Pendleton. Miss Kerry Pendleton accompanied her father on his visit here.
     After the Easter service, which was welcomed by the blooming bulbs we had planted outside the chapel last year and added to by the plants the children brought this year, Mr. Pendleton left on his tour of the Southeastern States. Once again we were taken care of in his absence by the Rev. Cairns Henderson, whose interesting class on "Imputation" gave the comfort of knowing that only those evils are imputed to us which are of both the will and the understanding together. On his previous visit we were busy deciding how we should redecorate the chancel. On this visit he got into the actual redecorating. The old chancel, center of many fond memories, especially for those who remembered the erection of the chapel, had served its use well for some forty years. But it has needed repair for some time, and we feel that all who see the new chancel will be pleased with the sphere of quiet reverence achieved by hanging oyster white curtains entirely around the back. The altar with the rising sun above it has been replaced by a simple walnut cabinet on which is the Word with candles on either side. A spotlight focuses our attention on the Word of the Lord. We were happy to have these changes completed before Mr. Henderson administered the Holy Supper the next day.
     On May 8th and 9th we were glad to have with us the Rev. David R. Simons, his wife, and two of their children. Mr. Simons departed from the usual type of doctrinal class to show us how science is presently being taught in the Bryn Athyn Elementary School; and we noted with joy that those science classes are doctrinal classes in their most practical form, developing in the child humility and awe before the wonders of creation, together with a felt need to learn of the Lord. It was particularly inspiring to us who are away from the centers of New Church education.
     Our own minister returned to us on May 22nd, bringing with him Mr. Jan Weiss, a theological student whose home is in Holland. In talking of his Southern trip, Mr. Pendleton gave us an overall picture of the new developments in the General Church as a whole; mentioning the organization and unification of the Canadian Northwest and the Western United States, and looking to a similar development in the Southeast.

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To our Southern friends so isolated Geographically we extend our heartiest good wishes for the future. Over refreshments which followed the class our thoughts were carried still further afield as Mr. Weiss told us of the efforts being made to establish Swedenborg study groups in Holland. The next day Mr. Weiss gave us a sermon on the living water, which is the recognition of the Word as Divinely revealed truth.
     All told, this season closes with bright hopes for the future, not alone in the Baltimore Circle, but in the Church as a whole.
     JANET H. DOERING

     MINISTERIAL CHANGES

     The Rev. Norman H. Reuter, Pastor of the Kitchener, Ontario, Society, has accepted appointment also as Visiting Pastor of the Montreal, Quebec, Circle.

     THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

     Joint Meeting

     The Annual Joint Meeting of the Corporation and Faculty of the Academy of the New Church was held on Saturday night, June 5th, 1954, at 8:00 p.m., in the Benade Hall Auditorium. About 125 persons were present.
     After the prayer and reading from the Word, Bishop De Charms began the annual reports. The report of the Dean of Schools was presented and that of the Treasurer. When called upon to summarize the other reports Bishop Pendleton said that he had been asked by a number of persons to return to the practice of hearing some of the reports read by the people who wrote them. In line with this suggestion he asked the heads of schools to read their reports. Other reports were then summarized by Bishop Pendleton.
     The meeting was then addressed by Mr. Charles S. Cole, Jr. His subject was the first year college course in Philosophy. Bishop Pendleton and he had collaborated in presenting this seminar type course.
     The work included study of philosophic terminology in general, various philosophic ideas of the past and present about creation, and the nature of man. Other ideas and systems were presented in the light of Swedenborg's philosophy gleaned from the Writings as well as the philosophical works themselves.
     The final section of the course was designed to provide the students with the knowledge that all systems of thought depend on certain basic assumptions. Since these assumptions are neither provable nor disprovable in a scientific sense, the New Church man is fully as intellectually respectable as anyone.
     In commenting on the talk Bishop Pendleton said that our graduates do well in expounding our faith. Where they sometimes have trouble is in dealing with philosophic arguments. The weapons of philosophy are necessary for the defense of the faith of the New Church in today's world.
     The reports and address will be printed in the September, 1954, JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.
     SIG SYNNESTVEDT

     SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION

     The 57th Annual Meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association was held on Wednesday, May 19th, 1954, at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, with an attendance of 64, 45 of whom were members of the Association.
     Officers for the coming year were elected as follows: President: Professor Edward F. Allen; Board of Directors: Miss Beryl G. Briscoe; Messrs. Alfred Acton, Charles S. Cole, Charles E. Doering, W. Cairns Henderson, Wilfred Howard, Hugo Lj. Odhner, Joel Pitcairn, and Leonard I. Tafel.
     Officers elected by the Board were: Vice-President: Dr. Charles E. Doering; Literary Editor: Dr. Alfred Acton; Treasurer: Miss Beryl C. Briscoe; Secretary: Mr. Wilfred Howard.
     To fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Dr. Acton as Editor of the NEW PHILOSOPHY, an Editorial Board had been appointed consisting of the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson as Executive Editor and Messrs. Edward F. Allen, Charles S. Cole, and Hugo Lj. Odhner as members of the Board.
     The Treasurer reported a balance in the General Account of $908.36, and in the Publication Account of $1,526.84. The total number of books sold during the year was 124. The present membership of the Association is now 267.
     Dr. Alfred Acton presented an editorial report covering the July and October issues of the NEW PHILOSOPHY, in which he stated that the second volume of the Letters and Memorials of Emanuel Swedenborg is approaching completion and will be ready for publication in the summer or early fall.

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A report was received also from the Editorial Board.
     The report of the Board of Directors noted that during the year two special meetings of the Association had been held under the auspices of the Civic and Social Club of Bryn Athyn. Both had been eminently successful and had been well attended. Action had been taken looking to publication of the second volume of the Letters and Memorials of Emanuel Swedenborg, and a report on future publication needs had been received from Dr. Odhner, chairman of a committee on publications.
     Chapter reports from Glenview, Illinois, and Hurstville, Australia, were read. A report was received later from the Kitchener Chapter.
     Professor Eldric S. Klein delivered the Annual Address, his subject being "Swedenborg's Journal of 1733." The address will be published in the July issue of the NEW PHILOSOPHY. In the discussion which followed appreciation and comments on various aspects of the address were made by Messrs. Hugo Lj. Odhner, W. Cairns Henderson, A. Wynne Acton, Charles S. Cole, and Frank S. Rose.
     WILFRED HOWARD,
          Secretary

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Convention. It is announced in the NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER that the theme of the annual session of Convention will be "Christ, the Hope of the World," after that chosen by the World Council of Churches for its Evanston session this summer.
     A recent issue of the same periodical mentions a journey by the Rev. Franklin H. Blackmer, President of Convention, from Boston to California, then back to New York and on to Cuba, British and Dutch Guiana. In Georgetown, British Guiana, Mr. Blackmer dedicated the recently erected church. The itinerary included a number of places not previously visited by a President of Convention.
     The clergy of the General Convention have received from the New Church Theological School, Cambridge, Mass., a communication inviting their coooperation in recruiting badly needed men for the ministry.
     Last March the California Association sponsored a two-session "Institute," the object of which was to "present the New Church approach to ministers of other denominations in the Los Angeles area." Although the attendance was not as large as expected it was felt that good was accomplished, and studies are being made for the next session.

     India. The NEW-CHURCH HERALD has commenced publication of a short account of the life and work of Mr. D. Gopaul Chetty, who died on December 30, 1953, in his 90th year. Gopaul Chetty, whose death was widely noticed in the Indian press, had been teacher and barrister, editor and scholar, social and religious reformer, and had published several philosophical works both in English and Tamil. He was known throughout the New Church for his efforts to spread the knowledge of the Writings among the people of India-work which weakness and almost total blindness had compelled him to give up in 1948.

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WESTERN STATES ASSEMBLY 1954

WESTERN STATES ASSEMBLY       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954




     Announcements.
     An Assembly of members of the General Church in the Western United States will be held from Friday, July 30 to Sunday, August 1, 1954, at the Glendale New Church, 346 Riverdale Drive, Glendale 4, California, the Bishop of the General Church presiding.
     All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited at attend. Those wishing to make arrangements for accommodation should communicate with the Chairman of Arrangements, Mrs. Stuart Synnestvedt, 1702 Don Carlos, Glendale, California.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS,
          Bishop
PEACE RIVER DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1954

PEACE RIVER DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1954

     The Third Peace River Block District Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, on Sunday, August 1st, 1954, the Rev. Roy Franson presiding.
     All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. Those wishing to make arrangements for accommodation should communicate with the Secretary, Mrs. William Esak, Box 1744, Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS,
          Bishop
SIGHT OF THE SPIRIT 1954

SIGHT OF THE SPIRIT              1954

     "The eye itself is properly nothing but the sight of his [man's] spirit led forth abroad, and this especially to the end that he may see internal things from external; that is, that he may from the objects in the world reflect continually upon those which are in the other life; for this is the life for the sake of which he lives in the world" (AC 1806e).

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General Church of the New Jerusalem 1954

General Church of the New Jerusalem              1954

     FORTY-FIRST BRITISH ASSEMBLY

     PRESIDENT: REV. ALAN GILL

     Members and friends of the General Church of the New Jerusalem are cordially invited to attend the Forty-first British Assembly, to be held at Colchester, July 31st to August 2nd, 1954.
     Program

Saturday, July 31st
     5:30 p.m. Tea.
     7:00 p.m. First Session of the Assembly. Presidential Address.
Sunday, August 1st
     11:00 a.m. Divine Worship. Preacher: Rev. Erik Sandstrom.
     1:15 p.m. Luncheon.
     4:00 p.m. Holy Supper Service.
     5:30 p.m. Tea.
     7:00 p.m. Second Session. Address by the Rev. Erik Sandstrom.

Monday, August 2nd
     10:00 a.m. Third Session. Address by the Rev. Frank S. Rose. Subject: "Temptations."
     1:00 p.m. Luncheon.
     7:30 p.m. The Assembly Social. Mr. Owen Pryke, M.C.
     All sessions and services will be held at the Church of the New Jerusalem, 175-181 Maldon Road. The Assembly Social will be held at the Red Lion Hotel.
     Meals will be served on the church grounds. A buffet supper will be provided at the commencement of the Assembly Social.

     Accommodations

     Those requiring accommodation should communicate with Mrs. J. F. Cooper, 33 Lexden Road, Colchester, Essex.
     MORLEY D. RICH,
          Secretary
New Church Club 1954

New Church Club       MORLEY D. RICH       1954

     All male members and friends of the New Church are cordially invited to attend a meeting of the New Church Club at Swedenborg House on Friday, July 30th, at 7:00 p.m., in the Wynter Room. Mr. Sydney E. Lee of Glenview, Illinois, U.S.A., will address the meeting on the subject: "Swedenborg's Key."
     MORLEY D. RICH,
          President

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BISHOP W. D. PENDLETON 1954

BISHOP W. D. PENDLETON              1954


[Photo of Willard Dandridge Pendleton]
     NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV          AUGUST, 1954           NO. 8
     A Biographical Sketch

     The Right Rev. Willard Dandridge Pendleton, who was chosen as Assistant Bishop of the General Church at the recent Assembly, is the second son of the late Bishop Nathaniel Dandridge Pendleton. Born in Pittsburgh on April 7, 1908, he came to Bryn Athyn with his family six years later and there received his elementary and secondary education, graduating from the Boys' Academy in 1926. The next four years were spent at the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in pre-law and English, receiving in 1930 the degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics. Mr. Pendleton then entered the Theological School of the Academy, and in June, 1933, was granted the degree of Bachelor of Theology and was ordained into the first degree of the priesthood.
     For a year after his ordination, Mr. Pendleton served in the Academy Schools as an Instructor in Religion and English. His marriage to Miss Gabriele Pitcairn, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Pitcairn, took place in June, 1934. Of this marriage there are five children, two sons and three daughters. In September of that year he was ordained into the second degree and moved with his wife to Pittsburgh, where he served as pastor for ten years. It was during his pastorate there that two highly successful General Assemblies were held at Shadyside Academy. When the United States entered World War II, he became one of the founders of the COMMUNIQUE. Keenly concerned for the spiritual welfare of our young men and women in the services, and warmly interested in the work of the Military Service Committee, he was a valued counselor up to the end of the war.
     In 1944, Mr. Pendleton was recalled to Bryn Athyn, and for the next two years was an Instructor in Religion and English in the Academy and Visiting Pastor to the New York Circle and the group in Westfield, New Jersey. At the Eighteenth General Assembly, held in Bryn Athyn in June, 1946, he was ordained into the third degree of the priesthood.

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At the same time he was elected Executive Vice President of the Academy of the New Church, and by episcopal appointment was made Assistant to the Bishop of the General Church.
     As Assistant to the Bishop, Bishop Pendleton has presided with distinction at National and District Assemblies and has made a number of episcopal visits. He was responsible also for the separation of the Educational Council Meetings from those of the Council of the Clergy, and planned and carried through the reorganization of the former body's activities. Early in 1951, when Bishop De Charms' illness had already lasted some months, action was taken by the Councils of the Church to recognize him as Representative of the Bishop-a capacity in which he rendered signal service, and showed a high regard for the interim nature of the office, until Bishop De Charms was happily restored to health.
     The office of Executive Vice President of the Academy was a new one, upon which fell the bulk of the administrative work of the Academy, the final responsibility resting with the President. To this office Bishop Pendleton brought a deep interest in the philosophy of New Church education and a keen insight into the philosophies of the world, especially in higher education. To it he brought also the executive ability to cope with the Benade Hall fire and its aftermath and with the many problems of accreditation. He has been in the lead of the postwar movement for the development of the Junior College; and on the academic side has organized and successfully launched three important combination courses in the College-Great Books; Education 28, which includes observation and practice teaching; and a course on the basic principles of Swedenborg's philosophy and their application which was introduced last fall.
     Bishop Pendleton's special theological interests are in the doctrine of the glorification, particularly as it is unfolded in the Arcana series, and the doctrine of correspondences. Although he has not contributed frequently to NEW CHURCH LIFE, several studies reflecting these interests are to be found in its pages under his name.
     Our Assistant Bishop, whose career in uses is briefly sketched here, assumes his new office with the confidence, affectionate support, and complete good will of the entire General Church. It is the hope and belief of his many friends, grounded in observation of the past, that as its responsibilities increase, s, will he grow in stature to meet them.

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NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH 1954

NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1954

     (June 19, 1954.)

     "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy." (Isaiah 65:17, 18)
     The cities of Judah had been laid desolate, the temple burned down. The prophet cries out for God to rend the heavens and come down to redeem His people despite their confessed iniquities. And in the prophetic antiphonal the Lord graciously replies, promising to bring forth a remnant out of Babylonia and restore them to their lost inheritance: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and former things shall not be remembered. . . ." Jerusalem would be restored in glory, a new world would be formed where the wolf and the lamb could feed together and no evil enter in.
     But prophecy in its fulfilment adapts itself to human conditions. The Jews regained their holy land only to pollute it by shedding the blood of their Redeemer. And when the promise of the Messianic kingdom was repeated to the Christian Church, the Lord showed-in His own words as well as in the visions of John on Patmos-that there could be no new heaven and no new earth until the iniquity of man had been finally exposed and defeated in a last judgment in the spiritual world.
     Through long Christian centuries, pious men yearned for the swift establishment on earth of a City of God. But all that they were offered was another Babylon-a church of mystery and human ambition, an ironical parody of the promised New Jerusalem. Christendom congealed in the molds of pagan thought and practice, its simple doctrines confused by specious sophistry and perverted to serve the ends of human power, until it was led captive by the love of dominion and the love of the world. Increasingly, the heavens men sought were fashioned from human conceits, and the only new earth they hankered for was a society where natural life could be perfected through human inventions. It was forgotten that the church is not a structure of stone, but descends from God into the hearts of men.

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     Man can create nothing-no new heavens nor any new earth. Amidst all the novelties of this age there is nothing new. The human mind, after reaching each successive peak of accomplishment, stands as frustrated as when it first tasted of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. More and more material power has been concentrated into the hands of men. But no political contrivance can do more than balance evil against evil. No social theory, no ethical code, nor any scientific device, can reshape the human will-so as to make all things new.
     Yet the Lord has not forgotten His ancient promise to create new heavens and a new earth; to wipe out former sins and falsities; to bring a remnant out of the chaos of the world. His compassion on our sinful race has been shown in greater fulness than to other earths in the universe whose needs were not so great.
     A new will, responsive to God's will, could be restored to us only by our coming to know the Lord our Creator; to see His love and wisdom mirrored in His works and words; to understand His ends and purposes by learning the laws of His government; so that we might come to trust in His mercy and submit willingly to His provisions. It was for this cause that He Rave the written Word to the prophets, was made flesh on earth, and finally effected His second-and spiritual-advent to reveal the inner secrets of His Word. For only so could He "create new heavens and a new earth."
     It is not hard to see that love alone creates. Nothing new is produced except through love. And the new love through which the Lord can create the new heavens and the new earth can come to men only through a new understanding of the Lord-a new confidence in His eternal government, a grateful acceptance of the order of human life which He reveals in the Heavenly Doctrine. It was this new confidence, based on a new understanding, which the twelve disciples were sent forth to preach throughout the spiritual world on the nineteenth day of June in the year 1770, for the instruction of spirits who could be gathered into the new heavens to partake of the wedding supper of the Lamb (TCR 791, 4, 104, 339).
     As in heaven, so upon earth. The tabernacle of God is now among men in the form of doctrine which presents the Lord to our minds as the object of love and worship and as the source of spiritual charity. We cannot love except what we know and understand. God has been feared or loved in various ways-as a blind, predestining force of nature; as a tyrant to be appeased; as an object of pity as He hung upon the cross; as a Babe in the cradle; or as an ethical example, or a saintly mediator. But with His second advent He may be loved as the one Divine Human, God-Man, the soul of the heavens, identical with the infinite truth and law of Divine love which immediately rules in the least details of our lives.

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     It is in this new love, based on a new understanding, that the Lord can now operate as a creative force which shall make all things new. This new love is meant by the high mountain to which John was transported to witness the great city, holy Jerusalem, coming down from heaven. In it there was no room for the fearful or the unbelieving, for evil-doers, sorcerers, or liars, but for those only who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
     This New Jerusalem was first seen in heaven. Not as a sterile city of gold and stone, but as a throbbing community of uses, as a bride adorned for the wedding. What John saw-in his vision of the future-was the heaven of truly Christian life and thought, such as it now exists-with its cities and abodes founded amidst the hills and valleys which make up the ample "new earth" on which the angels consciously dwell. And let us not forget that these new lands are wholly spiritual-like the environment in which our own spirit also dwells, though it is circumscribed by the narrower horizon of our earthbound minds. The fertile earth and towering hills on which angels dwell, are nothing less than the constant love in which the seeds of truth are implanted to produce angelic paradises, and the confirmed faith upon which their lives are founded. Men often think of heaven as but a replica of earth. Yet wherever the Writings are read there should be a deep gratitude for the Divine provision that after death the things that now fleet through our minds as distant ideals, and move our will with tender affection, can become for us a new world in which our spirits can sense directly and objectively the loves and thoughts of others which here are hidden and unspoken; a world in which our inner purposes become perceptible as acts and our ideas are seen vividly in the light of truth itself. It is in this realm of the mind that the New Jerusalem must descend on earth. Apart from the new love of the Lord and the new concepts of charity no New Church can ever be planted on earth. Yet the holy city can "descend" only as doctrine. Even as the Lord sent His apostles to announce His new kingdom in the spiritual world, so the same everlasting gospel must be proclaimed among men for the establishment of the New Church-proclaimed as doctrine given "from the mouth of the Lord," "new doctrine which was not in the former church" and which shall "make all things new": a doctrine which "was indeed given before, in the Word," but which "could not be seen from the Word" until the spiritual sense was disclosed (Lord 65).

     But new wine cannot be mixed with old. The doctrine of the New Church cannot be received on earth except so far as the falsities of the former church are removed and rooted out, so that they shall "not be remembered nor come into mind."

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And this must be done first among the clergy-with a new clergy in whom the old falsities are not ingenerated (TCR 784, Docu. 232), a new clergy fully instructed in the newly revealed teachings; a priesthood inspired with zeal to teach the distinctive truths of the Writings and thereby lead men to the goods of faith and charity, to the life of the New Jerusalem; a priesthood which is ordained by the Lord to maintain the integrity of doctrine and which is to be led by the love of all that conduces to the salvation of souls.
     For next to the love of the Lord in His Divine Human now revealed, the love of the salvation of souls is the paramount love that must inspire the New Church. In the priesthood, this love become effective as preaching and leading; but layman are equally the Lord's disciples, moved by the same love, while promoting the spiritual uses of the church and the family and doing the work of their calling. For while the use of promulgating truth of doctrine is to be effected by a properly constituted ministry-lest heresies and schisms arise-yet good which leads to truth can be insinuated by any one (AC 6822). A man insinuates good into others when he lives according to his faith and by precept and example encourages what is good and true, and acts with wisdom, courage, and patience for the common good. Apart, priesthood and laity are powerless to do the work of the church; together, they can become agents through which the Lord can spread the tabernacle of His presence among men, and transform the commonplaces of our lives into a new homeland for our spirits-into a new earth, a sphere of enlightened love and mutual service devoid of self-seeking and domination, free of envy, worldliness, or greed.
     In this sense, the "new earth" promised by the Lord in His second advent, is a realm of purified affection and delight within the natural man after this has been reborn in the storms and struggles of life. For it behooves every New Church man to begin, while on earth, to hew out a place in the wilderness of his natural mind as a new land where his spirit can dwell secure, unaffected by the seductions of evil loves or by the persuasiveness of falsity.
     But let us not imagine that it is in the power of man or angel to make the new earth on which the Holy City can be planted! Not even an angel can ever behold the complete extent of the heavenly earth on which he dwells, or penetrate the unseen depths of Divine realities which are the pillars that sustain it! Nor can any man see the fulness of the New Jerusalem whose golden streets he yearns to walk! The new earth cannot exist in fulness in any one mind, but is created by degrees in the church as a component whole, so far as men will sweep aside their selfish cares and allow the city of revealed truth to descend among them. And this descent is of the Lord's will and Providence.

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For "the church in the heavens cannot subsist unless there is also a church on earth which is in concordant love and wisdom," a church which breathes in unison with heaven (AR 533).
     As to our bodies we live indeed in a self-satisfied and yet fear-ridden world, and are ever subject to external duties and obligations which distract us from the realization that we are only sojourners whose every step-yea, and every lingering thought-determine what use the Lord can make of us in the eternal world to come!
     The priesthood is charged to keep our spiritual objective ever before us, and to spread in front of our eyes the map and measure of the New Jerusalem. For oft, in fickle moods, its serene glory is dimmed with the stir of prejudice and impatience. Our thoughts do not always walk the golden streets of this new world which the Lord has revealed, but are wont to roam, selfguided, into strange lands, along paths of worldly glamor and wilful passion. We need, then, to pray the Lord that our hands will not defile His holy doctrine. For seemingly we-men of an undeserving race-have been appointed custodians of the doctrine of heaven as this is laid down by the Lord in the Writings. We find it there in fixed phrase and natural language, plain enough to be apprehended and acknowledged by our marveling reason. We confess it as the Lord's own coming to make all things new, to prepare in human minds a new soil for a paradise restored, where the leaves of the tree of life can again bring healing to the nations.
     We also see this doctrine confirmed by continual reference to the Holy Scriptures-see it as the inner texture and meaning within the Word given through prophets and evangelists. And this is the vision which was made clear to the twelve apostles, when, at the dawn of the New Church, they realized the unity of the letter and the spirit, and began to proclaim throughout the spiritual world the Divine assurance that the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ shall never be destroyed. For His glorified Human is the First and the Last, and the pulse of His infinite life throbs in every plane of creation, in every expanding field of life. It is in His Divine and omnipresent order, now revealed as Divine doctrine, that the new heavens and the new earth shall be inbuilt ever more nearly, till men shall learn to walk with God. Amen.

     LESSONS: Isaiah 64:1-4, 10-11; 65:8-9, 17-25. Apocalypse 21:1-5. Apoc. Rev. 876 (parts).

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GARMENTS OF THE LORD 1954

GARMENTS OF THE LORD       Rev. KARL R. ALDEN       1954

     (Delivered to the Second Session of the Twentieth General Assembly, Bryn Athyn, Pa., June 16, 1954.)

     New Church men have gathered at this Assembly from far and near, that, as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in His second coming, they may share together the joys and the sorrows of His kingdom on earth. In the days when He walked with men, and it was noised abroad that He was in a certain place, they sent forth into all the region round about, and gathered all the sick and impotent together and brought them to Him, and as many as touched but the hem of His garments were made perfectly whole.
     The hem of His garments-His garments. What a wonderful thing! Why does the Word mention His garments in connection with so many crucial moments in His earthly life? We invite your attention to the answer to this question.
     The Lord's garments, the Writings declare, represent the Divine truths in which He appears clothed before the eyes of men (AC 9212). Truths such as are written in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings-these are His garments, for these are the things which reveal Him to us here and now (AE 922). For us to be able to touch these garments of His present wearing, as the men and women of Palestine touched His earthly garments, is for us to be able to go to the Writings, and in our reading and study of them have virtue go out from them to us, filling our minds with truths, and our hearts with love, so that whatsoever spiritual disease we may be suffering from will be healed thereby!
     Is not the whole purpose of this Assembly to help one another to draw near to the Lord, that we may touch His garments; for if we really touch them, not merely come into contact with them, if we really touch them, they will touch us. Power, Divine power, will go out from them to us, and it will enter into the secret chambers of our hearts, and it will help us to shun those corrosive evils which are our spiritual diseases, and which render us detestable in the sight of the angels.
     Touch is the God-given means of communication, and if we touch His garments He also will touch us. We have but to glance at the Word to see what wonderful things were accomplished by His touch, when He dwelt upon the earth.

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     When He came down, after delivering the Sermon on the Mount, a leper worshiping Him said: "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." And Jesus put forth His hand and touched him saying, "I will; be thou clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed (Matt. 8:2, 3).
     "When Jesus was come into Peter's house He saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And He touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose and ministered unto them" (Matt. 8:14, 15).
     At his touch the eyes of the blind received their sight (Matt. 9:29, 30). And when the Lord touched the ears and the tongue of the deaf and dumb man "straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain" (Matt. 7:35).
     "Mothers thronged about Him, and brought their children to Him that He should touch them. . . . And He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them" (Mark 10:13, 16).
     To be touched by the Lord, or to touch the Lord's garments, is to come into a state of illustration as the result of reading the Writings, which will enable us to see and to hear such truths as are communicated to us by the Lord (AE 79).

     The first mention of garments in connection with the Lord's earthly life fell from the lips of an angel. To the shepherds who were abiding in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night the angel said: "Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12). Probably nearly every infant in Bethlehem was wrapped in swaddling clothes, for all were precious, each in his own way; and precious things are not left exposed, they are wrapped up.
     In coming into the world, the Lord assumed much that is common to all men, yet at every step there was a difference. Not only should they find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, but they should find Him lying in a manger.
     Remember: this is the story of how the Lord is born into our hearts, and the hearts of our children. First He is wrapped in swaddling clothes; then He is laid in a manger. No other babe in Bethlehem was lying in a manger, and that because of its Divine significance. For our Lord might have been born in a palace, and laid in a jewel be-studded bed, but then there would have been no correspondence with those with whom He was (AE 706). He does not come to us in the states represented by the palace of a king. No, He comes to us wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger; for the swaddling clothes represent first truths, which are truths of innocence, and which are also truths of the Divine love. The stable is the Word of God in its simple unadorned literal sense, the manger the doctrine of genuine truth in the literal sense; and the swaddling clothes are the first general truths surrounding these ideas.

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The Lord can be received only by that which is His own with man. The internal sense can be received only in the vessels of the literal sense of the Word. In the unregenerate mind a genuine spiritual perception can be born only in the truths of the literal sense of the Word, and when the genuine spiritual sense is born it is wrapped as something precious in truths from the literal sense of the Word. Truths like these: "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30); "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9); "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). To the unregenerate man the letter of the Word is not a palace, or even an inn; it is only a lowly stable!
     To New Church men who have seen the vision of New Church education, the teaching that we will find Him wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger has an inspiring meaning. It urges us to build slowly, but to build with strength. It pleads with us to be content to have the Lord adorned with the simplest truths dwelling with our children. It assures us that it is He Himself who is clothed in the tender swaddlings of infancy. It shows the rich fruit that comes from finding Him lying in a manger-the manger of patient, systematic study of the letter of the Word with our children; line upon line, precept upon precept, year after year, until, when they are graduated from our elementary schools, they have been taught the stories of the entire Word. In these, our children have found the Lord, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

     Remembering that the Lord's garments represent the truths in which we are able to see Him, let us pass on to another scene in the Divine life. Jesus had just stepped out of a ship on the western shore of Galilee, and as He walked through the town, Jairus, a ruler of the Jews, fell down before Him and besought Him to heal his sick daughter. This was a strange sight to the townsfolk, to see one of the mighty rulers of the Jews bowing low before the Galilean Preacher from Nazareth. The result was that a great crowd of the curious thronged about the Master to see the outcome.
     Meanwhile, a wretched woman, who had been plagued with an issue of blood for twelve years "came behind Him and touched the border of His garment, for she said, If I map touch but the hem of His garment I shall be healed, and immediately her issue of blood staunched. And Jesus said, Who touched Me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with Him said, Master the multitude throng Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me? And Jesus said, somebody hath touched Me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid she came trembling, and falling down before Him she declared unto Him before all the people for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately" (Luke 8:44-47).

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     Since the garments of the Lord represent the truths that reveal Him, what is meant by touching those garments? The throng had crowded in upon Him, had rubbed against Him, but according to His own language they had not touched Him. No virtue had gone forth from Him to them to heal their diseases. Only the woman who came trembling, eager to touch so much as the hem of His garment-the woman who had said to herself, "If I but touch the hem of His garment I shall be made whole"-only this woman of all those who had had outward contact with Him, only she was healed of her secret disease.
     The deeper meaning is plain: As the Lord moved through that crowd, so in our day and age His Word moves through the throngs of men. More copies of the Bible are sold than of any other book, and it is to be found in nearly every room of every hotel in America. Many men contact it, but no virtue goes forth from it to them. They are like the multitude that surrounded Jesus on his way to Jairus' house.
     Only those who reverently touch it, believing that its Divine truths have power to heal their spiritual diseases, only these draw life from the Word. Only a few touch these sacred garments, for to touch His garments is to have the truths of the Word delight us. It is to be able to receive beauty and power and virtue from the Word into our hearts and minds-the beauty of a heaven of use, the power to shun steadfastly some one evil as a sin against God, the virtue of a life lived full of purpose for the right.
     Such delight in reading the Writings comes not instantly; the woman had suffered twelve years e'er she found the Lord. Yet if we persevere we, too, may experience the joy of that suffering woman, the joy of feeling virtue go forth from the Word and the Writings to us, when we read and meditate on them.
     Concerning this miracle the Writings have this to say: "That a woman laboring with an issue of blood was made whole when she touched the skirt of the Lord's garments, and in general as many as touched the skirt of His garment were made whole, signified that health went forth from the Divine extremes or ultimates, for there are strength and power in ultimates of good and truth which are from the Divine" (AC 9917).

     Some time later "Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and was transfigured before them. And His raiment became shining exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

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For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear Him. And suddenly when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves" (Mark 9:2-8).
     The disciples were now to be taught the truth concerning the Lord as the Word, for He was the Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God, and now He had become flesh. Suddenly His worldly garments, which they knew so well, gave place to His spiritual garments, and instead of His face they saw the sun of heaven, and His garments were white and bright just like the light that flows forth from that spiritual sun. This Word is the infinite Divine wisdom, and as it is in itself, it is above the grasp of the highest celestial angel, who could no more look upon that wisdom unaccommodated, and not be blinded thereby, than we can look with unprotected eyes upon the sun of this world. That infinite Divine truth had to prepare for itself garments whereby it might be clothed, and thus become tempered to man's reception.
     The clothing of Divine truth proceeded by successive degrees outpouring from the Creator, first through those marvelous radiant belts that surround the sun of heaven and accommodate its intensity to the reception of the angels of the celestial heavens (AC 7270; AE 412: 16; HH 120; Love iii; Ath. 190; LJ post 311).
     The essence and soul of the celestial heaven is love to the Lord, and the celestial angels are fed by the inmost sense of the Word, which everywhere treats of the Lord; and so, as the Lord bowed the heavens and came down, we may think of the celestial sense being written first on the minds and the hearts of the celestial angels. But the essence and soul of the spiritual heaven is love to the neighbor, and consequently that spiritual sense of the Word which deals with man's regeneration would constitute the spiritual covering of that celestial sense which was the inmost of the Word.
     The Word as it descended through the heavens was timeless and spaceless, and devoid of any names of persons or places; it was the soul which built for itself the body of the literal sense of the Word in which it was born on earth. This soul operated as does the soul of each child, which builds for itself a body in the womb of its mother which shall be its earthly temple. So, in the womb of time, the celestial and spiritual senses of the Word came down, and wove for themselves an outer garment which we call the letter of the Word.
     The Hebrew race was chosen to furnish the garments of this literal sense. in the first place, they loved to be the chosen people. And in the second place, they had the candor to chronicle not only their triumphs but also their failures; they recorded not only their deeds of righteousness, but also the blackest deeds of their degradation.

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All human states are recorded in the pages of the Old Testament.
     In order that the soul of Divine truth, the celestial and spiritual senses, might create a body for itself which was to take the form of the Old Testament, that soul had to take for itself the forms of sensual truth from the minds of the Jews; and it had to take the life story of that people-not everything that they did-but everything that could become the basis, containant, and support for those inner senses which had bowed the heavens, and which now, like a soul, were weaving a body for themselves from the elements presented in the life-story of the Jewish nation.
     When the Divine had thus descended successive order became simultaneous order; and that which had been the first, namely the Word which was in the beginning, now became the inmost, the Word being holy from no other source.
     Since the Lord came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matt. 9:13), the Word in the letter had to be the basis for the Divine accommodation to meet every perverted state of man. How could He meet and conquer the hells unless the Word in its letter contained accounts of man's failure to keep the commandments of God. That is the Divine reason why we find recorded in the letter of the Word the lies of Jacob; Cain's murder of Abel; the incest of Judah; the perversion of Sodom; the adultery of David, and other like transgressions. They all make up part of that outer garment which should one day make it possible for the Lord to meet all the perverted and wicked states in hell, and by conquering in temptations admitted into His Human by means of those hereditary evils, be able to subjugate the hells, order the heavens, free man's spirit, and found a New Church on earth wherein He could redeem and save mankind! Thus the Jewish mind, and the Jewish history, furnished the clothing whereby the sensuous degree of truth might be made manifest in the world-His outer garment!
     But the time came when the Word must become flesh. The Divine itself must now live openly with men; the moment arrived when He must fulfill the law and the prophets-as Messiah, the promised king. From whence could He draw that body in which He could fulfill every representative, every prediction which had been made concerning His advent?
     Surely that tender body which He was to assume as the Christ-Child must be wrought of the same fabric as had given birth to the outer garment which we call the Old Testament. And from whence could that body be taken save from a Jewish maiden, who in her hereditary background derived her characteristics from all of Abraham's posterity. In this, her heredity, she bore the remains of all the joy and all the sorrow of her race.

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All the evil deeds of her ancestry had left their mark upon that maternal heredity which she bestowed upon the Lord and which became the very basis for His conflict with the hells and for their eternal subjugation.
     Although the human itself, taken from the Virgin Mary, may be thought of as a garment clothing the Divine good, or soul from the Father within, nevertheless, it was not until the transfiguration on a high mountain that Peter, James, and John had any notion of the glories that were hidden within the plain vestments of their Lord. They knew that there was a wonderful power in His garments, for on many occasions they had seen men, and women, and children healed of whatsoever diseases they had by the mere touch of his sacred robes, for "virtue went forth from them."
     As the Master led them down from the mountain He charged them saying: "Tell the vision to no man till the Son of Man be risen from the dead" (Mark 9:9). They had seen the inner meaning of the Lord's garments, yet not until He had risen from the dead, and left forever behind Him the grave clothes, were they free to tell mankind of that wonderful vision.

     And now we come to a unique incident, the Lord riding on a borrowed animal, sitting upon borrowed garments, entering triumphantly into Jerusalem, This is a strange picture! The garments are representative of the truths in which the Lord appears before our minds, but now the borrowed garments represent that clothing of truth that had to be taken from the mind of the prophet, the mind of the evangelist, or the mind of the seer.
     In order to write the Old Testament the Lord had to use a vocabulary composed of Hebrew words, and drawn from the minds of the men who wrote it. This was the sensual degree of the Word.
     The New Testament, the spiritual-natural degree, had to be taken from the minds of the Evangelists, men who had been with the Savior, men who had been taught by His very mouth.
     And the Writings were taken from material stored in the mind of Swedenborg written at the direction of the Lord while Swedenborg read and meditated on the Word of God. Every word was taken from the mind of the seer, yet all was under the immediate direction of the Lord, so that Swedenborg declared that he had received nothing pertaining to the doctrine of the church from any spirit or angel but from the Lord alone.
     Borrowed garments all! Yet each prophet, each evangelist, and the seer produced a different garment upon which sits enthroned the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. 21:9).

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So He rode triumphant into the Holy City, even as today He rides as victor into the hearts of the men and women of that ever growing Holy City-the New Jerusalem.
     Next we come to a touching scene of great importance. It is the eve of the crucifixion. The Holy Supper is about to be instituted, but before doing so, the Master rises from the table and laying aside His garments girds Himself with a simple linen towel, and washes the disciples' feet. Great truths have a way of repeating themselves. And is it not arresting to note that at the beginning of His earthly life, and now at its close, He appears in a single garment?-to the shepherds in swaddling clothes, and now to His disciples in a linen towel!
     His garments are the truths that reveal Him to us, and this act of cleansing was to show us that the great truths of the Ten Commandments must be applied to the very ultimates of our lives if we are to partake worthily of the Holy Supper, which the Lord was about to institute. Thou shalt not kill, commit adultery, steal, lie, covet. These are primary truths, but upon their observance rests the fabric of society. "Unless I wash you," He said to Peter, "you have no part in Me."
     The following day He was captured and dragged successively before Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod. The latter's soldiers put upon Him a gorgeous robe, and mocked Him. In His own garments they would not hail Him as king, but to Him, decked out in the trappings of royalty, they uttered a mock plaudit: "Hail, King of the Jews!"
     Shortly after this they crucified Him, and the words of the Psalm, written a thousand years before, were fulfilled. "They parted My garments among them, and upon My vesture they did cast a lot" (Psalm 22:18). As the Lord hung upon the cross and cried: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," even in that moment the soldiers at the foot of the cross were parting His garments among them, and for His vesture they were casting a lot (Matt. 27:33; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:23, 24).
     To quote from the Arcana: "From the internal sense it is plain that by garments are signified truths, and by the Lord's garments Divine truths; by casting a lot and dividing them is meant pulling these truths apart and dispersing them; by the tunic is meant Divine spiritual truth from the Divine celestial. . . . That the tunic was not divided signified that the Divine spiritual truth which proceeds most nearly from the Divine celestial truth could not be dispersed, because this truth is the internal truth of the Word, such as it is with the angels in heaven" (AC 9942:12).
     The soldiers parted His outer garments, which were composed of pieces sewn together. These pieces they divided among themselves, but for His inner garment they were compelled to cast a lot, for it could not be parted, for it was woven without seam from top to bottom.

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To cut it, would be to destroy the whole.
     The outer garment was like the books of the Word, bound together to form one book, although having been written during a period that stretched over fifteen hundred years. The inner garment was the soul of the whole; it was that creative soul which had gathered for itself a body from the history of the Jews, and from the Psalms, and prophecies. This soul of the Word, like the soul of the Lord on earth, could not be divided from the Father. It is continuous from the first chapter of Genesis to the last word in Revelation. It was unknown by the Jews and consequently could not be profaned by them.

     The final mention of His garments records the two piles of grave clothes that lay empty in the open tomb on the first Easter morning. Lazarus was raised from the grave in this world, and he was bound hand and foot in grave clothes. He had to be loosed and set free. But the grave clothes from which the Lord had risen seemed to have been scarcely disturbed. There they were with the napkin in a place by itself, suggesting the idea that the Lord in rising from the dead passed through the grave clothes, even as He later passed through the closed doors behind which his disciples sat for fear of the Jews.
     He could do this now because He had put off everything from His mother, and had risen in His whole body which He had put on from the Father-the Divine Substantial body to which has been given "all power in heaven and in earth" (Matt. 28:18).
     The Lord's garments represent revealing Divine truths, but grave clothes could never reveal the Lord. They had to be left behind; fit symbols of those things in the letter of the Word which we are told do not carry over into angelic spheres-the names of persons and places, the quality of spaces and times. In these things the angels find no delight, but what they correspond to is eternally living.
     Having left the grave clothes behind He henceforth appeared to all who saw Him in garments wrought of the fabric of their own love, and their own wisdom; probably no two saw Him alike. It is noteworthy that there is no mention of His garments in any of the post-resurrection appearances! In what clothes He was invested when He fell in with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we know not. Nor do we know what He wore when the Magdalene saw Him at the sepulcher. Till He spoke, she thought that He was the gardener; but when He said, "Mary," instantly she replied, "Rabboni," which is to say, "Master." By His voice she knew Him, while He was known to Cleopas and his companion in the blessing and breaking of bread.

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     We, in our day, can never share with the shepherds the wonder of finding the Christ-Child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. His earthly garments have been put off forever, but in their place we have the Word and the Writings. They will reveal Him in swaddling clothes of first truths, truths which if nourished by a constant and faithful study of our revelation, will cause the child Jesus, born in our hearts, to "increase in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52).
     No matter how great our faith, no matter how sore our disease, today we cannot find the Master walking the streets of Palestine; but like the woman with the issue of blood we can say, as she said so many years ago: "If I but touch the hem of His garments I shall be healed." Today, for a New Church man to touch the hem of His garment is to be able to go to the Lord in His second coming in the Writings of the Church and to search them with a loving heart, and to have that wonderful Divine virtue go out from them to us-a veritable refuge in time of trouble.
     So, too, we can ascend the mountain of transfiguration, the mountain of our spiritual ideals, and in the series concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Arcana Coelestia we can behold the Lord's face shining as a sun, and His garment white as the light.
     In utter simplicity we can see the necessity for Him, girded in a linen towel, to wash our feet. The truths that lead to heaven are simple, and they are purifying, for when the commandments are obeyed virtue goes forth from the Lord and changes man's life filling it with blessings: affection for the neighbor, conjugial love, sincerity, thirst for truth, generosity.
     Finally, when He was bound hand and foot in grave clothes, shut up in a sepulcher, with a great rock rolled against the door, it looked at that tragic moment in history as if the forces of evil had triumphed, and that He would forever be locked in the tomb of the dead letter of the Word.
     Yet, just as Easter morning came, and with it the risen Lord, so with us in our study of the Word, as the Writings become more and more the core and center of our thought, as we begin to take delight in reading and studying and living them, our discipleship will become clear, and the awe
inspiring task that rests upon our shoulders will change our lives, and we will throw ourselves into that spiritual task, in which His disciples are even now engaged, of imparting to the whole world the gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ reigneth, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

     Discussion of Mr. Alden's Address

     The chairman, the Rev. Norman H. Reuter, opened the discussion by saying that the essential quality of the revelation to the New Church is that it lifts our minds above the letter and shows that this is living so that we may see the glory in the clouds.

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Mr. Alden had given us a sweeping survey of what is meant by the garments of the Lord, that we may see the body of Divine truth that lies within. Every church of the past has died because it lost the inner vision of its own revelation. Tonight we had been carried, not into a mere technical doctrinal discussion, but into a sight of the Lord, and of the Writings as a revelation of the Lord to us. He hoped that the paper, which had lifted us above the letter, would inspire many to respond.
     Rev. Ormond Odhner commented that Mr. Alden had put his message in a very moving way. We, too, are like the crowds that pressed about the Lord. In reading the Writings we often brush against them intellectually, but seldom does the real Divine virtue in them go forth to affect us. The suffering woman who was healed signifies an affection desiring to be healed, and the only affection which is of this kind is the desire to learn from the Lord in the Writings with a view that we may be of service to Him and the neighbor. Sometimes we hardly even touch these garments intellectually, but only read the Writings to confirm a previous opinion. Yet if we go to them with an open mind ready to be taught, virtue will go forth and cure us.
     A second thing that impressed him was that on Palm Sunday the Lord rode into Jerusalem upon a saddle of borrowed garments. This reminds us of the fact that Swedenborg testifies that he received nothing from any angel or spirit. Yet he often quotes the opinions of both angels and evil spirits, explaining that he heard many things from them, but would afterwards reflect on what they said and was then inspired to write down only what agreed with the Word of God. The angels were sometimes disturbed when he would not take their word but would reflect on their sayings. Still this was necessary in order that he might borrow from many sources yet write nothing of doctrine except what was from the mouth of the Lord alone.
     Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh, in voicing appreciation of the address, noted that besides the affection of truth or the desire to take what the Lord offers in His Word, three things are required before we can truly touch the Lord's garments: We must know the doctrine of genuine truth drawn from the naked truths of the Word where this is not clothed by natural appearances; such naked truths as that God is one, that the Lord Jesus Christ is He, and that there is a world of spiritual realities. Secondly, we must have some knowledge of correspondences. And thirdly, there must be that enlightenment which the Lord gives to those who seek truth from a pure and humble heart. He had known people who had read the Arcana repeatedly, but still-for lack of an organized study of the general doctrine-had gone off at tangents. There is need for a broad basic knowledge of doctrine to guide our thought, before we can really enter into particulars with safety and sound understanding, and before the truths of the Divine Human can be seen in all their clarity and splendor.
     Mr. Roy Rose asked what is meant by faith curing.
     Rev. Norbert H. Rogers was carried back to his youth-recalling how Mr. Alden was able to communicate, to boys in the "wild-ass" state, something of that great affection which he had for the teachings of the Writings and the Scripture. The importance of affection must be constantly emphasized. We cannot force ourselves to have an affection. We cannot consciously obtain it. Only by earnest effort to put away what obstructs the affection, can the Lord insinuate it into us.
     The woman healed by touching the Lord's garment was an instance of the few, who, like the shepherds and the disciples, were able to behold the glory of the Lord; whereas in His own country He could do no miracles because they assumed Him to be a mere man, being mentally closed against instruction. We of the New Church can also be so accustomed to have the Writings and the Scriptures to rely on, so sure that we know all their meaning, that we read into them something of our own minds instead of having the humble desire to be instructed and so receive "virtue" from the Lord.

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     Rev. Victor J. Gladish also expressed his delight with the address.
     The chairman, Rev. N. H. Reuter, noted that the delight we can feel in a paper of this kind is proportional to the familiarity and love we have for the stories of the Word, and our desire to see the light behind the garments that veil it. We need to be prepared by learning these stories in childhood and then the truths of doctrine. The unifying thing in the church is not our cultural or local backgrounds, but our common delight in coming before the Lord. And we come before the Lord not only when we worship, but also when we seek the truth in the Word for the amendment of our lives. Although we do not do as some sectarians who make a public confession of their sins, yet it is the shunning of evils that the church is all about. We search the Word for lessons to apply to our lives.
     Rev. K. R. Alden, in reply to Mr. Rose's question, noted that the Lord often said, "Thy faith hath made thee whole." Faith does indeed heal, but not faith alone. No one would go across a bridge unless he had faith in the bridge, but he must nevertheless walk across it if he is to get to the other side. The woman acted out her faith in coming to the Lord to touch His garments.
     In his long contacts with young people he had heard them complain that the Writings are hard to read since they contain difficult terms, like "proprium," "remains," "degrees," "simultaneous," etc. The young fail to get out of the Writings what adults seem to get. But as one generation succeeds another, their growing faith has carried the young people into intimacy with the Writings until the reading becomes a real joy and they begin to see the glory within the terms and phrases. He called attention to the Swedenborg Foundation's recent offer to young people of complete sets of the Writings for half price-fifteen dollars. Forty-two couples had acquired such sets. Now a new one-volume Concordance was planned at low cost, by the help of which one could follow one idea all through the Writings. If we go to the Writings and study and read and try to live them, we can be healed of our spiritual diseases. And then one could surely picture how the Lord might say, "Thy faith hath made thee whole."

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KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU 1954

KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU       Rev. ORMOND ODHNER       1954

      (Delivered to the Third Session of the Twentieth General Assembly, Bryn Athyn, Pa, June 17, 1954.)

     In Divine Providence we read: "The Divine love and therefore the Divine Providence has as its end a heaven consisting of men who have be come or are becoming angels, upon whom the Lord is able to bestow all the blessings and felicities that belong to love and wisdom, and to communicate these from Himself in them" (DP 27).
     We would emphasize this last: The Lord gives angels and men the blessings and felicities of heaven, not from on high above them, nor as a King among them bestowing gifts, but from Himself in them. The Latin of the Writings makes it even stronger, "from His Very Self" or "Very Own Self" in them.
     The Lord, as it were in person, does not audibly tell the angels how to lead heavenly lives. Rather is heaven simply that life in society which those already there have set up-that life which we will modify according to our own ideas of heavenly living, and which will thus go on, changing and perfecting, to eternity.
     Yet it is not a life patterned from the angels' propriums; it takes its form from those things that are the Lord's in them, His love and His wisdom. It takes its form from their studies of the Word, and the application of the learning thus gained to their lives. This, essentially, is the kingdom of God: the life each angel has built up in himself from those things of Divine love and wisdom he has received into himself from the Lord, and the projection of this individual life into life in society together.
     So also on earth, we live the lives we lead, not because the Lord has specifically told us what to do at certain hours, but because, since the beginning, each individual has received into himself something of love and wisdom from the Lord, and has projected this into his daily living in society. There, modified by different things of love and wisdom received by others, it has also been received by those others. On through the ages life has built up thus. Some have added to it but little; others, so much as almost to change its whole nature. Latterly, some have added to it from evil and insanity imbibed from hell. But the result is the life we lead.

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Each of us takes it into himself; it, and at least a little that is new-from the Lord, from the world, or from hell; builds it up into a kingdom within himself; and then projects it into life in society with other men doing likewise.

     Specifically, however, the term "kingdom" in the phrase, "kingdom of God," has relation to Divine truth-to the establishment of the Lord's rule and government through Divine truths received by angels and men. Always a kingdom is known by its laws. Laws give form to the life led in a kingdom. It is through its laws that its rule and government are established.
     Yet it is notable that for it to be the Lord's kingdom three things are requisite. First, the laws of that kingdom must be the laws of God-the Divine laws of order, that is, or Divine truths. Second, the Divine truths that establish it must be received. And third, these laws or truths must be acknowledged to be the Lord's.
     The Laws of that Kingdom must be the Laws of God. It is the Divine of the Lord that alone makes heaven; angels merely constitute it (HH 7-12). The kingdom of God is not established out of anything proprial to angel or man, out of their own notions and ideas, that is, but according to the laws of the Lord alone.
     The Divine Truths that Establish it Must be Received; and this implies also that they must be received in freedom. "That is the Lord's kingdom," we read, "which proceeds from Him and is received" (AE 683:4). [Italics added.] This is also true of an earthly kingdom; if its people do not receive its laws, it is not a kingdom, but anarchy or rebellion. Again we read: "To rule heaven and earth is to receive from Him every good which is of love and every truth which is of faith, thus all intelligence and wisdom, and so all happiness; in a word, eternal life" (HH 5). Because those in it receive what is the Lord's, and only what is His, His is the kingdom.
     His kingdom, however, is unique in that it is established only in freedom. No compulsion save self-compulsion can possibly establish it. The very laws of its order cannot even be understood unless man wants to understand them. "No one," we read, "perceives [the Word] unless he wants to perceive it as from himself" (AE 616e). And if this be true of understanding those laws, it is even more true of that living of them which makes the kingdom of God.
     Therefore, although the Lord rules hell, too, it is not the real kingdom of God, for His rule over it is established through external compulsion. So, too, the universe, animals, the inmost souls and ultimate bodies of men, are the kingdom of God, since the Lord rules them through the Divine laws of order.

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But these things simply obey those laws, without reflection upon them or consent to them, either free or forced. They are in a much lesser sense, then, the kingdom of God.
     For, thirdly, that it may be the Lord's kingdom, the laws or truths that establish it not only must be the Lord's, received in freedom; they also must be consciously acknowledged to be the Lord's. This is vital. Without such acknowledgment by man the kingdom within him cannot be the Lord's.
     Reformation, regeneration, salvation, the heavenly proprium and its happiness, all are said to be dependent upon the acknowledgment that all the good and truth one has are from the Lord, and not from self (DP 72; AC 2335:2, 1594e). Claiming good and truth as one's own is spiritual theft (AC 5758), which keeps man out of heaven (AC 5789). We read: "In proportion to the amount of good and truth which an angel, spirit or man receives from the Lord, and believes to be from the Lord, is he in [the Lord's] kingdom. But in proportion as he does not receive it, nor believe that it is from the Lord, he is not in His kingdom" (AC 2904:3). [Italics added.]
     Obviously, if a man believes that by his own powers he can come to a just and right decision as to what things are really good and true, and into the love and practice of them, he will not feel any vital need of Divine guidance. This will gradually turn him away from the Lord as the one and only source of all that is good and true, and the hells will feed this state in him until at last it is complete.
     But it is more than a gradual thing; it is instantaneous. The very moment good and truth are thought to be one's own, the Lord is shut out of man's life. Unless man acknowledge good and truth to be the Lord's, not his own, he cannot be conjoined with the Lord, and we are told that the reason for this is that it is love that causes spiritual conjunction (DP 91).
     This is illustrated in marriage. Unless one believes his partner to be the source of things he desires-and these, speaking philosophically, are goods and truth; unless he acknowledges this in actual living, and acknowledges also that without her he must be without these things he desires, these things which to him are-goods, he will turn to her for nothing, and no conjunction between them will be effected. For it is love, and such acknowledgment from love, that effects conjunction.
     So, too, with man and God. If man feels that by himself he can attain his desires and be happy in their attainment, then he is doing what the Writings call attributing good and truth to himself. For this he will love himself, and why not? Any source of good and truth should be loved.

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But if man believes that of himself he is actually not good; believes that only the Lord is good and that only He therefore can give him what is good and true; and if he wants such things from the Lord, then he will turn to the Lord for everything. He will find it a delight to acknowledge that the Lord alone is the source of all that is good and true, and to acknowledge also that all the good and truth he thinks and does are from the Lord and are the Lord's in him.
     The Lord seeks to be conjoined in love with all men, but He will not enter that conjunction uninvited. He will impose Himself on no one. He stands at the door of man's heart and knocks, but man must hear that knock, and open the door, before the Lord will enter. That conjunction may be effected, man, from love, must turn himself to the Lord.
     And is there any other way he can do this than by acknowledging that all good and truth are from the Lord, and that from himself there is nought but evil! This, indeed, is what love to the Lord really is, and it is the one and only reciprocal love by which man can enter into conjunction with his Maker. Man must want the Lord in his life, with all his heart and soul and mind and strength, before the Lord will enter it; and the Lord will depart out of man's life the instant man wants Him there no longer.
     Without this acknowledgment in regard to the Lord, therefore, the goods and truths man has may still be Divine as to external form, but the Lord will not be in them as their life and soul, for He comes only to him who wants Him. There will then be no conjunction in such goods and truths between man and God, and the kingdom thus built up within man will not be the Lord's.
     "Thou shalt not kill" is a Divine truth. So are the teachings as to what killing means in the internal sense. From the Lord also are our own genuine perceptions of how to apply such teachings to the various circumstances of our lives. But though we pattern our lives in strict accordance with them, we are not conjoined with the Lord in such ways of living until we acknowledge from love that these things are in us from Him alone. Without that, there is no love to Him in our lives, but only a love and trust in ourselves and a belief in our own goodness and merit. We are living according to truths that are from Him as to their outward forms, but we are doing so from ourselves and not from Him. That it may be the Lord's kingdom, we therefore say, the goods and truths that establish it must be consciously acknowledged to be the Lord's.
     And this must be more than a merely general thing. A general is nothing apart from its particulars. A general confession that one is a sinner has no more power over the devil than the Shah of Persia has over those who live in Pennsylvania (TCR 515).

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And a general confession that all the good and truth one has are from the Lord means nothing until it includes such acknowledgment as to the particular goods and truths one has.
     Of what good is it to say, "I am a sinner," yet fail to see one's particular evils and sins? If one performs an act of charity toward the neighbor, says that all the good he does is from the Lord, yet fails to acknowledge this particular act to be from the Lord, then there is no conjunction with the Lord in it, and the act becomes meritorious and thus not good at all. Similarly with truth: the individual perceptions one has of the genuine meaning of truth must be acknowledged to be from the Lord or they have nothing of the Lord within them.
     "Man," we read, "ought to do what is true and good as of himself, and yet believe that it is from the Lord; and . . . at last acknowledge at heart that his every effort of doing good and thinking truth was and is from the Lord" (AC 5789).
     Some, however, question man's power to see and define, recognize and acknowledge, the particulars of good and truth he has from the Lord. The direct statements of revelation we can, of course, acknowledge to be the Lord's with us, but how often do we live immediately from the direct statements of revelation? Rather are we here speaking of those things less than the statements of revelation which we yet believe to be from the Lord.
     Now, we would not claim for ourselves what is the Lord's, nor attribute to Him what is from our propria; but we are told that to act from the Lord as if from ourselves is what effects conjunction with the Lord. Then the Lord is in the life man leads, and the life man leads is from the Lord; conjunction with the Lord is heaven, and heaven is the kingdom of God. Obviously, therefore, we must strive to see what is from the Lord with us, and what from self or hell.
     Angels can do this. They perceive what is from the Lord, and what from self (AC 1383), in all they think and will, both in general and in particular, how much is from the Lord, and how much is as from themselves (AC 1384); and they are happy only when they perceive that it is from the Lord (AC 522, 2882).
     Under Divine inspiration Swedenborg wrote: "It is given me to perceive when I am in proprium, and when not" (SD 5464:9).
     The ancients are said to have been in no darkness about certain states that came upon them during regeneration (AC 5224). [Italics added.]
     "Nothing," we read, "is more necessary for man than to know whether heaven be in him, or hell. . . . In order that he may know this, it is necessary that he should know what good is, and what evil, for good makes heaven, and evil makes hell" (AC 7181).

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Note here that man must know not just what good and evil are, but also what good or evil is in himself (see also AC 7255; HD 80).
     There are signs, we are told, by which man can tell whether or not sins are remitted, among the signs that they are removed being that he perceives delight in worshiping God for the sake of God, in serving the neighbor for the neighbor's sake, and that he shuns and is averse to the very thought of evils (HD 167).
     Anyone who has the knowledge of correspondences, it is said, can ascertain what his own state will be after death, if he only knows what his love is, and what its relation to the universally ruling loves of heaven and hell (HH 487). Others cannot tell whether a man is rational or sensuous, but, we are told, "[this] can be discerned by [the man] himself, if he explores his interiors, that is, his will and thought" (AC 5182:2).
     "When," we read, "a man feels or perceives in himself that he has good thoughts concerning the Lord . . . and the neighbor, and desires to perform kind offices for him, not for the sake of any gain or honor for himself; and when . . . he has pity for anyone who is in trouble, and still more for one . . . in error in respect to the doctrine of faith, then he may know that he [has internal things within him through which the Lord is working]" (AC 1102).
     And note the implications of this: "It is not perceived that [goods] are from the Lord until [man] comes into knowledge, and afterward into acknowledgment from faith. Before this he cannot reflect that anything flows in from the Divine; nor can he at all perceive this, that is, be sensible of it in himself, until he begins to will and to love that it be so" (AC 10219). [Italics added.]
     It is possible, then, for man to recognize what comes to him from the Lord, or is the Lord's with him, and this he must consciously acknowledge to be the Lord's with him, or instantly he is disjoined from the Lord and has nothing of the Lord's within him.
     Admittedly, the emphasis must be on discovering in oneself what is evil and false, and shunning it as sin. Without that, there will be nothing at all from the Lord in man. The evils in us, furthermore, prevent us from recognizing with clarity the exact goods and truths that are in us from the Lord; but from whatever good and truth we already have from Him, we can see and recognize our evils and falsities.
     But those things which we do not see to be evil and false, but retain in our lives because we believe them to be goods and truths with us from the Lord-it is these we are to acknowledge to be His alone in us, that in them we may enter into conjunction with Him.

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And were it impossible to do that, we repeat, no one could obey that injunction to think truth and do good from the Lord, but as if from himself. He would be afraid even to try to do so.
     Yet it has been justly feared that if man can say to himself, "This in me is from the Lord," he might also add, to someone else, "and you must recognize it as being the Lord's, as being Divine, in me." How, then, can we avoid that?
     Divine truth in itself is infinite; man is finite; the finite cannot contain the infinite. All truth is actually a one, and as a one it is the infinite wisdom of God. No mortal man would possibly claim to comprehend that, yet without that there is at least something of limitation and fallacy in his understanding and perception, if not also something of falsity.
     We can, therefore, recognize and acknowledge, even in particulars, that whatever we have of truth is from the Lord and is the Lord's with us (AE 130be). But we can never say: "This is infinite Divine truth itself, and you must understand it exactly as we do." Only with the explicit statements of revelation can it be said, "These must be accepted"; and even concerning them we may not say to another, "You must understand them as we do."
     More specifically, it is said in Conjugial Love: "A general judgment like this is allowable: 'If in internals you are such as you appear in externals, you will be saved, or will be condemned.' But a particular judgment such as 'You are such in internals and therefore will be saved, or will be condemned,' is not allowable" (CL 523).
     If, then, we may make such a general judgment of another man, we may do the same of those things we retain in our lives because we sincerely believe them to be good and truth from the Lord with us. We may say: "As now we see it, this is the Lord's with us; this is genuine truth; this is genuine good. And if in internals it really is such as it now appears to be, then it most definitely is the Lord's with us." And we will go on, acting and speaking as though it were, yet remembering that we are but finite beings with limited powers of perception, living still on earth where no last judgment of internals is revealed.
     We will refrain, therefore, from making our judgment upon it absolutely final, and will pray for further light upon it, the while we go on shunning our evils and falsities as sins against God, that the good and truth going forth from Him may enter into us in fuller measure, and bring us into closer conjunction with Him.

     But let us now consider how and to what extent the Divine, the Lord, can be in and with man and angel. That it can be is clear. The Divine of the Lord makes heaven, and heaven, the kingdom of God, is within you.

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     Frequently it is said, "The Lord is the kingdom of God" (Inv. 58; AC 6726, 1416); and, indeed, this is even said with specific reference to the words: "The kingdom of God is within you" (SS 78).
     Again: "The Lord Himself is in men according to reception, and not anything Divine separated from Him" (AR 949). Again: "Man can not only receive the Divine, but also appropriate it to himself by acknowledgment and affection" (AC 5114:4). And: "Divine love has as its end a heaven consisting of men . . . upon whom the Lord is able to bestow all the blessings and felicities of love and wisdom, and to communicate these from Himself in them" (DP 27).
     The "Divine Proceeding," after all, is simply the Divine from itself in and with the things of creation. To us, "proceed" must ever imply motion or at least spiritual change of state. There is neither in the Divine. But there is the Divine in itself-the infinite, eternal, unchangable God; and there is also the Divine from itself-the Divine in and with the things it created; and this Divine is what is called the Divine Proceeding. It is, we believe, in reference to this Divine from itself, the Divine Proceeding, that the Lord is called the kingdom of God, for it is the Divine from itself, in and with men who freely receive and acknowledge it, that makes the kingdom of God within them. Literally, the kingdom of God is within those who receive into themselves Divine love and wisdom from the Lord and acknowledge them to be the Lord's. Nowhere else does it exist. There is no Divine Proceeding apart from created beings. The kingdom of God is in such men; it has no being elsewhere. It is within you; or it is not.
     In passing, however, we would note the important teaching that while the Divine is indeed with men and angels, men and angels are not one whit Divine. The Divine is merely adjoined to them as though it were their own, not fused into them as their own. It ever remains the Lord's alone (AR 949, 758).
     Now, it is often said that man's conjunction with God is in appearances of truth, since he cannot apprehend infinite Divine truth itself. Yet have we not come, somewhat, to confuse "appearance" with "fallacy, falsity and phantasy!" That the sun moves is an appearance. But whence! Not simply from the eye, or a distortion of the brain. That would be phantasy. The truth is that the earth revolves around the sun, but to the eye this truth appears as the sun moving. The appearance is the truth appearing to a certain plane of life. Frequently it might be better to say "appearing" rather than "appearance." The truth is that God is nought but mercy; this truth appears to the evil as thought God punished them, but it is still the truth so appearing.

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     Man cannot comprehend infinite Divine truth itself. It therefore is accommodated to his apprehension, and these accommodations are the appearances in which he is conjoined with God. But the Feint is that the appearance is the truth as it appears to our particular plane of life. The genuine truth is there; the infinite Divine truth; the appearance is such truth as we see and apprehend because of our own particular states. The infinite Divine truth is still within these appearances, and as to their inmost essence, they are the Divine, the Lord, with us, the kingdom of God.

     It is that which is Divine, then, freely received by man but acknowledged to be the Lord's, which makes the kingdom of God in him. But the marvelous peculiarity here exists that anything Divine, thus received and acknowledged, appears to be absolutely man's own. The life the angels lead is from the Lord; they acknowledge that; but the more they receive of it, and the stronger their acknowledgment, the more it appears as theirs. The kingdom of God in man is the Lord's, of course, yet it appears to be man's own, and must appear to be man's own, or it is not the Lord's; for the Lord wills that what is His shall be given to man so as to seem to be man's own.
     This is established through the so-called as-of-itself, by means of which what is from the Lord, and ever remains the Lord's, is yet adjoined to man so that he cannot sense other than that it is his. It begins with life itself; it ends with the final establishment of angelic life.
     This as-of-itself is also said to be the Lord's in man, though man, of course, feels it as his. Thus there is said to be in man, from the Lord (from what is infinite from itself in the finite, DP 54), the ability to receive and as it were contain what is infinite. But man feels this ability as his own, for its influx is perpetual (TCR 110), and anything perpetual is unfelt; and it enters first into his inmost soul (AE 1148:3), which is ever above all consciousness. Man first feels life after it already has long been in him.
     The inmost degree of man's soul, receptive of Divine love, gives him freedom; its next lower degree, receptive of Divine wisdom, gives him rationality (Wis ii). Nevertheless, this freedom and rationality are also said to be the Lord's in man, though so intimately conjoined with man's life as to appear to be in it. The resultant willing, thinking, speaking and acting from these faculties therefore also appear to be man's own (DLW 116); and this gives man the ability, apparently his own, to reciprocate the Lord's actions in effecting conjunction with him.
     Still further to establish the as-of-itself, the Lord provides that man shall be born without knowledges, but with the capacity of learning all knowledges (CL 134), since anything man learns not only at once appears as his, but appears more certainly his own than that with which he is born.

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Respiration seems man's own, of course, but not as much his own, nor as delightfully, as the skills and sciences he learns for himself during life.
     The Lord, therefore, also provides that His teaching of man shall always be mediate, through the Word, preaching, reading, conversation and thought (AE 1173:2). The Word states the fundamentals of religion; but still, revelation is always an individual thing (AC 8694, 8780). Man, as of himself, must want to understand the Word before he arrives at any perception of its true meaning; and this, once gained, most definitely seems his own.
     And, again, man is able to act as of himself in establishing the kingdom of God, because God's inflowing life has the conatus to do that within it. "The Lord," we read, "continually inflows into the will of man with the conatus [endeavor] of shunning evils, and thereby puts it into man's power to do so" (AC 8207). God's inflowing life is not formless, purposeless; it is human in form, and has in it the purpose of establishing a heaven in man as though it were man's own. Any step man takes toward building up some truly human or heavenly thing in his life he therefore feels to be his own, for he is simply using life the way it desires and seeks to be used.
     And if there is faith that all the good one does is from the Lord, then man is made the instrumental cause of that good and the Lord the principal cause, which two causes will ever appear as one (TCR 442). If, that is, we acknowledge the good we do to be from God, then the Lord is made the principal cause of our acts, we ourselves merely the instrument through which the good is done; but the two appear to us as one. We are doing it, though from the Lord. The washer washes the clothes, though even a dolt can see that it does this, not from itself, but from the power flowing into it. Still, the two causes of the action appear to us as one.
     From what is from the infinite adjoined to him, then, but as if from himself, man has the ability to contain the infinite. He therefore can understand Divine truth as it comes to him accommodated to his rationality; and he has the freedom to choose to do so, as well as to choose to ultimate those truths in the good of life, thus establishing within himself the kingdom of the Lord; and this he does when he does good from the Lord, but as if from himself.

     In general it is good and truth, or love and wisdom, which are that of the infinite that the finite can contain as of itself.

3382


But good or love comes to man by an internal way from the Lord, whereas truth or wisdom comes by an external way (AC 3090, 3098).
     The good or love man receives from the Lord is, in its essence, infinite and Divine; it is limited, however, in man's reception of it. "The Lord Himself is in men according to reception, and not anything Divine separated from Him."
     Because it is infinite as to essence, nothing of man's own is a vessel fit to receive it-nothing of his proprial ideas, that is. The provision is therefore made that something which in itself considered is infinite can be adjoined to the finite mind of man as a vessel capable of receiving Divine love. This vessel is Divine truth. The truths of the Word, though infinite in themselves, yet can be adjoined to man's mind, there to appear fully his own, even as must everything he learns. This was the miracle wrought by the glorification: the very words of the New Testament and the Writings-their ultimate ideas, that is-were taken from the infinite, glorified, Divine Human itself. As it were infinite on the one side, finite on the other, they can be comprehended by the finite mind, can be adjoined to it, and there can serve as vessels receptive of Divine inflowing good.
     "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me." That is a Divine, an infinite truth; yet it can be adjoined to man's conscious mind as though it were his own. It is the Word of God, yet the Word is the Lord and the Lord is the Word. When man acts from it, therefore, he acts from the Lord.
     If, then, man freely learns such truths from the Word, acknowledges them to be the Lord's with him; and, from the conatus inherent in inflowing life, shuns his evils as sins, Divine good can enter those truths by the internal way of influx, and conjoin them with itself. Thus in man is the marriage of good and truth effected, and this, in man, is the kingdom of God.

     Hence can that purpose of the Lord be achieved, told of in our opening quotation: "The Divine love and therefore the Divine Providence has as its end a heaven consisting of men who have become or are becoming angels, upon whom the Lord is able to bestow all the blessings and felicities that belong to love and wisdom, and to communicate these from Himself in them."
     Love and wisdom from the Lord and of the Lord are adjoined to man as though they were his own. The kingdom of God is established within him, and he is free to project this heaven that has been built up inside himself into the general life of heavenly society; and heaven itself is simply this human life in human society which its inhabitants set up for themselves from what is the Lord's within them.

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     Discussion of Mr. Odhner's Address

     The Bishop invited discussion of the paper, which he characterized as an interesting and profound treatment of the subject.
     Rev. Raymond G. Cranch, after thanking the speaker for his interior presentation of the doctrine, commented also on the reason why the General Church should be an international body: because its first loyalty is to the Lord Himself. Even the men living at the time of the Lord had difficulty with this problem, when they tried to trap the Lord as to Jewish subservience to the government of Rome. His answer was: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." With our first loyalty to the Lord Himself, we need fear no controversies on the natural plane, where we have need of the greatest freedom because we have different views. But in the essential things we recognize the Lord in the Writings and there we will find an answer to the problems. All dictators want to get the allegiance of their people on the religious plane as well as on the civil plane. Hitler wanted to establish a Germanic religion, the Russian government wants to appoint the officers of the Russian Church. The same is true almost over the whole world-our difficulties in Asia today are largely due to the effort to impress upon the Asian peoples the standards and methods of the West. Through the Church there should come a relief from such oppressions. For we know that one of the great evils is to impose our will upon others. What it is our duty to do is to lead people to the Lord in order that the true decisions may come from the Church which is above the things of the world. There must be variety in the reception of the Lord's truth. In getting along with our neighbors we must remember that while we may have varied political views, we must be patient with those different views if they all regard love to the neighbor; and we have no right to say of political ideas that one is "New Church" and the other not. We must submit everything to the will of the Divine if we are to get the full benefit of the international organization of the General Church of the New Jerusalem.
     Rev. K. R. Alden felt that Mr. Odhner's address was that of a deep and brilliant student of the Writings, one who had given a great many doctrinal papers before the Council of the Clergy. Our church progresses by such clear and penetrating studies, made from a desire to approach the Writings without the bias of past tradition and with an effort to find out exactly what they say. This morning he had tackled the paradox: how a man can acknowledge that everything-even man's "as-of-itself"-is from God, and still have freedom to come into the kingdom of heaven almost as if he did it from himself.
     Mr. Alden noted two points. One is that the Divine of the Lord makes heaven while the angels constitute it. Professor Vinet, long ago, had illustrated this by spreading iron-filings on a sheet of glass with a magnet below it, and showing how the iron-filings then outlined the beautiful pattern of the magnetic field, a picture of how the Lord in the other world will fit us into that place in the Gorand Man where we are needed. Following this idea out we see why people die at different ages because the Lord needs them in His pattern of heavenly uses. The other point concerned the Lord's saying that the kingdom of God is within you. Some spirits are described as walking through heavenly paradises, yet seeing nothing but a desert, because the kingdom was not within them.

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Similarly only those can enjoy music such as Beethoven's, who have nurtured an appreciation for that composer. You can fail to be stirred by the most marvelous painting unless there is some response within you. Nor would a camera record an image on ordinary wrapping paper, but only on a sensitive film which can receive the light waves. And so with us, no truth from God, no love, no wisdom, can affect us and build the kingdom of heaven within us, except by the use of those cooperative means which the paper described.
     Mr. Charles S. Cole brought out some particular thoughts which the paper had aroused in him "from the narrow standpoint of a student of the sciences." Last year he had the experience-unique among engineers-of assisting in teaching a course in Philosophy in a New Church college. Along with himself there was a theologian who considered the subject from the standpoint of Religion. What Mr. Odhner had given in his doctrinal presentation seemed to Mr. Cole to make sense in the light of what Mr. Alden had said to the young people-how they could make this faith In the new revelation a real thing to them instead of merely a routine duty of reading the Writings and hoping for something to happen. To appreciate how effective and powerful this revelation is, and how practical, we must examine such fundamental issues as those presented in Mr. Odhner's paper which do not at first seem to have any direct application to life. Consider the nature of the Infinite and how it operates on creation, the nature of the relation between mind and body, the nature of whatever lies within the universe as science knows it-and then compare these things with what the Writings teach as brought out in the paper. Make your own choice between one assumption and the other-a choice you are free to make within your own minds. You can assume with the materialists that there is no purpose in this creation, but that you and I appear here as individuals who are living (whatever that means), but perform our jobs for no other reason than that we have some biological heredity which operates in some obscure mechanical way, yet still by accident. You can make such assumptions and consider them as logically as you can in the light of all that science teaches about the nature of man, mind, and universe; and then you can compare them with what we have heard this morning about the kingdom of God within you and the manner in which the Creator made us in His own image and built in our minds discrete levels that receive life from Him in subconscious ways-life which is realized by us only when it has passed through several stages and come before our reflecting thought, so that it gives us a sense of freedom and we appear to live and act as of ourselves.
     Compare the philosophies which see no infinite Creator and no purpose in life with the teachings of the unique revelation which now brings us an appreciation of why the Lord put us here. Then make your choice as to which you should believe. If you do this the faith of the New Church becomes no longer an abstract thing, for the Lord will inflow with a love for the truths of the Writings which will lead you to more profound studies and a greater interest in their practical bearing on your daily life. It is so that a rational revelation can be used by an intelligent New Church public; and it is the hope of the College department of the Academy that this kind of growth will take place in our youth. By a study of secular subjects and the opinions of intelligent people in the world, and then going to the Writings with a view to seeing their practical values, the establishment of the Lord's kingdom can be promoted within our minds.
     Rev. David R. Simons observed that the kingdom of heaven is a state of order. Before we can have order, disorder muse first be removed.

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Therefore the Writings teach that the shunning of evils as sills is the Christian religion itself. No man can do good-or love truths or perform a use-unless he shuns evils as sins.
     In an experiment performed in the elementary school this was powerfully illustrated. When an iron bar was pointed to the North Pole and pounded with a hammer, the little molecules were drawn by the force of terrestrial magnetism toward the north until that bar became a magnet. The kingdom of heaven is established in our minds by a corresponding method. The hammer we pound with is Divine revelation-the precepts of shunning evils as sins. This hurts, because it goes against our native grain. We come into temptations. But if we are willing, from Divine command, to submit to this re-orientation, our minds are ordered by the influx of life from the Lord so that our interiors point more and more to the spiritual East. We become spiritual magnets who draw the neighbor nearer to ourselves. But we should be willing not only to "pound" ourselves, but also our children! Parents of the New Church must use this same hammer of Divine truth to control their children and point them in the right direction, and encourage in them the ability to control themselves and receive the love of truth and be drawn into the Lord's order. In New Church education the endeavor is to establish habits of self-control and self-criticism. . . . If order is to be established, disorders must be removed-and removed by a force outside of ourselves, the force which is present in the Writings. Only so can the kingdom of God come down from heaven and be established on earth.
ORDINATIONS 1954

ORDINATIONS       Various       1954

     JUNE 19, 1954

     DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE

     I believe that the Writings are a Divine revelation, Divinely authoritative throughout. I believe that they constitute the second and final coming of the Lord.
     I believe that the two fundamentals of religion, as revealed in the Writings, are these: that there is only one God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the life of religion is to shun evils as sins against Him.
     I believe that the end of the Lord in creation is a heaven from the human race. I present myself for ordination into the pastoral degree in order to serve this end. I pray that the Lord may purge me of selfish motives, and allow me to be His honest servant in this high use.
     GEOFFREY S. CHILDS, JR.

     I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the God of heaven and earth, and that He is one in essence and in person. In fulness of time the Divine from eternity, which is Jehovah, descended to conception and birth among men through the Virgin Mary.

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God thus clothed Himself with a human additament, and thereby adjoined to His Divine esse a human heredity in externals as a plane wherein to invite and meet the assaults of the hells, which were threatening the spiritual life of the race. By the temptations undergone and endured in, and from, this human nature assumed, the Lord glorified His Human and made it Divine from inmosts to outmosts. This Divine Human now stands as an eternal and visible protector over the spiritual life of mankind for all ages to come.
     I believe that those books of the Old and New Testaments designated by the Writings as such are the fully inspired Word of God; that they have been rendered by the Lord to meet the spiritual states and needs of men at the time of their giving; and that the inspired form of all Divine revelation is such that it contains within layer upon layer of deeper and more interior truths-truths reserved by the Lord until such time as men have been prepared to understand and love their deeper implications.
     Just as the New Testament revealed the truths of the Old more interiorly to mankind, so I believe that the doctrines given through Emanuel Swedenborg reveal yet more interiorly the genuine truths of faith; that this new doctrine constitutes a revelation of Divine truth from the Lord; thus that the Writings are to be regarded as the very Word of God, of equal status with the prior dispensations.
     I believe, therefore, that the Writings constitute that Spirit of Truth that shall lead men unto all truth; thus that they are the Lord speaking to men in His second coming-a coming, not in body or externals, but in interior enlightenment as to the quality and purpose of the Divine mind.
     I believe that every man is born in order that he may perform a use to the Gorand Man of heaven to eternity; that the purpose of each man's being born on this earth is that he may be prepared for this use in heaven; and that the way that leads thither consists in a faith that is of the life-that is, the love of truth for the sake of its application to use.
     I believe that the orderly establishment and perpetuation of the church among men calls for an ordained priesthood, set apart and inaugurated by the laying on of hands; that the ministry of blessing is thus transferred from the Lord, through the priest, to men, this not by virtue of anything that is the priest's own, but by virtue of his Divinely appointed office; and that the essential occupation of this office is to teach the truth, and to lead thereby to the good of life.
     In presenting myself for ordination into the second degree of the priesthood, I do hereby affirm my allegiance to the General Church, and do rededicate my life to the priestly use, which is to lead men to the revealed truths of the Heavenly Doctrine.

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I pray that the Lord will guard my ways and guide my endeavors, lest I should unwittingly betray this most sacred trust of my office; for I am but as a little child, not knowing how to go out, or to come in. May the Lord give to His servant an understanding heart, to discern the manifold duties and uses that lie ahead. May He grant me, in study, depth of understanding; in application, keenness of insight; and in administration, the strength of gentleness.
     DANDRIDGE PENDLETON
ASSEMBLY IMPRESSIONS 1954

ASSEMBLY IMPRESSIONS       Jr. GEOFFREY S. CHILDS       1954

     A few days before the Twentieth General Assembly, Bishop De Charms asked the chairman of the Assembly committee if he had arranged good weather. The chairman, Mr. Lachlan Pitcairn, responded that perhaps this was in the Bishop's department. We can only report that the Assembly itself was blessed with the sweet gift of cool weather! It was chilly for those who planned lawn parties at their Open Houses, but it was wonderful for clear thinking!
     Many impressions steal into the mind when thinking of this Assembly. The perfection of the external arrangements comes immediately to mind. This perfection made its impact the moment one stepped into the Assembly Hall for the first session, for the speakers' platform and its backdrop were works of art. The large window was covered with a translucent blue cloth, and centered on this backdrop was a large General Church banner. The platform itself was raised three feet or more above the door, and was bordered by a little army of geraniums.

     SESSIONS. But the point and purpose of the Assembly was not these external arrangements. The addresses given in the six sessions form the heart of the meetings. We are too close to these sessions, in point of time, to be entirely objective about them; too close to capture their general unity of sphere and meaning. But we do feel that through the addresses the Church was given two things-perspective, and inspiration. Bishop De Charms' episcopal address at the, first session was on "The General Church, Its Uses and its Needs." From this we gained a feeling of orientation-a living perspective of where the General Church stands in relation to the past and to the future, and in relation to the world in which we live. The Bishop also laid before us, in an inspiring manner, the uses immediately ahead of us for the growth of the Church. If we may skip, we would say that the fourth session perfectly complemented the first.

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This took the form of a symposium on "The Uses of the General Church," and from it we learned that certain future uses of the Church cannot be served unless there is ultimate financial support. It was pointed out that spiritual food is delicious-but somebody has to do the dishes!
     The Rev. Karl R. Alden's paper on "The Garments of the Lord" at the second session touched the heart with its lovely imagery from the Word; and it uplifted the rational in its unfolding of the spiritual meaning within this imagery. We appreciated the doctrinal study and careful reflection found in the address on "The Kingdom of God is Within You" by the Rev. Ormond Odhner at the third session, and in that on "The Faith of Love" by the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson at the fifth session. In both we found a giving of new interior perspectives, and inspiration on the plane of interior motives and purposes. The final session was devoted to an address by Bishop Willard D. Pendleton on "The Transfiguration." In clear, compelling language, Bishop Pendleton focused our minds on the essential doctrine of the church, the doctrine of the Lord. He not only taught the high use of this doctrine, he made us feel it. It was a powerful closing message to the Assembly sessions.
     The reports presented at the morning sessions, the addresses and the useful discussion that followed them, and accounts of other features of the program will appear in this journal in due course; as will the record of the important action taken at the third session-the unanimous choice of the Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton as Assistant Bishop of the General Church.

     NEW CHURCH DAY. On the Nineteenth of June the center of activity shifted from the Assembly Hall to the Cathedral, where a morning service was held to honor this day of all days in the New Church. The service was marked by some of the finest choral singing ever heard in the Cathedral; and the meaning of the service was further heightened by the ordination of the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton and the Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs, Jr., into the second degree of the priesthood. These two things led up to the high point of the service-an unforgettably beautiful picture of the descent of the New Jerusalem into the hearts of men drawn in the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner's sermon.
     Two Holy Supper services were held in the afternoon. Of the Assembly banquet held in the evening we shall say nothing here as it will be reported fully in another issue.

     SUNDAY, JUNE 20. The Assembly closed with a service of worship on Sunday morning which was marked by fine instrumental music.

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The Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen was the preacher; and his sermon on the little book which John was commanded to eat, dealing as it did with the appropriation of the Heavenly Doctrine, climaxed the purpose as well as the manifest spirit of the meetings.

     We write these impressions a few days after the closing of the Assembly and cannot help recording the nostalgia we feel. It was sad to watch the tent being slowly dismantled, and we miss the many out-of-state license plates. But the joy and uplifting of the Assembly we challenge time to take away!
     GEOFFREY S. CHILDS, JR.
LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     8. And Forgive Us Our Debts

     He who in true humiliation prays that the Lord may receive him into His kingdom and grant him salvation therein, and this by the bestowal of the good of love and the truth of faith, realizes that he is unworthy of these gifts of Divine mercy because of his utterly evil state of inclination to evil and to the doing of it. That such is his state can be well known to everyone who is willing at times to engage in self-examination and to reflect upon what then becomes evident. And so he prays that the Lord may forgive the debts which he owes Him.
     These debts, which are due to be paid, arise from disobedience to the Divine commandments in will, thought, speech, and deed. In what immediately follows the Lord's Prayer they are called trespasses, thus transgressions; and therefore they are sins against the Lord, as is said where the prayer is given in Luke: "And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us" (11:4). So great is their enormity that they cannot be forgiven except by Divine mercy. In this mercy the Lord forgives, yea, is constantly forgiving. And yet in order that this forgiveness may be a reality, effecting that change to a new state wherein man lives from the Lord in accordance with His Word and so comes into conjunction with Him, there is something that man must do in cooperation; namely, that he forgive his debtors. He must forgive the wrongs that others do to him, either by commission or by omission. He must forgive their trespasses. Only then can there be real forgiveness by the Lord.

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     There may be the reflection on the part of some, perhaps of many, that there seems to be for them but little application of the admonition to forgive the debts, or trespasses, of others. They may know, indeed, of some offenses against themselves, but not of so severe a character as to call for a great forgiveness. What, then, may be meant?
     In order that anyone may forgive others their trespasses he must be of a disposition to do so. There must be on his part a right attitude toward the neighbor, thus a refraining from trespassing against him; also the shunning of doing evil to him, even in intention and thought. So the application of the words, "as we forgive our debtors," becomes as it were reversed, and comes to mean the need of others forgiving our debts to them. Expanding this idea, the meaning is that there should be with us a state of charity toward the neighbor, this including all that our doctrines teach concerning that state. We need to fulfill our obligations, our debts, to the neighbor, on all planes of life, so doing especially by the faithful, sincere, and just performance of the use to which providence has led us. Such charity is possible only if there be the endeavor to keep the commandments of the second table of the Decalogue; or, what is the same, to keep the second of the two great commandments, which is to love the neighbor as one's self.
     These considerations may enable us to understand why this petition of the Lord's Prayer, and it only, is the one which the Lord stresses immediately after teaching the prayer itself. This is because upon it depends the fulfillment of all the other petitions, thus of the entire prayer, as is evident from the introductory word "for." "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Herein is taught the way of salvation, namely, that the Lord can regenerate or save us as we do our part in cooperation with Him. These two things our doctrines repeatedly mention, that we look to the Lord, and that we shun our evils as sins. Thus do the two tables of the Decalogue become conjoined in us, and likewise the two great commandments.

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     The inspired predictions through Jeremiah, like those found in the other prophetic books, are not arranged in chronological order. Spiritually this is because what is described in the prophets is the church at its consummation and judgment, when all past states return simultaneously. In the August readings (Jeremiah 5:19-24e) the sins of Judah and her kings are denounced forthrightly and are represented by parabolic actions which the prophet was commanded to perform; the people are exhorted to repent; the siege of Jerusalem is foretold, and the nation is counselled to fall to the invaders, spiritually because it had yielded to the evils represented by Babylon. The dominant subjects in the internal sense are the successive vastation of the Jewish Church and its final rejection when it should have repudiated the Lord. But the sombre theme is lightened by the promise of a new church after the inevitable judgment, and there is a ringing call to the worship of the Lord.
     Jeremiah's commission was made especially difficult by two factors. He was called to preach repentance at a time when the external religious reforms carried out by king Josiah seemed, to the Jews content with the letter, to make repentance unnecessary. Further, he was commanded by the Lord to advise surrender to Babylon; and in the eyes of the army and the politically minded high-priests and princes, who could not know the spiritual reason for his advocating this course, this made him dangerously subversive-a traitor sapping the morale of a beleaguered people. It was this consistent call for submission rather than his "jeremiads" that exposed him to severe persecution. In this we may see how the moral and civil man whose states are judged by exposure to the Writings may fail to see the need for interior repentance, and may reject the truth that there is no deliverance from evil through human prudence but only by undergoing the spiritual captivity of temptation.

     In the Arcana readings (nos. 9915: 3-9973) the exposition of Exodus 28 is concluded and there is a short treatment of the second earth in the starry heaven which extends the concept of the Gorand Man. The expository portion is of equal importance throughout, but of especial interest are the bells by which Aaron was heard when he ministered unseen. For by their tinkling is represented the transfer of doctrine, and in all the teaching of the priesthood the Heavenly Doctrine must sound out.

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SHALL MAKE YOU FREE 1954

SHALL MAKE YOU FREE       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary               Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.

     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     We have been impressed by the frequency with which in recent times men in public life have quoted the Lord's words: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." We have been even more impressed by the fact that in no instance has the speaker cited also the words immediately preceding, which state the essential condition for freedom through knowledge of the truth: "If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed." The implication of the partial quotation would seem to be that unrestricted access to our cultural heritage will set men free by imparting knowledge of the truth, and up to a point this is so. What is called: scientific truth can deliver men from bondage to witchcraft and magic, political truth from mental and even physical slavery under false ideologies, philosophic truth from the fetters of ignorance and superstition. But with all this the human spirit may still be kept in chains by its real enemy and the cause of all evil and falsity in the world, the love of self and the world. And the truth that really makes men free on every plane of life-the truth that alone leads to the discovery of genuine scientific, political, and philosophic truth-may be known by those only who, through continuing in the Lord's Word, have become His disciples indeed. For that truth is the spiritual truth of the Word, and it is really known by those only who, through living according to it, have had it inscribed on their minds and their lives.

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ASSEMBLIES OF THE CHURCH 1954

ASSEMBLIES OF THE CHURCH       Editor       1954

     At the recent General Assembly emphasis was laid upon the development of the Church. As evidence of this it is interesting to note that, for the first time in our history, three Assemblies will be held simultaneously in widely separated parts of the world-a National Assembly in Great Britain, District Assemblies in Northwest Canada and the Western United States. The British Assembly has a long and distinguished history; our friends in the Peace River District are already meeting for the third consecutive year; and the Western States Assembly is of peculiar significance as the first in that region. In comparison with our General Assemblies, the largest of these gatherings will be small in numbers; but the purpose and belief behind attendance, the spirit that will animate them, the sphere that will be felt and carried away, and the spiritual blessings received by those who go to them with hearts and minds opened to the Lord, will be precisely the same.
     As the General Church grows its National and District Assemblies become increasingly important. At the call of the Bishop, they are occasions on which members and friends in a given locality come together-not as guest societies, circles, or groups entertained by one of their number-but as members and friends of the General Church. The spiritual purpose of their coming together is that of all Assemblies; the specific purpose is to take counsel for the further development in their area of the uses of the General Church, to consult for the welfare of the area as a whole. This is a use in which every member in the area may take an equal part, whether he belongs to a society or not, and from which he can receive equal benefits; and it is a use that is vital for the even development of the General Church as a whole. Members of the General Church everywhere will therefore hope that these three Assemblies may be richly blessed, and through them our scattered church which is yet one.
CHARITY 1954

CHARITY       Editor       1954

     By reason of its very nature, love of religion is indeed the first of the spiritual virtues. But because of that nature, and of the source from which these virtues flow, the second is said to be charity. In defining this virtue the Writings present us with one of their most vital and beautiful concepts, and make the term one of the most important and distinctive in our New Church vocabulary.
     In the world today, charity is thought of almost entirely in terms of private or organized relief of material want or need. But although that may serve as a basis in childhood and in states of simplicity it is natural, and is not what the Writings mean by charity.

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This virtue is not an action of any kind, although it has no reality unless it is ultimated in deeds. The vital distinction is that charity is to will well, and good works are to do well from willing well. In itself, charity is a love which originates in the unselfish affection of good. It is an internal affection which consists in a man's desiring from the heart, as the delight of his life, to do good to the neighbor without thought of recompense in this life or in the world to come; and its essence is to will well to the neighbor, to be affected with good, and to acknowledge good as the neighbor. Charity is therefore love toward the neighbor and mercy; which is to love what is true, sincere, and just, and from will to act accordingly. Thus it is what is meant by spiritual good, which is to do good, or those things which the Lord has commanded in the Word, because they are true, that is, to do the truth of the Word.
     The life of charity is to act sincerely, justly, and faithfully in one's employment and in every other work and relation with the neighbor. For good can be done to the neighbor only by means of what is good and just in the particular work in which one is engaged, and with whomsoever one has any dealings.
     It should be noted, however, that charity has also its duties, its benefactions, and its recreations. The duties of charity, which are outside the scope of man's employment but are made obligatory by civil and moral law, are public, domestic, and private; and they consist in such things as payment of taxes, the discharge of responsibilities in the home, and the honoring of contracts and pledges. The benefactions of charity, on the other hand, are left to man's free will and consist in such things as a prudent giving to the poor. The recreations or pastimes of charity are all innocent amusements and hobbies which are taken up to the end that the animus may be re-created by diversions.
     These are the things which enter into the second of the spiritual virtues that in a true church are the most highly regarded. And we are taught that this virtue has its signs, which are the externals of the body and of the mind that pertain to worship. It is true that these may not indicate the presence of spiritual charity. But if they are present, and seem to do so, the man of the church may believe that if their internal quality is such as it appears to be he has received somewhat of charity; not from his rational or moral wisdom, but as a gift from the Lord through love to Him and toward the neighbor.

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Church News 1954

Church News        Various       1954

     THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

     Commencement

     The seventy-sixth Commencement Exercises of the Academy Schools were held on Tuesday afternoon, June 15th, in the Assembly Hall at Bryn Athyn. Since the Twentieth General Assembly was to begin the next day, an unusually large number of guests were present. An estimated 775 persons filled the hall and stage for what was probably the largest Commencement in Academy history.
     The address of the day, delivered by Lt. Col. William R. Kintner of the United States Army, will be published in the October issue. Colonel Kintner's years of war experience and of scholarship and publication in the service of his country gave his words the force of authority, and his audience listened raptly.
     Valedictorians for the graduating classes were: for the Girls' Seminary, Sharon Synnestvedt of Detroit; for the Boys' Academy, Richard Acton of Glenview; for the Junior College, Pelle Rosenquist of Bryn Athyn; and for the Senior College, Donald L. Rose of Bryn Athyn. The Valedictories, always expressive of gratitude for the work of the Academy and its teachers, were all marked this year by simplicity and directness. An innovation this year was the awarding of diplomas directly by the heads of the respective schools, excepting in the case of the Baccalaureates awarded by the Board of Directors and presented by Bishop De Charms.
     Noted by many visitors was the excellence of the singing by the schools grouped on the stage. The Academy has long been proud of the quality of its choral work; and part of the distinctiveness of our Commencement lies in the music, which includes a Whittington psalm and anthems in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the languages of revelation.
     E. B. GLENN

     ACADEMY SCHOOLS

     Awards, 1954

     At the Commencement Exercises on June 15th, the Graduates received their Diplomas and the Honors were announced as follows:

     Senior College

     BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (CUM LAUDE): Donald Coffin Fitzpatrick, Jr.
     BACHELOR OF SCIENCE: Barbara Beal Barnitz Acton, Drusilla Carswell, Daniel Winthrop Heinrichs, Astrid Odhner, Donald Leslie Rose, Marcia Trimble.

     Junior College

     DIPLOMA: With Distinction: Beatrice Beryl Cranch, Sally Jean Smith.
     DIPLOMA: Men: Donald Leslie Hotson, Wynne Sumner Hyatt, Hugo Valdemar Odhner, Sigurd Pelle Rosenquist. Women: Mary Jean Best, Elizabeth Ann Hasen, Helene Howard, Marguerite Ann Kuhl, Martha Stewart Lindsay, Beatrice Eva Sharp, Rhona Synnestvedt.

     Boys' Academy

     DIPLOMA: Richard Odhner Acton, Gerald Bostock, Charles Kenneth Cole 2nd, Joseph Stevens David, James Johnson Forfar, Dennis Childs Halterman, Charles Roderick Heinrichs, Hugo Denis Henderson, George Robert Martz, George Martin Miller, Robert Michael Salinas, Robert Alan Smith, George Price Tyler. Certificate of Completion: John Healdon Starkey.

     Girls' Seminary

     DIPLOMA: Doris Acton, Nancy Allen, Joan Goodwin Cooper, Ladice David, Janet Davis, Gall Joanne Down, Greta Amity Echols, Patricia Ann Frazier, Judith Harriet Kuhl, Marguerite Leonard, Adrienne Mae Linguist, Joyce Elaine Mayo, Vera Louise Powell, Gertrude Price, Marilyn Jeanette Stroh, Beatrice Trimble, Joanne Walter. Certificate of Completion: Joan Margery Parker.

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Certificate of Graduation: Dawn Elizabeth Barnitz, Sharon Synnestvedt. Certificate of Attendance: Elizabeth Lois Charles.

     [NOTE: A Certificate of Completion is granted to seniors in the Boys' Academy and the Girls' Seminary whose academic standing would enable them to graduate but who have not met the two years residence requirement for a Diploma.]

     GENERAL CHURCH CORPORATION

     The 1954 Annual Meeting of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, Incorporated, was held in the Auditorium of Benade Hall, Bryn Athyn, Pa., on June 17, 1954. Bishop De Charms presiding. One hundred and one members attended from among a total membership of two hundred and fifty-two. The Board of Directors consists of thirty members, whose terms expire at the rate of ten per annum. The ten Directors elected for terms expiring in 1957 were: Reginald S. Anderson of Toronto, Carl Hj. Asplundh of Bryn Athyn, Robert G. Barnitz of Urbana, Robert M. Brown of Toronto, Geoffrey S. Childs of Saginaw, George C. Doering of Baltimore, Sydney E. Lee of Glenview, Warren A. Reuter of Glenview, Gilbert M. Smith of Pittsburgh, and Arthur Synnestvedt of Bryn Athyn. Marlin W. Heilman of Bryn Athyn was elected an Honorary Director.
     At a meeting of the Board of Directors which was held immediately after the Corporation meeting, and which was attended by twenty-six members, the previous Corporation officers were reelected for the ensuing year, namely: Bishop George de Charms, President; the Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, Vice-President; Hubert Hyatt, Secretary; and Leonard E. Gyllenhaal, Treasurer.
     HUBERT HYATT,
          Secretary.

     SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE

     Considerable interest in the operations of this committee was shown during the recent General Assembly. It may therefore be of further interest to readers of NEW CHURCH LIFE to learn the extent of those operations.
     Somewhat of a milestone was passed during the meetings of the 20th General Assembly in that the Committee had, for the first time, built and operated equipment for making multiple copies simultaneously with the master recording. This enabled us to send out tapes of Assembly addresses to a number of centers immediately after each meeting. Bishop De Charms' episcopal address, for example, was sent by airmail to 14 different places two hours after it had been given at the First Session.
     In addition to recording the addresses and the symposium which formed the program for the six sessions, the Committee put on tape some of the discussion and most of the special meetings and functions held. It has been calculated that a total of 18 miles of tape was run through the recording machines during the Assembly! This produced a number of master records and 49 circulation copies, all of which are out in use as of this writing. These tapes have already made 72 trips, and many have already been requested for later us. They were sent to widely scattered groups and centers in the United States, including Albuquerque, Chapel Hill (N. C.), Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Edinburg (Texas), Glenview, Pittsburgh, Portland, and Topeka; and to Canada and England. In order to give the widest possible circulation, the episcopal address, the Symposium on the Uses of the General Church, and the discussion of the Symposium were sent on a special contribution-free basis to all regular users of the Committee's service whether they had yet ordered Assembly recordings or not.
     It is hoped by the membership of the Committee that its operations will help to bring about three things: 1) a closer touch with the teaching ministry of the General Church on the part of that large group of members who seldom have opportunity for direct contact; 2) an immediate community of thought on special occasions, as at the time of a General Assembly; 3) an extension of the ministrations of our priesthood. The first two of these hopes will be fulfilled increasingly as the number of users of the service grows and as they are able to avail themselves of more recordings; the third will be realized as more recording stations are established in our societies, so that the instruction given by more of our ministers can reach a larger number of New Church men and women.
     The Committee was established by appointment of the Bishop. Its chief purpose is to develop in the Church a new medium of communication which is capable of conveying something of the affection present in the inflection, emphasis, and tone of voice of the speaker as well as the intellectual ideas he presents; and its activities are maintained by contributions received for the use of records and special contributions from others who are interested in the project.

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There are many tape-recorders on sale today, and most of them will play the Committee's tapes. Any reader who would like information is invited to write to the undersigned for details.
     KENNETH P. SYNNESTVEDT,
          Vice-Chairman

     TORONTO, CANADA

     Services and Classes.-Since the Rev. Martin Pryke came to our society in January he has conducted a series of doctrinal classes on man's introduction into the spiritual world. These classes have been very instructive and we look forward to their continuation in the fall.
     On Sunday morning, May 30th, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. John Parker, Jr. (Ersa Marie Alden), was baptized, his grandfather, the Rev. Karl R. Alden, officiating. Mr. Alden chose as the text for his sermon "The Lord bless you. And keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26).
     The sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered on June 13th. During the service our Pastor gave a talk to the children on the essence of New Church Day. The sermon to the adults was on the relation between the first and second comings of the Lord.

     A Wedding.-Miss Catherine B. (Betty) Alderson and Mr. Robert P. Anderson were united in marriage on May 1st, the Rev. Martin Pryke officiating. Following the service, the guests went down to the church hall for the reception. After the newly married couple had been greeted, punch was passed to everyone, and Mr. Gordon Anderson, who was toastmaster, led us in a number of songs and toasts to the future of the bride and bridegroom. These were followed by speeches from the Rev. Martin Pryke, Mr. Reginald S. Anderson, and Mr. Thee Rothermel.

     Social and Meetings.-Saturday night, April 24th, was Theater Night. Two one-act plays, "A Marriage Has Been Arranged" and "The Dear Departed," were presented by a cast chosen from our society. Mrs. Ella Brown, the director, is to be congratulated on a most successful evening. During the intermission between the two plays we had the pleasure of hearing Margaret Evans, a soloist and radio artist, sing to us. Miss Edina Carswell entertained the cast later at her home where a recording of parts of each play was made.
     Our spring social was held on Saturday evening, May 8th, and those who attended played cards or danced. While the attendance was slim, all those who did come seemed to enjoy themselves. The evening when the Sons entertain the ladies is one of the highlights of the year for us, and this year again we were not disappointed. The night was that of May 15th, the evening starting with a buffet supper. We then heard speeches by Mr. John Parker, Jr., Mr. John White, and Mr. Robert Scott. During the lighter side of the evening we had a presentation of "What's My Line?" which was one of the most hilarious and successful bits of entertainment the men have presented.
     A most enjoyable musical afternoon was spent on Sunday, May 30th, when we listened to the young people singing and playing the piano. Also on the program was a reading by Mr. Jack McDonald and a violin solo by Mrs. Eleanor Hansen which were much enjoyed.
     Next evening Theta Alpha held its last meeting of the season at the home of Miss Edina Carswell, with Mrs. Doris Brown as co-hostess. After a delicious cold buffet supper there was a business meeting during which officers were elected for the coming year. The last meeting of the Ladies' Circle, to which all the ladies and girls of the society were invited, took the form of a supper at the church hall on June 7th. The first item on the entertainment agenda was for everyone present to empty her purse and count all the pieces. The winner found over 300 items! the lowest was 7. The remainder of the evening was spent in a hilarious version of floral court-whist.

     School Closing.-The school closing exercises were held on Friday evening, June 11th. After a service in the chapel we repaired to the church hall where we heard the singing ability of the children and were given a gymnastic display by the boys. During their part of the program the girls enacted "The Walrus and the Carpenter."

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Before the evening closed the children presented their principal and teachers with gifts, their way of expressing thanks for all that hall been done for them during the past year.

     New Church Day.-On June 19th there was a picnic on the Weston property. There were games and races, not to mention free ice cream for the children. As many were away at the Assembly there was not the usual large turnout for this affair. The children celebrated New Church Day at a banquet on June 22nd, at which time they heard a paper by the Rev. Martin Pryke.
     The next evening the Society had an "Echo Meeting" of the 20th General Assembly. Various people gave brief reports on the meetings and social events and so brought the Assembly home to those who had been unable to attend.
     KATHERINE BARBER

     KITCHENER, ONTARIO

     The spring months held a number of interesting activities in addition to the routine society life of the Carmel Church. On March 7th, Mr. John White of the Toronto Society gave a talk at the home of Dr. and Mrs. R. W. Schnarr on the subject of gems, in which he dealt with the ancient history of precious stones and their correspondences. He also showed many pictures and answered questions. Mr. White retired recently from the gem cutting business, in which he had worked all his life, and so was able to give us a wealth of information.

     Early in April the Society greatly enjoyed a visit, his first to Kitchener, from the Rev. David R. Simons, Principal of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School. A banquet, complete with French menus, was put on by the Sons, with Mr. Fred Hasen as toastmaster and Mr. Simons as guest speaker. His subject was the 7th grade science course he is teaching, and it was quite a revelation to many to see how distinctive New Church education is being developed. He kept his audience highly entertained by showing experiments, using everything from boxing gloves to spools, to show how the student is taught to see from experience that truth is outside of the mind, that use is the discriminating factor, that love governs everything one does, and that wisdom determines how one does it. On the following Sunday morning Mr. Simons addressed the children and then preached on the second coming of the Lord at a combined service for children and adults. On Sunday evening he met with the young married group and spoke on education, explaining that New Church education in the home and in school fulfills the vows made by parents in the service of baptism. Discipline was also discussed. On Monday morning Mr. Simons visited the school. Young and old alike will long remember his visit with pleasure.

     The Carmel Church Footlighters, under the direction of Mrs. Norman Reuter, produced two one-act plays which were presented on April 24th. A comedy, "Not Tonight." and a drama, "High Window," made a balanced program that was presented to a full and appreciative house. With this third season for the Footlighters, improvements both in acting and in equipment were noticed. There were new backdrop curtains and a fresh coat of paint on the stage. The star of the evening was Miss Dorothy Kuhl, who gave a wonderful performance in "High Window."

     Early in May we had the pleasure of hearing the Rev. Martin Pryke, Pastor of the Toronto Society, preach in Kitchener at a Sunday evening service. Mr. Reuter was in Montreal that weekend, as he is now Visiting Pastor to the Circle there.

     For the last Friday supper, Mrs. Nelson Glebe and Mrs. Rud Schnarr arranged a potluck supper which gave a novel finish to the season. On the same night Mr. Reuter concluded his series of doctrinal classes on The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine with a class on government. After the class a social evening of cards and Scrabble was enjoyed Occasion was taken also to honor the 85th birthday of Mrs. John Schnarr.

     School Closing.-Carmel School held its closing service on Saturday evening, June 12th. Mr. Reuter gave a very nice talk to the children and Justin Reuter received a diploma. After the service the children entertained with a program of piano pieces and recitations and Justin Reuter gave a talk on their wood-working course. As a finale, the eight children from 1st to 8th grade presented the "Dance of the Baker Boys" in costume. Mrs. Cecil James had drilled them in the dance which was very cute.

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     New Church Day.-Quite a few Society members attended the General Assembly in Bryn Athyn over June 19th, and returned with enthusiastic reports of a very happy time spent there. On June 26th, an "echo meeting" and June 19th banquet was held, with Mr. Harold Kuhl as toastmaster. At this occasion we were happy to welcome homecoming students from Bryn Athyn, many visitors, and Candidate Robert S. Junge who is spending four weeks in Kitchener this summer. The speakers at the banquet were the Rev. Henry Heinrichs, Mr. Robert Junge, Mr. John Kuhl, and the Rev. Norman H. Reuter. They gave a very good account of all the Assembly activities, and tried hard to convey also the spirit of the occasion. However, they all felt that one must be present at an Assembly to capture its spirit. The keynotes of the Assembly were expressed as a sense of unity and loyalty in the Church, and a feeling of growth and strength. Tape-recordings of the Assembly will be heard during the summer on Friday evenings after picnic suppers on the church grounds.
     The children celebrated New Church Day with a picnic on Monday morning, June 28th. This took the place of the usual party and luncheon at the church.
     Obituary.-On June 11th, Mr. Rudolf Robert Schnarr passed into the spiritual world after a long illness of two years, much of which time was spent in hospital. He was 52 years old. He is survived by his wife, Hazel Heath Schnarr, daughters Nancy and Mina, and sons Fred and George, and by his father, George Schnarr. With his passing the Society has lost a lifetime member. "Rud," as he was known to his friends, was actively interested in all the affairs of the Carmel Church, in many of which he served the Society; and his interest in discussing the doctrines was not diminished by his long sickness.
     VIVIAN KUHL
ORDINATIONS 1954

ORDINATIONS              1954




     Announcements
     Childs.-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 19, 1954, the Rev. Geoffrey Stafford Childs, Jr., into the Second Degree of the Priesthood, Bishop George de Charms officiating.

     Pendleton.-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 19, 1954, the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton into the Second Degree of the Priesthood, Bishop George de Charms officiating.
JOURNAL OF THE TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM HELD AT BRYN ATHYN, PA., JUNE 16-20, 1954 1954

JOURNAL OF THE TWENTIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM HELD AT BRYN ATHYN, PA., JUNE 16-20, 1954       HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1954


[Frontispiece: Photographs of the Sound Recording Committee Studio.]

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV SEPTEMBER, 1954          NO. 9
     First Session-Wednesday Morning, June 16

     1. The Assembly was convened by Bishop George de Charms in the Assembly Hall on the campus of the Academy of the New Church.
     2. Hymn 58 was sung and the Bishop led in prayer and read from Isaiah, ch. 40.
     3. The MINUTES OF THE NINETEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY were adopted as printed in NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1950, pages 409 to 427.
     4. Bishop De Charms then spoke as follows:

     "At this opening session of the Twentieth General Assembly, permit me first of all to speak on behalf of the Bryn Athyn Society in extending a most cordial welcome to all our guests. We rejoice in the fact that since the last Assembly the number of our homes has so increased that we can provide ample accommodations for all who come. We have been very fortunate in the past that the facilities of the near-by Beaver College dormitories were available to increase our capacity for housing our Assembly guests. But one of the most delightful uses of these gatherings is the opportunity they afford to renew old acquaintances, and to make new friends, and this can best be done in the hospitable sphere of the home.

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For this reason we look forward with added pleasure to your presence among us, and assure you that the latch-string is out on the door of every house in Bryn Athyn.
     "The removal of the carpenter shop which provided so convenient a place of meeting at previous Assemblies, has greatly improved the beauty of the Cathedral grounds; but it has made it necessary this year to revert to an old-time custom of serving the meals in a tent. I think you will find this arrangement satisfactory if only the weather will be kind to us.
     "The Committee on Arrangements, under the able chairmanship of Mr. Lachlan Pitcairn, has been most diligent in planning to provide for your comfort; but please feel free to let us know of any needs or desires which we have been unable to anticipate, and every effort will be made to supply them. The program is designed to allow some time each afternoon for rest and recreation, when opportunity will be provided for our visitors to inspect the Cathedral and the Academy Buildings. After the close of the evening sessions various homes will hold open house to which you are all cordially invited. Our hope is that you may enjoy your visit to Bryn Athyn for this Assembly as much as we enjoy having you with us for this happy occasion.
     "My annual report for the year 1953 was published in the April issue of the NEW CHURCH LIFE, and subsequent events will be summarized in my address to this Assembly, but I should like to take this opportunity to express my grateful appreciation to the Rev. David Holm, who has ably carried on the uses of both the Durban Society and the South African Mission pending the arrival of the Rev. A. Wynne Acton to serve as Pastor and Superintendent. Mr. Acton's departure from the United States was delayed for nearly six months by our inability to secure a visa permitting him to enter the Union of South Africa, and Mr. Holm, together with Mr. Gordon Cockerell, gave valuable assistance whereby this difficulty was finally overcome.
     "Meanwhile, in our own country we have the pleasure of congratulating the Detroit Circle on becoming a Society of the General Church. It is the first new Society to be added to our list in many years, and the progress it indicates gives cause for rejoicing to the entire Church.
     "Detroit having started something, others are not slow to follow. We are glad to report that both the Washington and the Baltimore Circles look forward to attaining Society status next September. They will share the pastoral services of the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton, who, together with the Rev. Geoffrey Childs, will be ordained into the second degree of the Priesthood at our Nineteenth of June Service during this Assembly.
     "As was announced in the published report of the Annual Meetings of the Council of the Clergy, and of the Joint Council, held last February, it is my purpose to lay before this Assembly the present need for the selection of an Assistant Bishop.

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For the past several years the Right Reverend Willard D. Pendleton has served as Vice President of the Academy, and in addition he has given valuable and much needed assistance to the Bishop in the work of the General Church. In this latter capacity he has acted by episcopal appointment. If, however, we are adequately to supply the steadily expanding uses of our Church, we foresee that further help will be required in the administration of the episcopal office. We believe therefore that the time has come when this assistance should be given, not merely by the Bishop's appointment, but with the consent and approval of the entire body of the Church as expressed by the General Assembly. This is a matter of considerable importance, both to the freedom of the Church and to the orderly administration of the episcopal office, because it involves the exercise of government, and this, as the Writings clearly indicate, should always be with the full and free consent of the governed.
     "I would emphasize the fact that the selection of an Assistant Bishop is not intended in any way to limit or to influence the choice of an Executive Bishop, whenever the need for such a choice may arise. It is not of order that the Bishop should nominate his successor. The nomination of an Executive Bishop should originate in the Council of the Clergy, and the choice of that body should be made in complete freedom, and in the light of the situation which exists at the time. Such a nomination should then be approved and ratified in turn by the Board of Directors, by the Joint Council, and finally by the Assembly. If not so approved the whole question should be referred back to the Council of the Clergy for re-consideration.
     "It is otherwise in the case of the selection of an Assistant Bishop. This office is so intimately associated with the work of the Bishop that he should have the privilege and the responsibility of nomination. Aside from this, however, the mode of selection should follow the same order of procedure as in the case of the choice of an Executive Bishop.
     "In the present instance, the Council of the Clergy, the Board of Directors, and the Joint Council have all given unanimous approval to my choice of the Right Reverend Willard D. Pendleton as my Assistant. He is well qualified by natural ability, by training, and by experience, to perform the duties of that office. He has my full confidence, my personal affection and esteem, and I now place his name before you for your consideration and action.
     "I would suggest that the action on this matter be made the first order of business tomorrow morning."
     4. It was so moved by unanimous vote.

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     5. On motion, a message of greeting was sent to the General Convention which was to meet in New York on June 18.
     6. The SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH, the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner, presented his Report. (See page 415.)
     7. The Report of Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, as EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE, was presented. (See page 418.)
     8. The Report of Mr. Hubert Hyatt, the Secretary of the Corporations of the General Church, was submitted, received, and filed. (See page 416.)
     9. The preceding reports were then discussed.

     Mr. Raymond Pitcairn: "In listening to Dr. Odhner's report, one of the things that comes to the minds of all of us is that we are a very small church in numbers. But when we look back to the beginnings of the Christian Church, or to the Lord Himself when on earth, there were very few who received His teaching; and yet what it has meant to the world and to heaven is just beyond all our conception. And when we think of the opportunities we have and the handicaps represented in our own personalities, when we consider the privilege we have in this church to take part in something so distinct from ourselves and so much greater than our proprium, it gives us much to think about and a great deal to be thankful for. I feel that very deeply."
     Mr. Arthur Synnestvedt spoke with special appreciation of the report of the Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE, who is doing something of great value for the whole church in the pages of that journal. Mr. Henderson encouraged the layman to contribute, but rightly wants to retain freedom to select what he wants to publish. Although it was difficult to get one's ideas dean on paper and submitted, the speaker promised an article before the next Assembly.
     Mrs. J. H. Schroeder believed it good to encourage young people to write for the LIFE and thus establish a habit of contributing articles.

     10. After some announcements, a recess was declared.
     11. The Rev. Elmo C. Acton, acting as chairman, introduced Bishop De Charms, who then gave the EPISCOPAL ADDRESS Printed in NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1954, July issue, pages 305 to 313.

     Discussion of the Bishop's Address

     12. The chairman opened the discussion with a personal tribute to the Bishop. "During all the years of the Bishop's administration we have all been conscious of his great devotion to the needs of the church as a whole and of his endeavor, so far as was within his power, to provide means whereby those uses could be provided."
     While listening to the address, Mr. Acton thought of the two great commandments. In love to the Lord was involved the acknowledgment that everything we have is from Him; and in love towards the neighbor the acknowledgment that we need each other. As he attended these Assemblies he became more and more aware of how much we need one another. Our tendencies are to become selfish-for our societies and isolated groups to become self-sufficient. We need to be conscious of how much we receive from each other. If we do this with the idea of the uses of the church in mind, the General Church will grow.

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     Mr. Randolph W. Childs felt that the Bishop, in his moving and comprehensive outline of the purposes and uses of the General Church, had spoken what was in our minds and hearts. He noted that the Bishop had shown that at the core of our organization was the spirit that without compromise accepts the Writings as the second advent of the Lord. It was amazing that in these days of concession there has been no such compromise, but only a development of what is involved in this truth of which this church is an expression. The Bishop need not be reminded of the fact that he has our affection (a minor thing) and our support, and that we uphold him in his office which is a very arduous one. It should be a comfort to him, not as a man but as our leader, that he has at all times our sympathy even when we fail to do the many things that we should do.
     The speaker praised the younger generation that is so faithfully and energetically carrying on the uses of the General Church. It is a privilege to go into a society and see a group of young people, often married and with many responsibilities (little ones also), carrying on the traditions and developing them and going further in the work of the church. Even in the larger societies we find young people doing things of importance as well as minor things of practical need; and in the smaller societies, which afford the greater opportunities because of their smaller numbers, you have the sense of their awareness of the very important work they are doing. All of us should feel privileged to be a part of this early-infantile-stage in the development of the New Church; a privilege somewhat like that of the twelve disciples, who were not chosen because of their superior character or intelligence.
     Rev. Frank S. Rose felt that it was difficult for a young man just entering his use to evaluate the changes which may be taking place in the church. But on the basis of the Bishop's remarks it is apparent that since 1946 a change has occurred which presents a real challenge and an opportunity for us all. When he had first come to England he had found a dormant state, in that many had not had regular ministrations for a long time. This was now partly remedied in England and on other frontiers, but the General Church was under a handicap because of the difficulty of maintaining many ministers who are not supported by local societies.
     He compared this to parents who are put to the expense of educating their children with the hope that eventually these children will not only be self-supporting but able to earn more than the parents themselves. If we carry over this period of growth, a new state will dawn. If we can give the extra support, encouragement, and instruction so badly needed, we will find ourselves with a church unusually vigorous and even more world-wide than it is today.
     Rev. Morley D. Rich had been impressed by the fact that the pattern of a church's life is derived from its doctrine concerning its revelation. He had lately been associated with a number of ministers of the General Conference. At times some may feel that the statement that the Writings are the Word is but a shibboleth, a crystallized formula; and it may indeed become such unless we have a living appreciation of the Writings and walk in their light. We also differ in our ideas of how the Writings are the Word. But this principle has a far greater influence on the whole life of our church body than we can easily estimate. What the Bishop said concerning the uses and needs of the General Church shows that so long as this principle is upheld, our church body becomes distinct from other bodies in mind and in heart.
     Rev. Harold C. Cranch referred back to Mr. Childs' remarks and wished to speak of the reaction of the isolated to the services extended by the church. If we could all experience a visit to a completely isolated family we would see the tremendous strength to the church from our efforts to help these families to make new centers and planes for the Lord's influx into the world.

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When you see the little children who receive the religion lessons coloring their pictures and proudly showing them to the visiting pastor at his infrequent visits, you also realize the strength that the church is giving to these families. We feel grateful to all those who so fully contribute of time and effort to this use, and to those in Bryn Athyn. We cannot estimate the power of the New Church, but we know that it is building a completely new religion from the acknowledgment of the Divine authority of the Writings. The church is growing despite the paucity of workers and pastors in the field. The Secretary's estimate that 38 per cent of our new members come from Protestant and Catholic sources means that we are very successful in our missionary work although this has not been organized as a separate use. Numbers mean very little, for power comes from our firm acceptance of the Divine authority of the Writings-an authority which all can see who wish. All our uses are developed from this stand. We are strong because the Lord is operating through us so far as we give ourselves to this use.
     Mr. Hermann W. Gunther expressed his appreciation of how much had been given him from the association, in Baltimore, Harrisburg and again in Baltimore, with the early workers in the General Church-the Rev. Messrs F. E. Waelchli, H. Synnestvedt, C. T. Odhner, Mr. A. H. Stroh, and the Rev. W. B. Caldwell. And he regarded it as a great blessing that eventually all the candidates and younger ministers had had their turn visiting Baltimore.
     Mr. Norman P. Synnestvedt wanted to add his appreciation and assure the Assembly that the formation of a society in Detroit would never have been accomplished had it not been for a recognition of the uses of the church which have been generated here in Bryn Athyn and disseminated from it. The Bishop had presented a terrific challenge to the laymen of the church. We recognize that the church is the Lord's. But we also recognize that the body of the church must support it. There are many uses of the church which require support of one kind or another and not the least is financial support.
     The Sons of the Academy has long adopted a slogan that "No child shall be without a New Church education if they can do anything to provide it." Similarly there should not be any member of the General Church without some priestly ministrations. The only reason that this cannot be done is not that men are not available; for since 1946 the picture is changed. But there is need for financial help. In Detroit and elsewhere, where the General Church has gone ahead and given that, there are fruitful results. And much more can be done where the church is already in the hearts of men and can be sustained by the action of the general body. As laymen of the church we should see to it that some ministrations be provided wherever there are General Church members.
     Mrs. Alfred F. Mergen, speaking for her own family as well as for other groups of isolated, voiced appreciation for all the efforts which the church extends in their behalf in the way of lessons, recordings, and publications.
     The Bishop thanked the speakers for their comments. He referred back to the expressed fear that the statement that the Writings are the Word can well became a mere formula, a shibboleth. He had been aware of this and conscious of the fact that there are those in the church who, owing to their background, find it difficult to accept that statement, especially those who are confirmed in the view that the list of the inspired books of the Bible given in the Writings (HD 266) includes everything of the Word.

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In his address, the Bishop had avoided this idea of a shibboleth by saying, not that the Writings are the Word, but that the Writings are the Lord Himself speaking directly to men. If you call them that it did not matter whether you call them the Word or not; for if we go to the Writings to hear what the Lord speaks to us, we are listening to the Lord, sitting at His feet to hear His words. That is the essence of it all. That is the reason why the General Church throughout the world has a spirit of unity and strength which nothing else could establish but the belief that whenever we go to the Writings we are going to the Lord for Divine instruction by which to guide our lives. This spirit is the only thing that can build the New Church permanently in this world, and the General Church is the only organization set up and organized to spread that belief. Wherever our ministers go out, wherever NEW CHURCH LIFE goes, wherever our recordings or sermons or classes go, or the teachings of New Church education go, there is spread the attitude of looking to the Lord alone for the growth and development of the church. Wherever that spirit takes root and begins to grow in heart and mind-even though only two or three may be gathered together-the Lord is in the midst of them. This organization of ours is very important, not for itself, not for ourselves, but as a trust placed in our hands to be ministered throughout the world wherever the Lord in His providence opens the way.
     That is the purpose for which the ministry of our church is established and which is in the heart of every man that takes the vows of the priesthood in our church; and this was the reason why he had today appealed that we may all-each one in such a way as may be possible to him-work together to promote the General Church throughout the world.
     13. After the singing of Hymn 53, the First Session of the Assembly ended with the benediction.

     Second Session-Wednesday Evening, June 16

     14. After Hymn 30 had been sung, the Rev. Norman H. Reuter read from Luke 8:37-56.
     15. As chairman, he then introduced the Rev. Karl R. Alden who presented an Address on "THE GARMENTS OF THE LORD." (For this paper and the discussion which followed, see NEW CHURCH LIFE, August, 1954, pp. 360-371.)
     16. The meeting closed with the benediction, after the singing of Anthem 11.

     Third Session-Thursday Morning, June 17

     17. Bishop De Charms opened the meeting with reading and prayer, after the singing of Anthem 1. The order of the day called for action on the nomination of an Assistant Bishop.
     18. Rev. W. Cairns Henderson: "The name of the Right Reverend Willard Dandridge Pendleton was successively placed before the Council of the Clergy, the Board of Directors of the General Church, and the Joint Council at their meetings in February this year.

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As Secretary of the Council of the Clergy, and in accordance with a Resolution adopted by that body, I have pleasure in making the following motion:
     "Whereas the Bishop has laid before us the present need of filling the office of Assistant Bishop; and
     "Whereas he has named the Right Reverend Willard Dandridge Pendleton as eminently suited for this office; be it
     "Resolved that the Right Reverend Willard Dandridge Pendleton be and he hereby is chosen Assistant Bishop of the General Church.
     "In explanation of this motion it should be said that as members of the General Church in General Assembly, from which body the choice must come, we are hereby asked to confirm the nomination to the office of Assistant Bishop that has been made by the Bishop of the General Church; a nomination which is without reference to the appointment of a successor to the Bishop. This procedure is in accordance with the custom of our Church.
     "In support of the motion it need be said only that Bishop Pendleton has shown to a marked degree the qualities demanded by the office for which he has been thoroughly prepared; zeal for the uses of the Church, doctrinal insight, and executive ability grounded in realistic judgment and tempered by a deep understanding of human states."
     The motion having been duly seconded from the floor, the Bishop invited comments from the Assembly.

     Mr. Arthur Synnestvedt and others called for the question, but the Bishop waited for further comments.
     Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner: "The reason why there seems to be a paucity of comments is clear because of the logic of the motion-the movement-the nomination and what is required to make it effective. Bishop Pendleton has already acted as the assistant of Bishop De Charms, has proved his effectiveness, his zeal, his ability, and his judgment. He has manifestly also the affection and regard of the church. But it is not only as an assistant to the Bishop that he is needed; it is not only because the Bishop needs to be relieved of many tasks that pertain to his office but which one man cannot possibly expect to fulfill, especially since many other fields of use are entered into by him. But the church itself needs to feel the responsibility of this election of a Bishop. The affection and support of the church, its present and future determination to support the episcopal office not only in the person of our present Bishop but also of an Assistant Bishop, are important factors in the success of the work which is before Bishop Pendleton. . . . This Assembly, gathered together for the sake of the uses of the church, is therefore certainly the proper body to support this nomination from the heart and the understanding. And it is with great pleasure that I add my voice to the second which has already been given from the floor."
     Rev. Frank S. Rose asked for a clarification as to the difference between the uses of a Bishop's assistant and an Assistant Bishop.

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     Bishop De Charms: "I would be glad to answer that question. It is true that Bishop Pendleton has been assisting me. His chief work has been as Vice-President of the Academy, to which office he was elected by the board of directors of the Academy. In addition he has given assistance to me in such degree as was possible considering his many duties in the Academy; but whenever he has done so it has been simply by episcopal appointment. Now there is a great difference whether a man represents the Bishop in some office by appointment, or whether he comes before the church with the open approval of the whole church. There is a support of his hands in the latter case which is absent in the case of an episcopal appointment. We have exactly the same situation in the case of a society where a man may be appointed by the Bishop to serve as an assistant to the Pastor-which can be done any time without an action by the society. But if he is to become the Assistant Pastor of the society he needs the voiced support and approval of the members of that society. Back of this idea are the clear indications of the Writings that while a man may be ordained into the priesthood and into any degree of it, this is quite apart from his direct relationship to the body of any organized church, but is the result of a Divine call-a matter between him and the Lord; and that ordination cannot be retracted by the church, because the church has not given it. But-as said in the opening remarks yesterday-when it comes to the exercise of any office of government over the church, that should be decided by the consent and approval of the governed. So while it is true that a man may be a member of the priesthood and be recognized as such by virtue of his ordination, he is not thereby authorized to undertake the government of any society. That authority has to be given him by the church and can be withdrawn by the church. The same is true of a bishop. Some of you may know that in the history of our church, before this principle was clearly seen, great difficulty arose, because the Bishop, William Henry Benade, became ill and was unable to conduct the affairs of the church with due regard to its freedom; and yet there was no way by which the church could replace him by another executive bishop. And it resulted in very great hardship and suffering both for him and for the church. That has since been remedied. . . . Some of you may remember a full discussion years ago as to what could be done to unseat a bishop. And now we have a way to do that! (Laughter)
     The difference, as it affects Bishop Pendleton, is that when he goes out to represent the Bishop at any Assembly or in any capacity that may be required by the needs of the church, he will do so also because the church has recognized him as Assistant Bishop and in a position to undertake that work. The distinction is important and furnished the reason for nominating him for election by the General Assembly as the Assistant Bishop of the General Church.
     Rev. Elmo C. Acton, in "seconding" the motion, pointed to two things needed for the work of every minister or pastor or officeholder in the church. One is the enlightenment of the use itself, and the other is the affirmative support of those among whom he works. Every pastor realizes that he is inadequate to bring the problems that come before him to a proper solution, unless he has lay support. The action of this Assembly is to give that feeling of support to Bishop Pendleton. When a man is eminently qualified to fill a use, that support is given willingly and from the heart and is a great strength to the one entering into it.
     Mr. Lester Asplundh also spoke in support of the motion. He had been fortunate in working with Bishop Pendleton for a number of years. All the members of the various boards in this area had found that Bishop Pendleton was well qualified to handle all the problems of the church that had come up during the period when Bishop De Charms was ill.

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To some, Bishop Pendleton might seem a little distant; he has been tied up in difficult administrative work. Mr. Asplundh then spoke facetiously about his personal contacts with Bishop Pendleton and added:
     "Bishop De Charms is as you know an affectionate man and does not want to hurt any one. Bishop Pendleton is a bit younger and may not pull his punches in the same way. I can assure all you young people (and there are many of you here) that you can be looking forward to some of the finest leadership the church has ever had, in Bishop Pendleton. He has been through the ropes in the school and was not such a model student at all times, so he understands your problems there. He has been with people like myself and we have tried to sway him off the track-but he does not go off the track. I am absolutely certain that we cannot do better than to put him in a position of more responsibility, though I do not wish to see the Bishop ousted although he says it can be done now (Laughter). I think we will be in excellent hands when it becomes his turn to do more work for the church."

     19. By a rising vote, the motion was carried unanimously. The Assistant Bishop was then called to the rostrum, being greeted with a spontaneous song and prolonged applause.
     Bishop Pendleton: "There are times when we can learn much wisdom from those who are younger than we, and the other day at the graduation one of our valedictorians said that on certain occasions more can be said in two words than in many-the two words being simply 'Thank you.' I wish to thank you very much because your action represents to me an opportunity for greater usefulness to the church and to those uses of which Bishop De Charms spoke so fully and eloquently yesterday. I fully understand the responsibilities which are implied and fully appreciate that the, primary responsibility for the church remains entirely in the hands of Bishop De Charms. I have worked with him now for eight years directly under his supervision in the episcopal office, and I would like to say that I do not think any man has had a more thoughtful and understanding superior. And so again I thank you for this opportunity, for I believe that the action which the Assembly has taken has opened the way for me to be of greater assistance to Bishop De Charms than I could have been in the past; and I look forward to my new work in the General Church with great anticipation and with great delight." (Applause)
     20. The Report of the TREASURER OF THE GENERAL CHURCH, Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal, Jr., was then given. (See pp. 417-418.) Several wall charts illustrated the financial report.

     Discussion of the Treasurer's Report

     Mr. C. G. Merrell noted that often a report of this kind is given before the wrong audience. Those present were probably among the donors. We ought to find a may to reach those who are not donors and not here. There are two elements in this matter-one is the financial need of the church, the other is the spiritual need of the individual which is connected with his own financial contribution. When we cooperate in externals, the Lord acts into our internals.

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He noted that a part of the deficiency in the contributions was made up from endowments. In connection with educational institutions, and in some phases of the work of the General Church, endowments are indeed helpful; but depending on an endowment is deadly. A church to be living must be supported by living people, not by the dead hand of "endowments." He spoke of the spiritual values that come to the individual who gives the support-no matter how much or how little. He wondered if people generally realize the need for supporting the General Church, although this is emphasized in our treasury-reports. He himself had not realized it when in 1910 he had gone from the Convention to the General Church. He felt that those present should carry the message of that need to others. There is more importance in the increased support of the church than merely providing for its daily uses.
     Miss Lyris Hyatt had worked in the treasurer's office for a number of years and felt that the young people should know that it is the entry card that starts off with a dollar a year and then goes up to two and five that shows a long series of contributions later and is really useful. You see an exciting contribution here and there with fifty or a hundred dollars-but that may be the only record you ever see on that card.
     Mr. Edward C. Bostock thanked Mr. Gyllenhaal for the report and wanted the Assembly to realize how fortunate it is to have such a competent and conscientious treasurer. A treasurer does not reflect in his report the actual work which he has done, but Mr. Bostock had been in close touch with his work, and wished to express his deep appreciation. As to his own work as chairman of the investment committee he disclaimed much credit and noted that without the wonderful support of a few men, particularly of one family, we would not have had the means to carry on our many uses. He had recently been reading some of the early minutes of the Council of the Academy, and saw reflected in them how Providence had taken care of the church by giving us men who have come forward with major support even though many of us have been backward in doing our share. To give to the church is beyond duty; it is a privilege. If we want to see the church grow we must first learn the doctrines ourselves and try to live in such a way as to carry them out; but each one owes a debt to do something for the maintenance of the church. This matter of money is not merely an external thing for it extends into our hearts and lives.
     Mr. Rowland Trimble said he had never handled a dollar in his life for which he could not think up half a dozen charming ways of spending it, besides giving it to the church. When a young man he was in the employ of a very fine New Church man who gave him a good principle: When Saturday came, this man divided up his money in envelopes and had one marked for the church, and that one he would always fill first. Then he said, "We will live off what is left." This was the best way for New Church people to do: decide how much we will give to the church; give that first, and live off the rest!
     Mr. Frank Norman found that it was uncommon to run across any one who clearly sees their responsibility of giving to the three uses which the Church Contribution Committee stresses. He wondered whether it was a layman's job to instruct in this or whether the ministers could help in clarifying the matter of giving.
     Bishop De Charms said that the ministers would gladly accept any assistance the laymen could give them. But, seriously, the indications of the Writings are that the financial matters of the church should be under the direct control of the laymen of the church and that the part of the ministers in the development of the church consists in presenting the uses before us and indicating the relative value of those uses as the minister may see them; which leaves a wide field open for the laymen.

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     21. On motion, the Treasurer's Report was accepted with appreciation.
     22. After a recess, Bishop De Charms called on the Rev. Ormond de C. Odhner, who gave an address on "THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU. (For this address and the discussion which followed, see NEW CHURCH LIFE, August, 1954, pp. 372-384.)
     23. The meeting closed with the singing of Anthem 5 and the giving of the benediction.

     Fourth Session-Thursday Evening, June 17

     24. Bishop De Charms, presiding, opened the meeting with prayer and the reading of Matthew 7: 21-29, after the singing of Hymn 36.
     25. Introducing a symposium on "THE USES OF THE GENERAL CHURCH, he called in turn upon Mr. Philip C. Pendleton, Mr. Edward C. Bostock, and Mr. Lester Asplundh. For these Addresses, and the discussion which followed, see pages 432-445.
     26. The meeting closed with the singing of Anthem 13, and with the benediction.

     Fifth Session-Friday Morning, June 18

     27. Hymn 49 was sung, after which Bishop W. D. Pendleton opened the meeting with prayer and the reading of Matthew 16:13-19.
     28. Rev. Fred E. Gyllenhaal read his Report as director of the COMMITTEE ON GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS. (See page 420.)
     29. Rev. W. Cairns Henderson read his Report as chairman of the GENERAL CHURCH SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE. (See page 422.)
     Bishop Pendleton, inviting discussion of these two Reports, noted that the two uses involved had been referred to the preceding evening as new opportunities which developed after the last world war for the growth of the church. When we reflect on how many people have devoted themselves endlessly and patiently through these two committees, it is a very impressive thing.

     Discussion of the Reports

     Rev. K. R. Alden gave two instances of persons brought to join the church owing to his sound-recordings, and noted that in Dawson Creek, B. C., his sermons had been regularly broadcasted from a tape-recording while he was in Bryn Athyn. The influence of these broadcasts were confirmed this year in that none of the old churches in nearby Gorand Prairie would rent us a hall after having heard Mr. Alden, in absentia, preach against faith alone and the old dogma of three persons in the Godhead. With tape-recordings and radio-stations there is no limit to our ability to spread the church provided we had the means.
     Messrs. John Howard and Alec Craigie voiced appreciation of the Religion Lessons.

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Mr. Howard emphasized the value of the children's addresses as an assistance to parents in establishing home-worship. Mr. Craigie's family had for nine years been isolated and had relied on the work of Mr. Gyllenhaal and his committee.
     Mr. Kenneth Rose noted that Mr. Gyllenhaal had abstained from reproving the men for letting the women do all the work on the Religion Lessons. He pointed out that the Writings indeed show that one of the important duties of womankind is the education of girls and of all little children, but that the instruction of boys from childhood up to puberty and onwards is a duty proper to the husband, thus to men (CL 176). There is need for men supervisors and men teachers for the upper grades of boys and while Mr. Gyllenhaal does not wish to high-pressure any one into this it is something to start thinking about-next September! Mr. Gyllenhaal then introduced Mr. Rose as the only male teacher in the committee last year, his field being the young people. The committee sends lessons to some who are seventeen and eighteen years old.
     Among the unusual requests received by the committee was an inquiry from a school of forty children near Bombay, India, as to the price of all the religion lessons. These lessons had also been sent to an Indian lady near Calcutta who subscribes to NEW CHURCH EDUCATION. Dr. Odhner's First Elements of the True Christian Religion has been translated by the Rev. M. O. Ogundipe into Yoruba, a Nigerian language, for the use of twenty New Church native day schools. The typescript has a million little strokes above the English letters. Unfortunately, the off-set printing of it has been held up because Mr. Gyllenhaal has no one to do this extra work.
     It had been Bishop De Charms' ideal that we should supply lessons if called upon to any who are isolated. We had in the past one teacher who sent lessons even to grandmothers. We have the material, as could be seen from the exhibit in room 227 of Benade Hall. The time will come when some of the grandfathers of the church will be teachers on this committee, writing letters to isolated recipients of this material.
     28. After a brief intermission, Bishop Pendleton called upon the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson to read his Address on "THE FAITH OF LOVE." This address and the discussion which followed, will appear in the October issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     29. The meeting closed about 12:25 p.m.

     Sixth Session-Friday Evening, June 18

     30. The meeting opened with the singing of Hymn 39 and with prayer and readings from the True Christian Religion, nos. 777-780.
     31. Rev. Harold C. Cranch presided and introduced the Assistant Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, who gave an Address on "THE TRANSFIGURATION." For this address, and the discussion which followed it, see the October issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     32. Rev. Morley D. Rich, pastor of Michael Church, speaking for the 1956 Assembly Committee, extended a cordial invitation to the 21st General Assembly, to be held in London, England.
     33. Mr. Alexander P. Lindsay, Jr., called attention to the flood-lighting of the Cathedral, the breathtaking beauty of which had helped him to understand the sights that may be witnessed in the spiritual world.

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     Rev. Harold C. Cranch paid a tribute to those who had contributed to make the beauty which formed the setting for this Assembly.
     34. Bishop De Charms read a telegram of greeting from the General Convention. (See page 423.)
     35. The session concluded with the singing of Hymn 37, followed by the benediction.
     Respectfully submitted,
          HUGO LJ. ODHNER,
               Secretary

     NOTE: The Secretary gratefully acknowledges the great help given him by the staff of the Sound Recording Committee which put at his disposal a record from which he has made a condensed report of the discussions.

     ROLL OF ATTENDANCE

     Registration

     The Committee on the Roll reports that members and friends of the General Church signed the Register as follows:

Bryn Athyn                               628
Academy Dormitory Students                75
Philadelphia and other Nearby Places      32
United States, Canada and Abroad          394
Total Registration                    1129
     Attendance at Meetings
     Mr. William R. Cooper has supplied the following figures, together with the comparative figures for the 1946 and 1950 General Assemblies:

                                             1954      1950      1946
June 16: First Session, 10 a.m.                655      710      729
Young People's Luncheon, 1 p.m.                270      300     -
Second Session, 8 p.m.                     797      820      701
June 17: Third Session, 10 a.m.                589      581      548
Women's Guild Luncheon, 1:30 p.m.                271      375      550
Corporations Meeting, 3 p.m.                     136      150      107
Fourth Session, 8 p.m.                     830      848      651
June 18: Fifth Session, 10 a.m.                800      509      715
Sons of Academy Luncheon, 1:30 p.m.           275      279      332
Sons of Academy Annual Meeting                 200      210      194
Theta Alpha Service and Meeting                186      150      225
Sixth Session, 8 p.m.                          960      900      525
June 19: June 19th Service, 11 a.m.           704      638      743
Holy Supper Services-Communicants                547      563      502
Assembly Banquet, 8 p.m.                     1050      923      930
June 20: Cathedral Service, 11 a.m.           734      761      735

415


REPORTS TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1954

REPORTS TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY       Various       1954

     SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH

     The General Church is essentially a spiritual society-an organization of people devoted to the worship of the Lord in His Divine Human and concerned with the promulgation of the Heavenly Doctrine among men. The church is not to be judged from its numbers, but from the soundness and purity of its doctrine and its life (TCR 245). It is predicted in the Writings that by Divine provision the New Church will "at first be among a few" until the falsities of the former church are removed, so that truths can be received and it may grow into fulness (AR 546, 547; AE 730-732).
     This Assembly will therefore not be surprised if I venture the guess that all the organizations of the New Church in America, Europe, Africa and Australia, not counting some native missions, would include at most only about fifteen thousand members-an insignificant total when compared with the seven hundred million people claimed by the churches of modern Christendom. The General Convention now (1953) reports 5899 adherents on this continent, including isolated receivers not formerly counted in its total. The General Conference in Great Britain reports 4628 members. The General Church, last January, reported 2776 adult members.
     Statistics may sometimes be misleading and are often only suggestive of the truth. But they are useful as a check on trends toward weakness or strength and may bring out some interesting and wholesome facts. It is of interest to notice that out of our 2776 members, 2012 were reported as belonging to societies, circles or groups, and were thus receiving at least some measure of priestly administrations. Among the other 764, quite a few reside in a society although not enrolled as society members. Another fifty or a hundred of them-a shifting list-are currently unknown and some cannot be located. Some no doubt need to be dropped from our roll. Only ten or fifteen per cent of our membership are without any administrations; and this despite the fact that of our thirty-seven clergymen only seventeen are exclusively in the pastoral field and five partly so. Seven are employed as teachers, and seven are inactive or retired.
     The growth of our church has been slow but steady. We find a net increase of 208 since our last Assembly report. The growth has been especially noticeable in the frontier groups, in London, in Detroit, now of society status, and in the Bryn Athyn congregation, in which about a quarter of the membership of the General Church is concentrated and more than twelve hundred souls are associated with the General Church, not counting more than a hundred scholars from away.
     The General Church has some fourteen societies, and in seven of these New Church schools are maintained. It is of interest to note that although we look to a distinctive New Church education for our children as our first responsibility, our use of charity, and our nearest hope for future growth, yet the new members who have joined us in the last eight years were led to the General Church from widely different sources. Fifty-five per cent came from our own families, six and a half per cent from other New Church bodies.

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Over thirty-eight per cent came from various Protestant churches or from the Catholic Church. We gather from this that the church is able to minister to many varied states and that its regular uses, which seek to promote internal progress and a distinctive life, do not prove any barrier to truth-seeking souls.
     As Secretary of the General Church it becomes my duty and privilege formally to report that the Council of the Clergy and the Board of Directors of the General Church, acting in joint session on February 6, 1954, adopted the following set of resolutions, already referred to by the Bishop in his opening remarks:

     "Whereas the Council of the Clergy has unanimously accepted the Bishop's recommendation that an Assistant Bishop be provided and that the Right Reverend Willard D. Pendleton be nominated and presented before the Twentieth General Assembly for election as Assistant Bishop of the General Church;
     "Be is resolved that this Joint Council concur with this opinion of the Council of the Clergy."
     Following the precedent established in 1930, the Joint Council also resolved:
     "That in the opinion of this body, the providing of an Assistant Bishop has no reference to a successor to the Bishop, and
     "That in the opinion of this Council, no definition of the uses of the office of Assistant Bishop is necessary or advisable at this time."
     Respectfully submitted,
          HUGO LJ. ODHNER,
               Secretary

     SECRETARY OF THE CORPORATIONS

     THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     (A Corporation of Illinois)

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     (A Corporation of Pennsylvania)

     Since the 1950 General Assembly, the Secretary of the two General Church Corporations has reported annually for the years 1950 to 1953, inclusive, to the Joint Meetings of the Council of the Clergy and the Corporation Directors. These reports are published in four issues of NEW CHURCH LIFE, namely, those for April, 1951, on pages 113-155; April, 1952, on pages 188-189; April, 1953, on pages 186-189; and April, 1954, on pages 186-189. These four reports, as published, are presented as the report to this General Assembly.
     The Corporations are charged with the administration of the civil affairs of the unincorporated Church. They elect the Bishop as the President thereof and he pre sides at all meetings of the Corporations and their Directors. The Bishop consults the Boards of Directors as a lay council. The 1954 Annual Corporation Meetings are to be held on Thursday, June 17th, at 3:00 p.m., in the Auditorium of Benade Hall at Bryn Athyn.
     The undersigned will be happy at any time to reply to requests for information regarding corporate procedures, activities, membership, and similar matters.
     Respectfully submitted,
          HUBERT HYATT,
               Secretary.

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     TREASURER OF THE GENERAL CHURCH

     A detailed report was recently mailed to you covering the finances of the General Church for the year ending December 31, 1953. There has been little change since that time other than a substantial increase in the rate of expenditures; therefore I would like to take this unusual opportunity to report to you on contributions, our only source of income to meet these growing expenses.
     Presenting this topic is like the story Mark Twain once told a friend. It related to a walk Mark took one Sunday evening. Passing a revival meeting he decided out of curiosity to join those crowding in. The preacher was so oratorical that Mark Twain became quite enthusiastic. "This fellow rates a dollar at least," he told himself. The preacher kept on preaching, and Mark kept raising his bid until he had five dollars mentally pledged. But the preacher still kept preaching and preaching. Mark's ardor began to wane. "In the end," he told his friend, "when at last the collection plate was passed around, I borrowed carfare out of it. The everlasting hollering really got me down."
     I think many people get that same feeling. We hear so much about contributing to this use or that use that there is a strong urge to take out carfare. But do you realize that without contributions there would be no General Church? We have no tax income, no government grants, no fees. Our only source of original income is your contributions. So let's take a brief look at this most important subject.
     On the first chart* actual and potential contributors are plotted for five significant years, each figure representing 75 contributors, with husband and wife counted as one. In 1922, only 37% of its members gave financial support to the General Church. The highest percentage was in the record year of 1946, when still less than half contributed. Since that time the trend has been downward, with only 41% last year.
     * The reference is to the first of three charts, on display when the report was given, but not reproduced here.
     It is true that the figures are not entirely accurate. Among the potential are undoubtedly a few who have either lost interest in the Church or for some other reason are not really potential contributors. Also, in addition to the actual number shown, there are a number who, because they contribute directly to a visiting pastor, or for other reasons, do not appear on the General Church records as contributors. These inaccuracies are small, however, and the chart substantially represents the facts.
     Unfortunately there are a few societies where the financial need requires the entire support of the members, which is understandable. But aside from this the percentage is amazingly low.
     On the second chart the average annual amount in dollars per donor is shown for those who give regular support to the General Church. In 1926, the average of all contributions to current income was $15.00 per donor. Plotting the peak years, this shows an overall increase to a maximum of $31.00 in 1952. Last year it dropped back to $29.00.
     But figuring in terms of the dollar value of the twenties and thirties, which is represented by the solid black portion of the bar on the chart, the average individual donation in 1953 had a purchasing power of only $15.00, exactly the amount received twenty-seven years ago.
     Consider the conditions today. The average person has a car, an electric refrigerator, a television set, and many other things which either did not exist in 1926, or were considered expensive luxuries. Yet today the real support of the General Church is the same as then.

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     Now what does all this mean in terms of the budget? On the third chart, total contributions and total expenses are plotted on the same scale. From 1924 to 1940, both were fairly constant, with expenses decreasing while contributions remained steady. During this period current contributions supported a substantial part of the budget, with the remainder coming from endowment income.
     Since 1940, however, the picture has changed rapidly. Inflation, and the increase in activities, have pushed the budget to phenomenal heights, but contribution income has not kept pace. Between 1950 and 1952 there was a sudden spurt; but last year the rate of decline was the sharpest the General Church has experienced, and this in the face of increased demands for services.
     Two things have bridged the gap between expenses and contributions and made possible the healthy expansion of uses that has taken place over the past ten years. A group of special endowment funds was received as a gift by the General Church, a portion of the income from which was requested to be considered as contribution income. This is shown by the dashed red line in the chart. The larger amount, however, has come from the income yield of capital endowment. The General Church has been most fortunate in the administration of its funds. A most aggressive investment policy has produced income which would be coveted by any institution.
     In this connection I wish to call to your attention the work of the Investment Committee. While it is unusual to single out one individual when so many persons have contributed so much of their time to the affairs of the Church, Mr. Edward C. Bostock's contribution as chairman of this committee has been so outstanding that I feel it should be recognized. His uncanny ability to pick the winners every time has made possible many uses that otherwise might have been left wanting.
     Tonight you will hear a symposium on the uses of the General Church, and I understand it will include a discussion of the many pressing needs that will have to be met in the near future if the Church is to continue to grow. But remember that these uses can be undertaken only so far as our income allows.
     There are not many of us who can add substantially to the wealth of the Church. Also, while this report covers only the General Church, it must be considered along with the other two essential uses of the Academy and the local society or circle. But the Church is growing, and it is true that if 9070 of the possible 1,847 contributors, instead of the present 754, gave some financial support, the accomplishments would be greatly extended and the financial problems lightened considerably. I hope that this report will give you a better picture of the present trend in contributions, and thereby enable you to appreciate the basic problem involved in further expansion of uses.
     Respectfully submitted,
          LEONARD E. GYLLENHAAL,
               Treasurer

     EDITOR OF "NEW CHURCH LIFE"

     The antecedents, history, ideals, and uses of NEW CHURCH LIFE have been ably presented in the past by the previous editor; and these might more fittingly be reviewed again at the 1956 Assembly, when the magazine will have completed seventy five years of continuous publication. Changes of editorial policy made since 1950, and for the most part introduced less suddenly than the color change in the cover, are quite well known to readers and need not be discussed here. And the yearly published reports made to the Councils of the Church tell the detailed story of production and circulation for those who are interested.

419


In this first report to a General Assembly we wish to sketch in the operating character of NEW CHURCH LIFE and the atmosphere we have sought to provide for it, and then to mention briefly a few things that remain to be done.
     NEW CHURCH LIFE is at once a center of concentration and a medium of radiation. The editorial desk is a very ordinary looking piece of furniture, but it has one unique feature. Across that desk passes, week by week, the entire life of the General Church. The official transactions of the Church; reports of General, National, and District Assemblies; accounts of episcopal visits and of ministrations to the isolated; news notes from societies and circles; announcements of ministerial changes and of new societies formed and circles recognized; notices of official occasions, and stories of important decisions and events; news from the Academy of the New Church; and that most popular of features, the women's page-announcements of Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages, and Deaths: all these items, reflecting the external life, progress, and activities of our Church, come to the editorial desk for treatment. To it come also New Church publications and periodicals for review and comment on the activities and thought of the Church at large. And to it comes also the literary material that represents the inner life of the Church, its active thought and the ends to which it would lead-the sermons, talks, articles, and studies, commissioned and unsolicited, which arrive in a stream, never in spate, sometimes dying down to a thin trickle, but never quite drying up altogether. All these types of material reach the editorial desk from many parts of the world, to be assembled into a magazine and sent back to those countries, where each may take from the whole according to need and desire. In the production and circulation of such a journal there is an analogue of the teaching that the common good subsists from the goods of use which individuals perform; for it takes the labors of many contributors to present monthly the life of the Church. And we cherish the hope that there may be an analogue for the rest of the teaching, that the goods of use that individuals perform subsist from the common good; for surely there is inspiration in use for the society and circle, the group and the isolated family, in being brought in touch, month by month, with the life and thought of the body of which they are members.
     We have conceived of NEW CHURCH LIFE as a medium of communication, in which we include instruction, and a place of exchange, and to foster these uses have tried to provide for it an atmosphere of freedom. This freedom is within the order voluntarily accepted by a magazine devoted to the teachings revealed through Emanuel Swedenborg; and should the need ever arise, which it has not, would be very firmly distinguished from license. But it postulates that freedom of the press includes the editorial right not to publish for good and sufficient cause, and the right of contributors to say without interruption what may not be acceptable to some. The fact that NEW CHURCH LIFE is the official organ of the General Church means essentially that it is the depository of the transactions of the Church. The General Church does not have official views, a party line on every question of doctrine and practice to which contributors must hew or be investigated. It seeks to present in the best light it has the plain teachings of the Writings, and in some of those teachings there is legitimate place for a variety of interpretations. Anything plainly contrary to the unmistakable teachings of the Writings would not be published. For the rest, it has been our quiet conviction that nothing printed in the magazine will open the gates of the infernal regions because it is not answered editorially or argued in footnotes in the same issue. The present editorship is dedicated to the proposition that we have an intelligent readership, well grounded in the doctrines, and as capable of exercising liberty and rationality when they pick up the LIFE as when they do anything else.

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     When an editor becomes complacent about his publication, however, the end of the good life is already in sight. So far we have not been able, as we had hoped, to build up a regular staff of reviewers, especially reviewers who could keep the Church informed about foreign-language New Church publications and periodicals. Although there have been fine results, we have not succeeded to the desired extent in stimulating a flow of material from the laymen of the Church, particularly in the form of communications. This is probably due far less to lack of interest than to the happy conviction that someone else is undoubtedly doing it, and an extension of the do-it-yourself campaign might not be out of place here. Nor has anything been done as yet to enter into an important use that surely belongs to the LIFE, that of encouraging and developing the young writers of the Church. Perhaps when other duties become less pressing it will he possible to work out plans for attempting this; and to establish a liaison with the student publications in the Academy, which, to borrow from another field of endeavor, might serve as a farm system while continuing to perform their own distinctive tasks.
     Finally, if an editor is to serve his public usefully and intelligently he must be in touch with that public and so be aware of its interests, states, and needs. For this reason the present editor has availed himself to every opportunity that could be taken without detriment to his other work to visit the societies and circles of the Church, and in addition to the immediate uses then performed has regarded this as an important part of his editorial duties.
     Respectfully submitted,
          W. CAIRNS HENDERSON,
               Editor

     RELIGION LESSONS COMMITTEE

     Much of the material sent out annually by this committee can be viewed and examined in Room 227 of Benade Hall. Some of it was explained in the report made to the 1950 General Assembly, so it will not be explained to this Assembly.
     First I would emphasize the fact that this important work was initiated and inaugurated by Theta Alpha, and the women of Theta Alpha and of the General Church in Detroit, Glenview, Pittsburgh, and Bryn Athyn continue to do most of the work-practically all of the work of distribution of the lessons-and to support it financially. Some idea of the extent of the women's part of the work-all done voluntarily and cheerfully-may be had from the fact that sixty or more are actively engaged in sending out every year lessons, outline pictures, and exercise papers that number more than eight hundred thousand sheets.
     Twelve grades of lessons are sent out to children extending from five to seventeen or eighteen years of age. Each grade has a counselor in charge. Each counselor is assisted by women called teachers-grandmothers, mothers, and those who expect to be mothers. As some grades have fifty or more pupils, some of the counselors have four or five teachers. Their work is not only to address, stamp, and mail the lessons, four at a time, but is principally to write to the children and their parents. Their letters are intended to help interest the children in the lessons, or in the Word itself, for the principal purpose of all these lessons is to lead the children of the church to the Lord in His Word, thereby to develop with them a growing love of the Lord and the neighbor as shown primarily in a growing love for the stories of the Word.
     This part of the work has been done for two years. The short experience has shown that it is really the most important part of the work. For it is personal, initiating and building up a living and growing sense of belonging to the Lord's New Church; both parents and children belonging to the church, and being brought into ever closer and friendlier association with members of the church who are privileged to live in societies having all the usual ministrations of the church.

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     Hundreds of letters are written by the counselors and teachers every year, and they receive many letters from both parents and children. Although at present many more letters are written to parents and children than are received from them, the numbers received are increasing gradually and should continue to increase. Many of the counselors and teachers send pictures of themselves, either individually or taken in groups, and the children send snapshots of themselves, even shells, pressed leaves, and other things they value as a return for what they receive.
     But time does not permit a full description of this part of the work, or of its possibilities. All can imagine the possibilities. All here can meet the counselors and teachers, question them, give them suggestions, and by this showing of interest in the work greatly encourage them.
     To whom do the lessons go? They are intended for General Church children who live apart from societies with a resident pastor. But the lessons are freely sent to all parents asking for them, and they are sent to about seventy families of the New Church not members of the General Church, even to several families not of the New Church.
     But where do the lessons go? To almost all of the forty-eight states of the United States, to Canada, Mexico, England, Sweden, Denmark, France, South Africa, Nigeria, Australia, New Zealand, India, and even to the Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan, formerly called the land of Canaan. The very first language into which some of the lessons were translated and mimeographed here in Bryn Athyn was Arabic. The translation, speed-o-scoping, and mimeographing were done by Miss Lamia Abbed, an Arab lady and teacher then in Bryn Athyn, baptized into the New Church and accepted as a member of the General Church, now living in Nablus, formerly Shechem in the land of Canaan. Miss Abbed is now teaching children of her own race the stories of the Word, and gathering and building up a nucleus for a future New Church society. Some of the lessons have been translated into Swedish. However, the outline pictures are independent of language, or speak in a universal language, and so can be used by children of any country or race.
     Another part of the general work, but done exclusively by the ladies of Theta Alpha and of the General Church, was the making of many figures for a representation of the birth of the Lord and the adoration of Him by shepherds and wise men. This representation also can be seen in Room 227 of Benade Hall.
     Lastly, a few words about NEW CHURCH EDUCATION. This journal is now sent to eighteen different countries and seems to fill a need not at present supplied by any other of the numerous publications of the General Church. But note now that there seems to be a continual demand for talks to children, and consider that in the past seven years seventy such talks have been published in NEW CHURCH EDUCATION. I propose to publish some of those talks and others that I am accumulating in a book that should be especially useful during the summer months.
     There is much more to report about this work, but what has been said will have to suffice for this time. Those interested in further particulars can learn at least some of them by viewing the exhibit in Room 227 of Benade Hall, or by visiting the office of the committee in the Cathedral. There will be found most of the material, and the tools necessary to do the material part of this work, so that the women can have the lessons to distribute to the children.
     Respectfully submitted,
          FREDERICK E. GYLLENHAAL,
               Director

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     SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE

     Four years ago, at the tender age of seven and a half months, this Committee made its first report to a General Assembly. Since then it has, like every other infant, achieved a considerable degree of functional mastery by constant repetition, increased its skills and abilities, and enlarged its horizons. And with an intelligence beyond that of actual infancy it has been able to analyze its performance, perfect its techniques, take advantage of finer equipment that has become available, and thus improve its services.
     Although only the stepfather of this lusty child, I have developed a certain amount of storge in connection with it, and this report could easily be devoted to parading and praising its accomplishments. You might be told with pride that the Bryn Athyn operations of the Committee, once scattered in several homes, are now centralized in a commodious studio within the Cathedral precincts, and that with the use of lines rented from the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania events in this Assembly Hall and in the Benade Hall Auditorium are now recorded in the studio, as well as services in the Cathedral. You might he told that circulation has increased from 55 tapes in two months of 1949 and 302 in 1950 to a total of 814 in 1953. You might be told that the number of titles in the loan library has risen from 333 in 1952 to 710 in 1954. You might be told that whereas 33 places were receiving tapes in 1950, 48 are being served in 1954. And you might be told of the complicated arrangements made for this Assembly whereby eight copies of every address are made simultaneously with the master recording, and are in the mail an hour or two later-to be heard the next day if desired. But the temptation to mention any of these things shall be firmly resisted, and we shall speak briefly instead of the use in which the Committee is engaged.
     This is the use of communication, and if that word has been heard before it is scarcely surprising in view of the key doctrine in the philosophy of the Writings that all things inflow. The importance of that use is indicated by the teaching of the Writings that the occupation of shipmasters is a greater good of use than many others because by means of it there is a communication of the whole world with its parts and of the parts with the whole. In our day this teaching extends to many occupations that were undreamed of when it was first given; but when we consider what it is that the Sound Recording Committee has the function of communicating, we may see just how important its use is.
     Until recently, the communication of intellectual ideas in the church was through the printed word. But in the magnetic tape-recorder we have a medium which is able to convey that which the printed word can not-the affections which are expressed by the tones of the speaking voice, good and affection as well as truth and thought. These can all be recorded in sound and communicated in sound to groups and individuals far distant from the point of origin; and with the aid of other means of communication at our disposal, this can be done very rapidly.
     This is the possibility that has been placed in the hands of the church with the development of the tape-recorder, the possibility of placing the isolated receiver more nearly than could ever be done before in the position of the original congregation or audience. And this can be done in connection with the exposition of the Word, the systematic study of doctrine, and the presentation of the uses of the General Church and of the Academy. It is true that the medium has certain limitations, and not even its most enthusiastic advocate would claim that it takes the place of the actual presence of the speaker.

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But where personal presence is not possible, it does reproduce that presence in a way in which no other existing medium of communication in the church can.
     This, then, is the use to which the Committee is dedicated, and the word is used here advisedly and in its full and proper meaning, for I have seldom had the pleasure of working with a more dedicated group of men and women than those who have devoted themselves to this use. In fact, I suspect that some of them dream about tape-recordings, as well as spending a large part of their waking hours thinking and talking about them and working tirelessly in connection with them.
     If I seem to speak with pride of an operation which I have the privilege of heading, it is because I can dissociate myself almost entirely from that in which there is cause for pride. If a simile might be taken from another means of communication, the railroad, my position might be likened to that of a tower man. I simply line up the switches; the others drive the trains, and get them through!
      Respectfully submitted,
          W. CAIRNS HENDERSON,
               Chairman
ASSEMBLY MESSAGES 1954

ASSEMBLY MESSAGES       Various       1954

     The following messages were received, and nearly all were read at the Assembly banquet, June 19th:

     From the General Convention:
     The General Convention opening session appreciates greetings from the General Church of the New Jerusalem. We rejoice with you in giving evidence of the Lord's Second Coming. We share with you the task of augmenting public understanding concerning new spiritual conditions. May your sessions bring deep satisfaction to your members.
     (Telegram) FRANKLIN H. BLACKMER, President

     From Durban, Natal:
     The Durban Society extends cordial greetings and best wishes for a successful and beneficial Twentieth General Assembly.     (Cable)
     Affectionate greetings to all at Bryn Athyn on this Day of Days, from the Durban Society. (Cable for June 19th.)

     From Stockholm, Sweden:
     Affectionate greetings from the Stockholm Society and best wishes for a fruitful Assembly.
     (Cable)     ERIK SANDSTROM.

     From Norway:
     All good wishes for a successful Assembly and most affectionate greetings from the Circle in Norway.
     (Cable) BAECKSTROM.

     From Nablus, Jordan:
     Affectionate greetings for a happy and glorious June Nineteenth to you all and friends.
     (Cable)     LAMIA ARBED.

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     From Colchester, England:
The Colchester Society is with you in spirit on this Day of Days.
     (Cable) JOHN COOPER, Secretary.

     From Rev. and Mrs. A. Wynne Acton:
     Greetings to the 20th Assembly from the South Atlantic. May it prosper the Church and bring joy to you all.
     (Radiogram from SS Robin Hood) WYNNE AND RACHEL ACTON

     From Toronto, Ontario:
     Our best wishes for a happy ending to a successful and inspiring Assembly. We all wish we were there to help you celebrate.
     (Telegram to toastmaster of banquet) THE TORONTO SOCIETY.

     From Dawson Creek, B. C.:
     In spirit and in thought the infant body of the Church is present when New Church ideas from all over the world are exchanged at the Assembly and in commemoration of the establishment of the Crown of Churches on earth.
     (Telegram) ROY FRANSON.

     From Fort Worth, Texas:
     The members of the Fort Worth Circle are joining with all New Church men in celebration of the Nineteenth of June and send warm greetings to all in attendance at the 20th General Assembly in Bryn Athyn.
     (Telegram) MARJORIE WILLIAMSON, Secretary.

     From Denmark:
     To our friends in the Church: In our spirits we will be with you all through the Assembly and the 19th of June, wishing a useful and happy future for our Glorious Church.
     (By mail) THE GENERAL CHURCH GROUP IN COPENHAGEN.

     From Tabor Mission, British Guiana:
     It gives me pleasure to ask you to communicate to the 20th General Assembly my heartfelt greetings on behalf of myself and the Tabor Mission for a series of inspiring and illuminating sessions and worship services leading to more devoted application throughout the Church to the pursuit of its uses and the promotion on earth of the life which is presented in the Heavenly Doctrine.
     (From a letter to Bishop De Charms) HENRY ALGERNON.

     Greetings were also received from the Sterling Smith family of Oakville, Wash., and the Rev. and Mrs. G. H. Smith of South Shaftesbury, Vermont, as well as from Dr. Giorgio E. Ferrari of Venice, Italy.

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     SOCIETIES OF THE GENERAL CHURCH

     Comparative Statistics
                                             Average      Average      Average               Av.                          Members      Attend.     Attend.     Attend.     Enrollment     Attend.
                    Of local     Public          Holy          Doctrinal     Day          SS or
Societies and Circles      Church      Worship      Supper      Class           School      Servs.
                              1949     1953     1949     1953     1949     1953     1949     1953      1953           1953
Baltimore, Md.           16      17      20      27      9      13      14      10                14
Bryn Athyn, Pa.           513     577     384     392     234      270      283      239      217           150
Chicago, Ill.                80     71      54      44      34      30     40      34                10
Denver, Colo.                         14           42           22           20
Detroit, Mich.           30      48      32      54      31      32      16      24                    7
Erie, Pa.                         9      11      11      13      11      8      10      10                19
Fort Worth, Texas           11      16      10      22      11      16      9      17
Glenview, Ill.                186     191     156     152      96     105     128      106      72           101
Los Angeles, Cal.                29           33           22           20                15
New York, N. Y.           16      14      18      13      14      18      14      12
North Jersey                15      20      25      25      12      11      10      10                    9
North Ohio                36      32      18      23      11      15      7      12
Philadelphia, Pa.           42      42      24      29      15      20      21      15                3
Pittsburgh, Pa.           108     103     68     64     67     45     37     43     29          31
North St. Paul, Minn.      14           21           14           9
Tucson, Ariz.                15      19           33      15      23      7     18                14
Washington, D. C.           16      30      28      37      20      23      20      22                    11
Kitchener, Ont.           106     106      82      78      64      71      47      43      8           11
Montreal, Que                         10          13                    12
Toronto, Ont.                120     128      85      83      70      65      48      53      12           6
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil           54           22           39
Colchester, England           61     62     62     52     45     40     22     15     18
London, England           78      91      37      57      56      55      14      21                    7
Oslo, Norway           13      12      30      14      15      11      29     12                 4
Jonkoping, Sweden           15      14      15      12      13      11      17      12               6
Stockholm, Sweden           92      83      46      35      45      30      14      11                    12
Durban, Natal           60      65      38      58      32      37      18      22      6           20
Hurstville, N.S.W.           24      23      17      16                                    19
     NOTE: Statistics are not available from the circles at Madison, Wis., The Hague, Holland, and Paris, France.

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"TAKE IT, AND EAT IT UP!" 1954

"TAKE IT, AND EAT IT UP!"       Rev. BJORN A. H. BOYESEN       1954

      (June 20, 1954.)

     "And I went unto the angel, saying unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up." (Revelation 10:9)

     The New Church-as we know it who are here congregated-is characterized by the firm belief that the Writings of the New Church, as revealed by the Lord through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg, are the Word of God. We believe that these Writings themselves so teach, and that they themselves bear abundant testimony to the truth of this claim. We believe also that every sincere and honest man who reads these Writings, and reflects on their teachings, can draw this doctrine of their Divine authority from their own pages, and as well confirm it thereby. In brief, we believe them to be a rational and convincing revelation of Divine truth, appealing to every sincere man's honest reasoning; so that everyone who is willing, and who tries by study and thought to form an affirmative judgment about them, cannot fail to recognize and acknowledge their Divinity. Moreover, we also affirm that they are the Lord's Word because they contain and reveal the internal sense of the Word, the presence of which, according to their own testimony, is what makes the Word the Word. Therefore it should not be a surprise to any one of us if by the "little book" which John saw in vision, "open in the hand of a mighty angel," is meant not only the Word in general but, it would seem, specifically the Word as it is opened in the Writings.
     Yet this statement requires some precise and careful explanation. The truth is that not only the Writings but also all previous revelations contain the internal sense of the Word as the very source of their holiness. Without this they would not be the Word. But the internal sense from the Lord can be expressed in a variety of Divinely ordered external forms, such as the unspoiled forms of creation and the Divinely chosen language of Scripture. Still, the internal sense itself is not any such external form, but is the proceeding of Divine love and wisdom in its purity and as giving rise to every degree of angelic and human love and perception. And in all such degrees it is a matter of internal life from the Lord alone, and not of created forms and language. It is even as the Lord said: "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63); or, again, as Paul says in his second epistle to the Corinthians: "The letter killeth, but the spirit maketh alive" (II Corinthians 3:6).

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     This internal sense, however, in the Ancient Word which is now no longer extant, and in the Old and New Testaments, was expressed in a language of correspondences and parables, the true meaning of which was gradually forgotten. Moreover, as men fell into ever greater evils and falsities, the very language of the Word itself became so invested with misconceptions in men's minds that almost all true understanding and love of the internal sense became lost. The result is that the Old and New Testaments have largely become in the Jewish and Christian Churches as it were closed books, wherein the internal sense from the Lord has become sealed up as with seven heavy seals of ignorance, fallacy, falsity, and evil. It was this that John-the Lord's most beloved disciple-was given to see in prophetic vision, as he describes it in the Apocalypse: "I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. . . . And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. . . .And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book" (Revelation 4:2, 5:1, 3).
     There is also in the book of Revelation, however, a clear prophecy that the Word was not to stay forever in this manner sealed up. John the revelator also declares that he saw in the midst of the throne "a Lamb, as it had been slain. . . . And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne," and was "worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof" (Revelation 5:6, 7, 9).
     Every New Church man knows that this "Lamb" represents the Lord in His Divine Human. In fact, even other Christians may know it from Isaiah's prophecy of the Lord's trial and condemnation, wherein he calls the Lord a "lamb" and said that "as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth" (Isaiah 53:7); and John the Baptist pointed Him out as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
     So it is that the Word itself manifestly testifies that the Lord Himself would eventually come and open up the Word, because neither angel nor man, but only the Lord Himself, could do it. And it is exactly this that we believe the Lord has done through His personal appearance to, and guidance of, His servant Emanuel Swedenborg, and through Swedenborg's theological Writings, for all who are willing to see their truth for themselves, and believe.
     This, then, is the reason why we believe these Writings to be the Lord's own Word and, moreover, the Word with its seals of obscurity and falsification removed.

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In them, in contradistinction to the previous Scriptures, all such merely natural, symbolic, and representative expressions as by themselves can no longer be understood have either been taken away, or so explained and opened up by a new revelation of the ancient science of correspondences and true doctrine, that the Lord's genuine truth is everywhere apparent. Therefore while previously, in the Old and New Testaments, the internal sense finally could be seen by scarcely anyone-except, perhaps, by a few good and wise men-because it shone only occasionally through the obscuring clouds of the letter, we believe that in the Writings of the New Church the internal sense can everywhere be perceived, and become loved, by all who sincerely desire to perceive it and who lead a good life; and this because the sense of the Writings corresponds so closely with the internal sense itself as to be almost one and the same with it. In fact, for this very reason the Writings themselves very often call their own immediate sense both internal and spiritual.
     Yet there is a distinction. For while the internal sense itself is a purely Divine celestial and spiritual matter of love and perception, contained within and revealed by the Writings, which previous revelations concealed, the actual and direct teaching of the Writings is a natural embodiment and statement of this internal sense as a Divine and heavenly doctrine. And this is an ultimate literal sense. Still, it is, on its own external plane, interior to any previous literal senses of the Word, as philosophical and theological truth is superior to commandments about one's behavior and morals. Therefore, while the immediate sense of the Writings is thus a natural sense, yet it is a natural sense from the spiritual in a higher degree, than in any previous dispensation of the Word; wherefore it may be said that while previous revelations express the internal sense of the Word in a sense merely natural, the Writings explain it in what they themselves call in one place a spiritual-natural sense (AE 1061). And this sense is open to the spiritual sense itself as no other literal sense before it. Where previous revelations hid or concealed the love and wisdom of God, and what the love and wisdom of angels and good men ought to be, the Writings of the New Church reveal them. Moreover, in so doing they unseal and open up the former Scriptures as never before, and explain them in rational terms appealing to our sincerity and reason.
     Certainly no New Church man who has come to believe in and love the Writings can then doubt that they are what is represented by the "little book" which lay open in the mighty angel's hand. In fact, this becomes so much and more evident when we read in the Writings themselves that "a mighty angel" signifies "the Lord Himself as to the Word, and, indeed, as to the ultimate sense, which is called the sense of the letter" (AE 593).

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The "little book" is, moreover, plainly said to signify "the Word laid open" (AE 599). Again, in the Apocalypse Revealed, a "mighty angel" is said to signify "the Lord in His Divine majesty and power"; and the "little book" the Word as to this essential point therein, power that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth and that His Human is Divine (no. 469). And surely nothing, indeed, is a more distinctive teaching of the Writings.
     With this realization that the "little book" which lay open in the Lord's hand represents specifically the Lord's Word as clearly revealed in the Writings, the command given to John to "take it, and eat it up" becomes of great practical importance.
     John, the beloved disciple, who lay-on the Lord's breast at the Last Supper and was also allowed to tarry on earth until he had seen the Lord's second coming in prophetic vision, and to describe it in the Apocalypse, represents all those who are, or desire to be, in the good of love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, and especially in the good of life, or the endeavor to attain it, from these loves. These are also they who constitute the remnant of the Old Church and the beginning of the New. By the same token, they are the only ones who are able to see and recognize the Lord in His second coming, and to receive Him in their minds and lives. And this, in the New Church, is in reality nothing else than to receive and accept the teachings of the Writings. It is to take the little book and eat it up.
     In our acceptance of the Writings, however, it is also of great importance to accept them in the right way. It is necessary to exercise a certain discretion and discrimination, as well as to be eager and sincere. The Writings cannot be truly accepted merely on the basis of a first superficial enthusiasm. They cannot be rightly received, so that they actually mean something to us in our lives, simply by a first intellectual recognition of their Divinity, or even through a feeling of awe and rejoicing at their mere existence. Such an enthusiasm and such a pleasure may be aroused simply by hearing about them and accepting other men's verdicts regarding their importance, and perhaps by recognizing the truth of a few of their teachings. This indeed may be a first need and a good use. As such the truths of the Writings may come to us as the cry of a mighty angel, and as seven thunders uttering their voices. And, like John, we might wish to write the good news for all the world to see.
     Yet the fact is that unless we see also the reasons why the Writings are needed, they are not going to be of any real and lasting use either for ourselves or for others. Unless we are willing to recognize and have those false ideas and evil conditions of the Old Church revealed and removed which hinder the Lord's coming, we shall never truly acknowledge either their Divine intent or their authority.

430


The suggestion is often made, and no doubt quite sincerely, that it is more important simply to teach or learn the truths of the Writings than to discover and lay bare the evils and falsities for the amendment of which they are given. Yet the fact is that the latter cannot be done without the former. The fact is that, ever since the fall, the first use of all truth is to reveal to man the real nature of falsities and evils and to teach us to shun them as sins against God; and the second use is to accept and do what is good and true. If it were not so, the truths and goods taught in the Writings would be mixed up with the evils and falsities of previous churches, and would either be rejected or profaned. They would be compromised, falsified, and destroyed. Their light would shine in the darkness, and the darkness would not really comprehend it.
     It is not so that we need to condemn the people of the previous churches, but ought to exercise charity and discretion lest we quench the smoking flax or break a bruised reed. Still, we do need to let the truths of the Writings be manifested and speak for themselves, and the falsities of past doctrines be revealed without fear. Yet the most important part is to see and acknowledge the presence of the world's evils and falsities in ourselves, and to feel a state of sorrow on that account. The first need is to repent of them in our own lives and our own thoughts. For only after they have been removed from our own minds and deeds can the real doctrine of the Writings be written on bur hearts. It was for this reason that the mighty angel said to John: "Seal up those things which the seven voices uttered, and write them not." This signifies, we read, that the acknowledgment of the Lord as God, and that His Human is Divine, is indeed made manifest, but that it is not received until they who are meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, are cast out. By the same token, the internal sense of the Word as revealed in the Writings will not be received until the false doctrines of previous churches have been made manifest and rejected (see AR 473, AE 602-604).
     There is, therefore, no real hope for the genuine acceptance of the Writings, and for the real growth of the New Church, except by our own reading and our own attempts to perceive and explore the Word as it is open in the Writings by ourselves. There is no way of exploring the errors of past churches, and of seeing them for what they really are, except by comparing them with the doctrine of the Writings. There is no way of repenting of our own evils and falsities, and of seeing their implications, except in a light of our own from the Writings applied to our own life. Nor can any man truly accept the internal sense of the Word by simply learning the doctrine of the Writings or relying upon other men's interpretations of that doctrine.

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Nor is there any use in relying upon yet another transcription from correspondences. The truth is that no man, not even a priest, can be another man's authority. Besides, the Writings are already their own and the final transcription of the Word, and the only fixed and permanent authority, apart from any man. Priests and wise friends indeed may help us to understand the Writings better, and even help to lead us in a good life. Such transcriptions and explanations as may thus be given may be of great assistance. They may help us to understand the external sense of the Word and the doctrinal teachings of the Writings better. They may make the open Word sweet in the mouth.     
     But the only way to enter into the internal sense of the Word as a perception and love, as it is in heaven, is through something of a bitterness of our own souls. Anyone can accept the Lord as His Savior and Redeemer doctrinally, and even admit with the mouth something of His Divinity. The Christian Church does already do that. And yet the Lord is not truly accepted unless we acknowledge that His Human is the only subject of Divinity, and for this reason obey His commandments because of their Divine authority and from a personal conviction and love. And such a conviction comes only through the trials and temptations of life. It comes only through our own reading, perceiving, and digesting the truths of the Writings in our own life's situations. It comes only as we take the "little book" out of the Lord's hands and "eat it up"; and even though it may be bitter within, endure to the end.
     Such an acceptance surely, at least on the earth, takes time. The Last Judgment in the spiritual world after death was truly accomplished rather quickly. It was almost entirely done in the one year of 1757, according to our time, and certainly fully finished by the twentieth day of June in 1770, when the twelve apostles preached the new gospel throughout that world. But in this natural world, we are taught, "the time is extended after the Last Judgment before the New Church is fully established" (AE 624). And this is because, we surmise, men's minds in this world are much slower in accepting the truth. Besides, some states of the Last Judgment may well always remain on the earth because of a continuing need for each individual to make a judgment for himself. That is why we live here.
     This is why all New Church men, even as John, must keep on prophesying again and again upon many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. For it is only as we do this-as we take the Writings and eat them up, and preach the new gospel from our pulpits and in our lives-that the mystery of God will be finished here also on earth. Only as we do this will the time be shortened and the New Church descend from God out of heaven, to establish forever the authority of the Lord as revealed in the Writings throughout the world. Amen.

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USES OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1954

USES OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       PHILIP C. PENDLETON       1954

     A Symposium

     (Delivered at the Fourth Session of the Twentieth General Assembly, Bryn Athyn, Pa., June 17, 1954.)

     A DECADE OF EXPANDING USES

     Life, both in this world and in the next, is marked by alternating periods of advance and retreat, for even the very angels of heaven experience recurring states of light and shade. Each period serves a use which its contrasting period cannot serve. Each contributes something of value which is peculiarly its own and which no other period could provide.
     No man who looks back can fail to see that he gained something from each successive stage of his life which was important to his development. No one deliberately seeks hardship, but who among us can say that he has not benefited from undergoing it! Men often rise to great heights in adversity, and we know from the Writings that without the bitterness of temptation regeneration would be impossible.
     Just as we can benefit from our difficulties, so we can benefit from those periods of peace and tranquillity which are granted us by the Lord in His Divine mercy. And it is needful that we should have them, else we would break under the strain of long continued frustration and defeat.
     The life of the organized church is similar to that of its individual members. It is marked by the same alternations and is subject to the same ebb and flow. It is true that our earthbound minds can with difficulty, if at all, judge of the spiritual progress of the church, but we can see these alternations in its natural states.
     Many here today will recall the decade of the 1920's as a period in Church history marked by vigorous growth and the steady expansion of uses. They, and others among you, know that this period was followed, first by a profound depression, and later by a world war. The earlier part of this period witnessed the contraction of many vital Church activities, and the latter can, at best, be characterized as a holding action.
     But beneath the surface of this troubled period, new uses were constantly forming and old ones were pressing for fulfillment. They could not come to fruition because of adverse conditions, but their very repression caused them to store up strength and energy against the day of their release.

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     When, at last, the war ended the floodgates were opened. No longer was there anything to hold these demands back. Nor was there any desire to do so. On the contrary, their challenge was faced with eagerness and met with vigor by the Church and her members.
     So was born a period of achievement. One has only to look back over the past decade to realize the tremendous strides which have been taken, in so far as the external uses of the Church are concerned. The accomplishments of this period were little short of magnificent.
     Viewed from one approach, the most important single advance has been the expansion of ministrations to smaller groups and isolated members of the Church, not only in the United States, but in England, Canada, France and Holland, as well. Today, far more time and effort are being devoted to this field of activity than ever before; and already the work is showing signs which hold the bright promise of future growth and development, as witness the recent recognition by the Bishop of the Detroit, Baltimore and Washington Circles as full-fledged societies of the Church. In fact, I think it can be said that we are on the verge of the greatest period of expansion in the history of the General Church.
     Viewed from still another angle, the greatest advance resulted from the adoption of three plans, namely, the Ministerial Salary Plan, the Teachers Salary Plan, and the Pension Plan. For the first time in the history of the Church, the principle was recognized that our devoted men and women were primarily General Church ministers and teachers and not merely employees of some society or circle. It was further recognized that we must make a real effort to insure that they should receive living salaries and reasonable pensions, and the General Church agreed to be responsible for those portions thereof which the local groups could not pay.
     At the time these plans were under discussion, fear was expressed by some that the local groups would make no effort to meet the necessary increases. This fear proved to be unfounded. On the contrary, the support received from local groups far exceeded the most optimistic estimates, and their reaction was not only heartwarming but truly inspiring.
     Another important step was the formation of the Sound Recording Committee and the Visual Education Committee, both of which have been particularly valuable in keeping the Church ever before its members, particularly those in smaller groups and isolated members. The effectiveness of the work of these committees cannot be measured mathematically, but we know that it is substantial.
     In the same category is the marked increase in the activities of the Religious Education Committee, which seeks to instill in the minds and hearts of those of our children who have little or no contact with an organized society a love for the Word and a sense that they are part of a far-flung organization.

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     Finally, we have had a considerable increase in the amount spent for New Church publications, both books and periodicals. In 1946, the amount so expended was approximately $6,500.00, and in 1953 we spent nearly $18,000.00.
     There is another accomplishment of which I would speak because it has made possible all these advances, and that is the very real increase in the financial support of the Church. Not only has the income of the General Church risen from $41,000.00 in 1945 to $91,000.00 in 1953, but the contributions made to our local societies and other groups have increased greatly. For a portion of this increase we can thank the Church Contributions Committees which have been organized in several of our societies.
     These achievements were made possible by the vision, the patience, the generosity, and the labors of hundreds of men and women throughout the Church. They were accomplished only by the many working in harmony, each one contributing of his time, his talents and his wealth, without thought of praise or reward.
     There is much that remains to be done, and there are many difficult problems that must be solved in the long years that stretch before us. Some of these problems are already facing us, but others are veiled by that Divine law which forbids men to look upon the future lest they be destroyed by a knowledge too great for them to bear.
     For the moment, however, we can draw renewed strength and purpose from the advances made in the past decade; and this, not with any thought of prideful accomplishment in the work of our own hands, but rather with a grateful acknowledgment of the bountiful blessings freely given to us by our Heavenly Father.
     We have the Divine promise that the New Church will be the crown of all the churches that have hitherto been in the world. That this promise will be fulfilled we can have no doubt. The only question which we as individuals must answer is, whether or not we will offer ourselves as willing tools to be used by the Lord in the building of the walls of the New Jerusalem. The choice is ours, and ours alone. For this is the freedom which the Lord has granted to the human race, and the answer we give will determine for all eternity our place in the life to come.

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FUTURE GROWTH OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1954

FUTURE GROWTH OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       EDWARD C. BOSTOCK       1954

     (Mr. Bostock's extemporaneous and humorous introductory remarks are omitted here, with apologies.)

     It has long been a principle in the Church that uses should be presented as they appear at the time, and then the Church should apply itself to providing the means of carrying them out. Sometimes it happens that uses are overlooked, and sometimes they have to be postponed or dropped because means are not at hand. We now believe we see several things that should be accomplished as soon as possible, and as soon as it is in the hearts of our people to support them.
     At the present time, all the work of the General Church is being performed either in the Academy buildings or in the Cathedral. This has been well enough in the past, but the work has grown to such proportions that the General Church should have an executive home. Not only does the General Church need such a home, with additional space and proper offices for the Bishop and other officers, but the Academy could well use the space that is occupied by the General Church. The following are some of the General Church uses to be considered: the Bishop's office, that is, an office for the Bishop, the Assistant Bishop's office, a secretarial room, NEW CHURCH LIFE office and storage space for collateral literature, children's extension work, sermons and publications that go out, and general storage space for publications. You might be surprised to know that the General Church has a great many publications which need storage space so that they may have proper care and be available. The Academy also houses the General Church archives, and these archives are of tremendous importance and will be in the future of the Church. Just what the accommodations should be, and how extensive, is a matter for study. If the means are forthcoming, we should have such a building as soon as possible.
     Other uses that should be expanded concern church extension work. We should train and maintain more young ministers than are needed to fill apparent vacancies. A recent calculation shows that, using the mortality calculations of the insurance companies as a guide, only two or three ministers need be educated in the next fifteen years in addition to those now in the Theological School. This calculation is, of course, on the basis that we do not expect to grow in any measure, either internally or by spreading the doctrines in the world.
     It is true, as the Bishop and others have pointed out, that the Church has developed slowly because we had to become strong among ourselves. But I do not believe we should be satisfied to stop at our present level, or to think it is impossible to spread the doctrines if they are properly presented.

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There must be some among the millions of people in the world who are ready to accept the doctrines of the New Church, if we learn how to reach them.
     Take the United States alone, in which there are some 160,000,000 souls. If we suppose that possibly one-fourth of one percent would receive the doctrines, we would have 400,000 members in the General Church. Obviously we cannot foresee or believe that this will happen. But how are you going to reach the small percentage that will receive unless you reach the masses and present your doctrines?
     In addition to what we might classify as new work, we must always remember that the costs of living are continually rising and will continue to rise, and should bear in mind that we must properly support the ministers and other workers in the General Church.
     Now, of course, the subject of extending our work by presenting the doctrines to the masses is a somewhat debatable subject in the Church. But I do think that there must be a time when we shall have gained sufficient strength among ourselves to step out, and if we never prepare for it we will never reach it. It may seem a little incongruous to mention the Mormon Church in such a meeting as this; but there is a church with doctrines far less acceptable than ours which, by training its young men to go out and work for the church, has grown in a few generations from a handful of people who migrated out west to millions of members all over the world. It shows what can be done by proper methods. Now as to what proportion of these people are good Mormons, and what proportion of those we might get would be good, interior New Church men, I do not know. But I do think it would be a start if we tried to get some of them.
     Before closing this brief statement I would like to say something about the relationship of societies and circles to the General Church.
     Firstly, the societies and circles plus all other members, some of whom are isolated, are the General Church. Secondly, out of approximately $60,000.00 of direct expenditure by the General Church, less than $15,000.00 is for the Bishop's office and all administration of the General Church work. Approximately $45,000.00 is spent for church extension; that is, it is used directly both for ministers' salaries and those things that might be called general extension. Western Mission, $5,000.00; South African Mission, in addition to direct contributions, $5,000.00; NEW CHURCH LIFE, in addition to subscriptions, $7,000.00; Religious Education and Miscellaneous, $2,000.00; Pension Contribution, $2,000.00. (These are approximate figures.)

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     We might compare the relationship of the societies, circles, and groups in the General Church to the relationship between the states of our union and the federal government. Our states and subdivisions have their own taxes, but all residents of each state have federal income tax to pay. I need not explain about that as you have all had experience.
     Our federal government gives us protection, and assists the states in many ways in things they cannot do by themselves. The General Church gives us leadership; cohesion among the societies, circles, and others; and brings us into a unity of purpose and a strength we could not have without its help and leadership. We cannot separate the parts from the whole, but must look to the uses of both.
     And so, my friends, these are the few things I have thought of. I know that they are not complete. But if we can dissociate our minds from the idea that the Church is an expensive thing, or a burden, and look to the tremendous use and to the fact that here is the Lord's New Church, which is providentially given to us, a little group of people, we will feel that we are not doing our duty unless every one, from his own will, from his own love, according to his own conscience, does everything he can to look ahead and provide for its future welfare.
SUPPORT OF THE USES OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1954

SUPPORT OF THE USES OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       LESTER ASPLUNDH       1954

     (Mr. Asplundh's witty introductory remarks are also omitted.)

     Attending an Assembly, and listening to the kind of papers we have been hearing, makes me think of a Christmas afternoon many years ago. The whole family was sitting round the dining room table, having enjoyed a sumptuous meal, fully relaxed, contemplating all the joys of the things we had received. Suddenly, out of a clear sky, mother said: "Who's going to help with the dishes?" Well, who's going to help with the dishes? Those who have provided what we have now, or are we all going to pitch in! We have always been taught that a given use will receive support, first, if it is understood, second, if it is needed, third, if it is wanted more than something else. The third item is the really important one. Do we want to support the uses of the General Church enough for their continued growth! If we do, we have no problem; if we do not, then someone's dreams will have to be postponed for a while. However, in the end, if the use is there, the support will eventually be forthcoming.
     From the remarks of the two previous speakers we were able to see that the needs and uses of the General Church are practically unlimited. For a brief moment in time we are called upon, or rather given the privilege, of assisting others to learn the truths of the Church. We as individuals are permitted to assist in a work which, in point of importance, far surpasses any other that is given to men.

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What part in this tremendous work can we hope to accomplish? We have heard, and will hear, addresses from men who have dedicated their lives to the Church; men who have studied, taught, and labored in a work they love; men who have made sacrifices in order that others may receive the spiritual ministrations which they desire. But what have we done, we the laymen of the Church, and what can we do? It is up to us to provide the material goods by means of which these dedicated men can carry on. We can give of our time much that is of assistance, but we must also give of our material wealth in order to provide those things where our physical assistance alone will not suffice.
     This world is made up of many different kinds of people, people who do not always agree on what is the most important, and what should be supported. For this reason some uses are often supported by only a few until others see their necessity. Are we not fortunate that this is the case? Each of us can harbor, promote, and work for some use which we believe to be important. If it is, in the end it receives the attention it needs; if not, these efforts are focussed in a different direction. Today the General Church is supporting uses which seem to be important. Many people are giving of their time and money to support these uses. In fact, 40% of our membership have wanted these things done more than they have wanted something else done, or we could not have had the record which we have just heard about. Forty percent! That is less than half. It does not look as if enough of us were willing to help with the dishes! We should have a hundred percent!
     You know, there is a very loose comparison which may help us to see just where the General Church stands in the scheme of things, and how and why I think everyone should do something toward its support. The General Church could be likened to our federal government, the local societies to our municipal governments, and the Academy schools to the public school system. In some way or another you are actually helping to support each of these agencies. Sure, you are being taxed. You pay, or else! But you yourselves support the laws which make this taxing legal. You know that we need a federal government, even though it does not touch us nearly as personally as our municipal government. You now know more about why we need the General Church. You know that it is not a local Bryn Athyn organization; you know that its uses are for all the Church. Each society, circle, and isolated member receives something from the General Church. You also need your society, circle, or the occasional visits of a traveling minister; and we know that you are quite conscious of the fact that you must support these close-to-home uses. The problem seems to be, which comes first, or, which should I support?

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     You do not make that choice in federal and municipal government taxes. You pay both in proportion to the need and your ability to pay. The amount you pay to the tax collector for these services will, of course, vary with each individual. Some pay little to the federal government, more to the municipal government, and still more in school taxes; while with others this is reversed. But everybody pays something to the federal government. Actually, the federal government gets by far the most money to spend, even though most of us do not pay as much to it as to our local government. How does this come about? The load is spread over a much larger base. Everyone in this country, through taxes of some kind, must help carry the federal government. The local government, on the other hand, is supported by far fewer people. Hence more taxes have to be paid by this smaller number.
     This is the situation we find ourselves in when we consider the support of our three main bodies. A good many of you feel that you should support your local society with everything you have while you let someone else support the General Church. This is the wrong idea. You, and I mean every one of you, should certainly set something aside for the General Church. Now, of course, we do not have taxes or laws to make you support any Church use, but as long as you are interested enough to attend this meeting we have the right, and even the obligation, to explain what is being done and what is needed, so that you are in complete freedom, if you want, to support these things that are being done; so that you can make the choice as to whether you would prefer to have these things done rather than something else. No one ever has freedom of choice unless they know the problems, enjoy the privileges, and assume the responsibilities before them.
     It is still impossible to get something for nothing. When responsibility is left to a few, with it goes power to the few. In the end, what may have been a use is turned into a disuse. We need in the General Church the balance of counsel and the considered best judgment and support of everyone. It is hardly my responsibility to tell you what you should give to the General Church. Contributions in the past have been in proportion to the knowledge, interest, and ability to give of the individual. That is what it should always be. We have increased your knowledge and interest, and we also hope you will enjoy untold financial success; for if we have these three we can go forward to the accomplishment of many important uses.
     I do not know how many of you have read the very fine report recently sent out by our Treasurer, Mr. Leonard Gyllenhaal. In this report he mentioned the fact that only ten years ago the total General Church budget was only $27,000.00.

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What can we expect this budget to be ten years from now? And where will this money be coming from to meet this budget? Perhaps the best way to analyse this situation is to go back into the records and see where the money came from in the past and where we can expect to get it from in the future.
     During the past year the income of the General Church, as Mr. Gyllenhaal has pointed out, was about $90,000.00, three times what it was ten years ago. However, of this total amount, only $21,000.00 came from individual contributors. A special endowment fund contributed $21,000.00 more; investments accounted for approximately $20,000.00 more, and trust fund transfers amounted to an additional $21,000.00. In other words, had it not been for the generosity of a few families we would have fallen far short of our present needs. If we are to meet the growing demands of the General Church we must re-examine our own responsibility in connection with its uses.
     Just in case you did not read the Treasurer's report, let us just check oil what some of our expenses were during the past year. Salaries and Pension Fund contributions, which include a portion of the salaries, which the societies or groups are unable to pay in full, amounted to $33,000.00. Travel and moving expenses for these ministers was low last year at $7,000.00. Periodicals such as the NEW CHURCH LIFE and Reading Calendars, exclusive of salaries, $6,000.00. The South African Mission was almost $9,000.00. The Western Mission, which includes the establishment of a more formal group and ministrations to members isolated in the Western area, cost approximately $4,600.00. Administration, including religious and visual education, the Bishop's office, the Treasurer's office, etc., exclusive of salaries, was $6,300.00. Pensions, which are payments to pensioners, $12,800.00. Other incidentals amounted to approximately $1,000.00. This gives us a total operating expense of almost $80,000.00.* I am sure we would not want to cut any of those off.
     * Mr. Asplundh's figures are taken from the Treasurer's report and include expenditures from the Pension, Extension, and Carswell Funds. Mr. Bostock's figures include only direct income to the General Fund.
     As our Treasurer points out, we are a small body, spread around the world, attempting to do the things of a church many times our size. We have grown to the stage where the Church can no longer be supported by a few, but requires the heavy support of many. We have gone a long way in the last ten years; but, as has been pointed out to you by Mr. Pendleton and Mr. Bostock, we have many commitments from which we can not turn back.
     I appreciate the fact that many of you feel that your primary or sole responsibility is that of supporting your local society. I will agree that that is your primary responsibility.

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But without the General Church the local society would be deprived of a great many services essential to it. A really conscientious effort will have to be made by all of us if we are to continue to grow. A little fast arithmetic would indicate that if we have approximately 2,000 potential contributors, the General Church received approximately $10.00 from each one, or $20,000.00. Could we do better in number and amount! Anyone who has ever worked on a contribution committee knows that it is most difficult to get someone who has not been giving to start. He also knows that if the needs are presented properly, and if a person is financially able, he will increase his contribution once he has made the start.
     The uses and needs of the General Church have now been made very plain to all of you. It is definitely up to you individually whether or not we go forward, or restrict some of the primary objectives of the Church. To you who have not given in the past, I earnestly solicit your consideration of our needs; and to you who have always faithfully done what you felt you could afford, I request that you re-examine your contribution in the light of the existing uses and needs. Almost all of us, if we want something badly enough, can arrange to make ends meet by carefully budgeting what we have. Now, who wants to help with the dishes!
Discussion of the Three Addresses 1954

Discussion of the Three Addresses              1954

     The Bishop thanked the three speakers for fulfilling a difficult task. We had always been most anxious, at our Assemblies, to "keep the angels with us"; and for that reason we have been distinct from other church-bodies in not stressing the matter of financial support at meetings like this. Our purpose here is to lift our minds and hearts to things eternal and be inspired from the wisdom contained in the Heavenly Doctrine. Where this revivification of the spirit of the church is accomplished, the members of the church will, we believe, do all that the Divine Providence brings it within their power to do to sustain the uses of the church. He had the profound belief that there were very few church bodies in the world where this spirit of supporting the church is more general or more steadfastly maintained than it is in our General Church.
     But this year there was an indication that we are on the verge of a period when the Divine Providence calls for an extension of our uses, and it was important that the members gathered at this Assembly should realize this fact. Therefore these uses, as they appear at the present time, had been presented before us this evening. We are a very small body, spread thinly but widely over the world. In this there lay also a prospect of the spread of the Writings and especially of that attitude towards the Writings which the General Church represents: the only attitude that can permanently establish the New Church in the world. Since the Divine Providence has placed us in that situation, it is obviously a duty for all of us to meet the challenge as best we may.
     What is the function of the General Church? Is it not to bring together all these scattered beginnings where the church can take root? A means whereby we can all unite to make the best of the opportunities that Providence affords-not only where we have established societies, but wherever there is a center from which the spirit of the General Church can radiate.

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The Lord has not given us the Heavenly Doctrine only for our personal regeneration or for our own enjoyment and delight in the realization of the precious thing that it is, but also as a trust that we might give it to the world. This means that we must consider the most practical and rational way in which we can do so. The attempt has been made in the past to do it by devoting the church entirely to a missionary effort, to spreading a first knowledge of the doctrines, and distributing the Writings themselves. This was fine. The Bishop sympathized with those who loved that work and are doing it. But the history of the Church shows that if we stop there, the church does not really grow. It has not been growing because there has not been any feeding of those who come into the church or any care for the education of the children of the church and no provision for a united effort to build up the small beginnings of the church.
     This is the great work which lies before us. And at the present time we have young men coming forward, called by the Lord to such work, and groups scattered over this continent, in Europe, in Australia, and in Africa, who need ministrations if they are to grow. We must welcome these new volunteers and help the small beginnings to grow. That is the real reason why it seemed necessary to present before this Assembly the needs and possibilities which lie ahead of us; so that together with the inspiration we have enjoyed in the spiritual things of the church there may also be a prompting to bring down those spiritual ideals into our own lives and to help give them to others whom the Lord has prepared to receive them.
     Rev. Dandridge Pendleton noted that the speakers had anticipated a period in which the uses of the General Church could expand, and said that he felt privileged-after having been born and brought up in Bryn Athyn-to be working among some of these new beginnings. In the southern states he had observed a certain restlessness in religious thinking, an impatience with the teachings which the old type churches propagated. The statement of one writer-that "the South is getting ready for new thought"-seemed to line up with the prophecy in The Last Judgment (n. 73) concerning a new freedom in spiritual things.
     Those of our people who are classed as "isolated," are not isolated mentally or spiritually. And although dependent on the General Church for many things, they also have something very real to contribute to the Church where all states of regenerating men must be represented in order to give perfection. Mr. Pendleton contrasted the attitude of the members of the larger societies-where there is an established social life, with classes and even schools-with those who are facing a lonely test of faith, couples striving to educate their children without any of the external advantages which we have in the larger societies. He concluded that the power of the New Church does not consist in big church buildings or educational institutions or graduated class instruction, but in the struggle of individuals to maintain in an alien world the ideals of faith and life. He felt humbled on realizing the greater tests which these isolated people face so bravely. They can see more clearly the truth that the former church is completely dead and indifferent to spiritual things. He promised with all his heart to cooperate in the work of ministering to these people-who indeed contribute a precious element to this Assembly.
     Mr. Alexander P. Lindsay, Jr., told of a visit by Miss Alice Grant to the grade school in Pittsburgh, when she had impressed the children with the idea that if they were in the spiritual world they would have their lessons presented as living pictures or life-like visual representations. He noted that just as children can understand pictures even when very young, so politics have been revolutionized by television. In motion pictures, television, and visual education the Lord has, in the last five years, placed in our hands technical means by which this church could be spread over the whole country in a very few years.

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Referring to Mr. Pendleton's remarks about the receptive attitude of some people in other churches, he noted that the Mormons conducted a vigorous missionary program in which they were required to give not only tithes but a period of their lives to the service of their church. Last year "Jehovah's Witnesses"-another aggressive religious movement-were crowding the highways by the thousands on their way to their convention in New York. Who heard of them five years ago?
     The means are here for spreading the doctrines of the church. These scientific instruments were not intended in Providence for the total destruction of the human race but for instruction-for the spread of the church. Will we, as individuals in the Academy, employ these new instrumentalities, or will our movement be only a passing phase raised up for the sake of preserving the published Writings? We ought to be ready. The financial contributions of a few individuals are not enough. It takes a whole field of grain to make a harvest, and the contributions of every member of a society or church to mount up into thousands of dollars. Yet if we all do our part, it will only be a matter of years before the Lord sends us the human instruments whereby this church can be spread over the face of the earth. The question is whether we will be big enough or strong enough to accept that responsibility. Mr. Geoffrey S. Childs, Sr., spoke of Assemblies as giving one new birth, adding something to one's life. This Assembly had a quality of affection for the church and a unity of feeling which shows that our church, though small as to numbers, is very powerful in spirit.
     He had been amazed at the difference between priests and laymen in the church. He had been touched by the Bishop's action, in presenting already in January to the various councils his desire that the church should elect Bishop Pendleton as Assistant Bishop. This might seem like so much routine. But this allowance of time was meant to protect freedom, so that nothing should be "pushed through" as is often done in the world. And when the Assembly was all ready to act, Dr. Odhner interpreted the absence of comments as a sign of complete agreement and conviction as to the matter. The Bishop paid no attention to the "call for the question," for the motion itself was not quite enough. The things which happened thereafter partook of a state of fulfillment. Bishop Pendleton's final remark had been brief, to the effect that he rejoiced in greater responsibility. Mr. Childs found another demonstration of the same attitude in the words of the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton who spoke of "throwing his whole heart" into his field of work.
     The meeting tonight was a call to the laymen and laywomen of the church to accept "greater responsibility." The call to greater responsibilities never ends-not even after death. But the program of speeches on the needs of the church had not advocated any "high-pressure" methods. Our movement does not allow high-pressure. Always, as in the election of an Assistant Bishop, there must be a seeing of the needs, so that our minds can be free to act.
     Mr. Asplundh's warning against shirking our duty of "washing the dishes" was a ghastly thought after a wonderful dinner. But Mr. Childs addressed those who are giving nothing. He said that nobody was going to come around to them with a basket, but that they should go home and think about it. Then, after summer was over, their conscience would begin to move them. He recalled Miss Lyris Hyatt's remark that morning about the joy in the Treasurer's office over the regular subscriptions which began with a dollar. If the young people could but realize the benefit the church would derive if they would start giving something regular now-or at least in September; for once you start you are giving the Lord a return for the many things you are being given.

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He urged those who are now donors to re-examine whether they could not give a little more, for the needs of the future, so that the Treasurer's charts will show an improvement in 1956 and that the priesthood could rely that when they come before the church with needs the people respond.
     Mr. Norman Synnestvedt spoke as one who had been on the frontier for twenty-five years and had to look to the General Church for maintenance of the activities in the Detroit area. They had looked to the center of the church for spiritual support, encouragement, and the feeling of belonging to a body which had substance, power, and a future. This feeling gave to the movement in Detroit the power and foresight to prepare in little ways until finally it had become effective and began to bear fruit. As a member of the Board of Directors of the General Church it gave him concern to see the small number of persons that contribute as a return from the outlying districts to the general body. We depend so terribly on the existence of the General Church and must draw our strength from it. The report of the General Church shows that we are not "in the hole" and have met our assumed obligations, but it says nothing about the things that were not done-that should have been done but could not be considered, the many demands for things to be done which could not be met because funds were not available. When the Salary Committee made its final report, it was with fear and trepidation, because we were risking far more than we had coming in. But we had the conviction that when the needs were presented to the societies, they would be met. And that proved to be the case. Yet there are no organized means of presenting certain other needs as they arise. Mr. Bostock mentioned that the General Church needs a building, that it now borrows room from the Academy, and from the Bryn Athyn Society. Here there is a real need.
     He regretted that, when a request is made to send a pastor to some area which has made an honest effort to do all they can to support a man, the Board sometimes must say that it cannot afford to do this thing, has not the money to do it. But even when the money is here, it holds true that "a living church must be supported by living men rather than by a dead endowment." It is that kind of "living" money that the Board can feel a right to risk spending at the places in the church where according to their judgment It will do the most good. Therefore he was interested in the extension of the base of support of the church.
     Rev. Harold C. Cranch found one teaching not sufficiently emphasized by the clergy-viz., about the good that comes to each one who helps to support the church. He felt that while the priesthood should leave people free to determine how much they should give, it was a question whether they should be free not to give at all. There is a blessing in receiving only just so far as one gives. The Lord gives His blessings to all, but only those receive who prepare themselves to open their hearts and minds. The Word continually stresses giving-whether in the form of tithing or filling the hands of the priest, or of a daily sacrifice or other offerings. Malachi shows that the lame or the torn was not an acceptable offering, but only the unblemished lamb. We must offer our best. In the Gospels, the widow's mite is lauded because of the personal sacrifice it involved.
     The principle in our giving of course concerns the promotion of the uses of the church; but the essential thing is to begin to give and then to do so with thought and planning, setting first things first. If we give abundantly yet without thought, we do not give enough. The late Rev. T. S. Harris once said that the New Church was not commanded to give tithes, because a New Church man who saw uses would give far more than a tenth! But we cannot set up any mathematical ratio.

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What we need to do is to give-and to sacrifice-with thoughtfulness and innocence, such as was represented by a year-old lamb without blemish.
     Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen noted that much had been said about the sacrifices and devotion shown by members of the small groups including their ministers and teachers, and what is still left for the laity of the church to do. But the evidences at this Assembly were that the laity has already contributed a great deal, not only in money but in devoted services such as that of the Board which tries so hard to do the best they can with the means available. These buildings and our schools are all evidences of it-work done in all the societies which could never be measured by money. If the spirit of our laity continues as manifested tonight, marked by deep devotion to use, by thought and love and personal study of the Writings, there would be no need to worry about the growth of our church.
ASSEMBLY BANQUET 1954

ASSEMBLY BANQUET       REY COOPER       1954

     The banquet in which the Assembly culminated was held on Saturday evening, June 19th. It was later described as ending on a high note of inspiration and enjoyment a truly wonderful Assembly. The evening was cool enough to make the dining tent very comfortable, probably more so than the Assembly Hall would have been. Guests numbered 1,050, and each received a dignified souvenir program which featured a reproduction of the seal of the General Church.

     After the meal, messages of greeting from all over the world were read (see pp. 423-424). Warm appreciation of the work of the various Assembly committees was expressed by Bishop De Charms; Mr. Lachlan Pitcairn, chairman of the committee on arrangements, replied-on his own time, not the toastmaster's; and a presentation was made to him in the midst of loud and sustained applause. The toastmaster, Mr. Geoffrey S. Childs of Saginaw, Michigan, then announced the theme of the program-"Distinctiveness." He noted that with the pressure on the church from the world around us, this topic was particularly apt.

     Mr. E. Bruce Glenn, Instructor in English in the Academy of the New Church, discussed "Distinctiveness in Social Life." This banquet, he said, brought together a lot of New Church men and women because of something they had in common-their faith, which gives them a new vision of life and its ends. But social life among New Church men is not distinctive because of this fact. We must guard against an exclusive participation in worldly delights for their own sake. Our real enemy is the world in our own hearts, not the world around us.

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The things we do have no bearing on distinctiveness, but we are kept free from the world by the truth. It is a dedication to Divine ends that is the essence of New Church social life. Thus it is the state of love and charity with us that will make our social life distinct.

     The Rev. Elmo C. Acton of Glenview, Illinois, spoke on "Distinctiveness in Education." As this increases only with the increase of the breadth and depth of our understanding of what distinctiveness involves, so we continually try to re-define our education. While the public and private schools in the world around us teach that we can find the truth only by trial and error, or that we must rely on the power of the human mind to arrive at the truth, we, in New Church education, try to establish true values. Good can he known only in the form of truth. The Writings teach us of that form, and it is this that makes our education distinctive. We must remember that education is for the sake of the church, not for the sake of the individual; and that distinctiveness involves maintaining a communication between heaven and earth for this purpose.

     The Rev. Harold C. Cranch, Visiting Pastor in the Western United States, considered "Distinctiveness in Religion." Because men came to be saved despite the doctrines of their churches instead of by them, the Lord gave the New Church to the world. Mr. Cranch compared the teachings of some other religions with those of the New Church on the same subjects-God, the Word, life, faith and charity, marriage, death, and spiritual freedom-and noted that it is these doctrines in the New Church that make it a completely new and distinctive religion. But only their application can make them our own. We must understand them intelligently and use them in all parts of our lives; and we should sell all else to obtain that pearl of great price, our distinctive religion.

     Each of the three speeches was introduced by an appropriate toast and song. After Mr. Cranch had spoken, Mr. Childs asked Bishop De Charms to make some closing remarks. At this 20th General Assembly, the Bishop noted, we had all experienced an elevation of our thoughts and our hearts to the spiritual things of our church. We had been inspired to renew our efforts to help make our dream of distinctiveness come true. He expressed the hope that the results of this Assembly might be that the Lord would stir the hearts and minds of each one of us when we came to review it; that He would inspire each of us to renewed efforts to make the church living with us-with our children, in our homes, and in our own lives; so that religion would become the very essence of our lives, and the General Church would thus go forward to new achievements in the further establishment of the Lord's kingdom on earth.

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     After the singing of "Our Glorious Church" and "Our Academy" the Bishop pronounced the Benediction, bringing to a close this delightful banquet.
     REY COOPER
ASSEMBLY NOTES 1954

ASSEMBLY NOTES       Various       1954

     Young People's Session. Two hundred and seventy New Church young people attending the 20th General Assembly met on Wednesday afternoon, June 16th, for their own session, which was preceded by an informal luncheon in the tent. The session was opened by the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton with the Lord's Prayer. After presenting the subject of the afternoon, "Conjugial Love," Mr. Pendleton introduced the two speakers, Miss Julie de Maine and Mr. Fred Schnarr.
     In a charming paper entitled "The Essential Contributions of Woman in Preparation for and in Marriage" Miss De Maine pointed out that woman's essential contribution to society in general and to marriage in particular is her sphere-which is an image of all things in her. It is her responsibility to be the guardian of chastity in her thoughts and actions that the grace, sweetness and beauty of life, may be given through her to man. A woman with warmth and sympathy should be a constant inspiration to man to put his virtues to use, to see his duties and perform them.
     Mr. Schnarr spoke on "The Masculine Responsibility in Building and Preserving the Conjugial." He stressed the importance of cultivating natural virtues as the ultimate manifestation of spiritual virtues, because all power is in ultimates. This is necessary for building, since in ultimates man is able to express and confirm his beliefs, and for preservation because ultimates act as a fixed basis for orderly habits. Honesty, modesty, temperance, and patience were some of the virtues to be cultivated mentioned by Mr. Schnarr as an essential part of the way in which a man must prepare himself for reception of a woman's love.
     After some discussion from the floor, the meeting ended with a few words by Mr. Pendleton stressing the importance of honesty in man's motives in his application to uses. This sincerity of motive is that which a woman should encourage and develop. This is a man's wisdom, and through woman's love of that wisdom the two are conjoined by the Lord in love truly conjugial.
     ASTRID ODHNER

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     Women's Guild Meeting. On Thursday, June 17th, the Women's Guild of Bryn Athyn invited the women of the Assembly to an open meeting. Mrs. Griffith Asplundh, our gracious president, welcomed the ladies and presented the purposes of the Guild: "It performs those uses for the Church that a wife performs in the home, and provides a meeting place for New Church women."
     Mrs. Morley Rich came forward to extend an urgent invitation from the women in England to attend the Assembly there in 1956. Miss Margaret Wilde, the toast mistress, was introduced as the one member of the Guild who had been featured in the SONS OF THE ACADEMY BULLETIN. For the program she had prepared the life stories of three women devoted to the New Church, and to read these stories she selected three beautiful women.
     The first paper, read by Mrs. Carl Asplundh, was a testimony to the devotion Miss Alice E. Grant had for New Church education. Her purpose in life was to further the development of the young women in the church. She felt that women should be taught all subjects from a feminine approach, and that only women teachers prepared by the church were qualified to do this.
     A paper was then read by Mrs. Kenneth Synnestvedt on Mrs. Elizabeth Doering Bellinger, a woman who pioneered in the Academy movement. Left to face life as a widow with five children, she remained strong in her faith. She instilled in her children this love of the church, and one of her daughters, Miss Celia, carried forward this love in a life of teaching children in New Church schools. A message of greeting was sent by the meeting to Miss Celia, who was then ill in Pittsburgh.
     Mrs. Willard D. Pendleton read the story of her grandmother, Mrs. Cara Starkey Glenn, a devoted wife and mother whose home was the center of social life. At an early age she was left a widow with eight children; but she met her tasks with courage, and was beloved by all who knew her.
     Cara Glenn would have been deeply moved, as was her daughter Creda, at this meeting. For the Rev. Frank S. Rose came forward to present Miss Creda with a photograph album containing pictures of many of the people overseas she had helped. The presentation was a tribute to the untiring assistance she had given during the war-torn years and the difficult period after the war, and the pictures and messages of love will surely enrich her life.
     At the close of the meeting, a delightful tea was held at the home of Mrs. Carl Asplundh.
          JEAN ALDEN GLENN

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     Theta Alpha Meeting. The Annual Meeting of Theta Alpha was held in the Chapel of Benade Hall, June 18, at 2:30 p.m. Bishop De Charms conducted the service and later spoke briefly to the group, thanking them for the work they had done, and expressing the hope that the work would continue to grow in the years to come.
     The President, Alice Glenn, opened the business meeting with a review of the work being done by Theta Alpha. She announced the formation of new chapters in Colchester, Detroit, and Hurstville. In appreciation of her outstanding work the members presented her with a flower arrangement.
     Glenn Pitcairn, the Secretary, read in her report the names of 55 new members. Tribute had been paid earlier to three of our members who had been called to the spiritual world. Brief reports by the Treasurer, Grace Asplundh, and the Nominating Committee, Lyris Hyatt, followed, and a report from the Rev. Fred E. Gyllenhaal on the religious extension work was read, and was completed by a more detailed report from Margaret Bostock. Carita de Charms discussed briefly the festival lessons and the work on the representation figures. The final report, on the Journal and Supplement, by Marjory Soneson, was of particular interest. The time and effort she has put into this work deserve special thanks, and we hope the work will continue.
     Theta Alpha welcomes its newly elected officers: Beatrice Goerwitz, President; Alice Fritz, Vice President; Elizabeth Heldon, Secretary; Grace Asplundh, Treasurer; Virginia Tyler, Liaison Officer; and wishes them success.
     CATHERINE HOWARD MITCHELL

     Sons of the Academy Meeting. The Annual Meeting of the Sons of the Academy began at the Civic and Social Clubhouse and then adjourned to the dining tent for luncheon and a program, arranged by George Doering of Baltimore. The first item of business was a formal request from the Washington-Baltimore area for recognition as a chapter of the Sons.
     Master of Ceremonies Doering then spoke about the importance of the Sons' main use, New Church education, in view of the weaknesses and deficiencies in the present "progressive education" public schools. He called on Mr. Sidney Lee of Glenview, who spoke briefly about the goal of the Chicago Area General Church people-the establishment of a New Church high school there in the not too distant future. Work has begun on the collection of an initial fund of $50,000.00.
     The last speaker was the Rev. Morley D. Rich of London. His remarks were directed toward informing the Sons about the newly organized British Academy. Differences in law and custom made this desirable, and funds were now being raised.

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     The business meeting was held in the Assembly Hall. A vote of confidence in last year's officers was registered in their unanimous re-election for the coming year.
     SIGFRIED T. SYNNESTVEDT

     Academy Open House. The members of the Academy Faculty and staff were happy to welcome Assembly visitors who wished to inspect our buildings and equipment. Noticeable among the guests were ex-students who had not seen the new Benade Hall, and who admired all of our new facilities with great awe but admitted a homesick feeling for the old familiar rooms.
     In a hurried tour there is not much time to converse with teachers, but "things" can be appreciated at a glance. The fine exhibit of hand work in the Art Room, the modern Home Economics equipment, the Science Laboratories, and the beautiful Chapel were much appreciated, and the Library with its Museum and Swedenborgiana attracted many people. As a demonstration of the work of the Home Economics class, refreshments were served in the "Home Ec." room and in the College Commons Room.
     The Heads of Schools and other teachers were in their offices to meet the guests, and they enjoyed particularly meeting with the parents of students.
     Among the special exhibits were those of the Academy Book Room, the General Church Sound Recording Committee, and the Religion Lessons Committee, and a display of ecclesiastical vestments which is a new collection in the Museum.
     WERTHA PENDLETON COLE

     Social Life. The social activities of the Assembly began with the magnificence of the Assembly Ball at Glencairn. Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Pitcairn, Bishop and Mrs. De Charms, and Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton greeted the hundreds of guests who overflowed the great hall and wandered about the beautifully lit grounds, enjoying the fountains, the general good spirit, and as much dancing as space would permit.
     From that point the social life broke up into smaller groups, creating in retrospect a kaleidoscopic pattern of countless open houses, parties, and aftermath gatherings, both in the homes and in the newly air-conditioned Civic and Social Clubhouse. All of these centered in the meetings, providing a chance for informal discussion, the renewal of old friendships, and the making of new ones in a relaxed and congenial atmosphere which is so essential to our Assemblies.

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This shifting pattern of names and faces was a constant challenge, but a most enjoyable one-as usual a memorable and important part of the program.
     BETH SYNNESTVEDT JOHNS

     Civic and Social Club Activities. The newly air-conditioned Civic and Social Clubhouse was opened daily during the Assembly at hours specified not to interfere with meetings. It was a popular gathering place for Assembly visitors and Bryn Athynites and many informal parties were enjoyed during the week. On two separate occasions special events were held.
     On Tuesday, June 15th, the Club entertained with a buffet supper for incoming guests and their hosts. One hundred and eighty-five attended. We were a little crowded, but an atmosphere of gaiety and good will prevailed. At noon on Friday, all visiting Sons of the Academy were guests of the Bryn Athyn Chapter at an informal party preceding their luncheon and annual meeting.
     RUTH DAVIS GYLLENHAAL

     Young People's Social Life. Life at the Dining Hall during the Assembly was fairly lively. Every night after the sessions we would get together for a good time; a movie one night, jazz and dancing another, a swimming party at the Harold Pitcairn pool, and a semi-formal party on Friday night. The Sigma Delta Pi-Phi Alpha concession kept us well supplied with food. The young people enjoyed not only social life at the Dining Hall, but the: sessions and everything else at the Assembly because they took part in it. However, the Dining Hall was our focal point.
     JOSEPH DAVID

     Children's Service and Picnic. As an appropriate return to the quiet family life of summertime Bryn Athyn, we took our children on Sunday afternoon to a special service for them in commemoration of the Nineteenth of June, when the Assembly was over and most of the guests had left. The Rev. Norman Reuter addressed the children most clearly and movingly on how New Church men are privileged to see the Lord more perfectly than even His disciples did when on earth.
     This service was followed by a picnic in the Bore park, where 250 hot dogs, dixie cups, and bottles of pop disappeared in about half an hour. We were very happy to have with us at this time the children of a few of the guests who remained, and hope that we shall see them again soon and often.
     ZOE GYLLENHAAL SIMONS

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     [NOTE: Mr. Sigfried T. Synnestvedt undertook the entire responsibility for these "Assembly Notes," organizing the staff of contributors and seeing that their copy reached the editor. If anything might be added, it would be a word of warm appreciation of the labors of the Assembly Committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Lachlan Pitcairn; the fine work done by Academy students in the dining tent, the parking lots, and in a number of other places and capacities; the facilities provided for rest and recreation; and the beautiful floodlighting of the cathedral on Thursday and Friday evenings.]
LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     9. But Deliver Us From Evil

     He who seeks to obtain forgiveness of his sins by endeavoring to come into the life of charity will find that in that endeavor there will arise the trials of temptation. And so there follow in the prayer the words "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
     Here, as elsewhere in the Word, it is said that the Lord tempts man and so causes him to come into states of temptation. It is so said because the letter of the Word is written in accommodation to the states of the Israelites and Jews, who could not think otherwise. Also it is so said for the further reason that children and persons in simple states can comprehend only what is according to the appearance. For them this is a permissible error. There are other persons who fall into another error in endeavoring to rise above the appearance by concluding that what is meant is that the Lord permits temptation to come, and consequently so disposes the events of man's life that it may come.
     This He does not do. For temptations come, not from Him, but from hell. They are induced by evil spirits who excite man's evils. When they do this, good spirits draw forth the things of man's good, and so there comes that combat and anguish which is temptation. From this the Lord does not grant relief until there has been obtained the victory of truth and good over falsity and evil.
     So the Lord does not lead into temptation, but, as is said further in the petition, delivers from evil. Teaching as to this is given in the following words of doctrine: "Its being said that God tempted Abraham is according to the sense of the letter, in which temptation and several other such things are attributed to God, whereas, according to the internal sense, God tempts no man, but is continually delivering him from temptation so far as is possible, or so far as deliverance does not cause evils, and is continually regarding good, into which He leads those who are in temptations; for God never concurs with temptations in any other way; and although it is predicated of Him that He permits, still it is not according to the idea which man entertains of permission, namely, as concurring by permitting, for man cannot conceive otherwise than that whosoever permits also wills what he permits.

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But it is the evil with man which causes temptations, and which also leads thereinto, of which evil there is no cause in God, as there is no cause in a king or a judge why man should do evil and suffer punishment for it" (AC 2768).
     In this passage it is said that the Lord is continually delivering man from temptation, in so far as deliverance does not cause evil. Evil would be caused should there be deliverance before the temptation has accomplished its purpose, as man would then fall into a profane state worse than was his before the temptation came. That which is to be accomplished is told in these words: "Temptations are of use in acquiring dominion for good over evil, and for truth over falsity, also in confirming truths and conjoining them with goods; and at the same time in dispersing evils and the falsities therefrom. They are of use also in opening the internal spiritual man, and in subjecting the natural man to it; and at the same time in breaking the loves of self and the world, and in restraining the lusts which are therefrom. After these things have been brought about, the man obtains enlightenment and a perception of what truth and good, and what falsity and evil, are. From this man obtains intelligence and wisdom, which afterwards increase from day to day" (HD 194). The teaching here given is that contained in the Lord's words: "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Mark 13:13).
      The question may be asked: What shall be my thought, simply stated, in praying this petition! It is that the Lord may grant strength not to fall when in temptation, so that hell may be overcome and heaven given.
GENERAL CHURCH SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE 1954

GENERAL CHURCH SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE              1954

     Tape-recordings of complete church services, sermons, children's services, doctrinal classes, children's talks, General Church, Society, and Academy functions. For current catalogue, or any information about this service, write to: General Church Sound Recording Committee, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     We are told in the Writings that interior things shine out more from the prophetical than from the historical things of the Word, which engage the attention, and in which it does not so readily appear that there is an internal sense. Historicals tend to keep the mind in the external sense and to withdraw it from the internal. Although it is recognized that the mind cannot be instantly turned from them to spiritual things, since they adhere and infill the ideas, we are warned that the arcana of the Word do not appear to those who become immersed in the historical context, and that if this is attended to exclusively the internal sense is obliterated. And we are advised that the historicals must become as nothing if the spiritual things involved are to be seen in a series. In reading the historical Word, then, it is always well to have in mind that the events are representative and the words significative, even if we do not know just what the internal sense is.
     These teachings may usefully be recalled when we read the portion of Jeremiah (chaps. 25-38:13) assigned for September. For although the prophetic element is there in inspired predictions of the captivity, and of the eventual destruction of Babylon and restoration of Israel, the growing demand for Jeremiah's death, his successive imprisonments and maltreatments and deliverances, his contentions with the false prophets, the destruction of his writings, the duplicity of the princes, and the weakness of the king make a dramatic story of absorbing interest. And we shall be well advised to remember that the real tragedy being unfolded is that of the self-destruction of a church, brought to the fulness of vastation by perverseness and obstinacy, and of the condemnation of the Lord and rejection of the Word by a later generation; that the drama is that of the prevention of profanation and the deliverance of those in spiritual captivity, to become the beginning of a new church.

     The portion of Exodus 29 expounded in the Arcana readings (nos. 9974-10053:3) scarcely poses the same problem. The detailed ritual, which the mind pictures with difficulty, is clearly significative; and we turn with pleasure from its sensual imagery to the internal sense, in which it gives place to the glorification process. The insert on Merit deserves careful consideration. Nowhere does the Word promise reward for keeping the Divine law, the reward is in keeping it, in the delight that is in the love of doing good without thought of recompense.

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THIS WE BELIEVE 1954

THIS WE BELIEVE       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary               Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.
     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     In Doctrine of Faith no. 3 we are assured that spiritual truths are as capable of being understood as natural ones; and in Divine Providence no. 317 it is said that "in things purely rational, moral, and spiritual truths are seen from the light of truth itself, provided man has from a right education become somewhat rational, moral, and spiritual." These two statements are heavy with meaning pertinent at this time of year. They show clearly the need for distinctive New Church education, present the distilled essence of the philosophy behind it, and indicate both its ultimate goal and the general form it must take. Technical knowledge is required to discern what is good and useful in economics, law, and the sciences, and in these fields our schools will have a distinctive contribution to make; but a right education is one which develops the will humanly as well as the intellect, and it is here that we can make our most unique contribution.
     The second statement might almost be adopted as the educational credo of the General Church. This we believe, that the truths applicable to the characteristically human planes of life can be seen in the light of truth itself-if the will and the understanding have been so educated that something of rationality, morality, and spiritual life has been received. And in the strength of this conviction we are dedicated to seeking in the Writings, and using in our schools, the principles that will form a right education, that our students may be prepared as men and women to see truth in its own light. For so to see truth is to see the Lord, and that man might see the Lord is the inmost purpose of creation.

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O COME, LET US WORSHIP 1954

O COME, LET US WORSHIP       Editor       1954

     With vacations over and society recesses ended, much of our member ship will resume this month attendance at public worship. It may therefore be useful to recall the basic doctrine given. All true worship is internal, and the external by itself is of no value; but external worship within which there is an internal is indispensable for a living church and is one of the most powerful means provided by the Lord for leading into internal worship. That is the gist of the teaching now given.
     It is true that John saw no temple in the holy city, New Jerusalem. Yet this did not mean that in the New Church there would be no external worship, but that in it there would be no external separated from what is internal. With the angels there is a perpetual sabbath; yet even they have temples and stated days on which they worship the Lord in them, and our need could scarcely be less than theirs. By means of external worship, we are taught, internal things are excited, external things are kept in holiness so that internal ones can inflow, man is imbued with knowledges and prepared to receive heavenly things, and he is also gifted secretly with states of holiness which are reserved for the use of eternal life.
     These are the real uses of our regular Sunday worship, the uses to which every part of the service looks; and since their performance calls for our cooperation, it is useful to remember them at intervals lest we slip into a routine participation. It is certain that, in point of time, external worship, and even somewhat of self-compulsion toward it, must precede internal worship, perhaps by many years. Yet in this there need be no lack of sincerity, but a patient and persistent placing one's self in the way of yet receiving spiritual things from the Lord; and when the invitation to worship is accepted in that hope a blessing will be given.
TRUTH 1954

TRUTH       Editor       1954

     Love of religion, as the first of the spiritual virtues, leads to charity, and the nature of genuine charity is such that it does not exist apart from truth. For such charity, in life, is not instinctive but is the result of the intelligent application of the truth of the Word to human situations. Truth is therefore the third of the spiritual virtues, and this may lead us to ask: "What is truth?" Pilate's question is usually regarded as a philosophic inquiry or a clich? of the schools; but, the Writings reveal, he understood that the Lord was referring to truth as a king, and meant "Is truth a king?" That, indeed, is what truth is.

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     At first glance it may be rather difficult to conceive of truth itself as a virtue, though easy to see truthfulness as one. But it means, first and foremost, the presence in the mind of spiritual truth from the Word. And this involves a number of things. For such truth to enter the mind of man he must have an affirmative attitude toward it and an affection of it. A merely intellectual approach will not store his mind with truths but with knowledges, and between these there is a vital distinction. The Lord gives truth only as man intends to use it, only as He knows that the man wills to do it and to be led by it.
     So this virtue means, primarily, an interior love of truth, which, in turn, implies zeal for its protection and integrity, a firm resolve that it shall govern in all things, a willingness to suffer for its sake if need be, and a reluctance to deviate from it, whatever be the incentive. In an ultimate sense, therefore, it does mean truthfulness-and this is not as common a virtue as might be supposed. There are comparatively few men who have a consistently high regard for truth; and even among those who are reasonably veracious, there are still fewer who acknowledge in the Word an absolute truth and are willing to subordinate to it their affections and emotions and desires, their preconceived ideas and cherished opinions, their traditional attitudes.
     The man of truth is he who has sworn fealty to the truth of the Word as an absolute monarch; who has vowed freely to make that truth the law of his life, to extend its sway wherever it may be accepted willingly, to uphold its honor, and to defend the kingdom it forms against attack from foes within or without. His interpretations of truth are not colored by the effect of their application to his own states; his judgments of human situations are not warped by his like or dislike of the persons involved, or by some inherited or acquired prejudice. As a wise master of prudence, he knows when to take refuge in silence; but he is a man of tried probity who can be relied upon never knowingly to withhold, distort, or misrepresent facts-one who will make a full statement of the case as he sees and understands it, and who will speak the truth without fear or favor, confident that in the truth alone is there protection and healing and amendment.
     He is the man who does not conceal or avoid his own failures and shortcomings, who humbly acknowledges the very truth that rebukes him, who can see virtues in his enemies and faults in his friends, and who is guided by evidence rather than swayed by personal loyalty or animus. Above all, he is the man who places truth above every consequence to, or reflection on, himself, whose resolve is that the truth shall govern in all things of his life. And all these things make for spiritual virtue.

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Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     WASHINGTON, D. C.

     Our most important news, as you have heard from the Baltimore report in the July issue, is Bishop De Charms' proposal to recognize both the Washington and Baltimore Circles as Societies of the General Church in September, with the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton as our joint Pastor carrying out a society program of weekly services and classes in each city. Bishop De Charms addressed a joint meeting at Laurel, Maryland, the half-way point between Baltimore and Washington. We rented an American Legion Hall through inquiry of Mr. Karl Doering, and had a Sunday service followed by a dinner and the meeting. An attendance of nearly 90 adults and children made us realize how large the two circles have grown.
     Bishop De Charms' address impressed upon us the responsibility we must take in helping to develop these societies in each city. We must work in the faith and the light of the Heavenly Doctrine, and our goal should be to serve to further the establishment of the Lord's kingdom among men. Providence leads us in our destined use; but our prayers, to be heard in heaven, must come from the heart.
     The Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton's service for us upon accompanying our minister on his return from his operation was a very pleasant surprise. The writer has had the unique experience of having had three Pendletons for her pastor; during her early years in Pittsburgh, the Right Rev. N. D. Pendleton, during the war years there the Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, and now in Washington the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton. Mr. Jan Weiss conducted services for us when our
Pastor was ill; and while he was on his southern trip the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Rev. Karl R. Alden, and Rev. Fred E. Gyllenhaal stimulated us with their classes and sermons. It is wonderful to be such a small society and yet have the spiritual uplift given by so many of the church's fine clergy in one year.     
     In April we again entertained the senior boys and two teachers from the Boys' Academy in our homes. Mr. Richard R. Gladish and Mr. Charles S. Cole conducted the group on its sight-seeing tour. In May we entertained the seniors in the Girls' Seminary and two teachers, Miss Dorothy Davis and Miss Miriam Pitcairn. The boys were given a dinner by the men of the circle, and the girls were given a dinner in the recreation room of the David Stebbings. In this way we all had an opportunity to get acquainted with these teachers and students.
     James Boatman and his sister, Viola Ann, were confirmed in May, and on the 19th of June our Pastor, the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton, was ordained into the second degree of the priesthood in Bryn Athyn. We rejoice with him in his greater capacity to serve his members here and on his southern tour. Most of the Washington Circle attended some part of the General Assembly in June.
     The very active Marvin Walker family of five has moved back to San Diego, California. We will miss them very much, but wish them a happy Navy life out there. Among our visitors this spring were Lt. and Mrs. Walker's mothers, the Edward Allens, the Winfrid Hyatts, Madeline Horigan, Mrs. Bruce Holmes and daughter Patricia, Edith Goerwitz Brooks and husband, Helen Colley Scrimshaw and husband, Louise Kintner, and others. On their way to the Assembly we had Mrs. David Lindsay and son David, Jeanette Caldwell Randolph and husband, Marian Fiske, and Ann Pendleton. We welcome visitors and are always happy to welcome any who can stop off in Washington.
     ELIZABETH H. Grant

     NORTH JERSEY

     The North Jersey Circle completed at the end of June what, for it, was rather active season. In addition to the regular monthly service and doctrinal class, the Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs volunteered to have an extra doctrinal class for us on a Friday night in the middle of each month, starting last December.

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     Our season began with the annual meeting, at which it was voted to accept the offer of the James Yorks to hold our monthly services in their home. The combination of a strong New Church sphere and Mrs. York's organ made this arrangement a welcome change from the hall which had been rented previously.
     It had been the custom to hold a special service for the children on the Saturday afternoon preceding our service on Sunday. This service took the form of a talk, illustrated with slides, on the better known stories of the Word, and the children prepared for these talks in family worship. However, after the first of these Saturday classes this season, it was decided to combine them with the adult services on Sundays. Mr. Childs arranged to bring one of the theological students over with him, and this student took the children into the Yorks' basement and gave them their class while the adults had their sermon. This arrangement made it possible for some of our more distant families to attend church as families, and the presence of many families did much to strengthen our sphere of worship. Not only did the theological students assist with the children's classes but they also came to our Friday classes, where they helped with their questions. We hope they felt that the time they took to come and help our Circle was appreciated sufficiently for them to continue the custom.
     Our best attended service of the year was at Christmas, when over fifty adults and children came to join in the nativity service. The children were given presents after the service, and the Circle received a set of records of narrations from the Word from Mr. Harold Gurney as its Christmas present.
     During the winter, illness made it necessary to find a substitute place of worship. The Murray Cronlunds offered us the use of their home and it served very well, even enabling us to carry on our children's talks during the sermon. We held a banquet in the Francis Frosts' basement to celebrate Swedenborg's birthday. Each of the ladies provided one of the food courses and the men provided the appetites. The banquet was followed by the regular doctrinal class. The Holy Supper was celebrated twice. The first time it was administered by the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, and the second time by the Rev. A. Wynne Acton.
     At our last class of the year we had the pleasure of hearing the Rev. Frank S. Rose give an illustrated talk on his work in England and Europe. We hope that this next year will bring him some more tangible results for his efforts.
     We held a baby shower for the Rev. and Mrs. Geoffrey Childs following the birth of their second son this spring. Because of his expected arrival Mrs. Childs accompanied her husband to North Jersey only once this year. We are looking forward to seeing her more frequently next year if it is at all possible.
     This year we had to miss our Nineteenth of June celebration, but felt that the circumstances justified the omission. Those of us who were able to attend the service in Bryn Athyn witnessed the ordination of our minister into the second degree of the priesthood. He will now be our pastor in name as well as in fact.
     DANIEL L. HORIGAN

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Convention. Taking as its theme that of the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches, "Christ the Hope of the World," the 131st General Convention was held in New York City, June 14-20, with 32 ministers and 79 delegates present. The following high-lights are drawn from the NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER.
     In accordance with the usual practice, meetings of constituent and related bodies preceded the Convention sessions. The Alumni Association of the New Church Theological School heard an account by President Bray of the new regime since his appointment last year and a discussion of the school's internship plan by the Rev. David P. Johnson. The Council of Ministers, of which the Rev. Richard H. Tafel and the Rev. David P. Johnson were again reelected president and secretary, heard addresses by Dr. Charles Tibbett on "spiritual healing" and Miss Antonia Froendt of the staff of the World Council of Churches on Christian unity. The Rev. Yonezo Doi spoke on his work in Japan, the Committee on Spiritual Healing reported, and the Rev. Leonard I. Tafel gave an address on "The Second Coming." During these sessions there were again meetings of the Association of Ministers Wives.
     The 83rd annual meeting of the American New Church Sunday School Association, the 47th annual meeting of the National Alliance of New Church Women, and the 65th annual conference of the American New Church League were also held with, it is noted, the largest attendances for some yea's The Rev. Eric J. Zacharias continues as president of the Association; Mrs. Leslie Marshall was again returned as president of the Alliance; and Mr. Arthur James was chosen as the new president of the League.

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     Convention was marked by the re-election of all officers, though no election was required f,, the presidency as the incumbent is serving the second of a three-year term, and by a record number of guest speakers, four addresses being given by non-members of the New Church. Messrs. David J. Garrett and Ernest L. Frederick were ordained, and Convention approved the investiture of the Rev. John L. Boyer and the Rev. Henry C. Giunta as General Pastors. The Rev. William F. Wunsch was chosen as next year's Convention preacher The Rev. Franklin H. Blackmer delivered the presidential address, and the Rev. Bjorn Johannson was the Convention preacher at a service attended by a congregation of about 300.
     During the session it was resolved that graduating theological students may be ordained without the present interim of one year with a society before application may be made. There were several other recommendations from the Council of Ministers, perhaps the most important one acted upon being that a Council on Educational Policy be formed to coordinate the educational institutions and facilities of Convention and its related bodies. A growing interest in "spiritual healing" is noted, and it is considered that the presence of the Rev. and Mrs. Yonezo Doi was the great inspiration of the week.
     The Rev. Bjorn Johannson, associate editor of the NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER since 1945, was elected to succeed the Rev. Leslie Marshall as editor, and the Rev. Leonard I. Tafel replaces Mr. Marshall as secretary of the Board of Missions.

     The same issue of the MESSENGER announces that the Rev. Edwin Gould Capon would represent the General Convention at the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches at Evanston, Illinois. The "New Church" (i.e., the General Convention) had been granted a second "Official Observer" and it was possible that the Rev. Franklin H. Blackman would attend.
     General Conference At the Annual Meeting of the Governors of the New Church College, England, it Was reported that four graduating students would be ordained and that there would be fewer students in residence next year. Appreciation was expressed of the work of the staff and of the assistance given by the students to the smaller societies.
     The NEW-CHURCH HERALD reports that at the 115th Annual Conference of the New Church Sunday School Union, held at Kearsley, the Rev. Clifford Harley was elected as president The retiring president, Rev. H. G. Mongredien, reporting on his year of work, stressed the need for more trained teachers in the Sunday schools and recommended that the standing of trained teachers should be raised in some practicable way.

     India. From the NEW AGE We learn that the New Church Medical Clinic opened by Dr. David in Bombay continues to do good work. A school teacher is assisting with the 40 children who attend, and attendance at services for one month was nearly 200.

     SWEDENBORG SOCIETY (INC.)

     144th Annual Meeting

     The Annual Meeting of the Swedenborg Society was held during the week in which the General Conference of the New Church was being held at Anerley, so that some of the Society's members from outside the London area who are not normally able to attend the meeting might do so. A number of friends availed themselves of the opportunity and in spite of the absence of some of our more regular attenders, nearly eighty people were present.
     The president, Mr. Fred Chadwick, I.S.O., was in the chair and the meeting was opened with the repetition of the Lord's Prayer, led by Rev. Arthur Clapham. The President gave a warm welcome to visitors. Apologies for absence and messages of appreciation of the Council's work were received.
     In presenting the Council's report, the Honorary Secretary stressed the great amount of publishing work which had been done during the year. The list of the revisions and translations in hand on which "some progress had been made during the year" had become much shorter as so many of the works were issued. The Apocalypse Revealed and the Canons of the New Church, the former out of print since 1940 and the latter since 1938, had both been issued.

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The new editions of Conjugial Love, and the Four Doctrines, both of them revised translations, had been published, and the third volume of the Third Latin Edition of Arcana Coelestia; this edition has been given favorable reviews and is considered to be of great value to the whole New Church. The Secretary pointed out that great though the cost of the new Latin edition is, it would have been much greater if it were not for the fact that sufficient paper for nearly the whole edition was bought in the years just after the war, before the cost rose to the present height. By the re-printing of two volumes of the Arcana Coelestia (in English) the Society had again available complete sets of its own Standard edition of this work.
     Co-operation with American publishing bodies was evidenced by the fact that both the Swedenborg Foundation in New York and The Academy of the New Church had made contributions towards the cost of reprinting Potts' Concordance, vol. II, and by the printing of Conjugial Love for the Academy of the New Church.
     Dr. Griffith said that the completion of the duplicated catalogue of the Library would mark a real step forward in making the Library effective. All the office staff had a hand in the preparation. Mr. Wainscot had prepared the card index, Miss Gerrard was typing the stencils, and Miss Waters was duplicating and collating them.
     Sales and grants of books were a little lower than the previous year. Secretaries of New Church Societies and Sunday Schools were urged to take full advantage of the scheme for presenting The Happy Isles to children at the age of 12, and The Title Christian Religion to Young New Church men on completion of their period of National Service.
     Although there had been no specific appeal this year for new members, 36 had been enrolled. One member, Mr. Frank Bayley, this year completes fifty years of membership, having joined in the year 1904/5. A successful season of lectures had been held and the Council hoped that the members in the London area found these useful.
     In referring to the concluding paragraph of the Council's report, the Honorary Secretary stressed the need for not only financial support from members but for a live interest in the Society's work and in its new publications. Its work is basic to the whole New Church and every member of that Church, everyone who believes that Swedenborg's Writings are a Divine revelation, should give at least some small measure of support to the publication of these Writings. Members of the Council would, on request, visit New Church Societies to tell them of the Society's work, but individual members could themselves do much to publicise it.
     The Honorary Treasurer, Mr. A. D. Atherton, then presented the Accounts and Balance Sheet. He pointed out that the Society's funds had decreased by ?917 during the year. This was in spite of the fact that L850 of legacies had not been invested but had been used for current expenditure. The chief factor was that the balance last year of L1,000 on the Latin Arcana Coelestia account had been turned into a deficit of L485. The deficit on the Income and Expenditure account was L335 but this is exclusive of the Latin Arcana Coelestia account. The subscriptions and donations were up by L20. but they included a special donation of L50 from the Argyle Square Society of the New Church at the conclusion of their regular use of the Hall for worship. Mr. Atherton emphasised the need for greater financial support from the present members of the Society and for an increase in those members. The Society could not expect to receive legacies in the future on the same scale as it had in the past and it could not, obviously, continue to live on its capital without ultimate disaster to the uses of the Society.
     The Chairman of the Council, Mr. Dan Chapman, in moving the adoption of the report, recalled that when the Latin Arcana Coelestia was put in hand in 1940, he had estimated the cost of each volume to be about L00, but volume III, which had been printed last year, had cost L1,600. The Society's income had not risen at anything like the rate of its expenditure. Mr. Chapman referred to the fact that the meeting had to appoint a new Treasurer. Mr. Atherton would shortly be leaving London for business reasons and while the Council congratulated him on his appointment, they were very sorry indeed to lose him. He had been Treasurer since October 1951 and had proved a very competent one, able to deal with the wider responsibilities of the office as well as keeping the accounts. Mr. Chapman presented Mr. Atherton with leather-bound copy of the Society's latest edition of Conjugial Love.

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     The President then called for comments and discussion. Miss M. Acton congratulated the Council on a fine record of work done. She asked if it would be possible for some of the Documents to be published in New Church periodicals. Rev. G. F. Colborne Kitching expressed his pleasure at being present and paid a tribute to the success of the Honorary Secretary's lectures on the Society's work. Mr. fades expressed the hope that the quality of the English in some of the translations would be improved. Rev. Dennis Duckworth congratulated the Society on the high artistic standard of all its productions-even the Report was nicely printed and in good taste. He asked for some information about the Honorary Life members and Junior Associate members which was given by the President and the Secretary. Rev. P. V. Vickers also expressed appreciation of the Council's work and asked some questions about the distribution of The Happy Isles to children of 12 and of The True Christian Religion to National Service men. The Report and Accounts were then unanimously adopted.
     The retiring President, Mr. Fred Chadwick, proposed on behalf of the Council that Mr. A. A. Drummond, M.Sc., be elected President for the ensuing year. This was seconded by Mr. F. F. Coulson who said that all members would feel confident that Mr. Drummond would bring distinction and efficiency to the office. The motion was carried unanimously. Mr. Fred Chadwick thus became Vice-President for the year.
     Mr. Dan Chapman moved on behalf of the Council the election of Mr. K. F. Chadwick as Honorary Treasurer. Mr. Atherton seconded the motion, assuring Mr. Chadwick that competent assistance being available in the office, he would not find the work too arduous, and assuring the meeting that Mr. Chadwick was admirably suited to the office. The motion was carried with acclamation and Mr. Chadwick made a suitable acknowledgment.
     Mr. Fred Chadwick then announced that as only one nomination for the Council had been received and there was one resignation, no vote had been necessary. The Council therefore for the coming year would consist of the President, Vice-President and Honorary Treasurer just elected and the following ordinary members: Mr. E. O. Acton, Mr. N. J. Berridge, Ph.D., B.Sc., Sir Thomas Chadwick, K.C.V.O., C.B.E., Mr. Dan Chapman, M.B.E., Rev. Arthur Clapham, Mr. J. Cooper, Mr. P. Guy Dicks, Mr. Harold Gardiner, M.S., F.R.C.S., Mrs. Freda G. Griffith, Ph.D., B.Sc., Mr. R. H. Griffith, A.C.A., Miss H. G. Stacey, M.Sc., Mr. D. W. Toby.
     The President's Address was then given, Mr. Chadwick's title being "1757: 1851: 1957." This is being printed separately.
     Mr. Douglas Toby moved that the best thanks of the meeting be accorded to the President for his Address, for his conduct of the meeting and for his many services during his year of office, and Mr. E. O. Acton seconded the motion which was carried with acclamation. Miss H. G. Stacey moved, and Rev. E. C. Howe seconded, a vote of thanks to the officers-the Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary. With these motions, the one hundred and forty-fourth Annual Meeting of the Society was concluded. The Benediction was pronounced by Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack.
     FREDA G. GRIFFITH
GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS 1954

GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS              1954

     Graded lessons and other material from Pre-School through Grade 11

     The Purposes of this work are to teach the letter of the Word and the doctrines of the New Church to isolated children and young people, to acquaint them with distinctive New Church religious education and with the principles and practices of the General Church, and to inspire them with the feeling of being within the General Church.
     DIRECTOR: Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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CHARTER DAY 1954

              1954




     Announcements.
     All ex-students of the Academy of the New Church, and their wives or husbands, are cordially invited to attend the Charter Day Exercises, to be held in Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Friday and Saturday, October 15 and 16, 1954. THE PROGRAM:
     Friday, 11 a.m.-Cathedral Service, with an address by the Rev. Martin Pryke.
Friday Afternoon.-Football Game.
Friday Evening.-Dance.
Saturday, 7 P.m.-A Banquet in the Assembly Hall. Toastmaster, the Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton.

     Arrangements will be made for the entertainment of guests if they will write to Mrs. V. W. Rennels, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
NEW CHURCH EDUCATION 1954

NEW CHURCH EDUCATION              1954

     (Formerly PARENT TEACHER JOURNAL)

     Published by General Church Religion Lessons provides material for the use of parents, teachers, and children in the field of religious education.
     EDITOR: Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     Issued monthly, September to June, inclusive. Subscription, $1.50, to be sent to the Editor.
VISUAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE 1954

VISUAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE              1954

     Complete sets of slides illustrating the Old and New Testaments, a few slides of General Church and Academy interest, and some of interest in connection with Swedenborg's life and suitable for a Swedenborg's birthday celebration. The Committee's holdings now include, on slides, a complete set of the paintings of Old and New Testament stories by James J. Tissot. Appropriate map-slides for all New Testament sets.
     Slides may be borrowed at a rental of 1 cent per slide per month, plus postage. A complete list of those now available may be obtained on application to the Director: Mr. William R. Cooper, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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FAITH OF LOVE 1954

FAITH OF LOVE       Rev. W. CAIRNS HENDERSON       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV OCTOBER, 1954           No. 10
     (At the Fifth Session, June 18th, 1954.)

     In the Arcana Coelestia we find these words: "They who learn knowledges in order that they may be perfected in the faith of love-for true and real faith is love to the Lord and toward the neighbor-are in the use of all uses, and receive spiritual and celestial life from the Lord; and when they are in this life they have a capacity to perceive all things of the Lord's kingdom" (AC 1964:2). Another passage states that from the faith of every church arises the whole of its worship and doctrine, wherefore their quality is such as that of the faith (TCR 177); and in various places the faith of the church is compared to the constructing and qualifying soul within the body of doctrine, or likened to the life-bringing bloodstream which courses through the entire system of theology (ibid. 178, 343).
     These are teachings of real and constant import. But they are of particular significance at this time, when we have met to seek the Lord's guidance in the further development of the church through the revealed truths of the Writings, and to invoke His leading by means of the spiritual affection of those truths. That given in the Arcana shows clearly that the very life of the church-in individuals, societies and general bodies-depends upon reception of the faith of love; and that all the endeavors of the church should be directed inmostly to being perfected in that faith to the end that it may come into the "use of all uses." The others show as clearly that only in accordance with reception of this faith through the means noted does our worship become one with that of the New Heaven; the doctrine developed through our studies of the Writings, and by which we live, express the Heavenly Doctrine; and the system of theology we construct from those Writings truly state the universal theology of the New Heaven and the New Church, in the revelation of which the Lord has crowned His second coming.

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And the import of all, when taken together, is that faith has a vital place in the life of the church which is not taken away by the doctrine of love and charity.
     Evidently, then, it is important that we should understand clearly what is meant by faith in the Writings, and that we should know how faith is formed, increased, and perfected. This address is directed to these things, and we have chosen to develop the subject within the framework of a number in the True Christian Religion which defines the esse, essence and existence of the faith of the New Church and enumerates its states (TCR 344). But to prepare the way for the definitions given we would first note the general concept of faith presented in the Writings and its relation to love.

     FAITH AND THE FAITH OF LOVE

     One of the principal things the Writings were given to do was to emancipate faith from the spiritual slavery of the idea of holding to a system of religious belief, accepted either on the authority of the church or because it transcended the understanding-a concept which, although it includes acceptance of the Divine will, yet restricts faith to the area of man's thinking, or banishes it even from that. Faith is indeed belief and thought, the determinate thought of man; for what a man believes he thinks, interiorly if not exteriorly (HH 473). But the whole of faith involves not only the understanding-the new understanding, which alone can think truth-but also the new will. For we are taught that it is the internal affection of truth, that is, truth inflowing from heavenly love from the Lord and interiorly affecting the spiritual substances of the mind when man wills truth because it is truth; so affecting him that he acknowledges the Word because it is true, wills from the heart to know what is good and true for the sake of life, and thinks rightly and justly about every subject (HH 480e, HD 112, F 1, AC 8034). This affection of truth and the state produced by it is what the Writings mean by faith. And as this is its nature, faith is defined most comprehensively as the Lord operating through conscience, or as the operation of the Lord alone through the charity with a man (AC 896, 1162), and is said to be conjunction with the Lord through truths which are of the understanding (TCR 369:3).
     Such a living faith makes one with love and obedience. As we shall see, faith implies knowledge and acknowledgment of truth. It includes understanding of what is true-and of what is good-and a perceptive insight into truth. It embraces also the whole of man's belief. But the spiritual truth of the Word can be known, acknowledged, and understood only in the light of the new understanding, and that light can come only from the flame of charity in the new will.

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Perception of truth, insight into its meaning and application, is granted only where there is that interior willingness to be led by the Lord alone which is the good of innocence. And what a man really believes, what he believes from the heart, he also wills and does (AC 36, 419, 3236e, 493e; HD 110; DP 168:2; AE 789:9; AC 10,131:2). Faith is not only a system of doctrine, it is also the mode of life to which doctrine leads (AC 1798); and it gives man not only a pattern of thought, a criterion of judgment, and a standard of appraisal but also the habit of doing what it teaches (AC 344). Thus the Writings so often say that love, charity, and faith make one, and that faith is the form of love (AC 668); that is, love organized to perform uses and manifested in the doing of use. This, then, is what the Writings mean by faith, and by the faith of love, and it is in the light of these ideas that we would now examine the statements made in True Christian Religion no. 344.

     THE ESSE OF FAITH

     This number begins by defining the esse and then the essence of true faith, and we would first distinguish these terms since, as the Writings point out, they seem to mean the same thing. As the very being of a thing, however, esse is more universal than essence, which presupposes it and from it derives its being; not that esse is before essence, but that it enters into it as an adjunct-cohering, determining, forming, and exalting it (TCR 18, 36). The bearing of this distinction upon the esse and essence of faith will be clear when we have proceeded a little further.

     1. Confidence. The esse of the faith of the New Church is said to consist in two things, the first being confidence in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. By this is meant confidence that the Lord, out of pure mercy, will teach men the way to heaven and lead them in it (AE 810:4); confidence grounded in the belief that His Human is Divine, that He is the God of heaven and earth (TCR 379), and that all good is from Him and He makes His good to be saving (TCR 655). Confidence such as this can flow only from love. It can be established only in freedom (AC 4352:2). And it can exist with those alone who are in the good of charity. For if there is no confidence without love, neither can it be compelled, and it is given only when the heart has been turned to the Lord (AC 8973, 9241).
     When men have this confidence in the Lord they can do no less than submit their intellects to His teaching and their loves and lives to His leading; relying implicitly upon His good will, leaning on His wisdom where they cannot see, trusting in His ability to lead them by ways they do not yet understand, believing that He sees the end and knows the means to it, and that whatever may be the appearance He is leading them to eternal life and happiness.

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And this state is possible only where love has been established; where there is a perception of the quality of the Lord, of His infinite love and wisdom, to inspire it, such as only the good of charity can impart.

     2. Trust. As this is the nature of all true confidence in the Lord, the esse of real faith consists also in trust that he who lives well, and believes aright, is saved by the Lord. Love is not love without trust, for the essence of trust is good will (TCR 727). Those who truly confide in the Lord have trust because it is of their confidence that they approach Him immediately and shun evils as sins, believing that He has put Himself into the power of saving those who receive truths from Him through the Word and live according to them (AC 949:2, AE 808:2). And because they have this assurance, together with the utter reliance of their confidence, they are willing to strive to live well and to believe aright, certain that if they do so they will be saved.
     If confidence flows only from love, then, so also does trust in the Lord (AC 2982:2). But trust depends also upon something else. It depends upon reception of truth, upon the reaction of man's ends and affections to it, and upon the effect it has on his life (AC 8240). For the fact is that a perverted truth struggles for expression in the contention that faith must be blind! Those who would enter into the life of faith must trust the Lord far beyond the point at which their own vision ends. He offers no unconditional assurance of salvation, agrees to no safeguards against non-performance or loss such as a prudent man seeks before entering into any business contract. The Lord simply says that man will be saved-if he lives well and believes aright. And man is invited to stake his future to eternity on that-to believe that by following the Lord's teaching and leading he will be fulfilling the conditions of salvation, and then strive to do so against every drive of the proprium and counsel of human prudence; all without any ironclad guarantee that he will be saved! Such implicit trust is possible only in the presence of true confidence, and where the power of truth is exerted in the mind. And it is of the esse of saving faith because trust, and the hope it inspires, are the forces of combat from within whereby the Lord gives man to resist the evils that stand in the way of his salvation (AC 6097:2).

     THE ESSENCE OF FAITH

     The essence of faith is said to be truth from the Word. As the term, esse, refers to the being of a thing, so its essence is that in which its real character consists, the attribute that makes it to be what it is.

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Truth from the Word, then, is the real characteristic of faith, and is the attribute that makes confidence and trust to be the esse of a true and living faith. But the relations between esse and essence have also other implications here. It is implied that the presence of truth from the Word with man presupposes confidence and trust, and that from them that truth derives its being. And it is implied that confidence and trust enter into truth from the Word as an adjunct; that they cohere with it, determine, form, and exalt it. To understand this we must remember that faith exists only in human minds, and we must see the difference between the scientifics of the Word and truth from the Word.
     From the Word may be drawn scientifics, doctrinals, and truth. The scientifics are the facts, the actual statements of the Word, which enter the memory through the senses of sight and hearing, and they may be acquired from various motives and serve many purposes. Doctrinals are the scientifics of the Word so organized by reflection that they look to use (AC 3051). And truth is drawn from the Word when, by the will of good, its knowledges are actually applied to use. Thus truth is far more than a body of knowledge intellectually understood. It is knowledge drawn from the Word in the life, for truth is good in form and the power by which good acts.
     Once a man has received that confidence and trust which are the esse of true faith he regards, approaches, and sees the Word in an entirely new light. Holding the conviction he does, he is convinced that in the Word, and in the Word only, the Lord teaches how to live well and believe aright, and he goes to the Word to be taught by the Lord. He searches the Word and regards what he finds in it apart from any end of self-glory, fame, or gain. He scrutinizes its teachings to see how they look to the Lord and heaven, to the Lord and the neighbor, and to the devil and hell. He studies its precepts to find out how he may be separated from hell and conjoined with the Lord and heaven by life in the world with the neighbor. He examines and reflects upon its injunctions to learn what good and evil, and truth and falsity, are, to the end that he may be delivered and saved; and what he is thus taught by the Lord be applies to life. And because that is what truth is, and these are the things to which all truths look, he draws truth from the Word (Wis. xi:3); that truth which is really the understanding of good, and which is the essence of genuine faith. He is looking at truth in its own light, without any selfish or worldly motive, solely to the end that he may shun evil and do good; and as his quality and purpose reflect those of truth he sees truth, and has truth from the Word in his mind.

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     As an essence, this truth in the mind indeed presupposes confidence and trust and from them derives its being, for without them it could never be established. And as it is upbuilt they enter into it as adjuncts-cohering with it, determining and forming and exalting it; for it is confidence and trust in the Lord that inspire man so to act that his knowledges become truths from the Word (AE 895). Yet the deeper truth is that the very essence of faith is the Lord Himself (AC 30). For the Lord is the Word. He alone teaches man in the Word. And it is only the Lord who can give man to see in the light of heaven, and so cause him to be affected spiritually by the truth seen that he lives according to it (AC 8581e, AR 937:2).

     THE EXISTENCE OF FAITH

     According to the passage we are following, the faith of the New Church has also its existence. As the esse is the being of a thing and the essence that in which its real character consists, so its existence is the things in which it comes forth and by which it manifests its presence (AC 1096, 1807, et al.). And we note as of importance to the infilling of the concept of faith that existence implies something prior from which it is (AC 4345:3); that it takes place in equilibrium (HH 583); and that it is from what is active through what is passive or reactive (Infl. 11). What is meant in this instance is the body of faith (AE 1111:3); the things in which confidence and trust, and truth from the Word, come forth and in which they manifest themselves. These are said to be four in number, namely: spiritual sight, harmony of truths, conviction, and acknowledgment inscribed on the mind.

     I. Spiritual sight. The faith of the New Church comes forth first in spiritual sight; for faith is the eye of love (AC 3863:14), that interior sight which has no other objects than what is of good and truth (AC 3863:9), and which is entirely from the light of heaven-unlike the sight of the understanding which is from the light of heaven flowing into those things which are in the light of the world (AC 2701:2). This teaching has far reaching consequences. Since the esse of faith is confidence and trust in the Lord, it implies that the Lord is visible (HH 3). That this is so is one of the most important truths revealed in the Writings. Because He is both God and Man the Lord may be approached and seen in thought, and this by love (TCR 339, AC 3863:14). Those who are in faith do see God-see His love and wisdom in the Word, in the dispensations of His providence, and in His operations in nature-because they see in the light of heaven which shines in their conscience (AC 3863:15). And this sight remains to eternity.

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     But the teaching also means that faith is belief in things that are in some measure understood and that are thought to be possible (LJ 24), which in turn implies that spiritual things can be understood. Spiritual truths are not incomprehensible because they are supra natural. They are just as capable of being understood as natural truths; and although they may not always be seen clearly, we are assured that because the understanding can be elevated into the light of heaven, spiritual truths can be seen in the light of truth, provided man has from a right education become somewhat rational, moral, and spiritual (F 2, DP 317). Thus it is only those truths which man understands in some measure that enter into the body of his faith. Those which are as yet beyond his comprehension he indeed accepts affirmatively as true because the Lord has spoken them (AC 2588: 2); but they are not as yet woven into the fabric of his personal faith (Wis. xi:1), because they are not seen in the light.

     2. Harmony of truths. If the sight is focused for too long on only one object, however, it may be lost, at least temporarily; and if it is too severely restricted to a few things it may become impaired. For this and other reasons, therefore; we are told that the second thing in which faith comes forth is a harmony of truths. We recall again that the essence of faith is truth from the Word, for such truth is manifold (DLW 253). Faith exists only where truth is seen, but if the truths are few it is scanty and needy, whereas if they are many it is rich and full according to their abundance (F 28). An abundance of truths cohering firmly in the mind exalts and perfects faith, which, as has been said, is a complex of truths that can be multiplied to infinity. And when abundance is accompanied by coherence, when truths are seen in their relations to one another and not as a heterogeneous mass, faith becomes more spiritual and enlightened, more conjoinable with good and alienable from evil, more removed from the blandishments of the senses, and thus more powerful against evil and falsity (TCR 349-352).
     At the same time, a harmony of truths gives man a true, though still finite and limited sight of the Word. For the spiritual truth of the Word is a highly organized body of truth whose life and soul is the Lord (TCR 279); a body composed of ordered systems of truth, each related to all the others as are the systems of the human body, and each having its own subordinate series and particular truths, like the organs which, comprise each system of the body and the cells of which they are built.

     3. Conviction. Because of the effects noted, that harmony of truth which exalts and extends spiritual sight prepares for the third thing in which faith comes forth, namely, conviction. Conviction is not reached without the exercise of rationality (CL 295), but this does not explain it, and it defies logical analysis.

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As long as man is only in the scientifics of the Word he can recall and discuss them with no belief whatsoever. And as he studies the Word, and sees how its teachings support and confirm each other, he can be intellectually persuaded to the thought that they are true without his life being affected. But when confidence and trust in the Lord have been established, when truth from the Word has entered his mind and is seen as a harmonious structure, he is persuaded by the Lord through a secret, internal way. He is convinced by the inner dictate of conscience that the teachings of the Word are true; convinced by his will as well as his understanding, so that he tries to do something about it, tries to act differently and in accordance with the truth because conscience so demands (SD 2947). This is what is meant by conviction. It is the third thing in which the presence of real faith is manifested. And in its turn it prepares the way for the next thing, the fourth and last, which is acknowledgment inscribed on the mind.

     4. Acknowledgment. Acknowledgment itself is consent; consent of both will and understanding, and this must be from within (AC 3157, 4015). The things a man really acknowledges are those of which he is so persuaded that they enter into act and form his life (AC 303). Thus the acknowledgment of truth in which faith comes forth Finally can exist only where there is charity, where truth has entered into act and formed with man a life of use. It is, indeed, the operation of the Lord through the charity with a man (AC 1162), for it is present only where truth is received by good, where there is a state of regeneration (AC 3158:2, 3539:4). When man is so persuaded by the truth that he tries to act differently, and so obey the voice of conscience, he is affected spiritually by the truth (AC 3915). And as he persists in this he is introduced into a deeper persuasion. He comes into a state in which he cannot act differently from what he believes because he is led by the Lord. This is what is meant by acknowledgment inscribed on the mind (SD 2947), in which the manifestation of faith is completed; and it alone effects consociation with the heavens and conjunction with the Lord (AC 10,287).
     These, then, are the things in which the faith of the New Church comes forth and manifests its presence-spiritual sight, a harmony of truths, conviction, and acknowledgment inscribed on the mind. If we reflect a little, we shall see that they are all from the love that inspires confidence and trust; that they are all produced in a state of equilibrium because in the freedom of man (AC 2847); and that they are the result of action on the part of the Lord and reaction on man's part. And we shall see also the fundamental distinction between the esse and the existence of faith. Confidence and trust are present from the very conception of faith; but the four things we have been considering come forth successively from its birth; and as conception is prior to birth, so esse is always before existence, and must precede it (AC 2621).

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     THE FORMATION OF FAITH

     The faith of the New Church is, specifically, confidence and trust that by the interior truths revealed at His second coming the Lord Jesus Christ, as the one God of heaven and earth, can build His everlasting kingdom in the hearts and minds of men and women on earth; confidence and trust the essential characteristic of which is truth from the Writings, and which come forth in spiritual sight of a harmonious structure of truths, conviction in the form of self-compulsion to obedience, and finally the consent of both will and understanding. Thus it is also trust in the truths of the Writings, known and understood, as the way to heaven, trust that the proper use of those truths will bring man into the Lord's kingdom. And because such use of truths produces love and charity, the faith of the New Church is nothing less than love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor (Wis. xi:1, AC 1964:2).
     How, then, is this faith formed? Spiritual faith is indeed the gift of the Lord. To acquire it for himself is beyond the highest abilities of man who, because it is implanted secretly by the Lord, cannot even explain it. Yet without the doing of certain things by man faith could never be given. For it is a gift imparted through definite laws of order-laws of order on the part of the Lord, and laws of order prescribed for man. These are primarily the laws of influx from within and from without, and of action and reaction-action on the part of the Lord and reaction from man. It is true that man seems to take the initiative, and that the doctrine requires him to do so as the indispensable condition for receiving faith. But since the initiative is secretly inspired and empowered by the Lord it is really reaction, though man must take it as of himself.
     The human mind is receptive of influx both from within and from without; that is, of influx from the Lord through the soul, and of influx from the world through the bodily senses. Entirely as of himself, the man of the church should immediately approach the Lord alone, which he does by seeking spiritual truth directly and only in the Word. He should gather patiently those knowledges of truth from the Word which enter from without through sight and hearing. And he should then think about them naturally, and as far as he can, rationally; carefully considering their application to his states. This man must do for himself. The Lord can, and does, give him the power, but the Lord cannot do it for him, cannot give him any knowledge of truth except through man's reading and hearing of the Word. It is in this way that natural faith is formed; and although it is only natural it is prerequisite to spiritual faith.

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     For the immediate effect of man's doing these things, and thus following the laws of order prescribed for him, is to dispose him to receive influx from the Lord through the soul. As man tries to live according to those knowledges, the Lord, from His laws of order, approaches and fills the knowledges with light. All enlightenment and perception are in and for the sake of use; and the Lord then inflows from within with these gifts and with love of the truth for its own sake, thus making man's natural faith become spiritual. The Divine spiritual is united to man's natural, and there results a spiritual faith in the natural; faith being spiritual in essence and natural in form. Knowledge, thought, and persuasion become conviction, trust, and confidence; and thus faith becomes spiritual-natural, and through charity, living (TCR 71, 73, 343, 347, 8; Inv. 7; Wis. xi:2; TCR 137, 339).
     In other words, knowledge enters from without, faith inflows from within, and when the influxes meet in the middle of the understanding, natural faith becomes spiritual faith (TCR 11). What is of practical and eternal import here is that knowledge must be acquired by man as of himself. For it is said that by influx from the Lord man's natural faith becomes spiritual, that a spiritual essence is breathed into its natural form. And this clearly implies not only that there cannot be spiritual faith without natural but also that the Lord can make spiritual only that natural faith which man has acquired for himself, and no more than that.

     THE STATES OF FAITH

     However, the formation of the faith of the New Church is nor an instantaneous process It takes place by degrees over a long period of time, during which that faith passes through many states. These are enumerated in the passage we are elucidating, and they are said to be: 1) infant, adolescent, and adult faith; 2) faith from genuine truth and from appearances of truth; 3) faith of the memory, of reason, and of light; 4) natural, spiritual, and celestial faith; 5) living and miraculous faith; 6) free and forced faith.
     Time will not allow us to consider these states individually, and indeed most of the terms used explain themselves fully to the average New Church man. But we do wish to make two very general observations. It may cause some surprise that faith of the memory, natural and miraculous faith, and even forced faith, should be mentioned as states of the faith of the New Church! But this may be understood if it is remembered that the New Church consists of men and women in all states of regeneration, including those which precede and prepare for regeneration proper, and consider that in those among them who are eventually made spiritual by the Lord these will prove to have been preliminary states of the faith of the New Church.

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For whatever may have been their cause and their quality, they will have formed the first basis for a natural faith that has become spiritual, and they will have been directed to the Lord.
     The same is true of the children and young people of the church. In so far as they will become spiritual their faiths are actually states of the faith of the New Church. Even though they are accepted on the authority of others, and held in simplicity, the truths they learn are those of the Writings accommodated to their growing understanding. From an early age they are taught to look to the Lord as the one only God and to believe that those who keep His commandments will be saved. They are instructed that all good is from the Lord and that the good He gives can be trusted to lead men into heaven. This, adapted to the range of their states, is the faith of the New Church reduced to its simplest terms-the new concept of faith revealed by the Lord at His second coming and held nowhere else on earth. And although it is the faith of others in children
and the young, it will yet have been a preparatory state of the faith of the New Church if they are later made spiritual by the Lord. This is true of all the states here mentioned that might give us pause. In themselves they are natural. But they can become spiritual, and as such are states of the faith of the New Church; which is not limited to those who have been regenerated, but consists also of those who are in process of being regenerated or are being prepared by the Lord within the sphere of the church for regeneration.

     CONCLUSION

     We may well stand in awe before the revealed arcana of faith, and wonder if it is not beyond our attainment. Yet the very giving and form of the Word, the Divine institution of the church and of the priesthood, are tacit assurances that we can acquire natural faith by our own efforts. And as though to anticipate doubts that will arise the Writings state: "If anyone should say, How can I have the internal acknowledgment of truth which is faith! I cannot, I will tell him how he can. Shun evils as sins, and approach the Lord, and you will have as much as you desire" (F 12). It is just as simple as that!
     If we but follow the laws of order prescribed for us, the Lord will not fail to act according to His laws. Therefore we are given the further assurance: "But, my friend, shun what is evil and do what is good, and believe in the Lord from all your heart and in all your soul; and the Lord will love you, and give you love to do, and faith to believe; and then from love you will do what is good, and from faith, which is truth, you will believe" (TCR 484: 2).

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     These are the Lord's promises, promises which will not fail to be realized if we do first what is required of us, and what the Writings and all the organized uses of the church have been given and established to make it possible for us to do. And if, trusting in these promises, we dedicate ourselves anew to learning and understanding the Writings that we may be perfected in the faith of love, the Lord will lead His church into the use of all uses. He will pour out upon it the life of His love and wisdom, endow it with innocence and peace, and bestow upon it the gifts of illustration and perception. And in His hands the church we love will become, increasingly, a source of life and light for all mankind, and a blessing to all who embrace its faith in mind and life.

     Discussion of Mr. Henderson's Address

     Bishop Pendleton, as chairman, opened the discussion by characterizing the paper as a perceptive and at times beautiful analysis of what constitutes the faith of the New Church.
     Rev. Frank S. Rose had been impressed by two apparently different teachings; on the one hand, that faith is an acknowledgment of truth, which implies a love or a desire, and on the other hand, that faith is truth itself, a complex of truths shining in the mind of men. A pile of bricks and mortar are not a house-a house is a complex structure, designed and ordered for certain needs. And similarly, truths are organized into a complex form, like the fibers and tissues of the human body. Knowledges by themselves, artificially brought together, do not compose faith, any more than foods are appropriated to build the body except through a digestive process. Faith cannot be acquired simply by reading, but must become living.
     Therefore the Writings teach that all who have had faith are in heaven. Faith is the criterion of salvation, the criterion of the life of the New Church. We cannot point to the Writings and say, This is our faith. Faith is a living complex of truths shining in man's mind, and has life from the Lord. And it was this kind of faith of which the Lord spoke when He said: "When the Son of Man cometh shall He find faith on the earth?"
     Mr. Sigfried Synnestvedt confessed having had some doubts about spending so much money and energy for an Assembly; but this moving and eloquent paper, and other events of this week, had amply convinced him of its great value. Who can tell what we have gained in strength and faith by this convocation and its spiritual contributions?
     Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh admired the speaker's penetrating and clear survey of the doctrine concerning the faith of love. He pointed to the Lord's words, "If ye have faith and doubt not," and to the statements about the tremendous powers of the angels. Faith implied knowledge and acknowledgment, and thus something of a perception of truth. The fact is that truth and faith are identified in the Writings. Yet suppose that the truth cannot be seen without some doubt? Faith is not mere persuasion, and even doubt can therefore have its use. We must have faith before the doubts can be resolved.
     For there are two kinds of doubt. One of them we need not be afraid of, since it is a sincere effort to see truths while in a state of obscurity. But the other kind of doubt comes from hell and no New Church man is free to entertain it.
     There may be doubts which are only intellectual-doubts as to what is meant by a truth. Some claim never to have had any such doubts about the basic truths as to God and the church.

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But surely all have had doubts about good, about how a truth applies to life as a practical thing. It is wonderful that in the New Church we are permitted to entertain such doubts lest faith become mere persuasion, and also have the freedom to resolve those doubts by reflection. In the learned world it is supposed that one is forced to make certain assumptions on the plea that the evidence demands it; but in reality the evidence itself may be contorted by the assumptions.
     He also referred to certain statements in the Liturgy, in connection with the rite of Confirmation or Confession of Faith. Some young people have the feeling that they should delay this confession until they learn a lot more of the doctrine. But the real preparation is indicated in AC 2568 as having the affirmative rather than the negative attitude. The negative principle is to say in one's heart that one cannot believe any thing unless convinced by what one can grasp or feel. The affirmative principle is to think and believe within oneself that the teachings from the Word are true because the Lord has said them. These things of doctrines are relatively simple and do not involve a complete understanding. The test of readiness for the rite of Confirmation is seen in the three questions asked, which are very general. If one is prepared to affirm these three (Liturgy, page 80), one should not delay beyond the time when the rite is of the greatest use.
     Rev. W. C. Henderson then expressed appreciation for the valuable additions to the consideration of the subject made by the various speakers.

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TRANSFIGURATION 1954

TRANSFIGURATION       Rev. WILLARD D. PENDLETON       1954

     (At the Sixth Session, June 18th, 1954.)

     Three of the Gospels bear record of the Lord's transfiguration upon the mount. In each of the three Gospels the testimony is essentially the same. Having come into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, the Lord took Peter, James, and John, and led them up into a high mountain apart, to pray. And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, for His face shone as the sun; and His raiment was white as light. And there appeared unto them, Moses and Elias talking with Him; and Peter said: "Lord, it is good for us to be here: If Thou wilt, let us build here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." And while he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, saying: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." And when they looked round about, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And when they had come down from the mount, Jesus charged them, saying: "Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead" (Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-10; Luke 9:28-36).
     Now it is a notable fact that while the Lord lived upon earth His Divinity was in no wise perceptible to man. It is true that His coming was accompanied by signs and wonders; and when men heard the words which He spoke, "they were astonished at His doctrine: For He taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes" (Matthew 7:29; Mark 1:22). Yet, as to His person He appeared even as others; for they said: "Is not this the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). We cannot credit, therefore, the Christian tradition of the wonder lights which were supposed to have enveloped His person and distinguished Him from all other men. With the exception of His transfiguration upon the mount, there is no direct evidence of His having revealed the Divinity of His person to the eyes of men.

     It is ever so; truth at its coming is not distinguishable in external form. Indeed, at this day men say, What have we here? Are these not the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, a man? Except for the claim of the writer, what evidence is there of the Divine doctrine they are said to contain!

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It is not enough that Swedenborg testified to the fact that he had not received "anything from the mouth of any spirit, nor from the mouth of any angel, but from the mouth of the Lord alone" (De Verbo 13). Neither are men impressed by the testimony of the work, the True Christian Religion, where it is said: "The Second Advent of the Lord is effected by means of a man, before whom the Lord has manifested Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit, to teach the doctrines of the New Church, through the Word, from Him" (TCR 779). Such evidence, men say, is not admissible, for one cannot bear witness to oneself. Even as the Pharisees said to the Lord: "Thou bearest record of Thyself; Thy record is not true" (John 8:13).
     In this day and age, when few will admit to the possibility of Divine revelation in any authoritative sense, it is no wonder that men reject Swedenborg's testimony concerning the Writings. Yet it is not man who bears witness to Divine revelation; for as the Writings state: "It is the Divine which bears witness concerning the Divine, and not man, from himself" (AE 638:4). All truth is from the Lord; and it is truth, not the man, who testifies concerning these things. As the Lord said to the Jews: "I receive not testimony from any man" (John 5:34). In the final analysis, therefore, the credibility of the Writings does not rest upon Swedenborg's claim to Divine illustration, but upon the internal evidence of the Writings themselves.
     At all times the appeal of the Writings is to the self-evidencing reason of truth; but truth is not what men believe it to be. It is not reasoned knowledge; neither is it the testimony of sense experience. In itself, truth is a form of good-that form in which good may be seen and acknowledged by the human mind. It is, then, as truth, that God is made visible to man; for in the acknowledgment of truth man comes into the perception of God; for God alone is good. But this is not possible except by way of the Word, for as the Writings state: "Without the Word no one could have a knowledge of God, of heaven and hell, or of a life after death, and still less of the Lord" (SS 114). For it is the Word which bears witness unto the truth, even as the Lord said to Pilate: "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice" (John 18:37).
     To be of the truth is to be in the acknowledgment and perception of truth. Hence it is that to all men of sound reason and good will certain truths are self-evident. These are: That there is a God, and that He is one; that the Divine purpose in creation is a heaven from the human race; and, that the life of religion is to do good. I say that these truths are self-evident, because in the final analysis their validity does not depend upon sense experience or human reason.

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Experience may confirm and reason assent, but the truth exists apart from, and prior to, man's acknowledgment of it. This is the reason we are taught in the Writings that "there is a universal influx from God into the souls of men of the truth that there is a God and that He is one" (TCR 8). Also, that "as a consequence of this Divine influx . . . there is in every man an internal dictate that there is a God and that He is one" (TCR 9).

     This internal dictate is defined in the Writings as perception. It is that interior or superior sight which was so highly developed with the man of the Most Ancient Church. But with the man of spiritual genius, that is, with all men since the flood, all that remains of celestial perception is a kind of internal dictate that there is a God, and that He is one. Yet we are not to assume from this that faith in God is intuitive. Even the child, whose state most closely approximates that of the people of the Most Ancient Church, must be instructed. With the child, however, there is an immediate and unquestioning response to the teaching that there is one God who is our Heavenly Father; nor do doubts arise unless they are instilled by others, or until the child begins to sense the conflict between the will of God and the delights of self-life. Therefore, when we say that certain truths are self-evident we imply that they are evident to those who reason from truth; that is, to those who acknowledge that all good and truth are from the Lord; but they are not evident to those who endeavor to reason their way to truth, for with such, reason is the sole criterion of truth.
     There is a world of difference between these two approaches to truth. The one affirms those things which are of doctrine from the Word, while the other subordinates doctrine to reason. This is why it is said in the Writings that "to regard the doctrine of faith from rational things is not to believe in the Word . . . until one is persuaded from rational considerations that it is so; whereas to regard rational things from the doctrine of faith is first to believe in the Word . . . and then to confirm the same by rational considerations" (AC 2568:2). Hence, also the familiar teaching that "there are two principles: one of which leads to all folly and insanity, and the other to all intelligence and wisdom. The former principle is to deny all things, or to say in the heart that we cannot believe them until we are convinced by what we can apprehend, or perceive by the senses. The other principle is to affirm the things which are of doctrine from the Word, or to think and believe within ourselves that they are true because the Lord has said them" (AC 2568:4).
     Faith in the Word is the first of the church with man. It is this faith which is represented by Peter, of whom the Lord said: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church" (Matthew 16:18).

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To the sight of faith, truth is revealed; not to faith alone, however, but to that faith to which good is adjoined by the Lord. Thus it was that when the Lord went up into the mountain of the transfiguration He took with Him Peter, James, and John; for whereas Peter represents faith in the Word, James and John represent the good of faith, or that good which is adjoined to faith. It is this good, namely, the good of charity to the neighbor and the good of love to the Lord, which makes the church with man, for it is said that only those who are in truths from good are able to see the Lord (AE 821b:5); hence the further teaching of the Writings that "all enlightenment is from good" (AC 3094). But as man cannot come into good except by way of truth, it is as the Word, that is, as Divine truth in human form, that the Lord is revealed to man. It is this that is represented in Scripture by the transfiguration; or, as it should be translated, by the transformation upon the mount.

     In Christian theology it is assumed that the disciples saw the Lord with their natural eyes, and that the physical body of Christ was actually illumined before their sight. This accounts for the reason why Christian scholars have traditionally translated the Greek word [Greek symbol] as transfigured, which implies a change in the external appearance of a bodily form. The inference is that the Mary body, or the figure of Christ, was actually altered by a temporary revelation of the Divine personality. This is consistent with the Christian doctrine that the Lord rose from the dead with the material body; and it affords the only explanation as to why both Athanasius and Jerome carried the Greek [Greek term] over into the Latin as transfigurare, rather than as transformare, as is the case in secular Latin. In this connection it is interesting to note that both Schmidius and Swedenborg adopted the secular translation; and in so doing, Swedenborg preserved the distinction between form and figure, which is basic to his unique doctrine of forms.
     By figure, the Writings have reference to shape, that is, to the dimensional characteristics of spatial forms. Hence it is said that "the merely natural man thinks by means of ideas which he has acquired from objects of sight, in all of which there is figure. . . . It is otherwise with the spiritual man, especially with the angel of heaven, whose thought has nothing in common with figure and form derived from length, breadth and height, but is from the state of a thing" (DLW 71); that is, from its essential form, or "the state of its life" (ibid.). Thus it is that the Writings distinguish between the human figure and the human form. To think of man from the human figure is to think in terms of the appearance, that is, in terms of the man as he appears to the sight of the senses; but to think of man from the human form is to see the essential man, that is, the man who is a form of will and understanding.

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     To speak of the transfiguration, therefore, is to speak according to the appearance; for it did indeed appear to the disciples as if the Lord were actually transfigured before their eyes. That this was not so, however, is evident from the testimony of the Writings that the Divine cannot be seen except through the eyes of the spirit, that is, through the sight of the understanding (TCR 777; AC 3212:4). Hence, it is recorded in Luke that "Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep; and when they were awake," that is, when they came into the spirit, "they saw His glory" (Luke 2:32). To this the Writings add: "What His form then was, was made apparent to Peter, James and John. . . . For His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light" (Matthew 17:2; AC 3212:4).
     It was, therefore, as the Word, that is, as Divine truth in human form, that the Lord appeared to His disciples upon the mount. Hence it is said in the Apocalypse Revealed that "the Lord in the transfiguration caused Himself to be seen as the Word" (AR 24; see also AE 594:2, 821:5, 1070:3); and in the Arcana, that "the form in which the Lord was then seen presented to view the Word such as it is in the internal sense" (AC 5922:5). It is, then, in the internal sense of the Word that the Lord is seen as Man; not as man in human figure, but as Divine Man in human form (AC 3212:4, 4692:5, 5110:3, 5585:2, 5922:5). In the Writings of the New Church, therefore, the Lord is transfigured; that is to say, He is seen under a new form, for whereas in ancient times He was seen in a human borrowed from an angel, and when He lived upon earth He was seen in the human derived from the mother, at this day He may be seen in His own Divine Human, which is the Word made flesh. He it is of whom John spoke, saying: "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" (John 1:15).

     By the Word made flesh, is meant the doctrine of the Divine Human; for it is in the form of doctrine that the Divine Human is revealed. Apart from this doctrine, we are told, the Word cannot be understood, for the Word without doctrine is like a lampstand without a lamp (SS 52). Thus it was that when the Lord revealed Himself in His Divine Human to the disciples, Moses and Elias were seen "talking with Him" (Matthew 17:3). By Moses and Elias are represented the historical and the prophetical Word, which when seen in the light of the Divine doctrine, corresponds with the internal sense. Hence it is said in De Verbo that "no one can see the spiritual sense [of the Word] except from the doctrine of genuine truth" (no. 58); that is, from the doctrine of the Divine Human.

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Indeed, it is said that "he thinks falsely who says within himself, I know many correspondences, therefore, I can know the true doctrine of the Word, for the spiritual sense will teach it to me. Rather . . . let him say, I know the doctrine of Divine truth, now I can see the spiritual sense, provided I know correspondences" (ibid.).
     The implication of the teaching is obvious: man cannot come into the perception of the spiritual sense of the Word apart from the acknowledgment of the Divine doctrine. That this is so is evident from the fact that "all enlightenment is from the Lord alone and exists only with those who love truths because they are truths, and make them of use for life. With others there is no enlightenment in the Word" (SS 57). This, as already noted, is the reason why the Lord took Peter, James, and John up into the mount, for by these three disciples are represented those states of life in which there is an interior elevation of thought and affection by which man is led into the acknowledgment and perception of the Divine doctrine. In such states, that is, in states of worship, not only does the Word become intelligible (SS 54), but it is said that it "shines and is translucent" (SS 58). It was, therefore, of the Divine doctrine, who is the only begotten of the Father, that the voice which came out of the cloud spoke, saying: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him" (Matthew 17:5).

     In the final analysis, therefore, the credibility of the Writings does not rest upon the testimony of Emanuel Swedenborg, a man; neither does it rest upon the fact that by means of the doctrine of correspondences the Writings open the way to a new understanding of the Scriptures. Such evidence, while confirmatory, is not conclusive, for others have laid claim to a Divine commission; and among Swedenborg's theological predecessors we find those who held that the Word, in its letter, is written in types and images which contain a spiritual sense. It is one thing, however, to believe that the Word contains an internal sense, and quite another to open that sense by means of the doctrine of correspondences. In this, Swedenborg differed from his predecessors; for whereas such writers as Origen and Michael Servetus pointed the way to the internal sense, Emanuel Swedenborg laid claim to the key which opened that sense. To this day, however, men say; How do we know these things are true? By what sign do we know that these correspondences are valid? Are they not a purely arbitrary set of symbols developed in the mind of a man? But as the Lord said to the Jews: "There shall no sign be given unto this generation" (Mark 8:12), that is, to those who have no faith in the Word. But to those who seek Him, "then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man . . . coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30).

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     By a sign is meant an indication and a testification that a thing is so (Char. 182). By the sign of the Son of man, therefore, is meant the internal sense of the Word, for this it is which bears witness to the doctrine of the Divine Human. Herein the Son of Man, who is the Divine doctrine, may be seen in glory; that is to say, He may be seen as He is seen in heaven, as Divine Man in human form. It is, then, upon the doctrine of the Divine Human that Swedenborg's claim to a Divine commission rests. It is here that the Lord speaks concerning Himself, and testifies to the fact that these things are not of man, but of God. That it is the Lord who is speaking is evident from the fact that no man could have conceived of these things. But the doctrine of the Divine Human does not lend itself to a superficial examination of the evidence. Men may say, What have we here! Is not this but a variation of the established doctrine of the Christian Church? What difference does it make what we believe concerning the nature of Christ as long as we all worship the same God? But as the Lord said to the woman of Samaria: "Ye worship ye know not what. . . . But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father, in spirit and in truth" (John 4:22, 23).
     To worship in spirit is to worship from love, but as man cannot love one whom he does not know, God must also be worshiped in truth. It is, then, as truth that God is revealed, for in no other form can the Divine be made visible to the sight of the understanding. Hence it is said in the True Christian Religion that "the New Church is to be the crown of the churches which have hitherto existed on the earth, because it is to worship one visible God in whom is the invisible, like the soul in the body. Thus, and not otherwise, is a conjunction of God with man possible, because man is natural, and therefore thinks naturally; and conjunction must exist in his thought, and thus in his love's affection, and this is the case when he thinks of God as a Man" (TCR 787).
     To think of God as Man is to think of Him in His own Divine Human, that is, as the Lord Jesus Christ who came into the world in order that all men might believe in His name. This is the faith of the New Church; and this is the essential thesis of all Divine revelation. He it is of whom the historical Word bears record, and He it is of whom the prophets spoke from the beginning. But as the Word in its letter cannot be understood apart from Divine doctrine, He has come again "in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," that is, in the spiritual sense of the Word. Herein He may be seen, not as He was seen by men in this world, but as He is seen by the angels of heaven. We think of Him, therefore, not as a man in a human figure, but as God in human form.

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By this we do not mean to imply that we can think of form apart from figure, for form without figure does not fall into any idea of thought. Except by way of correspondences, however, form has nothing in common with figure, for form is altogether according to the state of a thing, that is, according to the quality of its life (DLW 71).
     To see the Lord in His Divine Human, therefore, is not to see Him under a new figure, but to see Him in a new form; that is, in the form of the Divine doctrine which is now revealed to the New Church. Indeed, it was of the Divine doctrine that the Lord spoke, saying: "Behold, I make all things new" (Revelation 21:5). These words, the Writings say, "mean nothing else than that in the church now to be set up anew by the Lord, the doctrine will be new" (Lord 65). To this they add: "This doctrine did not exist in the former church, the reason being that if it had, it would not have been received, because the Last Judgment had not been executed; and previous to that judgment the power of hell prevailed over the power of heaven, so that if the doctrine had been given, even from the Lord's mouth, it would not have remained with men; nor does it at this day remain except with those who approach the Lord alone, and acknowledge Him as the God of heaven and earth" (ibid.).

     On this occasion, when we are assembled as an organized body of the church, we are reminded of the words of Peter, who, having seen the vision of the Lord in His Divine Human, said: "Lord, it is good for us to be here." These words express that interior delight by which the man of the church is affected when he reflects upon the Divine doctrine; for in all states of worship is there not an uplifting, an elevation of the spirit into the light and life of heaven. Like Peter, James, and John, we are temporarily removed from the spheres of self and the world, and enter into the perception of truth from the Divine. In such states men come into communion with the angels of heaven, of whom it is said that "they are in their delight when they are thinking about the Lord, His Divine, and His Human" (AC 2551). It is this delight which is perceived by man as a state of peace-that peace of which the Lord spoke to His disciples, saying: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).
     Yet, in speaking of that delight which comes from reflection upon the Divine doctrine, the Writings also say that "these things, which are so precious to the angels of heaven, are to men as of no importance" (AC 2551). The reference is to the state of world-to that state of spiritual incredulity which prevails at this day. It is of this state that Swedenborg speaks in his preface to the work Heaven and Hell: "Lest such a spirit of denial, which especially prevails with those who have much worldly wisdom, should also infect and corrupt the simple in heart . . . it has been granted me to associate with angels and to talk with them as man to man; also to see what is in the heavens and what is in the hells, and this for thirteen years; so now from what I have seen and heard it has been granted me to describe these things, in the hope that ignorance may thus be enlightened and unbelief dissipated.

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Such immediate revelation is granted at this day because this is what is meant by the coming of the Lord" (HH 1). To this, men may say: "Thou bearest record of Thyself; Thy record is not true" (John 8:13). But the Word of the Lord receives not testimony from any man (John 5:34); for "it is the Divine which bears witness concerning the Divine, and not man, from himself" (AE 638:4). "If [therefore] I bear record of Myself, yet My record is true" (John 8:14).

     Discussion of Bishop Pendleton's Address

     The chairman, the Rev. Harold C. Cranch, opened the discussion by expressing the appreciation of all for a very beautiful and interior study.
     Rev. Norman H. Reuter recalled the occasion when Swedenborg, in heaven, saw a temple representing the New Church and above its doors the inscription, "Now it is allowed to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith" (TCR 508). This marks the responsibility of the New Church not to be satisfied with a mere historical affirmation of what we are told. New Church clergymen do not allow laymen to feel that they can get to heaven on any minister's say-so, but on their own actions. And the need is stressed that all must seek to enlarge their horizon and even enter into the most interior doctrine concerning the Divine Human.
     This does not mean any mere intellectual playing with truth. But when a church is filled with zeal to enter into its faith intellectually and interiorly in order the better to see its God, and the better to apply this faith to life, it is not a matter of "faith alone" such as has destroyed previous churches.
     In the addresses at this Assembly there has been a manifest effort to avoid entering into a faith which has no reference to life, and also to avoid the sentimentalism which ignores the need of understanding truth. The New Church is essentially a rational church. We must seek to see the Lord ever more clearly, with the purpose-not of greater learning-but of seeing the Lord's love and wisdom and submitting our lives thereto.
     Papers such as this uplift us, giving a basis for greater influx and enlightenment. In all the papers there was a common endeavor to open the truth-the opening of the spiritual sense, seeing the kingdom of God within us, showing the essence of faith, and now opening the doctrine of the incarnate Word; all interior ideas directed to the amendment of life, so that our New Churchmanship shall not rest in what we know but in what we can do. The study of the doctrine of the Divine Human is not only for theologians. The church will find unity in a growing understanding of the truth and its application to every department of our uses-a unanimity which is not achieved by ignoring differences, but which will come from a common perception and a common enlightenment as to the things which are before us to do.
     Rev. Ormond Odhner said that he could add little to this beautiful paper by our new Assistant Bishop.

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It was very moving and wonderful. He had known that the word usually rendered "transfiguration" should really be translated "transformation"; but had not before been so deeply impressed by the distinction between figure and form.
     The Writings say that to think of God as Man is to think of Jesus Christ. And another passage teaches that the thought of God in the human form opens the thought of God to infinity, whereas to think of God apart from the human form closes the thought almost at once. With many people who today confess a God it is quite popular to do so; they believe in a force running the universe, a force without form or wisdom or love behind it; and so they feel that they can forget all about Him and go their own way. Many do not want to believe Jesus Christ to be God because that would compel them to accept what He says as their rule for the conduct of their lives. Yet for the New Church there is opened up a lovely vision, for we are taught that it is the Lord Jesus Christ in His glorified Human that is God. And then our thoughts may be opened without limit, going from here to heaven and from there to eternity.
     Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner noted that the Assembly papers have stressed one approach to faith, viz., that it is love that opens the understanding. The Bishop in his paper has now stressed this in a different way, showing that in itself the truth is self-evident, provided only that the human barriers are removed which prevent our seeing of the truth and thus of the Lord. In this connection it was mentioned that the credibility of the Writings rested not on proof-passages nor on the correspondences by which the letter of the Word is opened up through the Writings; but it rested on the doctrine of the Divine Human which is now so revealed that we can see the Lord
speaking to us in the Writings.
     He felt that there is a great force in that thought, and it occurred to him during the address that from the concept of the Divine Human come all the doctrines of the Writings. We know that the Holy Spirit is the truth that proceeds from the Divine Human. It is not truth that proceeds from nature or from learning of one kind or another, or even from the letter of the Word apart from its inner meaning. Unless we have the concept of the Divine Human as the challenging and central idea from which our thought springs, there is no passing of the Holy Spirit through man to man, as from the Lord through the heavens to man, or from the Lord through the clergy to man. But the doctrine of the Divine Human opens up the whole universe to an entirely new interpretation, a new cosmology, with a different kind of humanistic knowledge of the experiences of mankind. It is a revelation of the Divine Human in everything we see. For the correspondences of the human form are universal, not only in the body of man, or the greater body of society, or in the Gorand Man of heaven; but even in every detail of thought there is the human. For the human is an image of God, an image of Divine love and Divine wisdom; and nothing is of the slightest worth unless it has the human within it.
     With reference to the Bishop's preference for the word 'transformation' as a rendering of the Greek word "metamorphosis," he recognized that this was more accurate but felt that no harm resulted from retaining the common term "transfiguration." Still, there must be in it the idea of a transformation-seeing the Lord under a different form, or in His inward form. This seeing is more universal than the experience which the apostles had on this mount of revelation-probably Mount Hermon whose "dews descended upon the mountains of Israel"-the beautiful mountain that contained the head springs of the Jordan. Yet it is important to understand that at this time the Lord was not glorified. He was seen not as to the Human fully glorified but in an image of His glorified Human-as the angels see Him; not as man sees Him, not as to His glorified ultimates: because the Lord's ultimates were not yet glorified and made Divine.

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     We see the Lord in the Writings. And we see Him each one as to our love and perception of Him, see Him differently. Each one of us has a slightly different concept of the Lord, for all that we know contributes to the picture of what we mean by "God"-the Divine Spirit which is to transform not only our concept of the Lord, but transform also our own lives.
     This recalled to the speaker an expression which the Bishop had used-that of "self-evidencing truths." The Writings use also another phrase-"the self-evidencing reason of love" (Canons, Pref.). It is love giving its own reasons that causes us to perceive the Divinity of the Lord. Our concept of God is built up from the love that we have, and thus becomes a self-evidencing reason because it is in the light of our love which clearly sees what, from very necessity, must be the end of creation and the purpose of God. It is from this that all our truths are qualified and all our concepts of God formed.
     Rev. David R. Simons, while listening to the paper, had been struck by the thought that the Lord had been tempted by the devil not to transform Himself. The devil brought the Lord to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacles of the temple, asking Him to cast Himself down so as to test the truth of the Scripture. This seemed to suggest that if the highest doctrine of the church was to be lowered, and the Lord was to come as a man without claiming Divinity, all the world would accept Christianity! But the Lord came that He might be "transformed." He was born as others in a finite form, indistinguishable from others. Yet gradually He revealed His power over nature, and over life and death, and finally showed Himself transformed upon the mount.
     In the New Church, a similar temptation is that we should not claim the Writings as a Divine revelation. It is easy to interest people in the Writings by presenting their ideas as the works of a man; but when we claim them to be the Word of the Lord, of Christ returned, it is not readily accepted. Yet only when we accept them as a Divine revelation can the Lord come into our minds and transform the water of natural truth and natural experience [into the wine of spiritual truth]; can show us what is beyond the horizon of the natural world; can raise the dead proprium into spiritual life; can give us a vision of Himself as the eternal Man of infinite love and wisdom who has given the Writings in order that, as He was transformed, we also may be transformed and live forever.
     Bishop Pendleton answered Dr. Odhner's statement [to the effect that the disciples on the mount could not have seen the glorified Human because as to ultimates this glorification had not yet been fully accomplished] by pointing out that the Writings do say that on this occasion the disciples saw the Lord in His Divine Human. This, he assumed, meant that what they saw was the Divine Human as to its state at that time. However, what it represents, and what is involved, is quite clear. As to the word "transfiguration," he would not ask the church to depart from the time-honored usage of the King James Version. But we should think beyond the term and realize that the transformation involved a seeing of the Lord in a new form. It is interesting that the term "transfiguration" did not come into use in secular Latin, but was introduced by Athanasius and other church-fathers; as he recently found from consultations with Professor Klein and Dr. Horn. Swedenborg rejects the term "transfiguration" and uses the word only once in the Writings and then in a derogatory sense in reference to idols and their disfigurement.
     The chairman concluded the discussion by thanking Bishop Pendleton on behalf of all for his very, very fine presentation.

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COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, 1954 1954

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, 1954       WILLIAM R. KINTNER       1954

     (Delivered at the Commencement Exercises of the Academy Schools, June 15, 1954.)

     I am honored, indeed, to be with you. It is a particular pleasure and privilege since the occasion of graduation is such a happy one. But bonds other than a desire to mark an educational milestone bring us together. Our gathering is living evidence of the faith of the men who founded the Academy of the New Church. We meet today because of their belief that educating minds to receive the Writings is a primary means of establishing the Lord's New Church on earth. In marking the achievements of those who are graduating, we also rededicate ourselves to the unique purpose for which the Academy exists. The magnitude of our task can be visualized by comparing our gathering-which comprises such a high percentage of the membership of the General Church-with the 400,000 odd young men and women who are graduating from American colleges and universities this spring.
     This scene naturally brings back memories of a generation ago. In this audience I see some who were teachers then, now older and wiser, to be sure, and friends from my student days in Bryn Athyn. Norman Synnestvedt, who spoke from this podium a year ago, warned me that teachers and friends can be a critical audience when it comes to weighing the alleged advice of the speaker who, after all, presumably learned everything he knows from them. But the graduating element of this audience suffers from no such sophistication, and it is to it that I speak.
     We can all recall and reexamine our youth with some exactness. We can note change, if not progress, and from the vantage point of time make suggestions to those who follow. Fools, we are told, may eventually learn from their own mistakes, but wise men learn from the mistakes and experiences of others. Looking into the faces of the graduates, I am moved to offer some impressions gleaned from my own experience.
     It is sometimes customary to look back at the state of youth with longing and regret. Youth owns explosive energy, is capable of vision and full of high hopes. Yet, as Bacon observed, "Young men embrace more than they can hold; stir more than they can quiet." Consequently, youth is a state to be gone through rather than one to remain in, although many supposed adults linger in it indefinitely.

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     At the threshold of adult life your minds have been formed and filled with the scientifics and knowledges of this modern age. Like the children of Israel, you have robbed the Egyptians; and if the faculty members will permit me to say so, you are ready to cast aside the memory of their slavery, and to march forward into the promised land of mental and spiritual independence. But, if you will, recall the report which the spies brought back to Moses concerning the promised land of Canaan. "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." But two of them, Caleb and Joshua, had the courage to report otherwise, and said: "If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, a land which floweth with milk and honey."
     Joshua's courage was overruled by the prevalent fear, fear of a kind which paralyzes mankind today. As you begin this journey into new states you will become increasingly aware of the dominating issue of contemporary life-the mortal struggle between the Free World and the expanding Communist bloc. The issue of Communism versus freedom has become, in our time, the embodiment of an eternal conflict. Those who believe in freedom in this struggle occupy a position comparable to that of the children of Israel in the desert. As with them, the frontiers of freedom must advance; for if these frontiers draw back into the desert of fear, freedom itself will die. Ironically, the Free World is far stronger than its enemies, just as were the children of Israel when they obeyed the Lord, yet it seems to lack the courage to face tyranny.
     All of us are concerned with the drift of world events. The Free World has before it two pressing problems, political in essence but military in ultimation-how to develop the will to defeat creeping Communist aggression; and how to develop the means to restrain the Communist avalanche, after the Soviets achieve nuclear plenty a few years hence and atomic blackmail becomes a new and insidious weapon in the Kremlin's arsenal. I mention these matters because they may involve each of us personally and individually, not only the young men in this graduating class.
     This spring the Free World has almost been paralyzed by infirmity of purpose inspired by fear. It seems to have forgotten that the wolf never bothers to count the sheep in making his plans. He is concerned only with the vigilance and courage of the shepherd.
     A third of the human race is held in bondage to philosophical materialism. The remainder pays lip-service to a variety of spiritual beliefs, but shrinks back from their ultimate practice and defense.
     None of us can foresee how the inscrutable wisdom of the Lord will lead mankind through these years of retribution, or even whether the society to which we belong merits survival.

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But we do know that the zone of natural freedom which expanded so swiftly after the first Nineteenth of June in the eighteenth century has been shrinking almost as rapidly since 1914.
     The Communists have always made an adroit use of force in their expansion. Humanstic mankind has become convinced that war is the greatest of evils rather than the ultimate manifestation of evil. A society believing thus can be destroyed as readily by the fear of war as by war itself. Yet free societies have never been created nor preserved by men who valued their skins more than their souls. America's early colonists risked the deadly menace of the savages because they believed it better to die free men than to live under tyranny. The menace we face today, if seen in its proper perspective, is proportionately no greater than that facing a frontier family. To them the knife and torch were as deadly as the atomic bomb might be to us.
     These are truly times that try men's souls and present trials for which most of us are ill-prepared. A straw in the wind was the surprising number of American prisoners of war who collaborated in some form or an other with their Communist captors in Korea. Against this setting, and from my own experience, I have come to believe that courage is today one of the cardinal virtues with which persons and nations should be armed. Accordingly, I would like to speak of the place of courage in your lives.
     Few people have the courage to act as well as they really know how. Courage is a spark from heaven which permits us to be the man in the face of danger, whether physical or spiritual. Falsehoods often draw their birth from fear. Truth obtains both its defense and its application from courage. In the life ahead it will be far more important for you to play your part bravely than to achieve actually all the worldly goals upon which you may have set your hearts.
     Your courage will be needed in many ways. It takes courage to accept advice, courage to be yourself, and courage to find your role in life. It takes courage to spur your mental and spiritual growth. And, finally, it will take courage to meet the challenges of adversity which a merciful providence will surely bring to you.
     Take the matter of advice. You are at the age when you need it most. The light that anyone receives from another is always clearer than that which filters through one's own understanding, colored by self-will. Yet independent youth often lacks the courage to admit that it could profit by counsel. You will shortly be making the foundation decisions of your life-whether to continue with your education, choosing a job to aim toward, or marriage. None of these decisions should be made lightly, or made without advice. Have the courage to admit this; seek counsel-and even apply it occasionally.

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     Try not to be afraid of being the person you know best, yourself. Each person has a unique endowment, each of us was created to fulfil some particular use in the Gorand Man. Trying to develop along lines contrary to the endowment the Lord gave you will lead to frustration. True, none of us can ever really see or know our ruling love. But we can become acquainted with its outward manifestations in ourselves, and we should never aspire to be anyone altogether different from that which the Lord obviously intended us to be. We all become what we have been given the ability to love. Being yourself does not mean being satisfied with your own state of mental development, or your own progress, if any, toward regeneration. Each of us is under a Divine compulsion to try to improve; but our improvements should be within the framework of our endowments, not those of someone else whom we may admire.
     In being ourselves we must be certain that we constantly try to remain under the discipline of truth. This means that we must have the courage to think for ourselves, for only the truths that we have received and understood can be active in our own lives. Avoid letting the opinions of others disturb you, or shift you from what is right, if you are certain that something you want to do is right against the measure of truth.
     You are all approaching your first real business in life-getting a job, either directly or by further education. We all want to have a respected place in society, and we know that we must do something to deserve it. We all know from the Writings that a man's use and his occupation are not the same. A man's use, in the broadest sense, is the spiritual effect one person has on another. This we can perceive only dimly on earth. The relationship between occupation and use, however, seems quite clear. A man's occupation is the external means through which the Lord permits him to serve others. It is the ultimate receptacle of use on earth. Consequently, it is important that we gravitate toward an occupation that we enjoy and in which we have some competence. Yet whatever we do, whatever our endowments, it is well to remind ourselves that it is the Lord who acts in us, although He gives us the pleasure and delight of seeming to accomplish things ourselves.
     Genuine courage, in regard to use, is never joined to love of self but to the love of society. Often our particular talents will not lead us naturally to a use in which there is great monetary reward. Many professions, especially those which center in service, bring little financial return in a commercial society such as the one in which we live. The rewards in business are quicker and greater. But what is most important is to find a use which will permit you to be at peace with yourself. If you have any choice in the matter, never permit yourself to be tempted to take a job you might not really want for reasons other than the use you can perform through it.

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It will often take real courage to adhere, later on, to what may now seem to you to be a self-evident principle.
     The mind of each of us is permeated by the sphere of the materialistic modern world. We must be especially alert, therefore, not to concentrate so much on preparations for our natural use that we become indifferent to spiritual things. The Writings ask the question: What ought to be more dear to a man than his life to eternity? It takes the full measure of a person to cope with the implications of this question. For unless a man is conceived anew, is born anew and educated anew, he does not come into eternal life. The greatest bar to anyone's advancement lies in the absence of spiritual truths and the affection for them in the mind.
     Spiritual truths are the daily bread on which the rational mind feeds, and the rational mind must be nourished and formed if we are to achieve our spiritual heritage. It takes courage and a high order of self-compulsion to swim against the stream, and to create the conditions for spiritual growth in ourselves. Obviously, to a New Church man, a systematic reading of the Writings is the primary means of developing one's rational mind, and a means that is often neglected. Unless you want religion by proxy you must go to the source, which is the Writings, you may initially have to force yourself to undertake a study which in time will provide you with deep delight. But do not stop there. Do not become mentally complacent after finishing your schooling. The want of serious and sustained thinking is everywhere evident in the world.
     Cultivate those resources that will attract and hold others to the truths we cherish. Learn to look beneath the platitudes that so often circulate in place of thought. Do not be afraid to take a good look at the sacred cows of contemporary culture and society. Develop your own convictions about the problems of the day, and the courage and ability to defend them. Most of us are aware that problems exist in labor, in agriculture, big business, big government, the negro question, and elsewhere. These are not problems facing someone else. They belong to each of us, and it behooves us as citizens to give them the serious attention they merit. Effective democracy is something of a luxury. The society in which we live cannot be maintained by applying platitudes to the urgent problems of an increasingly complex world. Here it is important to realize that spiritual life develops within the natural. Moral and spiritual issues and attitudes abound in the clashes and cooperations of human society. Spiritual ideals take form in your relations with others in society. If you place first things first, and have the courage to act accordingly, spiritual things will be central in all the practical and mental problems of your daily life.

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     One thing you must particularly seek to avoid as you become more and more exposed to the sometimes superficial morals and opportunist standards of contemporary society, and that is cynicism. Have the guts to stick to your ideals in the face of disillusionment. Cynicism, which often seems to be realistic and grownup, can only lead to a cheap and distorted attitude toward moral values in general.
     Life presents challenges to us in the areas I have briefly mentioned. Some of these encounters with your destiny will be brief and relatively painless. But to each of you will come, in time, major disappointments. There is an old saying that gold is tried by fire, brave men by adversity.
     Through the disappointments that will come your way the Lord will teach you humility, and a willingness to be led by Him, as a result of recognizing how finite and powerless we human beings are. I hope that none of you will aspire to a life in which everything works out just according to plan. The good things which come with success in any pursuit are to be wished for, but the rich harvests of agonizing conflict are the foundation stones of your spiritual growth. I do not suggest that any one of you should deliberately wear a hair shirt. All the troubles you may need will come your way without seeking. Meet them manfully. For the Lord gave His truth, not first to bring peace, but as a sword to cut away the evils of our natural inheritance. The conflicts that you will meet will be a measure of your earnest to seek spiritual growth. The severest shocks you will encounter will induce doubts and fears, and even a denial of the Lord's Divine purpose and mercy. You must gird yourselves for these major tests in lesser ways, always taking heart in the promise that "he that overcometh shall inherit all things."
     I hope that you will find reflections such as these appropriate to the times and to the occasion. I hope that you have already begun to find those wells of courage within yourselves from which you may draw later. For genuine courage will keep you moving onward when almost every other motivation fails.
     Our country, through Providence, has become the leader of the Free World and is involved in an ever widening battle for survival. The indirection that has characterized the Free World in the face of constant aggression has sprung, in large measure, from fear. The imminence of approaching crisis is clearly discernible. The things which permit us to believe that each of us is important in the eyes of God are in mortal peril. In an age of crisis your responsibilities as adult members of the church will be enormous. Linked with them will be your direct and personal responsibility to your country. For, as of now, only the Free World shelters the New Church. And if the Atlantic Community to which we belong is to survive, it will be, as always, behind a living wall of men.
     I cannot end on such an altogether sombre note.

495


There is a story going the rounds regarding the critical developments in Indo-China. "The situation is such," an ambassador to Washington observed, "that the United States should either stop talking or do something. But-I'm afraid it won't do either."
     I intend both to stop talking and to sit down. But first let me assure you that although you will live in an age of crisis there will be adventure and laughter, kindness and warm comradeship in store for you, as well as duty. With all my heart I wish you well, and join with your teachers and your parents in hoping for your success. But most of all, I pray that you will have the courage to act so that the Lord will find delight in you through all your journey.
DECEIT 1954

DECEIT       Rev. FRANK S. ROSE       1954

     "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood." (Jeremiah 48:10)

     These words were directed against the Moabites, near neighbors of the children of Israel. Maob as a people was a strange mixture of beauty and filth. Unlike most of the enemies of Israel, Moab was stable and civilized. It was not nomadic and barbarous, but was highly refined. It was prosperous, rich in natural resources, and rich in culture. It was for the most part friendly with the children of Israel, but this was a friendship that was easily broken. It seems to have been a friendship of convenience.
     And yet, even though the Moabites grew into a respected nation, their father was the result of incest of the lowest kind. Lot, Abraham's nephew, narrowly escaped destruction in Sodom. He was led out of the city as the Lord rained fire and brimstone on its inhabitants. This city is even now the symbol of all that is filthy and unclean. Lot fled to the hills, taking with him his wife and two daughters. As they were fleeing, Lot's wife turned to look on the city, and became a pillar of salt. Lot and his two daughters were alone. They, fearing that the family line would die out, made their father drunk, and lay with him. By this means Moab and Ammon were conceived. These two sons were to become the fathers of the two nations living on the far side of the Jordan river.
     In that the children of Israel descended from Jacob, Abraham's grandson, they were related to both the Ammonites and the Moabites. This may help to explain how they were similar in many ways, and how they had something of a friendship between them.
     In the story of Lot and his escape from Sodom, we have a picture of decline.

496


Lot was saved because there was in him a remnant of good. He then represented the spiritual church. He represented those who know the truths of faith and who try to do what is right. But this state is easily corrupted. Men allow themselves to become more and more external. Their worship becomes lifeless. Eventually they begin to regard the letter of the Word and doctrine as something dead. They cease to care whether they live in genuine charity of not. In this way the truth which they have is falsified. It becomes a pillar of salt.
     Once this state has been reached, there is nothing to keep the church alive in a man, and all that remains is an external semblance of good, which is called natural good. This natural good appears attractive enough, but within it there are unchallenged evils. It is a cleansing of the outside of the cup and platter within which is all manner of uncleanness. So it is that as the church deteriorates, it grows fat and friendly. It learns how to put on a smile of tolerance and good will. It perfects itself in external manners, and takes great pride in its beauty and comfort. But within lie hideous evils that eventually eat out its heart and cause its destruction.
     The Moabites settled on the plateau east of the Dead Sea. It was a quiet nation, with fertile land and good crops. It was a wealthy nation both in natural riches and in the refinements of life, but it had no real religion. All it had was the worship of Chemosh, which was nothing but the love of the world and worldly pleasure. This is an easy God to live under. It is a popular god which eventually enticed the children of Israel away from the worship of Jehovah.
     There were not many wars between the children of Israel and Moab. However, in the time of the judges, Moab took advantage of the unsettled conditions in the land of Canaan to overflow their boundaries and take Jericho, the city of palm trees. Bit by bit they gained control over the children of Israel. Their greatest destruction was through their sensual idolatry, which crossed the fords of Jordan and began to pollute the worship of the Lord.
     This continued for eighteen years. And then the Lord raised up Ehud, a left-handed man of the tribe of Benjamin. It was through him that Israel was freed from the power of the Moabites. Ehud went directly to the source of the trouble. At the head of this luxury loving nation was the fleshy king, Eglon. He was a man who typified all that was wrong with Moab. He was self-satisfied and genial.
     Ehud came to Eglon under the pretext of giving him a present. This gave him ready access to the court. But Ehud had fashioned a dagger of a cubit's length sharpened on both sides. Being a left-handed man, he could conceal this dagger on his right side where no one would suspect a man of carrying a weapon.

497


He brought his gift to the king, and after he had presented it he told the king that he had a secret errand. On hearing this, the king dismissed his court. Ehud came up to him, saying, "I have a message from God unto thee." And then he drove his dagger into the king's belly until it was absorbed by the flesh.
     It is a dramatic and yet unpleasant picture. But it represents the death of a state which must be rooted out, a state which, because of its very charm is extremely dangerous.

     The church, like the land of Canaan, always has this rich and pleasant neighbor, waiting to penetrate its boundaries, and destroy its worship. For wherever there is natural good without any real love of the truth, and without any genuine conscience based on the Word, there is Moab. We are all susceptible to his charm. For all that he requires is that we worship Chemosh, that we enjoy ourselves, and while going through the motions of church membership pay little attention to the real responsibility of regeneration. It is so easy for us to slip into the state of "do-gooders" in which we develop a geniality for everyone, and a vague tolerance of everything. We begin to wink at evils, especially those that well up within us. We sink into a love of pleasure that draws us away from the real life of the church, and engenders in us a mild disgust for anything doctrinal or anything that in any way taxes our minds and imposes moral and spiritual restrictions on our life.
     This is an enemy that waits patiently for any signs of weakness or confusion in our minds. It catches us in tired moments and in moments of doubt. It whispers into our ear that we need not bother about self-examination and the shunning of evils, but that if we polish up our external conduct we will be all right. The church becomes especially vulnerable to this foe when the people of the church find it more convenient to belong to the church than not to belong, to attend church functions than to stay at home. This is a thing which second, third and fourth generation New Church people must especially watch. It is too easy for a person to join a church simply in imitation of what his parents have done.
     As the type of person represented by Moab multiplies in the church, the church is seriously weakened. Its worship becomes profane. It finds itself involved in all kinds of external niceties, but it lacks a true spirit of devotion to the teachings of the Word and a humble love of the Lord. If this happens in an individual, it can threaten to destroy any hope that he has of eternal life. If it happens in a church, it can threaten to destroy any use that church might have had for mankind.
     Despite Moab's occasional friendliness, it was denounced by the prophets of the Lord and its annihilation commanded.

498


Even though we may not be familiar with the names of the Moabite cities mentioned, we cannot escape the meaning of the words of Jeremiah: "A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim, spoiling and great destruction. Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction" (Jeremiah 48:3-5). And as a warning to the people he goes on to say: "Flee, save your lives and be like the heath in the wilderness. For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken" (Jeremiah 48:6, 7).
     Men in natural good love to dote on their treasures. They love to glory in the external things which they do for the church-the money they give to its uses, their attendance at functions. They may not understand the Writings, but they buy copies which they store on shelves like forgotten treasures. They may even read the Writings, but they think that merely by amassing a knowledge of what they teach they improve their minds. The Moabite is very satisfied and proud. He can point to countless things which convince him that he is doing the right thing-that there is nothing wrong. But this is a false pride, a pride in externals, and these cannot possibly save a man if his interior loves are evil. Men who put their trust in riches, whether of earthly wealth or of doctrinal knowledge, cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. No amount of wealth in itself will give a man the unselfish love which is the essence of heaven.

     In urging the destruction of Moab, the prophet warns the children of Israel: "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood" (Jeremiah 48:10). The work of the Lord is the work of regeneration. This is done deceitfully when men make minor adjustments in their external life and think that this will in itself change their interior nature. Such men deceive only themselves. Because of a desire to protect their love of evil, and because of a natural distaste for hard work, they put on a smooth veneer of natural good and wallow in external pleasures. They do this more or less oblivious of the seriousness of their mistake. They seem to feel proud of their external achievements-their ability to be tactful and gracious, their appreciation of the arts, and their knowledge of what the Writings teach.
     But life is too short to allow ourselves the luxury of such self-deception. The odds are too great for us to depend on mere trickery. If we have any interest at all in our regeneration we must not pretend that the task is finished after we have skimmed the surface of our lives.

499


We must dig deep into our selfish thoughts, our hidden evils, and expose them to view. It is an ugly process because it is the process of exposing the ugliness in things which we think to ourselves are beautiful. Until the interior love of man is purified, his external conformity to the mores of society and the teachings of the church is a hypocritical thing. Deep within there is an incestuous mixture of evil loves with, the truths of the Word. This is spiritual adultery. It involves a mixture of what is true and what is evil that is like food vomited from the mouth which can neither be absorbed by the body nor rejected as waste.
     We have been given the sword of Divine truth in the Word. We must take this sword with great courage and perseverance, and use it to shed the blood of our selfish loves. If we do not use the truth to uproot our evils, we are doing the Lord's work deceitfully, and there is no mercy that will save us from the curse of hell. For men curse themselves, and this they do by protecting and encouraging evil, and by deceiving themselves into thinking that there is nothing wrong with them that cannot be cured by training and external polish.
     In the Writings such men are compared to beautiful fruit which is rotten within. They are also compared to serpents with shining teeth behind which lay sacks of poison. These teeth are, like the sword of truth, apparently clean and white, but infernal in that they conceal behind them the foul poison of the love of self. The great irony is that the very weapon which is given for our salvation is used to curse us.
     The only hope for the church and for the man of the church is that he free himself from this inclination to remain in natural good. He must take up the sword of truth and expel evil from his life. If this is done in time, he is still salvable. For the Lord will reveal Himself to man in the
Word if the man in all humility seeks to find Him there. And He will release man from his captivity. He will cleanse his interior loves from their impurities and will then give him a natural good that is spiritual in origin. He will gift him with an interior love to the Lord and to the neighbor from which his external conduct will receive new life. Eventually he can be made new even as to his external life, for the Lord will drive the Moabites from the land and will restore it to the children of Israel, as long as they do not do the work of the Lord deceitfully, and as long as they do not hold back the sword of truth from shedding blood. Amen.

     LESSONS: Judges 3:12-30. Jeremiah 48:1-10; 26-31. AC 2468:
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 485, 490, 482.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 28, 102.

500


ALEXANDER PITCAIRN LINDSAY, ESQ. 1954

ALEXANDER PITCAIRN LINDSAY, ESQ.       Rev. WILLARD D. PENDLETON       1954

     From a Memorial Address

     (Delivered at the Le Poi Road Church, Pittsburgh, Pa., July 24, 1954.)

     This, in brief, is the faith of the New Church; and this was the faith of Alexander P. Lindsay. To him, therefore, the thought of death gave promise of a return to that way of life in which he could be of service to others. Ever an active man of strong convictions, he found intensive delight in the practice of his profession; and to him a service rendered was his highest reward. Whether in the pursuit of his calling, or in the services which he rendered to the church, he was never a man to turn away from responsibility. With an energy possessed by few, he readily gave of his strength and time to many deserving causes; and this to the extent that in time he taxed himself beyond the limits of physical endurance.
     We do not think of him, however, as he was in his last illness, but as we knew him during those many years of outstanding service to his church and the community. This was the man whom we knew and respected, the man who with strength and vision restored is once again taking up the thread of life which was momentarily severed. As one who loved the law he will not be denied opportunity for continued service. But the law which he will now serve is not the law which is framed by men, but that higher law which is the origin of justice and righteous judgment. Nor will this higher law come to him as something new or foreign to his thought. For while he lived on earth he frequently meditated upon the inner implications of the Word of God; and the law of the Lord was in his heart. Herein he learned that law is the basis of all order, and that order is essential to all use. It was, then, in the interest of those uses upon which organized society is dependent that he labored to preserve the integrity and the influence of the law in the affairs of men. To him this was a solemn obligation, from which he did not depart. In upholding the laws of men from an underlying faith in the laws of God, not only did he do justice, but also mercy; for only he who is just is truly merciful.
     What form of service his love of the law will take in the life after death we do not know. These things are not revealed, nor need they be. It is sufficient to know that where the Lord is, there is the Divine law; and wherever there are those who acknowledge the Divine law, be it in this world or the next, there must be those whose use it is to administer and interpret it.

501


It is only logical to assume that this high calling is conferred upon those in the other life who loved the law while they yet lived upon earth. To such, interior illustration in the law is given, and it is their greatest delight to impart this knowledge to others.
     To Alexander Lindsay, therefore, the life of the spirit will involve no basic readjustments, no period of uncertainty or disbelief; rather will he enter with anticipation and keen delight into the new life which the Lord has prepared for him. We, too, if we will, may for the moment share with him in his new found happiness; for in the death of our friends and companions of this world our thoughts and affections follow them, and our minds are lifted up into a state of reflection upon the things of eternal life. Truly, the passing of those whom we have loved in this world is a call to remembrance-a call to reflection on the Divine purpose in human existence.

     Biographical Sketch

     On July 22nd, 1954, Alexander Pitcairn Lindsay passed into the spiritual world at the age of 71, after a long life of usefulness in the Pittsburgh Society, the General Church, his chosen profession, and his community.
     The son of Samuel S. and Helen Pitcairn Lindsay, he was, as it were, born a New Church man. But Alex, as he was affectionately known, was never prone to take things for granted. Filled with a love and zeal for the Lord's New Church, he was ever an active worker and leader in promoting the church in Pittsburgh and at large. He attended the Academy schools in Bryn Athyn, where he graduated in 1904. From there he went to Northwestern University where he obtained his law degree.
     Mr. Lindsay began to practice law in Pittsburgh in 1909, and later joined a firm in which he became senior partner. In due course he became one of the city's outstanding attorneys as well as a civic leader. Active in the political field for the good of his community, he was known for his thorough honesty and independence of thought. He was a member of the Allegheny County, State, and American Bar Associations, served on the executive committee of the County Association and on the County Board of Law Examiners, was formerly a deputy attorney general for the State with the Securities Commission, and was one of the co-authors of the present registration act and election law. He had managed or was closely associated with several campaigns, and at the time of his death was a director of several companies.
     But with all these activities he could always be counted upon for steady, faithful attendance and participation in the functions of his church, whether it was worship on Sunday or a meeting of the Pastor's Council, the Executive Committee, or the Finance Board. While he had his health he was constantly active also in the meetings of the Executive Committee of the General Church and the Corporation of the Academy, of which he was a member.
     His part in the development of the Pittsburgh Society from its humble beginnings in a small frame building on Wallingford Street to its present beautiful and commodious quarters in Le Roi Road should be noted particularly. While this development was the work of many hands, it was Alex who was in the forefront and who planned and managed and built, and even carried on until the mortgage was paid off.

502


He always said that we needed a star in front of us and a spear behind us, and he acted accordingly. Over a year of his own time was given to daily supervision of the construction of the church buildings; and when the contractor failed to complete his contract and there was a fire loss of over $30,000.00, Alex became his own contractor and finished the work himself.

     For his activity, and for his personal efforts for the welfare of our church, we in Pittsburgh are grateful. He was one of our most useful and respected members. Alex will long be remembered, and we shall certainly miss him. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Rena Heilman Lindsay; a son, Alexander H. Lindsay, Esq.; two daughters, Mrs. E. R. Lee and Mrs. James T. York; two brothers, Donald E. and Samuel S. Lindsay; and 11 grandchildren.
     J. EDMUND BLAIR
LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     10. For Thine is the Kingdom

     Let the word "Thine" bring to mind that the prayer is to "our Father in the heavens," who, as has been seen, is the Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine Human-the Divine Man present in the heavens and the church as the Divine truth within which is the Divine good of the Divine love. Only to Him, then, can the petitions be offered. That this is so, and that only by Him can they be granted, is the acknowledgment made in the closing words of the prayer.
     "Thine is the kingdom." The kingdom is heaven and the church. In it the Lord is the King, ruling and governing all things by His Divine law or Divine truth. As that Divine truth He makes the kingdom, as a whole and as to every least part. The kingdom is His, and His only. Yet on the part of angels and regenerating men there must be reception of the Divine truth in life, that is, into affection, thought and deed; for only then is the kingdom of the Divine King in them. Wherefore, according to the measure of the desire for such reception present interiorly throughout the petitions of the prayer can it then be said: "Thine is the kingdom." Whoever longs to know and to receive this kingdom can find it revealed in the Word, wherein and whereby the Lord is present as the Divine truth which makes heaven and the church.
     "Thine is the power." His whose is the kingdom is also the power. It is called omnipotence, that is, all-power. It is the power of the Divine truth within which is the Divine good; or, what is the same, it is the power of the Son within whom is the Father, and who said to His disciples after His resurrection: "All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18).

503


It is the power of the Lord in His Divine Human to hold hell ever in subjection and to bestow heaven, and this for both angels and men; or, what is the same, to withhold them from evil and to hold them in good. Thus it is the power to be forever the Savior of mankind. Of this there should be interior thought throughout the prayer; for all its petitions are for salvation, for that salvation which only His omnipotence can give. Wet herein also there must be reception, which is confidence in that power to save even when in the midst of severe trials of temptation, which confidence they can have who abide firmly in a life in accordance with His Word. For as the kingdom is revealed in the Word, so also is the power, and there will it be manifest to those who would attain unto salvation.
     "Thine is the glory." As His is the power who is the King of the kingdom, so also is the glory. This glory is manifest to the angels as the light which proceeds from the Lord as the sun of heaven. It is the light of His Divine truth, within which is the heat of the Divine good. It is the Lord revealing Himself and making heaven as to all things greatest and least. This light comes also to those who are His church on earth-to be seen by them with the eyes of the mind, or of the spirit-revealing the Lord, the maker of all things of the church. To the angels, and to regenerating men, the light declares the glory of God.
     The Lord entered into this glory by the glorification of His Human during His life on earth, as is evident from His words when instructing two of His disciples after His resurrection: "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory!" Thus the glory is that of the Divine Human.
     It is in that glory that the Lord makes His second coming to establish the New Heaven and the New Church, of which He foretold, saying: "The Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father" (Matthew 16:27). And that in this New Heaven and New Church all are to ascribe glory to Him is meant by the four and twenty elders falling down before His throne and saying: "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11).
     It is often said in the Word that glory is to be given to the Lord and that He is to be glorified. Man gives glory to the Lord, as here in the prayer, when he ascribes all things to Him and nothing to himself. It is when he does this that the Lord can inflow with Divine truth and give him the light of intelligence and wisdom. This He does in His love, which desires that His glory, or the light of His Divine truth, shall be in man.

504


But let it be well noted that this bestowing of intelligence and wisdom is not the imparting of something that is to be merely intellectual with man; for its reception can be only in the endeavor to be in the good of love toward the neighbor, or charity; for, as we have seen, it is this good which the Divine truth becomes by its reception in the life of the angels. Therefore the Lord said also: "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples" (John 15:8).
     "Forever," or, translated literally from the Greek of the New Testament, "unto the ages." These words of doctrine will suffice for understanding this expression: " `An age," when spoken of heaven where there is no end, or of the Lord, signifies what is eternal, as is manifest from the prayer: 'Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory unto the ages' " (AC 10,248:5).
     It has been shown that in the closing ascription, "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever," is the acknowledgment that by the Lord alone can be given all that is asked of Him in the petitions of the prayer. Yet in these words there is also a petition, which is that the Lord give us help and strength not to claim to ourselves anything of the kingdom, the power, and the glory; thus not anything of that which the Heavenly Father, our Lord and Savior, gives us by His Divine truth from His Divine love. And in the final word, "forever," is our looking to Him for the blessings of life eternal, which is our hope in all that for which we pray.
SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES 1954

SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES              1954

     GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS. Graded lessons and other material from Pre-school through Grade 11. Address inquiries to: Pastor-in-Charge, Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE. Tape-recordings of services, sermons, doctrinal classes, children's services, etc. Address: General Church Sound Recording Committee, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
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     NEW CHURCH EDUCATION. Published by Religion Lessons Committee, monthly, September to June, inclusive. Subscription, $1.50. Editor: Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal.

505


NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     The prophecy through Jeremiah is concluded in the October readings from the Old Testament, which introduce us to Lamentations. In this closing portion of Jeremiah (chaps. 38-52) the drama of Judah's consummation is brought to a swift climax, and the sacred text relates the aftermath of treachery and murder, seizure and rescue, culminating in the final apostasy-the migration to Egypt of the remnant left in the land, in which the prophet took part as an unwilling captive. Jeremiah continued his ministry among the fugitives, and from Egypt came his inspired prophecies against the foreign nations, ending with the great predictions against Babylon. There the curtain falls upon the life of this unwavering prophet who, according to a Jewish tradition, met with a martyr's death at the hands of his countrymen. The dominant subjects in the internal sense are the successive vastation of the Jewish Church and its complete devastation, rejection, and judgment. Technically, the Jews who eventually returned from exile formed a church rather than a nation; but spiritually the church was dead, and henceforward the places of the land would be the basis of representation.
     In the letter, the Lamentations of Jeremiah is a series of five dirges over the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple; bewailing with pathetic tenderness, and without any trace of exultation, the event and the miseries of slavery and famine which it entailed. In the internal sense, however, it treats of the vastation of all the good and of all the truth with the Jewish nation on account of the application of the sense of the letter of the Word to favor their own loves (AE 357:24); and as such it stands as a sombre warning.

     To an unusual degree, the Arcana readings (nos. 10053-10129) bring out the hidden beauty of the Word. In the sense of the letter, the chapter of Exodus being expounded describes the ceremonies with which Aaron and his sons were inaugurated into the priesthood. But by this inauguration through rites permitted to a sensual people the supreme doctrine was set forth in representative symbols; for what is treated of in the internal sense is the glorification of the Lord's Human. Inauguration to represent the Lord as to Divine good was effected by anointing; and by the filling of the hands, we are told, inauguration to represent the Lord as to Divine truth from Divine good, and thus power, was effected.

506


REVIEW 1954

REVIEW       Editor       1954

FOUR DOCTRINES OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. From the Latin of Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated by William C. Dick. Swedenborg Society (Inc.), London, 1954. Cloth, pp. 426, pocket size.

     These four works-the Lord, Sacred Scripture, Life, and Faith-were first published in Amsterdam in 1763. An Editorial Note informs us that the present edition is based on the Swedenborg Society's English translation of 1935, compared with the Latin editions of 1763 and 1889, the first English translation of 1784, and the translation of 1831.
     The appearance and format of the volume are most pleasing and satisfactory. As in Mr. Dick's translation of True Christian Religion, the large paragraphs of the original have been divided into several paragraphs, and the complex sentences have been replaced by simple sentences. Paragraph numbers stand out clearly from the text in boldface; subdivisions, also in boldface, and enclosed in square brackets, are set in the margin; and paragraph numbers are placed at the top of each page, the page numbers being at the bottom. These features make for easy reading and swift reference, which are further assisted by the style and by the type and arrangement chosen. The volume itself, bound in dark blue with gold stamped lettering, is quietly handsome and comes easily to the hand. Particularly happy is the translator's handling of Scripture passages, which abound in these works. In earlier editions they were set in the body of the text, which in some instances made the doctrinal portions hard to find. Mr. Dick has overcome the difficulty by indenting the Scripture passages and printing them in a smaller roman type which is still easy to read. Distinctive Latin terms are retained in the text and where necessary are defined in footnotes.
     Except in the matter of composition, this new edition does not seem to differ greatly or significantly from the earlier ones. We did note a few instances in which the translator appears to have gone further than the nearest equivalents which English usage permits, and we regret such consistent usages as "principled in good" and "related to faith" for "in good" and "of faith." And we could wish that all translators would enter into a gentlemen's agreement to allow the phrase "the reason why" to drop gently into oblivion. But these are lesser points and some of them are matters of opinion. Greater accuracies are to be noted also, and again we congratulate the Society and its translator upon the production of a volume which every reader of the Writings should wish to possess.
     THE EDITOR

507


JESPER SWEDBERG'S PRAYER 1954

JESPER SWEDBERG'S PRAYER       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
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     We have occasionally reflected on the providence that took Jesper Swedberg out of this world ten years before his son was commissioned to receive and publish the Heavenly Doctrine. Interest was aroused again recently when we came across these words, so indicative of the Bishop's own faith. "I sigh and lament at heart as often as I think of it, how ill most Lutherans understand Luther's doctrines, how ill they understand what faith in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ is. . . . If they go to church and at certain times of the year to the Lord's Supper, and at the same time live in all sorts of sinful works of the flesh-it is no matter: 'sola fides,' strong faith, shall do the business for them. No one shall say that they are not good Lutherans and Christians, and shall not be saved without any contradiction. My God, who hast called forth and equipped Luther with Thy spirit of freedom in order that he should restore the Christian doctrine about faith, raise up another Luther, who, with like freedom and blessed effect, may again restore a Christian life."
     Despite the pious hopes expressed in the naming of his son, Bishop Swedberg could not have dreamed how, or through whom, his prayer would be answered. Luther tried to found a system of theology on the Word of God, but in his studies the Word yielded to the purpose that drove him-that of separation from Rome; and his teaching, into which Bishop Swedberg read so much, could not avert the judgment which it delayed. The Christian life could not be restored by another reformer. Only through the raising up of a revelator could the Bishop's prayer be granted; not at another Wittenberg, but at a lodging in London.

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GENTILE HEAVENS 1954

GENTILE HEAVENS       Editor       1954

     Some readers of the Writings, especially among the young, are surprised when they learn about the existence of Gentile heavens. Surely, it seems to them, all who are saved come into the worship of the Lord and are received into the New Heaven? But the Writings teach otherwise. In the other life, all Gentiles who had led a moral life, lived in mutual charity, and received something of a conscience are received and instructed by angels, for the most part according to the state of their life and their religion; and those among them who had also worshiped God under a human form are later conjoined with Christians in heaven because they receive the truth and adore the Lord. But there are others in simple charity who cannot be in communication with Christians, yet who are received into heaven because it is not their fault that they are ignorant of the truth.
     One reason for separation appears in a reference to a wise Gentile who said he could not remain where the Word was being read because he perceived it to be more holy than he could bear. Another reason is that some Gentiles are unable to renounce practices, contrary to Christianity, but according to their religion and conscience. In such instances separation is essential. They cannot be condemned because they have acknowledged a God and lived in mutual charity. But they cannot be in the same heaven as Christians, and there cannot even be communication between their heavens and that of Christians; for in the heat and light of the Christian heaven the Gentiles would be under the pain of constant condemnation for what was according to their religion, and through what inflowed from them, Christians would be in jeopardy.
     In His mercy, therefore, the Lord provides distinct heavens for those Gentiles who are salvable, but who cannot enter the New Christian Heaven. These heavens are the Lord's. They are part of His heavenly kingdom. And together with the New Christian Heaven they are conjoined through influx of light and heat from the spiritual sun, which enlighten and vivify according to reception, which in turn is according to religion. The formation of a Gorand Man requires the provision of many heavens, distinct as to communication, but conjoined by being under the heat and light of the same spiritual sun. If the Gentiles received that heat and light as they inflow into the Christian heaven they would be condemned; but in distinct heavens provided for them they can receive that heat and light as a source of life and enlightenment. And in those heavens-the provision of which shows the universal love and mercy of the Lord, not a divisive factor-the Gentiles receive, we are assured in the Writings, the greatest happiness of which they are capable, thus fulness of joy.

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FAITH 1954

FAITH       Editor       1954

     When we began to discuss the spiritual virtues it was not realized that comment on faith would appear in the same issue as an address on that subject. We shall therefore be content here with contrasting the concepts of faith offered by the Writings and by Christendom and with mentioning what is implied in the classification of faith as a virtue.
     In the Christian churches faith is variously conceived as intellectual acceptance of the passion and merit of Christ, blind adherence to what is beyond comprehension, or conviction of personal salvation. Some contend that man can do nothing to prepare himself for it, and the accent is on belief before which the understanding is fettered. What can be seen does not call for faith, and some will even complain that their faith is being taken away if its mysteries are rationally explained.
     Very different are the definitions contained in the Writings. There we are told that faith is an internal acknowledgment and affection-an internal acknowledgment of truth from understanding it; an internal affection of truth from willing it because it is true, which is the truth so affecting the mind from within that we desire from the heart to know what is good and true for the sake of life. For genuine faith is love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, and thus a life from these loves; doctrinals are not faith, although they belong to it, for their end is that man may become what they teach him to be.
     Faith is therefore one of those spiritual virtues which flow out from love to the Lord and toward the neighbor. However, it is characteristic of these virtues that they not only flow out from those loves but also flow again into them, and that they may be referred to every ascending degree of the neighbor. This teaching extends the concept of faith beyond the realm of theology into that of religion, from obedience to the church to the expression of spiritual loves, from a focus upon one's own salvation to an active concern to promote the spiritual welfare of others, from a blind resting in conditions of personal salvation to an intelligent understanding of the meaning and application of truth.
     For faith is truth in act-not truth alone, which is harsh, unyielding, and condemnatory-but truth which has inflowed from love and charity, and which flows again into them; truth in which justice is tempered with mercy, principle with understanding, and firm standards with a sympathetic insight into human states and weaknesses. And this faith, entering into every phase of life, and moderating the extremes of knowledge of truth alone and natural good alone, is indeed a spiritual virtue; one which is entirely the gift of the Lord but for which, like all other virtues, man must prepare himself as of himself.

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LOCAL SCHOOLS DIRECTORY 1954

LOCAL SCHOOLS DIRECTORY              1954

     1954-1955
     Elementary Schools report the following teaching staffs for 1954-1955:

Bryn Athyn. Rev. David R. Simons                     Principal
Miss Mary L. Williamson                          Kindergarten
Miss Jennie Gaskill, Mrs. Edna F. Schnarr           Grade 1
Miss Zara Bostock                               Grade 2
Miss Erna Sellner                               Grade 3
Miss Phillis Cooper                               Grade 4
Mrs. Lucy B. Waelchli                               Grade 5
Miss Anna Hamm                                    Grade 6
Mrs. Elizabeth D. Echols                          Grade 7
Miss Margit K. Boyesen                               Grade 8
Colchester. Rev. Alan Gill                          Principal
Miss Helene Howard Grades                          1-5
     Durban. Rev. A. Wynne Acton                     Principal
Miss Sylvia Pemberton                               Kindergarten, Grade 1
Glenview. Rev. Elmo C. Acton                          Principal
Miss Louise Barry                               Kindergarten, Grade 3
Miss Gloria Stroh                               Grades 1 & 2
Miss Marcia Trimble                               Grades 4 & 7
Miss Laura Gladish                                Grades 5 & 6
Miss Gladys Blackman                               Grades 8 & 9
Kitchener. Rev. Norman H. Reuter                     Principal
Miss Rita Kuhl                                    Grades 1, 2, 3, 5, 7
Pittsburgh. Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen                Principal
Miss Venita Roschman                              Grades 1 & 2
Miss Gladys Hicks                               Grades 4, 5, 6
Mr. Carl Gunther                                    Grades 7 & 8
Toronto. Rev. Martin Pryke                          Principal
Miss Joan Kuhl                                    Grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8

     Part-time teachers for special subjects, voluntary or otherwise, are not included here. The teaching staff of the Academy of the New Church is listed in the CATALOGUE issued by that body.

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Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     NEW ENGLAND

     A meeting of some of the members of the General Church of the New Jerusalem in eastern Massachusetts was greatly enjoyed on Sunday, July 23rd. We gathered from Swampscott, Quincy, Abington and Sharon, with guests from Philadelphia, making a group of ten. The beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. W. Harry Furry in Sharon was the place of meeting, and a regular service of worship was held. A sermon by the Rev. Harold C. Cranch was read by our host, and a question period was most informative. The Hammond organ, plus two such musicians as Mrs. John Scrimshaw and Mr. Furry, caused us to spend another delightful hour singing beloved chants and hymns.
     Following this, we all did justice to a delectable dinner served on the porch. Mere words cannot express our joy in meeting together, and we hope to continue our new friendships with subsequent meetings.
     GRACIE M. TUPPER

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     School. In the merry month of May our school put on one of the most tuneful and colorful operettas seen here in a long time. It was called Rumpelstiltskin. All three of our teachers can sing and they taught the children well, not only how to sing and act but also, what was most noticeable, how to work as team. They sang their hearts out. School closing time a month later saw four departing eighth graders, three boys and one girl, giving their final papers, all on religious subjects and each showing original thought and fine training. These students were James Carr, Charles Ebert 3rd, Larkin Smith, and Julie Stevens. Miss Edna Funk, who was leaving to marry Mr. Fred Schnarr, also said goodbye.
     One cannot go to a school play or to the closing exercises without being proud of our New Church school. It is orderly, efficient, and well led by our Academy trained teachers and minister; and, above all, the children are taught our religion. But as thrilled as we are to see this fine work being done, the Pittsburgh school is not without its problems; for it makes us sad to realize that not all the New Church children who live in the district are able to attend. Parents with growing families cannot find suitable homes within their means in this crowded area, with a result that a number have moved to the country where there are better living conditions for the children. In his annual report our head teacher, Mr. Carl Gunther, announced that four more children would drop out of the school next year for this reason. In Philadelphia the families move to Bryn Athyn, in Chicago to Glenview. Here we have to meet the problem as best we can; but face it we must, and with the Lord's help we will yet solve it.
     One important phase of education is being carried out here under the sponsorship of the main body of Theta Alpha. It is the religion lessons of the seventh grade children living at a distance from any church center. This year Gwendolyn Stevens and Marion Kendig wrote letters to forty students who are thus receiving religious training.

     Social and Personal. At our semi-annual meeting a resolution was passed unanimously to extend our affection to a dear friend and former teacher, Miss Celia Bellinger, who had been suddenly stricken with illness while visiting here. Later it was possible to move her to a nursing home near Bryn Athyn.
     Over Decoration Day about 87 of our people took to the hills for a weekend camp under the expert leadership of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Smith, both of whom know the mountains and know how to run a fine camp. They had over one hundred people to Sunday dinner, and the pastor held a service that same evening. As if that were not enough, it was the Smiths who also got up a picnic supper for young and old that was held on the church lawn, with movies being shown afterwards.

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     Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ebert came to Pittsburgh, where they had lived most of their lives, to celebrate with us their golden wedding anniversary. Fifty years ago the Rev. N. D. Pendleton married them in the old Wallingford Street church. Their marriage has been blessed with five children, all married and active in the church, and twelve grandchildren.
     Mr. Alexander P. Lindsay, one of our leading laymen, died after a long illness. An account of his career appears elsewhere in this issue [pp. 500-502]. Our former Pastor, the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, conducted the memorial service.

     Weddings. Last spring and summer we had no fewer than four showers for prospective brides, two weddings, and the golden wedding anniversary already mentioned. The first two showers were for Miss Lucy Jane Lindsay and Miss Edna Funk, both of whom were married in Bryn Athyn; the others were for Miss Nancy Williamson and Miss Patricia Coffin, whose weddings took place here.
     Miss Patricia Coffin and Mr. Paul Olsen were married on June 19th, our Pastor returning from the Assembly to perform the ceremony. The church was artistically decorated with red rambler roses, and there were only two attendants. As a number of our folk were away at the time, a shower-reception for the newly-weds was held at the Pastor's apartment the following week. There we had a chance to congratulate the couple with toasts and songs and to meet Mr. Olsen's family.
     In July our Pastor, the Rev. Bjorn Boyesen, officiated at the marriage of Miss Nancy Williamson to Mr. Lawrence Mitten. The church had been decorated with gorgeous bouquets of white flowers and with candles, so arranged as to bring into focus the altar and the Word. Nancy had six bridesmaids, and the bridegroom's brother was best man. Marion Kendig played special organ selections. After the wedding we were invited to attend a reception at the bride's home. There we had toasts and songs, and Mr. Boyesen gave a fine talk on the wonders of conjugial love.

     Summer Services. While our Pastor was on vacation we enjoyed the services of Mr. Frederick L. Schnarr, an Authorized Candidate for the priesthood. At one service the Holy Supper was administered by the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton, his first celebration of the Communion after his ordination into the pastoral degree.
     LUCILE S. BLAIR

     LONDON, ENGLAND

     New Church Day. Absent on this day, your reporter received this report of rather unique Proceedings from Mr. Robert Bruell, the master of ceremonies New Church Day was celebrated at Michael Church, London, on Sunday, June 20th. Our Pastor, the Rev. Morley D. Rich, was in Bryn Athyn attending the General Assembly at the time, and service in the morning was conducted by the Rev. Alan Gill, who administered the Holy Supper.
     After an excellent lunch served by the ladies of the catering committee we were introduced to the toastmaster for the afternoon who, to our surprise and pleasure, was the Rev. Morley Rich, who officiated by means of our tape-recording machine. In proposing toast to the Church, Mr. Rich spoke of the inspiration received from attending a General Assembly and of June 19th as the day on which the Lord instituted the crown of all the churches. And in reflecting on the many men and women who had received the good tidings since the first Nineteenth of June he remarked that in every case a particular combination of circumstances and of doctrines or truths had brought each individual into the church.
     In order to consider these different circumstances, four speakers were asked to describe how they came to accept the truths of the church. These speakers were: Mr. Reginald Law, who came into the church in adult life; Mr. Gordon Clennell, who although born of New Church parents received no formal education in the church; Mrs. Rosalie Bruell, who was born and educated in the church; and the Rev. Morley Rich himself, who was born and educated in another body of the New Church and changed in adult life to the General Church. The four addresses were most stimulation, and the program was concluded with a toast to the Academy and the singing of hymn no. 53: "The Lord God Jesus Christ Doth Reign."

     Annual Meeting. The Secretary, Mr. Stanley Wainscot, referred to the steady progress maintained by the Society.

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As well as increased activity there has been further revision of responsibilities. A pleasing feature is the firm adjustment to useful changes. In particular there appears to be renewed regard for those uses which serve continuity in the life of a society, such as general upkeep, New Church education, and evangelization. The opening of a lease termination fund was also noted. Finally, our energies are being eagerly directed toward the 1956 General Assembly. As observed by Mr. Wainscot, the Society has responded well to the zealous and sympathetic leadership of the Rev. Morley D. Rich.
     The Pastor, in his report, made special mention of various improvements which had been made to the church furnishings. Every section of the Society had actively contributed to this work. Mr. Rich also stressed the value of the extensive work undertaken by the young people under Mr. Geoffrey Dawson. Their program of carrying out repairs to the church is likely to make demands upon them for some time, but their efforts have already restored a professional look of respectability to the fabric. Two other points of note in this report were the gain in resident membership and the substantial increase of L107 in the overall financial support of the Society.

     Young People's Weekend. The young people, including several from Colchester, were once more offered the hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Alan Waters home at Hornchurch. At a Friday evening gathering instruction was received from the Rev. Morley Rich on the subject of evangelization. Saturday was "out and about day," and concluded with a lively social evening. After Sunday service at Michael Church, twenty eight young people sat down to a provided lunch. Later, Mr. Geoffrey Lawson spoke on the subject of the spiritual and natural origins of colors. Mr. Robert Bruell spoke on the theme of music in worship. This was also an occasion to address a few words of farewell to Mr. Rich prior to his departure for Bryn Athyn, and they included a special message for the young people there.

     Miscellaneous. In this period we recall a sermon by a visiting minister, the Rev. Frank S. Rose, the text being Matthew 6:25. It was shown that there is a conflict in the minds of men between the idea that they must take responsibility for their own actions and the warning that they should take no thought. The context points to where man's responsibility really lies, namely, in seeking first the kingdom of God; and where this is truly sought, it is seen that true faith and the heavenly state are added unto man, as it were unsought, and as the Lord's work.
     Led by the Pastor, the series of classes on the doctrine of use concluded with the study of heavenly employments and uses, the uses and tasks of hell, and, relatively, the uses of men to angels, spirits, and devils. The interdependence of these uses was illustrated, and it was shown that the lower is always made to serve the higher under the Lord's government. Thus is man saved from self-destruction, and is led from the compulsion of evil into the extense of freedom.
     We are pleased to announce membership in the General Church and in Michael Church for Miss Joan Adams, who comes from Johannesburg, and Mr. Frank F. Coulson who is already well known within the Church. A visit was recently paid by Mr. Forrest Dristy of Gorand Rapids, South Dakota, who was on his way back to the United States after a year spent in Australia. Before these notes appear we will have lost the charming company of Teddy and Bruce Pitcairn. We wish them a happy continuance of homemaking. Also we note with pleasure that Miss Beryl Howard is back with us, thus helping to maintain the link with Bryn Athyn as well as adding to the youthful influence within the society.

     A Reunion. On Sunday afternoon, July 18th, the Society assembled to welcome the Rev. and Mrs. Morley Rich on their return from Bryn Athyn. Luncheon was barely over when Mr. Rich received a long distance call from Thurloxton, Somerset, where Mr. and Mrs. Percy Dawson and over twenty-five others were making Open Road arrangements. It was necessary to assure them that theirs was not the larger gathering! Mr. Rich then gave us his report on the visit to Bryn Athyn for the Assembly, mentioning that on the outward voyage he was asked to conduct service.

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Our attention was then switched most realistically to the Bryn Athyn scene; for after a description of the fine Assembly organization and proceedings, the Assembly banquet itself was brought within our walls on the tape-recorder. We heard the toastmaster, the three speakers, and then the remarks of Bishop De Charms rounding off another distinctive General Church Assembly. For us these closing remarks also rounded off a distinctive way of welcoming back Mr. and Mrs. Rich. Here we might add that it was rumored that our Pastor enjoyed a rest on the way back, but it is already evident that his program of duty was launched before the ship docked.
     COLIN M. GREENHALGH

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Convention. The Rev. Leslie Marshall was succeeded by the Rev. Bjorn Johannson as editor of the NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER last month. Mr. Johannson, a former school teacher, has been connected with various newspapers, and has served in many of Convention's departments as well as filling pastorates in this country and in Denmark. He is at present pastor of the Convention Society in Cincinnati, Ohio.
     As already announced in these columns, Rev. Dr. Leonard I. Tafel has succeeded Mr. Marshall as secretary of the Board of Missions. He has also assumed operation of the Bible Study School. The Rev. William R. Woofenden has become editor and publisher of the national parish paper YOUR CHURCH, the Swedenborg Fellowship will probably be directed by Mr. F. Gardiner Ferry, and the Swedenborg Press is to be conducted by Mr. Wesley S. Strang. All of these were under the charge of Mr. Marshall, who will continue his work for the Swedenborg Foundation and some of his other activities at St. Petersburg, Florida.

     General Conference. At the annual meeting of the General Conference, held at Anerley, London, the Rev. Wynford G. Whittaker was inaugurated as president. The retiring president, the Rev. H. B. Newall, who pleaded in his address for more resolute work among young people, was elected vice-president, and the Rev. C. H. Presland was reappointed secretary.
     In his annual report the secretary noted that there had again been a decrease in membership and attendance, though less than for the last few years, and that the Queen's Park, Glasgow, Society had closed its doors. A motion asking for a committee to study the history of the past seventy years in an endeavor to find out the causes for decline and to try to suggest a remedy was discussed at some length and defeated. Work among the young people was also discussed at length, but while it was agreed that something is lacking there were differences of opinion as to what should be done to strengthen this phase of the Conference's work.
     The Ministerial Advisory Council's report on Minute 155 of the last annual meeting led to long and animated discussion. The Council had been instructed to consider the orderly use of laymen in societies of the church not having a resident minister. Its report declared that no orderly way could be found in which men might serve as lay pastors of societies and that unqualified men should not conduct services; but suggested that men might serve as readers, reading sermons prepared by ministers, and then further qualify themselves as lay preachers by preparing for and passing an examination in scripture, doctrine, and preaching. An amendment directing the report to be sent to the Conference Council with a request that rules be formulated regulating the use of lay preachers was adopted.
     The Conference service was marked by six ordinations, one into the ministry and five as leaders. The Rev. Clifford Harley was the Conference preacher and his subject was "The Sacrificial Church."

     South Africa. From the NEW-CHURCH HERALD we learn that the Rev. Obed Mooki, secretary of the New-Church (Conference) Mission in South Africa, was invited to attend an Internation Summer School at Caux in Switzerland last summer. Mr. Mooki is president of the Location Advisory Boards Congress, one of the most influential positions open to an African in his own country.

     THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

     Enrollment for 1954-1955

     Theological School      5
     College                58
     Boys' Academy           67
     Girls' Seminary           68
                          198
     Enrollment figures for local schools have not all been received and will be published next month.

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CHARTER DAY 1954

              1954




     Announcements.
     All ex-students of the Academy of the New Church, and their wives or husbands, are cordially invited to attend the Charter Day Exercises, to be held in Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Friday and Saturday, October 15 and 16, 1954. THE PROGRAM:
     Friday, 11 a.m.-Cathedral Service, with an address by the Rev. Martin Pryke.
Friday Afternoon.-Football Game.
Friday Evening.-Dance.
Saturday, 7 p.m.-A Banquet in the Assembly Hall. Toastmaster, the Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton.
     Arrangements will be made for the entertainment of guests if they will write to Mrs. V. W. Rennels, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
CORRECTION 1954

CORRECTION       Editor       1954

     The name of Jeffrey Paul Bellinger, son of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh Roger Bellinger (Marion Joyce Schnarr), whose baptism was announced in our issue for May, 1954, p. 254, was wrongly reported as Jeffery.
NEW SOCIETIES RECOGNIZED 1954

NEW SOCIETIES RECOGNIZED              1954

     On September 11, 1954, the Washington and Baltimore Circles were formally recognized by Bishop De Charms as the Washington (D. C.) and Baltimore (Maryland) Societies of the General Church of the New Jerusalem under the pastoral care of the Rev. Dandridge Pendleton.
     In making this announcement, and in expressing the good wishes of the entire General Church for the future development of the two societies which it warmly welcomes, we would remind our readers that the Detroit Society was formally recognized only last April. 1954 therefore goes down in our annals as a year made unique by the addition of three new names to the list of Societies of the General Church.

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FORTY-FIRST BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1954

FORTY-FIRST BRITISH ASSEMBLY       MORLEY D. RICH       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. LXXIV      NOVEMBER, 1954          No. 11
     COLCHESTER, JULY 31-AUGUST 2, 1954

     Inspiration, plus a sense of quiet enjoyment and accomplishment, largely composed the atmosphere of this British Assembly. Presided over by the Rev. Alan Gill, this Assembly also had the pleasure of hearing an address from him for the first time in the past few years. And it was a delight and benefit to hear a sermon and an address from the Rev. Erik Sandstrom, guest of the Assembly and recently chosen pastor of the Stockholm Society.
     It was also inspiring to note that in the two years which have elapsed since the last report of a British Assembly appeared in these pages a number of things have been accomplished which will be told about later in: this report, namely, in regard to the British Academy, the 1956 General Assembly, and the Open Road. For the sake of added interest and variety this account is divided into four sections according to content: Worship, Instruction, Civil Affairs, and Social Life.

     Worship. Some 180 people took part in the Assembly Service on Sunday morning, August 1st. The Rev. Erik Sandstrom took as the text of his sermon Luke 11:2, "Teach us to pray;" and in a quietly effective and affecting manner set forth the principles and practices of prayer, especially of the Lord's Prayer.
     In the afternoon the Holy Supper was administered to 109 communicants. The Rev. Alan Gill acted as celebrant and was assisted by the Rev. Morley D. Rich and the Rev. Frank S. Rose.
     As is customary, each of the regular sessions of the Assembly was opened with a short service of worship. Much was added to each of the services by the good singing of the congregation, the fine organ playing and accompaniment of Mrs. John Cooper, and the graceful and striking flower arrangements of Mrs. Owen Pryke.

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     Instruction. Curiously enough, the order in which the subjects of the addresses were given was the reverse of that in which the things they dealt with occur in man's regeneration; for these subjects, in the order in which they were given, were: "Obedience," "Spiritual Faith and Natural Confirmation," and "Temptation"; and it is through temptation that spiritual faith is born, and only when spiritual faith is present with man that he can be in true obedience. We are, however, saved as to our chronology by the fact that the subjects came in the order of their importance and degree!
     At the First Session, on Saturday evening, the Rev. Alan Gill delivered his address on "Obedience." In instructive style, the paper was addressed to the truth that genuine obedience is obedience to Divine Law alone, and it traced the close relationship and correspondence between the ear and obedience; bringing forth such intriguing points as that, although the word "obey" is used frequently in the Old Testament, it occurs but once or twice in the New. The several speakers who responded to the address brought forth such contributory ideas as that obedience is not a set of acts according to an exact prescription of outward behavior, that its real spirit consists in a love of the Divine law and a desire that it shall enter into one's life, and that after His advent the Lord therefore taught men to obey Him from love and not from fear.
     On Sunday evening, at the Second Session, we were privileged to hear from our guest speaker. The Rev. Erik Sandstrom addressed himself in philosophic style to the subject "Spiritual Faith and Natural Confirmation," bringing forth the truth that the eye is the organ of sight and corresponds to the understanding and to faith, just as the ear is the organ of hearing and corresponds to the will and to obedience. The understanding exists as a faculty by which a man may see whether a thing is true, but spiritual faith is an internal acknowledgment of what is true. As with the first address, there were several expressions of appreciation; and in addition, a number of questions were asked which were satisfyingly answered by Mr. Sandstrom at the end of the discussion.
     The Third Session, on Monday morning, was addressed by the Rev. Frank S. Rose in his penetrating style on "Temptation." This address was principally descriptive of the temptations of the understanding and those of the will, illustrating and confirming the truth that the higher and greater the love, the more grievous are the temptations that a man incurs, and clearly stating that where there is little or no love there can be little or no temptation. A lively discussion ensued and a number of questions were asked, partly, perhaps, because, as one speaker remarked, both subject and treatment seemed as if addressed to each and every individual.

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In his remarks at the close of the discussion, Mr. Rose brought out that the reason for temptations is that the Lord may rule in man.

     Civil Affairs. British Finance Committee. Among other items, the chairman, the Rev. Alan Gill, reported the Committee's consideration of enlarging the British NEWS-LETTER, financial matters in regard to the British Academy, and the purchase of another and better car for the Visiting Pastor, the Rev. Frank S. Rose. Appreciation and approval of both the chairman's report and the report of the treasurer, Mr. Colley Pryke, were voiced, unanimously passed, and minuted. The appointments to the British Finance Committee of Messrs. Harold C. Jones and John Posthuma by Bishop De Charms were ratified by the meeting, and Messrs. A. J. Appleton and A. S. Wainscot were reelected as auditors.
     Fortieth British Assembly. The Minutes of this Assembly, held in London last year and presided over by Bishop De Charms, were presented by the Rev. Alan Gill, who acted as Secretary for that Assembly. It was resolved that these Minutes be approved and printed in the NEWS-LETTER.
     The British Academy. Information as to the activities of this body over the past year was presented by the Rev. Morley D. Rich, acting chairman. A more extensive account will be given elsewhere [see p. 537]. Here it may be remarked only that, as noted in former issues of NEW CHURCH LIFE, the British Academy is the direct result of a resolution carried unanimously at the Fortieth British Assembly in London.
     1956 General Assembly Committee. On behalf of this committee an informal announcement was made to the Assembly by the Rev. Morley D. Rich in which he said that those responsible had decided to omit the British Assembly next year in order that we might concentrate all our efforts and finances in this regard upon the General Assembly to come.
     British News-Letter. After giving a quantitative analysis of the contents of this publication for the past year, the Rev. Frank S. Rose said, as editor, that his effort is to increase the "newsy content," the doctrinal matter, and contributions from laymen.
     Visiting Pastor of the Open Road. Among other items, the Rev. Frank Rose showed that the 42 members of the General Church in his scattered congregation, plus 30 adult friends of the Church together with 5 young people and 23 children, "come to exactly 100 souls in the whole."

     Social Life. In opening the Assembly, the President welcomed the Rev. Erik Sandstrom as the guest of the Assembly, together with several other visitors from other countries: Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Lee; Mrs. Bruce Pitcairn; Messrs. Pers Hultgren and Leon Weiss; and the Misses Winyss Acton, Joan Adams, Joyce Bellinger, Beryl Howard, Vivian Kuhl, Mary Sandstrom and Senta Centervall.

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And although it may not belong here, it should be recorded that at one of our sessions, in response to public urging, Mr. Sydney E. Lee of Glenview, Illinois, spoke briefly and interestingly on some of the purposes of New Church education.
     Greetings to the Assembly from the Rev. and Mrs. A. Wynne Acton, the Rev. Martin Pryke, the Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth O. Stroh, and Mr. and Mrs. Reginald Law mere also read at our first meeting by the secretary.
     The Sunday Luncheon was the occasion for an innovation. for we had toasts and speeches, with Mr. Geoffrey Dawson as toastmaster. Mr. Thomas Sharp proposed the toast to "The Church" Mr. Colin Colebrooke proposed the toast to "Assemblies"; and Mr Jack Waters toasted "The Visitors." A number of informal toasts followed-to the British Academy, to the Swedish contingent, and to Mr. Brian Appleton and his committee for the Assembly.
     The Assembly Social, held in the ballroom of the Red Lion Hotel on Monday evening, was an undoubted success. Lancing was interspersed with a number of most entertaining skits and dances by the Colchester members, some songs rendered by the Rev. Erik Sandstrom, a delicious and wholesome supper, and a number of songs and short leasts.
     After-meetings hospitality at the various homes of the Colchester Society was in the usual manner and of the usual standard.
     Attendance. Attendances at the Assembly were:

Regular Sessions: 117 (average for the three sessions)
Assembly Service: 178
Communicants: 109
Assembly Social: 130
     MORLEY D. RICH,
          Secretary.

     New Church Club. On the Friday evening preceding the Assembly, the New Church Club greatly enjoyed and benefitted from an address by Mr. Sydney E. Lee on "Swedenborg's Key," in which the speaker illustrated the necessity of philosophy to religion.

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OBEDIENCE 1954

OBEDIENCE       Rev. ALAN GILL       1954

     (Presidential Address at the Forty-first British Assembly, Colchester, July 31, 1954.)

     In his address to the recent General Assembly in Bryn Athyn, Bishop De Charms, speaking on the subject of "The General Church, Its Uses and Its Needs," said: "Our Assembly has a threefold purpose: to increase our faith, to strengthen the life of the church with each one of us, and to promote its growth wherever it may find receptive soil in the minds and hearts of men. It is true, indeed, that no one but the Lord Himself can do any of these things. But it is equally true that they cannot be done, even by the Lord, except so far as men desire them, consciously seek them, and persistently labor for their achievement. We gather, therefore, to ask Divine help, inspiration, and guidance in the performance of our part in this work. . . . We believe that in [the Writings] the Lord Himself speaks to men directly, that from His own Divine wisdom He may teach them in the way of everlasting life. In humility of spirit we would hearken to His words, striving continually for a deeper and truer understanding of them. We would accept them as the Divine law that is to govern all things of our life, believing that only as we obey this law can the Lord Himself build His church within us." [Italics added]
     Whilst the foregoing was introductory to a consideration of the uses and needs of the General Church, as a statement of the faith of this our body of the organized New Church it serves well-especially the latter part of it-to introduce the subject chosen for this occasion.
     As the Bishop said, we accept the Writings-as well as the Old and New Testaments of the Word, of course-"as the Divine law that is to govern all things of our life, believing that only as we obey this law can the Lord Himself build His church within us."
     If this be true, which we do not doubt, then the subject of obedience becomes one of paramount importance. Moreover, so much is said about it in the Writings and also in the Scriptures, but there especially in the Old Testament, that from these considerations alone it is manifestly a matter of vital concern. And although the Divine teachings on this subject have been expounded before, and by no means infrequently, that very fact indicates that the subject, whilst not abstruse, is not such a simple or elementary one as might possibly be supposed.

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Indeed, volumes could usefully be written on its place in life, its many aspects and implications; and we can, and should, learn more about it to all eternity. For who in his right mind, and however well indoctrinated, would ever claim to have a perfectly clear understanding of the Divine truth concerning this subject, even though it would hardly be classed as an obscure one! Perhaps nothing new will be presented. Even so, we believe the time opportune to present a consideration of the matter. For he who does not regard actual obedience to Divine law as of paramount concern in his life is in faith alone-the widespread dogma of the world today, and an ever-present threat to every church, not excluding the New Jerusalem.

     To begin with, then, we might ask ourselves the question: Just what place should obedience hold in our lives, that is, in the life of the adult member of the church? For we do not propose at this time to treat of the obedience of childhood.
     It is a question the true answer to which, important as it manifestly is, might well be none too clear in our minds, if only because of the appearance of disagreement between our various findings when seeking the truth on the subject. For instance, why is it that although obedience is commanded repeatedly in the Old Testament, nowhere is it enjoined by the use of that term in the New Testament of the Word! Does this fact have important significance which we should note and remember?
     It is nowhere said, either in the English or in the original Greek, that the Lord when on earth called upon His disciples or others to "obey" His voice, as He did formerly through Moses and the prophets. Astonishment is recorded that the wind and the sea and also unclean spirits "obeyed" His command. Moreover, the Lord told His disciples that if they had faith as a grain of mustard seed they might say to that sycamine tree, "Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea," and it should obey them. But nowhere is He said to have commanded His hearers to "obey" Him.
     This would seem to be significant, especially if coupled with the fact that the word quite correctly translated "obey" in these few places in the Authorized Version of the New Testament Word is [symbol], from the preposition [symbol], under, and the verb [symbol], to heal; thus to obey in the sense of hearkening submissively. The implication might be drawn that whereas the Lord required submissive obedience of the Jews because they constituted a representative of a church, whose maintenance depended upon a precise enactment of the laws given by Him through Moses, such obedience was no longer needed or required when the Lord established the Christian Church.
     Up to a point this conclusion would be true.

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Since the Lord came into the world He has not required the same Kind of obedience from men as that spoken of in the literal sense of the pre-advent Word. This is borne out by the many teachings of the Writings in which "simple obedience," or merely external submissiveness to Divine laws, is shown to be no Christian or spiritual virtue (AC 4654, 4655), but only natural. "Obedience alone is a natural affection and not spiritual" (AE 695:10). "They are of the external church who do what is good to the neighbor and worship the Lord merely from the obedience of faith" (AC 8762). He who "does good from obedience only and not from the affection which is of love cannot be regenerated, as can those who are in the good of charity, that is, who do good from the affection of love. They can indeed be reformed, but not regenerated" (AC 8974, cf. 8762). We are also told that such are in the Lord's kingdom; but as they do not do good from good but from truth, that is, not from a new will but from the intellectual, and thus not from love but from obedience because it is so commanded, they are therefore among those in the Lord's kingdom who are in the first or ultimate heaven (AC 6396). Consequently, we are also told: "The feet correspond to the . . . good of obedience, which is the good of the ultimate heaven" (AC 10,087). And "there are some who perform works of charity from obedience alone, that is, because it is so commanded by the Lord, and yet are not regenerate. These, if they do not place righteousness in their works, are regenerated in the other life" (AC 989); that is, as is clearly shown in so many other places, if also they come into an affection of good, and not otherwise. For "they who do what is good from the obedience of faith and not from the affection of charity . . . in the other life can never be brought to a state of good, that is, to act from good. . . . They who during their life in the world have become habituated to doing what is good from obedience only, and not from charity, remain such to eternity. They are indeed perfected in respect to obedience; but they do not attain to anything of charity" (AC 8991; cf. AC 8990:2, Char, 210).

     Nevertheless, there is the element of obedience and even of submissiveness in the higher states and heavens, yea, even in the highest heaven! Indeed, so needful is this element that where it is not there is no heaven. Advancement into the good of charity, that is, into the state wherein good is done from the affection of love, does not mean progression into a state in which there is not submissive obedience to the Lord and His law.
     That this is the case is evident from the Lord's teachings at His first advent, when, although He did not command "obedience" by that term, as was said, He nevertheless did enjoin it continually, by implication if not specifically, and by other terms; as is clear from His words: "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John 13:17).

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Then, of course, He spoke of the need of doing the will of the Father, or of God; of doing whatsoever He Himself commanded; of keeping His commandments-this repeatedly; of hearing the Word of God, keeping it, and doing it; of hearing His sayings and keeping them; of hearing His voice, and following Him. He manifestly meant obedience when He said: "Hearken unto Me every one of you, and understand." And how many times did not the Lord say Himself, and also by John in the Apocalypse-which book is prophetic of the New Church: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear;" where again the injunction to hear manifestly means to obey. [Italics in quotations added]
     Though well known, it is one of those most interesting and instructive things worthy of note, and stressed in the Writings, that "in common speech to 'give ear to anyone' is to be obedient, and to 'hearken to the voice' is to obey" (AC 4653); and the reason given is "that what is heard passes into the internal sight which is the understanding; and it is there laid hold of by the will, and passes as by a circuit [or through a circle] into act. Hence in the word 'hear' there is from nature the signification of obedience, when we speak of 'hearing' or 'hearkening to' anyone" (AC 8361). [Italics added] The origin of these expressions, with their connotation, is also explained, namely, that they "flowed down into human language out of the spiritual world where man's spirit is" (AE 14).
     Hence, then, it is that to hear, hearken to, give ear to, and other expressions which refer to hearing and its sensory organ, are used so very frequently in both the Old and New Testaments to convey the idea of obeying. Indeed, wherever the word "obey" occurs in either Testament of the Word, the original Hebrew or Greek words so translated are found to be some form of [Hebrew] or [Hebrew]; both meaning "to hear," but specifically to listen, to attend to, to give heed to, to render obedience.

     Perhaps the most important thing we can know about obedience and the acquisition of the ability to obey what we well know to be true and good is to be learned from the correspondence that exists between physical hearing and obedience.
     Physical hearing, in the form of a bodily function and its activities, is the act of receiving, as it were grasping sound, and transmitting it to the sensory. Moreover, whatever is heard, when it enters the common sensory, is presented objectively before the mind's eye, and so brought within the purview of the understanding (AC 3869; AR 356, 460). In other words, it is the function of the ear to convey to one's common sensory what is said by another in order that it may be perceived what the other is thinking, by this means to transfer the thought of one to the thought of another, then from the thought into the will, and lastly from the will into act (AC 5017).

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Thus the proper function of the ear is to cause what is said or commanded to be obeyed or done, not simply to hear it. And with the man who is in order, the ear does effect this; just as "the spirits and angels who correspond to the ear, or to the sense of hearing, are not only apperceptions but also obediences, because the one involves the other" (AC 5017).
     Consider the organ itself, its form. The conformation of the external ear is such as to enable it to collect the sound vibrations of the air; to focus or direct them into the tube of the ear; and by means of the tympanum and the little bones of the middle ear to convey them thence into the cochlea and semicircular canals of the internal ear, in which the auditory nerve is branched into innumerable filaments, and through the labyrinthine passages of which they are thus eventually carried to the common sensory. Nor is this all. For thus introduced into the common sensory, the sounds, as was said, are submitted to the sight of the understanding, which "sees" or visualizes what has been heard.
     But the point we wish to draw attention to is that the whole use of the external or physical form of the ear is that of focusing or concentrating the movements of the air; and that likewise, or correspondently, this use is seen in the internal form of the sense of hearing-the form or plane of obedience. This is the plane of reception of the influx of the thought of spirits. In other words, it is the plane for the entrance into the common sensory of things from the spiritual world; for in the other world thought is speech, and when the thought of spirits inflows with man, or when they think into man, "they speak into the internal of his ear, and this meets and is drawn together with what he hears from without. . . . Hence it may appear how those things which flow in from the interior, and those which [enter] from the exterior, concentrate themselves in the ear" (SD 3130, 3131. See also AC 9311, 10,450). [Italics added]
     Hearing or hearkening, as involving obedience, like the bodily ear itself, concentrates what is heard from without and what is heard from within also; and, thus concentrated, the things heard, together with their affections, are brought under the view of the understanding, in order that they may be prepared for conjunction and come into act. Affirmative hearkening to the truth with a view to obeying it-this alone opens the mind and the heart to the reception of the influx of the heavenly life.
     Perhaps thought along these lines will help us to appreciate why the province of the ear in the spiritual world is declared to be in the axis of heaven! It is an arresting statement, and surely there can be no more crucial teaching on "obedience" than this in the whole of the Writings. Note exactly what is said: "Those in the spiritual world who are in the province of the ear are forms of obedience [or, are obediences] from perception, and the province of the ear is in the axis of heaven; and therefore into it, or into those who are there, flows the whole spiritual world with the perception that the thing commanded is to be done, for this is the reigning perception in heaven; hence it is that those who are in that province are obediences from perception" (AE 14).

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     The province of the ear is in the axis of heaven; and this axis-as is clear from what is said further in the number, and also in Heaven and Hell, to which reference is made-is in the third or celestial heaven, where the angels "are perfected in wisdom by hearing and not by seeing" (HH 271), and where they are in the innocence of wisdom above others; for they wish to be led by the Lord and not by themselves, they love everything that is good and find delight in everything that is true, and also will and do it, which is loving the Lord (ibid. 278).
     From this we see that heavenly obedience makes one with angelic innocence, which is a willingness, a desire, to be led by the Lord (HH 281), which is that in which heaven is stored up in man (ibid. 276), and is that without which an angel is not an angel of heaven (ibid. 281). In other words, obedience from perception that the thing commanded by the Lord is to be done, which is the reigning perception in heaven; this obedience which springs from that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, and which alone leads to a love of Him; this "obedience of innocence"-if such a phrase may be rightly coined and used-s that state or plane into which all that is spiritual, regenerative, and heavenly flows. Such obedience is the only means of opening the mind to heaven and the Lord. It includes all other means. The celestial angels receive their wisdom by hearing. What they hear they do. Their doing is obedience in its highest form-a concentration of the whole will and all their thought; for with them perceiving, willing, and doing are one. It is for these reasons that "the province of the ear is in the axis of heaven, and into [that province] . . . the whole spiritual world flows with the perception that the thing commanded is to be done." In other words, as what is heard takes form in the mind and becomes an axis on which the mind turns, in so far as it is hearkened to or obeyed from love, so also heaven itself, and whatever is heavenly, revolves and turns upon the axis of loving obedience to the Lord, upon obedience which is of the innocence of wisdom.

     We read in the Apocalypse: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein" (1:3). This "signifies the communion of those with the angels of heaven who live according to the doctrine of the New Jerusalem.

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By 'blessed' is here meant he who as to his spirit is in heaven, and who thus, while he is living in the world, is in communion with the angels of heaven; for as to his spirit he is in heaven. By 'the words of this prophecy' nothing else is meant but the doctrine of the New Jerusalem. By 'reading, hearing, and keeping those things which are written therein' is signified to wish to know that doctrine, to attend to the things that are in it, and to do the things which are in it; in fine, to live according to it. It is manifest that those are not blessed who only read, hear, and keep or preserve in the memory, the things that were seen by John" (AR 8).
     May we one and all be inspired by the spiritual truths which will be heard at this Assembly, and by the spirit and sphere of mutual love and love to the Lord which we trust will prevail, not merely to hear and store in the memory the things heard, but to wish to know the Heavenly Doctrine, to attend to the things that are in it and from it, and to do those things, in fine, to obey or live according to them. And may our church ever be, not only a reading church, but also a hearing or obedient church. For "if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."
CHARITY IN MAGISTRATES 1954

CHARITY IN MAGISTRATES              1954

     "By magistrates are meant the highest functionaries in kingdoms, commonwealths, provinces, cities, and societies, who have jurisdiction over them in civil affairs. Each one of them in his own place, if he looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, and sincerely, justly, and faithfully performs the work of his exalted office, does the good of use to the community and the individuals in the community continually and becomes charity in form. And this he does when he is influenced by an affection for the good of the subjects or citizens; and when he is so influenced, he is moved, in common with men that are wise and fear God, to establish useful laws, to see that they are observed, and especially to live under them; and also to appoint intelligent and at the same time benevolent officers under him over the people, through whom, under his supervision, judgment and justice shall reign, and continually effect the good of the community. He will regard himself as highest in the order of those that serve others; and thus not as the head, for the head leads all things of its body from love and wisdom in itself, and the Lord alone is love and wisdom in itself; by whom he too will be led as a servant" (Doctrine of Charity 161).

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JEWISH FEASTS 1954

JEWISH FEASTS       Rev. MARTIN PRYKE       1954

     "Three times a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose . . . and they shall not appear before the Lord empty. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee." (Deuteronomy (16:16, 17)

     Among all the many ceremonials of the Jewish Church, three annual feasts stand out as being their principal religious observances. "Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread . . . and the feast of harvest . . . and the feast of ingathering" (Exodus 23:15, 16). "Three times a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose." Within the framework of these three solemn festivals the remainder of the Jewish observances was fitted.
     The first of these feasts was the Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was celebrated in the first month of the Jewish year to commemorate their miraculous deliverance from the Egyptians. On this occasion they remembered the slaying of the Egyptian firstborn and the preservation of their own when the angel of death passed over their houses. They remembered their hasty journey and the crossing of the Red Sea, with the destruction of their pursuing oppressors. The feast consisted of a common meal, eaten under similar conditions to those of the first occasion at the flight from Egypt, and it was followed by six days during which they were permitted to eat no leavened bread.
     The second annual feast took place exactly fifty days after the Passover, and so came to be called later "Pentecost" from the Greek word which means "fifty." But it was originally known as the Feast of Harvest, or the Feast of Weeks-seven weeks from the day following the Passover. This festival celebrated the beginning of the wheat harvest. "And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest. . . . The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God" (Exodus 34:22, 26). Later the Jews associated this feast with the giving of the law on Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after the deliverance from Egypt, although there is no Scriptural reference to this having been done on that day.

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     The third feast, which was the most joyous of all-called sometimes the "Great Hosanna"-was the Feast of Ingathering, or the Feast of Tabernacles. This occurred in the seventh month, when all the grain and fruits had been brought in from the fields, and so was a feast of rejoicing on account of the crops gathered in and stored away for the winter. But in addition, this feast commemorated the safe dwelling in tents by the Israelites during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. A part of the celebration was the construction of booths of branches to serve reminder of those days when they were safely led by the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. "Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; and all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths; that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 23:39-43).
     We can clearly see the complete series in these three feasts ordained for the Jewish Church. On the one hand, there is the commemoration of the deliverance from Egypt, of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, and of the safe dwelling in tents during the forty years in the wilderness. On the other hand, there is the Passover coming at the beginning of the year, representative of a new state; then the Feast of Harvest in celebration of the firstfruits; and finally the Feast of Ingathering to celebrate the completion of all the harvest in preparation for the approaching winter.

     In addition to these more obvious series, which can be readily drawn from the letter of the Word, there are other, more interior series which can be drawn only from the spiritual sense of the Word as it is now revealed in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. Of these latter series, the two primary ones are concerned with the means whereby the Human of the Lord was glorified, was made Divine, and with the means whereby man is regenerated, or born anew. It is to the second of these that we now direct our thoughts.
     The three feasts of the Passover, Harvest, and Ingathering signify the three principal steps through which a man must pass in order that he may be prepared for eternal life. These are the three degrees of that slow process which is a gradual path from evil to good, from earth to heaven.
     The deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt was the beginning of their entry into Canaan, and so the feast which celebrated that event signifies the beginning of man's regeneration, which will bring him to the promised land. The first step in regeneration, here signified, is the removal of falsity. It is falsity which stands first in the way of man when he seeks, as if from himself, to turn from the inherited evil which is his to the good which is given him from God.

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Purification from falsity is signified by the unleavened bread which they were to eat at this time-bread unadulterated. So must our understanding be cleared of those falsities which we are prone to cherish because they excuse and justify our evil loves. They must be cast out of our lives, even as the Jews had to cast all leaven out of their houses. For as long as these falsities which justify remain, we can take no steps to cast out the evil itself. Indeed often, even to ourselves, the evil does not appear because it has been excused by the juggling of excusatory falsities. Hence it is manifestly our duty, in order that we may start on the path of regeneration, to put our ideas and ideals to the touchstone of Divine revelation. We can see our concepts, our preconceptions, for what they really are only in the light of the Word; and then they can be weighed and valued, and all that is unworthy and useless can be rejected.
     Now, we know that although all men are born with an inherited tendency to evil, they are yet, during their early years, endowed with remains, or initial good affections, upon which the later good of life call be built. These remains come from childhood association with angels and from early learning from the Word. Thus, in His Divine Providence, the Lord grants that every child shall have a nucleus of good upon which his future life may be established. This serves to balance the inherited evil tendencies and so leaves the man in an equal balance, with perfect free will to choose between good and evil.
     When, in the first stage of regeneration, falsities are removed, it is then possible for truths to be implanted in the good which lies hidden in all men. Truth has no part in man unless it rests in good. In his memory it is but a borrowed thing; but when the good from remains takes that truth, delights in it and uses it, then the truth becomes a part of the man and is effective in him. The little of good which all have makes it possible for truth to be thus established, even before the love of evil has been eradicated. This implantation of truth in the good with man is the second stage of regeneration. From this truth the man begins to see more clearly the pattern which his life must follow. He sees the will of God and its meaning for him. The lamp is there to light him on his way. Then can he step forward to the final stage of regeneration which is the genuine loving of this truth, the application of it to his life.
     The second stage, the implantation of truth in the good which man has from remains, is signified by the Feast of Harvest, or the Feast of Weeks. The state of man at this time is that in which he acts from conscience rather than from affection. The orderly life has begun, but it is not yet complete. Therefore it is signified by the Feast of Harvest, when the firstfruits of the land were brought before the Lord.

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The second stage of regeneration is the firstfruit of the new life, but the final stage has yet to come.
     This final state is signified by the Feast of Ingathering, when all the crops had been brought into the barns. In this final state of regeneration the man acts from a love of what is good and true; he acknowledges the truth because it is true and for no ulterior reason; he loves the good because it serves the neighbor and the purposes of God; and these things he loves above himself and the world. But this final state is the result of an influx of good from the Lord from within, rather than from the man's own efforts. The man prepares the way as of himself, but it is the Lord alone who can do good. The final stage of regeneration is when the Lord flows into man with a new life, and drives man's evils to the circumference of his mind, that they may there rest dormant. This is, indeed, the "rebirth." A new, spiritual life is given to the man. He is born again. Then is the truth with man still further disposed, ordered, and illuminated from within. Then does the life of the Lord operate through all that he loves, thinks, and does; to make of him a new man, prepared for eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.
     Such is the complete picture of man's reformation and regeneration contained in the spiritual significance of the three principal feasts in the Jewish calendar. They were feasts of commemoration and thanksgiving. They commemorated the past blessings of the Lord in the deliverance from Egypt, the giving of the Decalogue, and the preservation in the wilderness; and they were occasions of thanksgiving for the blessings received each year, the firstfruits of the harvest and the ingathering of the crops. The Jews knew nothing of their spiritual significance whereby they were also feasts of thanksgiving on account of the blessings of regeneration.

     We do not celebrate these same feasts, for in a different dispensation different externals are necessary. But we do gather in the Lord's house once a year to offer our thanksgiving for His many blessings, both material and spiritual. We then remind ourselves that all that which is good is from the Lord alone, and that it is therefore to Him that we must render due thanks. At this time we may each well pause to number a few of the blessings which have been showered upon us; for normally we are prone to dwell rather upon those things which we regard as causes of hardship and suffering than upon those things for which we have to give humble thanks.
     Especially may we consider, from the teaching of our text, the supreme blessing of regeneration which is offered to every one of us. Gently, firmly, unfelt and yet known, the Lord would lead us, step by step, from the evils of our inheritance to the joys of His kingdom.

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What greater blessing is there for which we may utter a paean of thanksgiving! All other gifts, the material food and clothing and shelter of this world, the riches of the spirit which lift and carry us beyond our own sordid imaginings-these are simply means to the real Divine end and purpose. Everything of creation looks to the most blessed of all blessings, the road of regeneration and the city at the road's end which is the kingdom of God. For these opportunities, for these promises, we offer up our heartfelt thanksgiving.
     Such a thanksgiving is genuine only in so far as man himself makes a return in his daily life, as he proffers his thanksgiving offering. This he does by obedience to the commandments, and by love to the Lord and the neighbor. The appreciated gift is the gift used. We use the Lord's blessed gifts in a life of regeneration, and in doing so we hearken to the command given to the Israelites through Moses: "They shall not appear before the Lord empty. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee." Amen.

     LESSONS: Deuteronomy 16: -17. Matthew 14:13-21. AC 9296:2, 3.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 570, 441, 561.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 89, 109.
SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES 1954

SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES              1954

     GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS. Graded lessons and other material from Pre-school through Grade 11. Address inquiries to: Pastor-in-Charge, Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE Tape-recordings of services, sermons, doctrinal classes, children's services, etc. Address: General Church Sound Recording Committee, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH VISUAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Biblical and other slides. Address: Mr. William R. Cooper, Director, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     NEW CHURCH EDUCATION. Published by Religion Lessons Committee, monthly, September to June, inclusive. Subscription, $1.50. Editor: Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal.

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THANKSGIVING 1954

THANKSGIVING       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     A Talk to Children

     "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy is forever" (Psalm 107:1). In several places in the Psalms the Lord gives us these words to be used in worshiping Him. In most of your homes you say these words every day before beginning a meal, thanking the Lord for the food which He gives you. When you say those words, do you think of what you are saying, and mean it! Are you really thanking the Lord? You yourselves tell why you should thank Him when you say "for He is good." "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good." His goodness to you is that He gives you your food. If He did not give it, you would not have it. If He did not give it, you would starve. So, indeed, you should thank Him for His goodness to you.
     Why is the Lord so good to you! This you tell when you say "for His mercy is forever." Many things are meant by the Lord's mercy. First of all, it means His love. He is good to you, and gives you your food, because He loves you. Another meaning of His mercy is His pity. He gives you food because He pities you. He knows that you do not deserve the food, because in so many ways every day you do what is bad and wrong, and in so many ways break His commandments, especially when you disobey your parents or do what you know they would not want you to do. So you do not deserve that the Lord should give you food. But He pities you, and in His pity and kindness He gives it to you. So this is what the words, "for His mercy is forever," should mean for you.
     In your home the Lord is good to you and merciful not only in giving you your food. He gives you your clothes. He gives you your house. He gives you all the things that are in your house. But above all, He gives you your parents. Perhaps someone might think that we should say that the Lord gives you to your parents. That is true. But because that is true we can also say that the Lord gives your parents to you. And what a great goodness and mercy of the Lord this is! The Lord gives you parents, into whose hearts He puts a love for you. And your parents love for you is the Lord's love for you coming through your parents. They are in the Lord's place for you. And so for the Lord they provide you with food, clothes, and all that makes a happy home.

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And more than this, they teach you the things of the Lord's Word, and lead you to love and worship the Lord, so that you may grow up to be good men and women, and afterwards angels of heaven. So for everything of your home you should say: "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy is forever."
     On Thanksgiving Day each year we are to think, not only of the Lord's goodness and mercy to us in each of our homes, but also of His goodness to all people of the country in which we live. All the people of the country are asked to have a special day once a year for giving thanks to the Lord for His goodness to the country. This day comes in the autumn, when the things which are for food have been gathered in from the fields, orchards, vineyards, and gardens.
     Now these things which provide food for all the people of the country are given by the Lord. He also gives them everything else they need for comfort, protection, freedom, and peace. The Lord makes it to be so that a country is like a parent to its people. For this reason our country is often called the "fatherland," and sometimes also the "mother country." And our doctrines tell us that one meaning of the commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother," is that all should love their country; and that when those who have truly loved their country come into the other world they will then love the Lord's heavenly kingdom. So, thinking of all the good that the Lord in His mercy does to our country, we should say: "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy is forever."
     But great as should be our love of our country, there is a love that is greater still. This is love of the church. And for us this means love of the New Church. As the Lord gives food to the country, so does He give food to the church. But it is a higher kind of food. It is not food for the body but food for the mind and soul. It is food which, if we will receive it from Him, can make us to become angels of heaven. We receive this food from the Lord when we learn from His Word, and then do what we learn. This food the Lord gives because "His mercy is forever." He gives it in His love. Also He gives it in His pity. For He well knows that we do not deserve it. But when He sees that we are trying to live as He wishes us to live, then can He in His mercy give it. And always will He continue to give it, here and afterwards in heaven. And this is meant by the word "forever." "His mercy is forever."

     LESSON: Psalm 107:1-9.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 568, 562, 564.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. C10, C18.

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PEACE RIVER BLOCK DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1954

PEACE RIVER BLOCK DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       MARGERY M. ESAK       1954

     AUGUST 1, 1954

     Our Third Peace River Block District Assembly has come and gone, and our hopes for a "bigger and better" Assembly have become a reality! Shortly after 11 a.m., on August 1st, the members of our group began to gather-each one happy and enthusiastic, and eager to meet old friends and make new ones. We soon had a group of fifty gathered from Dawson Creek, Gorande Prairie, Lymburn, Calgary, Vancouver, and Robson. The total mileage for those attending the Assembly was 3,104 miles.
     At 11:30 the service of worship took place before an altar beautifully decorated with red roses and white gladioli. Other flower arrangements, placed at various points in the hall, gave a rich and satisfying sphere to the service. After the lessons, the sacrament of Baptism was administered, Kenneth and Allan Short, the small sons of Mr. and Mrs. James Short, being baptized into the New Church. The rest of the service then followed, and the music was supplied by our very able pianist, Mrs. Barrett. As the text of his sermon Mr. Franson had chosen Matthew 28:19.
     Shortly after the service we gathered round various small tables and were entertained at a delightful luncheon. Talk and laughter flowed freely and everyone felt perfectly at ease.
     After a short recess the business meeting was called to order with the Rev. Roy Franson as chairman. Mrs. Esak and Mrs. Shearer were reelected secretary and treasurer, respectively. It was unanimously decided to petition the Bishop to call an Assembly in Gorande Prairie in 1955.
     At 7 p.m. we gathered for the Assembly banquet, which certainly bore out its name. The U-shaped table, tastefully decorated with many and variegated bouquets of flowers, was beautifully appointed and bountifully spread with the "goodies" supplied by the ladies of Gorande Prairie and Dawson Creek. The blessing was asked by the Rev. John E. Zacharias of Vancouver, and Mr. James Short very ably performed the duties of toastmaster. After a toast to the Church, the toastmaster announced the subject for the evening, "I, the World, and the Church," and called upon Mr. Ed Lemky, Mr. William Esak, and the Rev. Roy Franson. Messages of good wishes and encouragement from the Rev. and Mrs. Karl R. Alden, the Rev. Harold C. Cranch, and the Kitchener Society were read. Impromptu speakers, Mr. Evens, Mr. Len Short, Mr. Letkeman, and Mr. Zacharias were then called upon, and all responded nobly.

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The speeches and messages were interspersed with group singing which was much enjoyed by all.
     A vote of thanks was given to the Rev. and Mrs. Roy Franson for their work with us and their encouragement to us in the past months. Also a vote of thanks was given to all who had helped in any way to make our Assembly a success.
     After this most enjoyable supper period everyone happily sang our Assembly song, "The Peace Block Forever," and we concluded by singing "Nearer My God to Thee."
     Thus ended our third annual Assembly, and the first with our very own minister. Again we hope for progress in the coming year, and for a still bigger and better Assembly in 1955.
     MARGERY M. ESAK,
CHARITY IN PUBLIC OFFICIALS 1954

CHARITY IN PUBLIC OFFICIALS              1954

     Secretary

     "By the officials under magistrates are meant those who are appointed by them over the people to perform various necessary and useful functions. Every one of them, if he looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, and sincerely, justly, and faithfully performs the work of his office, becomes charity in form, because he does the goods of use continually while in the performance of official duty, and also when not ill official duty; for then an affection for doing it is established in his mind, and an affection for doing the goods of use is charity in its life. Use affects him, and not honor except for the sake of use. There is a certain lesser general good under each official, according to the extent of his function, subordinate to the greater and greatest general good, which is that of the kingdom or commonwealth. An official who is charity, when he sincerely, justly, and faithfully does his work, consults the less general good which is that of his domain, and so the greater and the greatest. In other respects it is the same with the official as with the magistrate for whom he acts; with only the difference that there is between greater and less, wider and narrower, extension to uses in general and extension to uses in particular; and also that the one, as a servant, is dependent upon the other" (Doctrine of Charity, 162).

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BRITISH ACADEMY NEWS 1954

BRITISH ACADEMY NEWS       MORLEY D. RICH       1954

     As recounted in NEW CHURCH LIFE, January, 1954, pp. 25-29, the British Academy of the General Church was formed by resolution of the British Assembly in London, August 2, 1953.
     In the year which has gone by since that time the Academy has held three general meetings, all of which were largely preoccupied with discussion and decisions relating to the uses of the body, its relationship to the members of the Church, organization, legalities, and the possibilities of a secondary school.
     First of all, a committee was chosen to act as an executive committee in charge of legalities until such time as these were finally accomplished, and to exercise executive powers in the business of the general body [see NEW CHURCH LIFE, February, 1954, p. 76]. This committee met three times, consulting in the course of its business legal experts and others, with the result that it was decided to have the trustee system rather than full incorporation, the latter being both cumbersome and expensive. Accordingly, a Deed Poll of Appointment of the various members of the Academy was signed by Bishop De Charms. Following that, a Deed of Appointment of Trustees was executed, and four trustees were elected at the last meeting of the British Academy, held on the afternoon of July 31st, 1954, at Colchester.
     Secondly, the matter of a secondary school was seriously considered, and a committee was appointed by the Academy to deal with investigations and arrangements for it. This committee held two meetings, during which it was brought out that a private tuition school might be begun with a first class of four pupils in 1957, in a modest building to be constructed on the grounds of the Colchester church. Building costs and running expenses would be within the realm of the possible. But the principal difficulty that emerged was, and is, that of obtaining a male teacher for the school in its beginning stages.
     This material was presented to the third full Academy meeting, with the result that the Academy gave the committee its confidence and instructed it to pursue further the business of arrangements.
     Finally, the same meeting of the Academy resolved that the former Executive Committee should carry on as its Board of Governors until the next meeting, to be held in London at the end of January, 1955.
     The members of the various committees of the Academy are as follows:

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PRESIDENT:
Rt. Rev. George de Charms
BOARD OF GOVERNORS:
Rev. Morley D. Rich, Acting Chairman
Messrs.: A. S. Wainscot, Secretary
Alan N. Waters, Treasurer
John F. Cooper
Percy Dawson
Harold C. Jones
H. Keith Morley
TRUSTEES:
Messrs.: Eric Appleton
Robert E. Bruell
Garth Cooper
Norman Turner
SUB-COMMITTEE ON SECONDARY SCHOOL:
Revs. Alan Gill
Morley D. Rich
Frank S. Rose
Messrs.: Eric Appleton
Wallace Glover
H. Keith Morley
     In brief, a great deal of preliminary work has been accomplished in one short year, and the members of the Academy are encouraged to believe that it augurs well for the future of New Church education in this country.
     MORLEY D. RICH,
          Acting Chairman
LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     11. Amen

     This is added, or rather this the Lord adds in teaching the prayer. The word itself means "truth"; and here it means that what we have prayed for is truth which we really, sincerely and earnestly believe. Or, to state it simply, in saying "Amen" we say: "Lord, all that I have prayed I verily mean from my whole heart and soul and mind and strength."

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MISS CELIA CENTENNIA BELLINGER 1954

MISS CELIA CENTENNIA BELLINGER       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1954

     Extracts from a Memorial Address

     (Delivered at a Memorial Service in the Bryn Athyn Cathedral, September 8, 1954.)

     The uses and tasks to which angelic spirits set themselves are all spiritual, and their nature is such that they transcend natural ideas and mortal words, although they may to some extent be seen by an interior rational sight if we consider the ends and purposes which govern as universals in all truly human undertakings. For these ends go beyond the thought of a man's physical welfare and regard always the good of the human mind, the state of his spirit, the welfare of his soul.
     This is not so apparent on earth. Yet even on earth there are occupations which can directly reflect a concern for the mind and the soul, and which therefore have a spiritual essence and a fruitfulness that do not cease even when this world passes from sight. Of such a nature is the teaching profession, in which our much loved friend Celia Bellinger had an honored place.
     It is one thing to be a teacher and another to give one's life to the use of teaching. "Miss Celia" never ceased teaching, even after she officially retired from the work. Her whole personality was bound up with this use, and wherever she went in many lands her heart was ever centered on the spiritual results of New Church educational efforts in our schools and homes.
     The Writings distinguish between an occupation and a use. A man's use means his influence upon others-the very way in which the sphere of his life and his thought affects the spirits and minds around him. Where the occupation and the use make one, there is a promise of eternity for both. And the teaching use survives death, in form as well as essence.
     It is difficult for us who knew her to dissociate "Miss Celia" from the use of teaching and from the children whose minds she loved to open to the vision of moral ideas and spiritual goals while telling them of the wonders of God's world and man's part in it. For this use, when spiritually perceived, there are unlimited opportunities in the spiritual world especially for one who combined an unusual tolerance and patient understanding with high principles of charity and freedom, and who saw the urgent need of combining honesty and sincerity with a respect for order and decorum and with the traditions which perpetuate for each age the wisdom of the past and the sanctities of the church and the home which the New Church and the New Heaven seek to protect.

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     [EDITORIAL NOTE: An account of Miss Celia Bellinger's life and career in uses will appear in our next issue.]



     IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES

     Pressure on space has prevented us from mentioning until now an editorial in the summer number of the NEW CHRISTIANITY entitled "More on Ecumenicity." This article is the most frank, fair, and dispassionate statement of the respective attitudes of Convention and the General Church toward the ecumenical movement that we have seen in the journals of the church. It begins by referring to the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith's review in NEW CHURCH LIFE for last June of Dr. Walter Marshall Horton's Swedenborg's Vision of a United Christianity, states the reviewers' conclusions, and recommends the review for study together with earlier articles in NEW CHURCH LIFE to which it refers.
     The writer then reiterates the belief, expressed earlier, that a considerable number of ministers and laymen in Convention churches share as members of congregations a concern to be an integral part of organized Christianity-a more exact wording which we accept without question; and notes that New Church people are conscious of a particular heritage, a concept derived from a revelation which seemingly puts the New Church outside of ecumenical relations. He observes that: "The General Church of the New Jerusalem, as distinguished from the General Convention, is understandably sensitive to its tradition."
     Some elements in the General Convention, the article continues, are disposed to accept for it Dr. Horton's concept of the New Church, thus emphasizing a useful denominational role in the ecumenical movement; and this, the writer feels, has important values, as long as the distinctions pointed out by Dr. Ferrari are kept clear. But he adds: "The General Church, in our opinion, sees the issue more clearly, even though it seemingly rejects any such role for itself." However, he wonders whether there must be an "either-or" decision, and it is here that we shall find ground for amicable difference. We would agree that New Church people in a certain town can make common cause with those of other denominations in respect to projects of local importance without selling their birthright.

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Probably a great many General Church people do that, but as individuals cooperating with individuals, which is a somewhat different proposition.
     "What are the remaining members supposed to do," the writer asks, "when their local New Church becomes inactive if a 'church habit' is important to them?" He concedes that "perhaps the General Church, which originally chose to organize as a separate community, does not have this problem in the form in which the General Convention knows it;" and observes rightly that "basic orientation can make a lot of difference." We believe that basic orientation will determine the answer to this question in every instance. Many members of the General Church do not live in communities, but they have a concept of the church as a distinct and distinctive communion spiritually which has led them to formulate their solution of this problem. An interesting article, and one that we commend to our readers for an understanding of the other viewpoint.
     Of interest also to our readers would be another article in the same issue, "Four Generations Later," by Gwynne and David Mack. From the standpoint of their own background and experience, and on the basis of a sound New Church viewpoint, the writers approach the question of the relations between the General Convention and the General Church; and, incidentally, touch upon the question asked by the editorial writer.
PESSIMIST AND OPTIMIST 1954

PESSIMIST AND OPTIMIST              1954

     "The King gave two men good seed and sent them forth to cultivate and redeem the wilderness. One of these men went forth, and when he had found good ground he sowed the seed. When it sprung up he faithfully attended to it. Year by year he slowly enlarged his field of labor. When asked how he was succeeding in his work, he replied: 'The little area I am cultivating is bearing some good fruit, but it is difficult to keep the native plants from again taking root, yet each year the borders of the cultivated ground are enlarged a little-but so little compared with the vast surrounding wilderness that at times I grow discouraged. Yet how else can the wilderness be conquered than by such labor?'
     "The other man went forth and scattered the seed broadcast; the more unpromising the locality the more lavish was he with the seed. When asked how he was succeeding, he replied: 'I think I have abundant reasons for being hopeful. During the past year I have sowed thousands of the seeds broadcast in the wilderness, and it is impossible but that such good seed must bear fruit and increase. In fact, on every hand you can see it growing side by side with the native productions; and it is rational to suppose that it must eventually supersede all other growths, and thus convert the wilderness into a paradise.' " (Anschutz, Fables)

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SCHMIDIUS MARGINALIA 1954

SCHMIDIUS MARGINALIA       ALFRED ACTON       1954

     (This article is the Preface to a transcript of the Schmidius Marginalia now in the library of the Academy of the New Church.)

     Codices 89 and 90 (Old and New Testaments) of the Swedenborg MSS. preserved in the Library of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, consist of a copy of Biblia Sacra translated by Sebastian Schmidius and published in 1696, being the first edition of Schmidius's translation. Judging from a German note written on the first page of the Apocalypse, the book had formerly belonged to a German theologian, and Swedenborg probably bought it secondhand in the autumn of 1745 when he arrived in Stockholm, after having received his commission as revelator in the previous April; for previously, all his quotations from the Bible had been made from Castellio's or Beta's translation.
     In many places the margins of this work are filled with Swedenborg's explanations of the spiritual sense and with cross references to other passages in the Bible. Frequently also, words, phrases or whole verses are underscored, and sometimes N.B. or other signs are written in the margin. As now preserved, the work is not complete for it lacks a total of 136 pages in Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy.
     In 1872 the book was photolithographed under the charge of Dr. R. L. Tafel and at the expense of Herr Theodore Miillensiefen, an earnest member of the New Church in Switzerland. The photolithograph did not include Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, the Apocrypha, the Acts and the Epistles, presumably under the assumption that Swedenborg had made no notes in the margins of these books. This is true of most of them, yet there are a few marginal notes in I Chronicles. By inadvertence it also omitted the two books of Samuel. Photostats of these books and also some pages in I Chronicles, containing Swedenborg's notes, have been obtained from the Royal Academy of Sciences and are now in the library of the Academy of the New Church.
     The publication of the photolithographed Biblia in 1872 made Swedenborg's marginal annotations available to New Church scholars; yet for nearly forty years nothing was done to present them to the New Church public in transcript or translation. In 1911, however, the learned scholar, the late Dr. Eldred E. Iungerich, undertook the laborious task of copying the annotations. These he then translated into English in 1913, and in 1917 this translation was published by the Academy of the New Church in a work entitled The Schmidius Marginalia together with the Expository Material of The Index Biblicus.

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     Dr. Iungerich did not preserve his transcript of Swedenborg's marginal annotations, but his very literal English translation clearly indicated his reading of the Latin text, and this was of inestimable help to me. Swedenborg's handwriting in the marginal annotations is frequently difficult to read, indeed, in some cases it is quite illegible. Being confined to the space of the margin, his writing is sometimes very cramped; sometimes also it overflows into the very small spaces between the verses of the Biblia. The difficulty of reading the text is further enhanced by the fact that in the Prophets, the writing in some of the margins has been partially cut away as though by a pair of scissors.
     In the present transcript, I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Iungerich. His skill in reading the text is truly remarkable, and there are many words which, without the aid of his English translation, I might never have been able to make out. On the other hand, I have not always agreed with Dr. Iungerich's reading, or with his reconstruction of the text on the damaged pages, where, in supplying missing words, he did not always take into account the space occupied by those words. Let me here add that in cases where the margin has been partly cut away and words have had to be supplied by the editor, the transcript follows the original line by line. This will enable the reader more easily to judge for himself as to the fitness of the added words.
     In order to make Swedenborg's annotations more intelligible to the reader, they are here accompanied in parallel columns by the corresponding text of Schmidius's Biblia. I may add that words within parentheses ( ) are words crossed off by the author, and those within brackets are words supplied by the editor. I have added a somewhat detailed Index, for the study of such an index will undoubtedly contribute to our knowledge of Swedenborg's progress in the science of correspondences. Indeed, without an index, such study would be greatly hampered.
     And now something as to the time when these annotations were written by Swedenborg. Available evidence shows that they were not written in the order of the books of the Bible, and that sometimes there was a considerable interval of time between the writing. Moreover, in some cases a more or less definite time can be assigned to the writing. I shall now present this evidence.
     1. In The Word Explained no. 8168, being the exposition of Jeremiah 18:18-27 written at the end of November or the beginning of December 1746, Swedenborg writes: "Concerning these verses, see the annotations in the margin." Turning then to Schmidius's Biblia, we find that the first annotation in Jeremiah is at chapter 18: 18. This, moreover, is the only annotation to that chapter. Evidently it was written in or before December 1746.

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     2. In The Word Explained no. 8225, being the exposition of Jeremiah 25:18-26 written about February 7 or 8, Swedenborg writes: "Respecting Sheshach, see the annotation in the margin." There are no annotations in the margin of Jeremiah 25, but in the margin of Jeremiah 51:41, we read: "Sheshach is the devil; thus he who is the highest in the endeavor to vastate the kingdom of God; see Jer. 25:26. The Kingdom of the devil is Babel. It is called the glory of the earth which wholly perishes." It may therefore be presumed that the "annotations in the margin" spoken of in The Word Explained no. 8225, refer to Jeremiah 51:41; consequently, the annotations to Jeremiah 48-52 which appear to have been written in continuity, were written prior to February 7 or 8, 1747.
     3. The annotations to Genesis 49 were written on February 8, 1747. This is specifically stated by Swedenborg in his Memorabilia no. 28, or rather in a fragment of that paragraph which is now in the possession of the London Swedenborg Society; for nos. 1-148 of the Memorabilia are lost. In that fragment, Swedenborg writes: "1747, Feb. 8, on which day it was permitted to note something in the margin concerning the blessing of the sons of Jacob, Gen. ch. XLIX." That the other annotations in Genesis were written much later will be shown presently.
     4. A specific date is also given in the annotation to Daniel 7:25, where Swedenborg notes that he has had "a continued experience" of the spiritual world "during 25 months." Since Swedenborg's full entrance into the spiritual world was in the middle of April 1745, twenty-five months thereafter would be May 1747; but since Swedenborg's "continued experience" was interrupted for the month in which he was sailing from England to Sweden (WE no. 1003), the twenty-five months may indicate June 1747.* The annotations to Daniel 7, and presumably also to chapter 8, for they run continuously, were therefore written in May or June 1747.
     * Confer Mem. no. 1974: 2 dated May 16, 1748, where Swedenborg says he has had "a daily experience of three years." Three years from April 1945 would be April 16, 1748; but, adding the month of travel spoken of above, it would be May 16.
     5. But though these were written in May or June, the annotation to Daniel 5:28 was written much later; for it refers to a note in Index Biblicus s.v. Reliquae. Turning then to the note in question, we find that it is entered in the Index immediately after an entry from Ezekiel 11 which was indexed on October 10 or 11, 1747.* Daniel 5 and presumably also, as above, chapters 2 and 4 were annotated on or after October 10 or 11, 1747.
     * See "Some Little Known Facts concerning Swedenborg's Memorabilia" in NEW CHURCH LIFE for March 1953, p. 122. There also will be found the reason for other dates to be mentioned later on.
     6. Although the annotations to Jeremiah 18 were written before December 1746 (no. 1) and those to Jeremiah 48-52 before February 7 or 8, 1747 (no. 2), those to Jeremiah 20 were written much later; for at Jeremiah 20:4, Swedenborg refers to the Index Biblicus s.v. Captivitas for a note as to the nature of the Babylonian captivity.

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Turning to the place referred to, we find the note referred to marked Jeremiah 20. This chapter of Jeremiah was indexed in the middle of October 1747; therefore the annotations to Jeremiah 20, and presumably also to chapter 21, were written after the middle of October 1747.
     7. The annotation at Ezekiel 8: 3 speaks of representation in the spiritual world, and refers to the Index Biblicus s.v. caput and coeli. Turning to those words, we find something concerning representations and the spiritual world, marked Ezek. 8: 3. Now Ezekiel 8 was indexed on November 9 or 10. Therefore the annotations to Ezekiel 8, and presumably those to Ezekiel 1-12, which are written in continuity, were made on or after November 9 or 10, 1747. That this date applies to chapters 1-12 is indicated by the entry of Ezek. 46: 9 in Index Biblicus s.v. Meredies followed immediately by the words "See the notes at [ch.] V S[chmidius] B[iblia]." Since Ezekiel 46 was indexed at the end of November 1747, it follows that the annotations to Ezekiel 5 were made before that date. Taking into account what has already been shown, the annotations to Ezekiel 1-12 were written between November 10 and 30.
     8. Taking into account that Daniel 4 and 5-not chap. 7 (no. 4)-was annotated after October 10 (no. 5); Jeremiah 20 and 21-not chaps. 18 or 48-52 (nos. 1-2)-after the middle of October (no. 6); Ezekiel 1-12 between November 10 and 30 (no. 7), it may be assumed that prior to October 10, Swedenborg annotated Isaiah 1-7 (the only annotations in Isaiah, presumably because the whole book had been fully explained in The Word Explained);* that in October and November he annotated Jeremiah 20, 21, 36, 41-44, Lamentations and Ezekiel 1-12, 24, 25, 45-49, and Hosea, Joel and Amos in December and early 1748. This accounts for all the annotations in the Prophets. If these assumptions are correct, then the blank space in the annotation to Ezekiel 24:16, namely, "1747, 25 old style" must be filled in with the word "November."
     * There is no basis for conjecture as to the time when the annotations to Isaiah were written.
     9. The annotations in Genesis (excepting Genesis 49, see no. 3 above) and Exodus were commenced in June or July 1748, probably preparatory to the writing of the Arcana Coelestia which was commenced in the beginning of December 1748. This late date is suggested by Swedenborg's words in the Praemissum or Foreword to Genesis, where he says: "I have spoken with spirits and angels almost continuously now for some years"; and it is made all but certain by the fact that chapter 14: 20 refers to Index Biblicus s.v. decima. Turning to that word, we find that the only entries there are from Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

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In his Memorabilia no. 2111, dated May 28, 1748, Swedenborg speaks of "the things written by me concerning the neighbor, that they should not hold the neighbor in hatred." These words could not refer to what Swedenborg wrote in his index to the Memorabilia, for he did not commence this index until August 1748; they can refer only to an entry in the Index Biblicus. There, under the word Proximus we read at Leviticus 19: "Thou shalt not hold thy brother in hatred." The annotations to Genesis 14 were therefore written after May 28, and it seems reasonable to assume that Swedenborg wrote the annotations to Genesis and Exodus in June and July 1748, and continued up to the beginning of August. During September, October and November, he was engaged in indexing his Memorabilia.* Whether or not the whole of Genesis and Exodus was annotated, cannot be known, for there are 43 pages missing from Genesis, and 61 from Exodus. Yet it cannot be doubted that most, if not all these pages, contained annotations like the pages that immediately precede and follow them.
     * Some little Known Facts concerning Swedenborg's Memorabilia, p. 126.
     10. Thus far I have dealt with all the main annotations in the Schmidius Biblia. In addition there are many short annotations scattered through the volume; besides countless underscorings of words, phrases and whole verses. These were doubtless made from time to time during Swedenborg's reiterated reading of the Bible.
     There are 7 references to the Arcana Coelestia, two each in Genesis and the Apocalypse, and one each in Deuteronomy, II Kings, and John; and in the Apocalypse are 4 references to the Apocalypse Revealed and 2 to the Apocalypse Explained.

     SUMMARY

     The annotations to Jeremiah 18 were made prior to December 1746, and those to Jeremiah 48-52 prior to February 7 or 8, 1747 (nos. 1, 2).
     The annotations to Genesis 49 were written on February 8, 1747 (no. 3).
     Those to Daniel 7 and 8 were written in June 1747; and those to Daniel 2, 4, 5 after October 10 or 11, 1747 (nos. 4, 5).
     The annotations to Jeremiah 20 and 21 were made after the middle of October 1747 (no. 6).
     The annotations to Ezekiel 1-12 were written between November 10 and 30, 1747 (no. 7).
     The rest of the Prophets were annotated between October 1747 and early 1748 (no. 8).
     The annotations to Genesis (excepting ch. 49) and Exodus were written in June and July 1748, in preparation for the Arcana Coelestia which was commenced in the beginning of December (no. 9).

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TRUE ADULT 1954

TRUE ADULT       Rev. W. CAIRNS HENDERSON       1954

     (At the Opening Exercises of the Academy Schools, September 10, 1954.)

     It is my privilege to speak for the Faculty this morning, and just say to the assembled schools what teachers have been saying to you individually these past few days: "We're glad to see you," or, "It's good to see you back!" We're glad to see new faces in all the schools, and are looking forward to finding out what lies behind them. And it is good to see those who in a distant past-last June, to be exact-were eighth graders entering these Academy schools for the first time; good to see so many of last year's exalted seniors entering another life-cycle by again becoming lowly "frosh"-this time in our College; good to see those who without changing schools have come back to a year of more advanced work.
     We want you to know that, and we want you to know that we appreciate the efforts and the sacrifices that were made to send you here; some by your parents, some of them your own efforts. We appreciate the understanding and love of New Church education back of those efforts. And in welcoming you warmly to the Academy, and to its 78th school year, we trust that the hopes so fondly centered in you, and held by yourselves, will have been realized in generous measure before we meet again in this auditorium for Commencement.

     With that I might sit down, and earn at least your fleeting gratitude. But there is more! Looking out upon you I am impressed-as, fortunately, I knew beforehand I should be-by the face that most of you have one thing in common. You are in that phase of life known as adolescence, or are not so far removed that you can scarcely remember it. Now I know that the word may not fall too kindly on your sophisticated ears. It does not rate very high in your vocabulary, and you are more likely to apply it to children, or to adults who do not quite see your viewpoint or come up to your exacting standards, than to yourselves. But I have news for you. The word adolesce means "to become adult." Now that Latin has become unfashionable, and has even been known to lose out to typing, this is apt to be forgotten. But that is what adolescent really means-becoming adult!

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     Now there is a state of life with a future before it! There is no future to being a teenager, or at best a very short-term one; only a present which is becoming more and more commercialized, and a past that will probably be looked back on with mixed emotions. But an adolescent, one who is in process of becoming an adult-there is a future in that which extends to eternity, for the man is the measure of the angel. As you are already discovering, however, there is a great deal to the business of becoming an adult; so much so, in fact, that some people who have made the grade physically, or chronologically if you like, have flunked the course entirely, or have so many conditions that their standing is in jeopardy. But there are a few very important things that mark the true adult which happen to tie in with education, and a few words about them may not come amiss at this time.
     One of the things you have undoubtedly found out by now is that life is not a dizzying succession of highlights but is made up of years of days, every day a day filled with routine tasks and even chores to be done. And one of the most important marks of the true adult is that he is capable of performing these tasks and chores, conscientiously and on time, whether he "feels like it" or not. To do things only when one feels like it is the mark of a young child, and may be excusable in him. But the true adult is not dependent upon that feeling; and he has got that way, not by chance, but by sell-compulsion and self-discipline-with the result that he can do even uninteresting tasks without distaste, and if not with enthusiasm at least in a neutral frame of mind that gets the job done instead of being put off. And this is important because every use has its ultimate of work, much of it routine, even mechanical.
     The true adult is therefore a responsible person. He accepts the responsibility of a trust, a privilege, an assignment or an agreement, as well as what is pleasurable for him in it. He can be trusted on his own and relied upon not to fail through giving in to some whim or yielding to outside pressure.
     And the true adult is also a rational person. He thinks with his mind, not with his glands. He does not substitute feelings or prejudices for clear, rational thinking, and he can distinguish between facts and his emotional response to them. He does not meet every opposing idea with an open mouth; and he regards a conflicting idea as something to be thought about quietly, not as a cloak flourished by a matador to goad him to fury.
     With this, the true adult is himself, an individual, not an assembly line model. He tries to think for himself and to judge for himself. His considered opinions are not those of the last magazine article he read, of his favorite news analyst, or of the last person he happened to be talking to; and his judgment, when it must be formed, is his own-not that of the herd or of some group prejudice.

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     Also, the true adult has a positive attitude to law and order, to government, and to just rules and regulations. He sees that their underlying purpose is not to stop people from doing things, but to make it possible for the greatest number to engage freely and safely in useful or pleasurable activities.
     The true adult is tolerant. He believes that other men and women may be quite unlike himself, interested in entirely different things, indifferent to the things that absorb him-and still be human beings; be, indeed, fine people to be liked and admired.
     The true adult is considerate. He is more concerned about the comfort, happiness, and well being of others than of himself; and he is more interested in the freedom of others than in always insisting upon his own freedom.
     Finally, the true adult has learned, so far as possible, the lesson which the elderly Mr. Crosby taught to a generation before yours, to "accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative." He looks for what is of worth in others rather than for what he can tear into small pieces; and he prefers cooperation with other men to a guerilla warfare against society.

     This may seem to you like quite a large order, one which will take many years to fill. And it is just that. But you have all the time there is. You will be offered all the help you care to use. And you have something else, too.
     If we were to say that your education in the Academy can provide you with opportunities to begin developing these characteristics of adulthood, you might ask whether any other good school could not do the same. But a teacher does not usually raise a question unless he has an answer ready; and in this case the answer is that, up to a point, it could. But the Academy can offer you opportunities such as no other school in the world can present. Drawing from the Heavenly Doctrine in which the Lord has made His second coming, it can show you what it is to become a true man or woman; can equip you with certain knowledge of what is true and good; can set before you spiritual standards and principles; can show you the difference between worthy and base motives; and can direct your minds to the qualities that mark true, mature, adult human beings. The Academy cannot make you into such men and women. Only the Lord can do that, with your willing cooperation, given especially in the form of self-compulsion against what you know to be wrong and then toward what you know to be good.

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But it can play an important part in your preparation to become such men and women, in so far as you will receive and make your own what it has to offer you.
     Always remember this. The Academy does not guarantee you an education! It cannot promise to educate you. All it can promise you is opportunities, and these you will have in plenty. Everything the Faculty knows and can do will be at your disposal; and in one sense much of it will be offered to you whether you want it or not! But the educational process calls for more than the presence of your bodies in the classroom at specified times. It calls for a meeting of minds, for action and reaction. If that is to take place your minds, every one of them, must be there too, to stand up and be counted. And it should take place. For behind the work and life of the school, behind its organization and discipline, its one aim is that of cooperating, with the Lord-Faculty and student body alike-in the developing of adult human minds in which men and women will be recreated in the image of God.
     These are the opportunities which the Academy offers you. We have not changed our academic program over the summer. The usual educational fare will be set before you, five times a day, five days a week; and no doubt a thoughtful teaching staff, careful of your mental health, will arrange for evening snacks lest your minds go hungry to bed.
     But your day by day work in the classrooms and labs, and preparation for it; your athletic program with its opportunities for teamwork and obligation to keep training rules even where the coach can't see you; your cooperation with fellow students in extra-curricular activities and in informal and organized social life with the opportunities it presents for tolerance and consideration; your touch with the religious and social life of the community-all will provide opportunities for developing, testing, and improving those qualities of adulthood of which we have been speaking.
     So, in the name of the Faculty, I bid you welcome, and express the hope that you will "adolesce" to the top of your bent, so that this 78th school year will see you a stage further along the road toward becoming adult. And one word more: Have a good time doing it-because you can.
NEW CIRCLE 1954

NEW CIRCLE              1954

     On October 8th, 1954, the Urbana (Ohio) Group was recognized by Bishop De Charms as the South Ohio Circle of the General Church of the New Jerusalem under the pastoral care of the Rev. Louis B. King. The new Circle includes the groups in Urbana and Glendale and members living in the surrounding area. It is, as always, a pleasure to make this announcement, and in the name of the Church to extend warm good wishes.

551


NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     Our November readings in the Old Testament conclude the Lamentations of Jeremiah and set before us the apocalyptic visions of the last major prophet. Ezekiel, whose name means "God strengthens me," was, like Jeremiah, of priestly descent. He was one of the captives carried away with Jehoiachin in 598 B.C., after Nebuchadnezzar's second attack on Jerusalem, ten years before the destruction of the city; and he prophesied in Babylonia both before and after that event. As his book is printed between the Writings of Jeremiah and Daniel in the English Bible, so, in actual fact, he is a connecting link between these two prophets.
     Ezekiel appears to have been of a different nature and disposition from Jeremiah, and his personal life was cast in a different mold. He was held in great respect as a wise and learned man, and his counsel was sought by the elders of his colony on the banks of the Chebar.
     We are told in the Writings that by Ezekiel and John was represented the doctrine of truth and the Word, and that therefore exploration of the state of the church was entrusted to them (AE 619:3). Thus in the portion assigned for reading this month (chaps. 1-16:14) we find the prophet foretelling the fate of Jerusalem by laying siege to an iron kettle on which the city was portrayed, and acting out symbolically the famine and destruction of Jerusalem; relating the vision of a visit to the city and describing the idolatries carried on in its very temple; and depicting Zedekiah's flight and punishment. These prophecies, uttered before the destruction of Jerusalem, had as their immediate purpose to disabuse the people of false hopes of succor, and exhort them to sincere repentance in the face of certain judgment. The dictated actions of the prophets were living parables, representing the state of the church as to the Word and therefore the status of the Word in the church at that time.

     In the Arcana readings (nos. 10,130-10,200), Exodus 29 is concluded and the exposition of the internal sense is brought down to Exodus 30:10. The subject here is the golden altar and the burning of incense on it, by which is signified reception by the Lord of worship from love and charity. A comprehensive treatment of this topic is to be found in AE 324. The inclusion of conjugial love in the Doctrine of Charity and Faith, the first doctrinal treatment of it in the Writings, emphasizes that this love is nothing else than the spiritual or regenerate love of the neighbor directed to one of the opposite sex in marriage.

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VALUE OF BETROTHAL 1954

VALUE OF BETROTHAL       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1954

     When the new doctrines of the New Church are more fully received there will follow a new evaluation of the Rite of Betrothal. And from this will come certain advantages to those who look forward to the spiritual blessings of marriage.
     It is according to order, says the doctrine of the New Church, that a solemn betrothal should precede marriage. For in this way consent, which is the essential of marriage, is established, strengthened, and confirmed.
     These are the ends and uses for which betrothal should be solemnized: that the souls of the two may incline toward each other; that the universal love of the sex may be determined or directed to one of the sex; that the interior affections of each may be mutually known, and be conjoined in the internal joyousness of love; that the spirits of both may enter into marriage and be more and more associated together; that conjugial love may thus advance regularly from its first warmth even to the nuptial flame; and, finally, that conjugial love may grow up in just order from its spiritual origin (CL 301).
     Betrothal is therefore a declaration of consent to be married, which should precede the nuptials. It establishes, strengthens, and confirms the consent. And it is a rite to be performed by a priest or minister, for thus, through his ministry, and as it were "in the presence of the Lord," the engagement to be married is announced in the spiritual world. The consent and intention to be married are made known to those spirits and angels who constantly surround the man and woman-their unseen spiritual friends and guardians who know their affections and thoughts.
     It is of order that the spirits or minds of the prospective partners should thus enter into a marriage before the actual and complete wedding. And no matter what customs and practices have prevailed so far in the church in regard to betrothals, it is our opinion that they should be solemnized as early in the period of engagement as possible after the intention to marry has been made public.
     For the object of the rite is that the interior things of the spirit of each, their most intimate thoughts and affections, may be revealed and accommodated in that state of interior joyousness of love.

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Their consent to be united ought to be confessed before the Lord, and their spirits prepared for the orderly unfolding of conjugial love "from its first warmth even to the nuptial flame."
     It takes a full period of time for the inclinations and thoughts of the heart to become clearly known between the bridegroom and the bride, and for the general love of the sex to be determined to but one of the sex and thus consecrated. It takes time for internal disagreements to be discovered and dissolved, and for the spirit to be cleansed of ideas inimical to love truly conjugial. And a sufficient time should be allowed before marriage for the union of the spirit.
     The full appreciation of the value of betrothal will become an ever increasing blessing to the church of the Lord on earth. It would he a great safeguard of marriage. For if, during a reasonably long period of betrothal, the two lovers should discover incompatibilities and disagreements of thought and desire, or traits of character which would be too great a risk to their eternal happiness in marriage, then they could break their engagement and withdraw their consent to be married, and little harm would result compared with the great harm of a marriage which would be ended by divorce.
     In a word, marriage is a Divine institution, and so holy that man cannot disrupt it without sin. It is the most precious jewel of the true Christian religion. And betrothal also is to be regarded as a Divine institution, given by the Lord for the protection and ennobling of marriage. The blessing that is in it, however, though little appreciated at present in Christian practice, will in time be fully seen and known.
     There is a saying, well known to readers of the Writings, that anyone can shun evils because they are evils and harmful to man, but only a Christian can shun evils because they are sins against the Lord. By this alone can evils be removed, which is to say, forgiven.
     So it may be said with equal truth that only those two souls who worship the Lord truly, and who love to live according to the teachings of His Word, can enter into the genuine and heavenly marriage. The time will come when genuine conjugial love will be established more generally among men. But it should be made clear to all that the only source of genuine truth from the Scriptures is those works of Emanuel Swedenborg which the Lord inspired him to deliver to the world.

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PUBLICATION USES 1954

PUBLICATION USES              1954

     The 144th Report of the Swedenborg Society and the 105th Report of the Swedenborg Foundation disclose another year of great activity in the uses of these bodies. While both bodies are engaged in the publication of the Writings, certain differences in emphasis are also in evidence.
     Three new translations-Canons of the New Church, Conjugial Love, and Four Doctrines-were issued by the Swedenborg Society, which also reprinted 1,000 copies of Potts' Concordance, volume II; 5,000 copies of volume I of the Pocket Edition of the Arcana; 2,000 copies of the 250th Anniversary Edition of New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine; and 500 copies of volume XII of the Standard Edition of the Arcana. Five hundred copies of Apocalypse Revealed have been reprinted and are now being bound; the fourth volume of the Third Latin Edition of the Arcana and the new Latin-English Edition of Athanasian Creed are now in the hands of the printer; 2,000 copies of the Compendium of Swedenborg's Theological Writings are being reprinted; and it is hoped that Searle's Index of Scripture Quotations will be published shortly. During the year progress has been made also in the translation or revision of Heaven and Hell, Summary Exposition of prophets and Psalms, Spiritual Diary, volume I, and in the preparation of Documents Concerning Swedenborg and the Lexicon. Total distribution of books was 4,069.
     Statistics contained in the Swedenborg Foundation's report show that 11,324 volumes of Standard Edition books were printed and bound and 9,976 copies of Helen Keller's My Religion were reprinted. During the fiscal year 12,195 books were sold, 8,971 books were donated, and 38,767 pieces of free literature were distributed. A special offer of any three volumes of the Standard Edition at half price resulted in the sale of about 42 sets, and complete sets of the Standard Edition at half price were sold to 42 New Church married couples between the ages of 21 and 40. Although the Foundation does not engage directly in translation work, it made a further payment toward the publication of True Christian Religion in Japanese and a contribution toward the cost of publishing a Latvian edition of Heaven and Hell. The Foundation also cooperated with the Swedenborg Society in the republication of Potts' Concordance, volume II, and with the Academy Book Room in the publication of The Divine Allegory by Dr. Hugo Lj. Odhner. Considerable attention has been given to advertising and public relations.

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NAME OF GOD 1954

NAME OF GOD       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary               Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.

     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     A correspondent has kindly sent us an article by Elsdon C. Smith, "The Name of God in the Revised Standard Version," which is reprinted from NAMES, June, 1954. The writer, who has made a careful study of the principal Divine names in the Hebrew Word, challenges the decision of the translators to eliminate Jehovah-which he would render Yahweh-and to use LORD instead; and shows how inconsistent it is with the criteria adopted by the translators and with their practice elsewhere. He rightly supposes that "a name revealed by God himself would be of such importance that translators would try to include it in as accurate a form as possible;" questions the defense that Jehovah is not a "functioning religious term;" and concludes that "if the name given by God himself is not a 'functioning religious term,' it should be." "That God regarded His name as an important revelation of Himself to man is clear," he notes, "from the many times He enunciated it;" and he draws attention to the significance of the proper use of the name being included in the Ten Commandments, and to the many times it appears in the Psalms as indicating its importance in worship. Students of the Writings are well aware of the significance of the Divine names, indeed of all names in the Word, and of the importance of rendering them accurately in order that the representation may be exactly conveyed. It is interesting to read, from another viewpoint, so competent and courageous a defense of the Divine name; and we can support without qualification Mr. Smith's conclusion that "the exact words of God, when we know them, should not be lightly discarded."

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NOT UNTO US, O LORD 1954

NOT UNTO US, O LORD       Editor       1954

     Thanksgiving in these United States has a broader scope than the harvest festivals of most other countries. It is a day of gratitude for the Lord's mercies and for the land in the widest sense-for its institutions and gifts of liberty and order, its resources and the opportunities it offers, its place and function among the nations, and for the labor and art of man as well as for the products of the earth. And when we count our blessings, there is much for which to give thanks.
     However, there are certain words, spoken by a great American, that are still only too appropriate. "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven but we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all those things were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own."
     Churches will be filled on Thanksgiving Day, and the praises of many worshipers will come from the heart. But it is highly probable that throughout the year more credit for the enrichment of our land will be given to the energy, resourcefulness, and "know-how" of its people than to the Divine Providence. Where the church has been truly established, however, Lincoln's searching words will not apply. It is of the essence of Thanksgiving that it blends praise of the Lord for His bounties with proper gratitude for and appreciation of the labors of men. And the New Church man, counting the gifts he has received, and by no means neglecting the second element in Thanksgiving, can only say: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory;" realizing that the glory is given to His name when His gifts are used for the end they were given to promote, and are received, not with the thought that we as individuals are better, but that we have from the Lord ability to use them.
IF YE HAVE LOVE 1954

IF YE HAVE LOVE       Editor       1954

     On a certain occasion the Lord said to the twelve: "By this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." The love which is thus declared to be the essential of the church is charity, a spiritual love of the neighbor and a desire to promote the real prosperity and true happiness of others. And the Lord's meaning is unmistakable. It is not membership in an organized body that makes us to be truly of the church, not regular participation in worship and instruction, not ultimate support of its uses or activity in its offices, not even a wide knowledge and profound understanding of the Writings.

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All these things are indeed necessary. But unless we have love one to another in our societies and circles and groups, they will be of no avail. For that which determines whether a body organized in the name of the church has the church within it is the presence or absence of mutual love among its members.
     It is quite well known among us that genuine mutual love is spiritual and discriminating, that it looks to eternal ends, does not condone evils, wishes that all men should be reformed by the Lord, and desires nothing that would limit the freedom of their relation with Him. Just before speaking the words quoted the Lord had said: "A new commandment I give unto you . . . as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." In the Writings much is taught about how the Lord loves men, and by study and reflection on what is there revealed we can learn more and more about the way in which we should have love one to another.
     This much, however, should be clear. Where there is a climate of mistrust and fault-finding, criticism and intolerance, suspicion of the motives of others and depreciation of their achievements, an emphasis on their failings rather than on their uses, there the church has not been interiorly established-though it yet may be. Mutual love by no means forbids the making of external judgments. But where the church has been truly established there will be warm appreciation of the uses of others, a wise tolerance of individual differences, a disposition to give the neighbor the benefit of any doubt, and a focussing of thought and affection upon what is of worth in others. For "by this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another."
CONSCIENCE 1954

CONSCIENCE       Editor       1954

     Among the spiritual virtues mentioned in the Writings is conscience. If, however, we are to understand why it is so described, we must know that the Writings use the term with a meaning strikingly different from that given to it in common speech. Conscience is generally thought of as an inner voice that warns us when we are about to do wrong or reproaches when we have already done so, and which is originally possessed by everyone, although it may be stifled. Indeed it has even been pictured as a miniature second or better self, whispering earnestly into a reluctant or remorseful ear!
     In the Writings, however, conscience means, in the highest sense, the new will received from the Lord by regeneration. This is conscience in its essence, which is to do evil to none and good to all, and is the Lord's gift to the spiritual in place of that perception which was lost in the fall of the celestial church.

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In this absolute sense, then, conscience is possessed only by the good. The evil have none, and the idea that the torments of hell are the stings of conscience is merely a pious fancy.
     As a perception of what is to be done and what is not, conscience may be possessed by all; but as it is formed with a man from the particular religion in which he is, and to the extent that he has received his religion interiorly within himself, this conscience is not uniform and is not even necessarily true. There is a Jewish, a Catholic a Presbyterian, a Mohammedan conscience, and so on, and from the truths of the Writings inwardly received there is to be formed a New Church conscience.
     More generally, the conscience of those Gentiles who are in simple good is what is called spurious conscience; and what is said to be a false conscience exists with those who are in natural good, this being so described because that good is interiorly selfish, worldly, and evil. It is this that has often been mistaken for conscience itself, and its existence is what has caused men to postulate a norm of conscience. But conscience is a relative thing, the bad conscience of a good man being the good conscience of an evil one; and conscience has been known to vary with geography as well as with social and cultural movements.
     The true idea of spiritual conscience is to be found in the statement of the Writings that conscience is to act according to religion and faith. This, when directed by true religion and genuine faith, is the conscience that is a spiritual virtue; and it is so called because it inflows and governs from within man's life with the neighbor in societies on every plane and in every degree of that life. Like all the others, however, this spiritual virtue is of slow formation. Until the truths of the Writings begin to be received inwardly they may have little or no effect upon man's life, or act intermittently as a conscience borrowed, as it were, from others; the man being concerned less with the intrinsic nature of his acts than with how they will appear to those who live by the truth. When he is moved to try to change his life, and is genuinely distressed when he fails, a spiritual conscience is beginning to be formed in him. Then, when the truth so affects him interiorly that he cannot do otherwise than live according to it, conscience has been formed; and thereafter it will be perfected to eternity.

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Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     THE HAGUE, HOLLAND

     As our summer holidays are over it is time to write my report for 1953-1954. Our visiting pastor, the Rev. Frank S. Rose, paid us two visits; one from October 28 to November 2, 1953, the other from May 4 to 10, 1954.
     On Saturday evening, October 31, 1953, we had a gathering at my home attended by eight persons. It was an interesting evening. The Rev. Frank Rose spoke about "The Samaritan Woman" (John 4:1-30), and slides illustrating the talk were shown. The Holy Supper was administered at the service on Sunday morning, which was attended by twelve adults and one child. Mr. Rose preached on Matthew 23:11, 12. An animated lunch followed, after which we had a class on the subject of "Happiness." There was only one opinion from everyone-that it had been an inspiring weekend.
     On his second visit to Holland, Mr. Rose brought with him his sister Donnette, who was warmly welcomed into our midst. On May 4th there was a class, attended by seven persons, on the parable of the prodigal son. The Holy Supper was again administered at the Sunday service which was attended by fourteen persons, eleven of whom were communicants. The subject of the sermon was "Doubting Thomas" (John 20:29). After lunch we had another class, the subject being "Life and Faith." Then on Saturday, May 8th, Mr. Rose went to Doetinchem, where a group of interested people-a fine result of the activities of Mr. Rijksen-listened to his address based on the subject of "Happiness."

     Lay services have taken place regularly at my home and in those of other members of The Hague Circle. Six classes by Bishop De Charms on "The Application of Doctrine" were read and our group was greatly interested in them.

     On Christmas Day we had a service at my home. A sermon by Bishop De Charms on Luke 1:38 was read, and afterwards we had a nice lunch together. Easter was celebrated by a service at which I read a sermon on John 20:6, 7, and the Nineteenth of June was celebrated at the home of Mrs. Tiny Keuls-Francis. After a delicious lunch we had our annual report.

     In contrast with 1953, 1954 brought few visitors from overseas, but they were heartily welcomed. Our visitors were Mr. John Posthuma of London, Miss Vida Elphick of Durban, South Africa, Miss Donnette Rose and Miss Winyss Action of Bryn Athyn, and Mr. Forrest Dristy of Rapid City, South Dakota.
     In April, 1954, I spent a weekend with the Rijksen family at Nijmegen, where we had a service on Sunday morning.
     HERIWAN G. ENGELTJES

     DETROIT, MICHIGAN

     For the Detroit Society, the year 1954 becomes increasingly memorable as each new day dawns. It is a year in which the patient pioneers in our midst are beginning to see their fondest hopes realized; first the attainment of full society status, and now, at last, the purchase of the land which in the foreseeable future will house our church and school. The site, of 5 1/3 acres, is situated in Troy Township, approximately 20 miles from downtown Detroit. Most of our members live in the suburban districts, so distance will not prove to be much of a disadvantage. It is also located in the heart of a rural district, thus offering opportunity for our members to buy property in the vicinity. The newer members among us are deeply indebted to the handful of oldtimers who, by their foresight and fortitude, have made this purchase possible.
     The Nineteenth of June banquet was again an unqualified success. Mr. Philip Bellinger, as toastmaster, carried out the program with great skill. The theme for the evening was "New Church Education." Miss Barbara Forfar, Mr. Willard McCardell, and Mr. Larry Soneson spoke, respectively, on the elementary level, the high school level, and the responsibility of parents.

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In conclusion, the Rev. Norbert H. Rogers spoke with deep sincerity of his own indebtedtless to New Church education, and of how it reaches out into even the most remote corners of the world.
     To celebrate the Fourth of July the social committee arranged a picnic at one of the local parks. To start the proceedings Mrs. Willard McCardell sounded Taps, and Mr. Norman Synnestvedt followed with a short address to the children in which he explained that love to the Lord will have its ultimate in charity toward the neighbor and love of country. There followed games, prizes, and general hilarity, all of which added up to a thoroughly enjoyable day for all.
     On the last Saturday in July the Society gathered at the new home of Miss June MacCauley and Mrs. Elizabeth Coombs to celebrate a dual occasion the arrival of Candidate and Mrs. Fred Schnarr, and a housewarming for our hosts. The evening was one of fun and refreshment, and the credit goes to the members of the social committee who have worked hard with excellent results.
     During the month of August we had the pleasure of getting to know the Schnarrs, while Mr. Rogers was enjoying a few weeks of well earned vacation. It has been a real pleasure for us to have had Fred and Edna with us, as we always welcome the opportunity to establish and strengthen friendships with our future ministers. We wish them luck and hope that the experience they have gathered here will be of some future value to them. As a token of their appreciation, Fred and Edna presented the Society with two beautiful silver candle holders, which are being used by a most grateful Sunday school group.
     We also had the pleasure of meeting Edna's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Funk, at a Society reception at the Norman Synnestvedt home. Both Mr. and Mrs. Funk were able to see a few of the sights during their short stay.
     Too numerous to mention are the friends who have stopped in for a brief visit in Detroit on their way here and there. We appreciate these visits and hope they will continue. The work of colonization is progressing with an alacrity almost considered normal. Mr. George Field has secured employment with the Ford Motor Company, and we look forward to the arrival of his family. Mr. Vance Genszlinger has accepted transfer to the Borroughs office in Detroit and expects to be with us for several years. Our ranks were also swelled from within this summer when Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Smith welcomed their third son, and Mr. and Mrs. Sanfrid Odhner their second daughter. More cause for jubilation was the return home from Japan of Bruce Elder. Bruce is out of the army permanently, and we rejoice with his wife and family that he will be with us once again. To all this we regret to add that the John Howard family will be moving to another state within the next few months. Needless to say they will be sorely missed.
     Doctrinal classes resumed in September and we are all looking forward to another year of increasing activity and progress.
     Owing to increased family responsibilities, Frances Smith has resigned as Detroit reporter for the LIFE. Our thanks to her for a job well done.
     BARBARA FORFAR

     FORTH WORTH, TEXAS

     This year has been most bountiful in bringing us visits from two ministers in addition to the semi-annual trips of our Visiting Pastor, the Rev. Ormond Odhner. It began early in April, when the Rev. Charles E. Doering flew down to baptize his granddaughter, Karen Jean, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sam White. He stayed with the Cyrus Doerings, and while he was here gave us a doctrinal class and conducted a Sunday service.
     Mr. Odhner made his first visit at the end of April and we had a very full schedule. On Thursday evening, April 22, Mr. Bernard Bruser was baptized in Dallas, and on Friday there were three children's classes and a doctrinal class. On Saturday morning the marriage of Miss Nancy Schoenberger and Mr. Gene Hogan was solemnized at the home of the bride's parents, Herbert and Theda Schoenberger, at Dallas. Then, on Saturday night, we had a banquet and class at the home of the Bob Pollocks at Fort Worth. The Sunday service included the Holy Supper and the baptism of Merry Jayne Haworth, daughter of Don and Mimi Haworth.
     On the Nineteenth of June we held a banquet. This was followed by a talk to the children by Mr. Cyrus Doering and a tape recording of a New Church Day address by the Rev. Karl R. Alden.

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     In July we were most fortunate to have Bishop and Mrs. De Charms spend a week with us. On July 14th, the day of their arrival, an open house was held at the home of Bob and Raye Pollock to welcome them. The Bishop gave us a class there on Friday evening, and on Saturday morning Mrs. George Fuller entertained the ladies of the Circle at a coffee party in honor of Mrs. De Charms. A banquet was held on Saturday evening at the Cyrus Doering home with 36 present. Mrs. De Charms was presented with a corsage from the ladies' group. On Monday evening the Bishop baptized the son of Mr. and Mrs. Loyd Doering and then gave us another class at the home of Cyrus and Harriet Doering. In addition to the group gatherings, Bishop and Mrs. De Charms were entertained in the homes of various members. It was a most stimulating visit, and we were highly honored to have our Bishop spend so much time with us.
     Mr. Odhner came down again at the end of August and we enjoyed two doctrinal classes, a banquet, and instruction for the children. At the service on Sunday morning Marcella Williamson was confirmed. On this visit Mr. Odhner brought his sons Tony and Jerry with him. They proved to be excellent travelers and the children enjoyed their company. A farewell party for Don and Mimi Haworth was held on Sunday evening at the home of the George Fullers. They have been a happy addition to our group and we shall miss them, but we wish them success and happiness in their new home in Lafayette.
     Visitors this year include Mr. Colin Lindsay and Mr. Raymond David, Cindy Hyatt, Lt. and Mrs. Paul Kirby, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Synnestvedt, and Lt. and Mrs. Dean Smith, who live in Waco and have come up to several meetings.
     Mrs. Louise Griffin gave a bridal shower for Nancy Schoenberger and a baby shower for Mrs. Loyd Doering.
     We have just started our winter season of doctrinal classes with a tape recorded series by the Rev. Karl R. Alden, and we are continuing the women's group meetings to hear the Growth of the Mind recordings.
     This brings us up to date, and prompts us to extend an invitation to anyone passing through or near Fort Worth or Dallas to join with us. Or, better still, I stay here and help the Fort Worth Circle to grow!
     MARJORIE B. WILLIAMSON

     NORTH OHIO

     During the past year our Circle has suffered the loss of eight members, three of whom entered the spiritual world. Our membership is now reduced by one-fourth to 24.
     On March 5th, 1954, Mrs. William Norris, Sr., of Youngstown passed away. Her son, Randolph Carlysle Norris, died suddenly on September 13th. The Norris family, formerly of Akron, have been active members of the General Church for many years. In recent years, "Randy" had been the mainstay of the Youngstown area group and an inspiration to all of us in this scattered circle. To supplement the Rev. Norbert Rogers' occasional visits to Youngstown, Randy circulated tape recordings, and he regularly drove a group of older members to services in Cleveland, several hours away. His boundless energy, good cheer, and enthusiasm helped to sustain us all, and he will be sorely missed. Mrs. Norris is survived by her husband, and Randy by his wife and children.
     Quite a different kind of contribution to our Circle was withdrawn with the death of Leona Wagar Hosford on March 22nd. Leona, who attended the Academy schools half a century ago, upheld us in Cleveland with her serene confidence in the Writings and in spiritual life, which she approached with courage and expectation.
     Our other losses were not to the spiritual world, but we will miss Jeff and Dorothy Edgar who have moved out West, Fred and Harriet Merrell and their twin daughters who have moved to Zanesville, Ohio, and Pearl Linaweaver who has embarked courageously on an extended tour of the country.
     In spite of loss of numbers, and the rapidly expanding uses of the Detroit Society, North Ohio is grateful for the monthly services and classes given by the Rev. Norbert Rogers since our last report. Among other subjects, Mr. Rogers has presented three classes on the Principles of the Academy which produced lively and thoughtful discussion. His Sunday talks to children, which serve to introduce the sermon, form an integrated series which is of great benefit to both the younger and the older elements.
     Our two visiting ministers were the Rev. Fred E. Gyllenhaal, who was here last Christmas, and the Rev. Karl K. Alden, who visited us for the Easter season. Mr. Gyllenhaal took the adults on a memorable journey through the prophecies of the Lord's advent on December 19th at "Uncle Ben" Fuller's home, and delighted the children with one of his noted Christmas talks on Sunday.

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On April 17th, Mr. Alden painted a vivid word picture of the Easter story after a delightful dinner at the Oliver Powell home, his talk forming a background for Easter the following day. One of the largest groups of the Circle yet assembled in Cleveland attended the Easter service. Nine children offered flowers during the processional, and the Holy Supper concluded this memorable celebration.
     In spite of heavy losses, New Church life moves on in North Ohio and our regular schedule of activities is seldom impaired. But increasing physical stresses and strains are felt by the older people, and they feel that future growth rests with the young people. Some seldom have the opportunity to visit our growing societies and to become aware of progress elsewhere. They wonder where the young people are!
     HUGH A. GYLLENHAAL

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Convention. The Rev. Paul Sperry of Washington, D. C., died on September 3rd. A native of Ohio, Mr. Sperry graduated from the George Washington University and the New Church Theological School and was ordained into the New Church ministry in 1905. His early pastorates were in Bath, Me., and Brockton, Mass. In 1915 he became the pastor of the National Church in Washington, D. C., and continued there until his retirement in 1952. From 1928 to 1932 he served as president of Convention. He was also secretary of the Board Missions for many years, chairman of the Augmentation Fund Committee, and a member of numerous boards and committees of Convention. Mr. Sperry was also director of the National Library for the Blind at the Library of Congress, and was the author of a book, Words of Life, well known to many New Church people.
MISFORTUNES OF THE FAITHFUL 1954

MISFORTUNES OF THE FAITHFUL              1954

     "I talked with angelic spirits concerning the misfortunes of the faithful, which, as is well known, they suffer as much as, and even more than, the unfaithful. The reason was told why some of them are thus let into trials: some for the reason that they may not ascribe good to themselves; for if they were exempted [from trials] they would ascribe it to their own goodness, thus they would arrogate to themselves merit and justice. Lest this should happen they are let into common misfortunes, so that they come to grief as far as life, riches, and possessions are concerned, equally with others. If, however, they were of such a character that they would not hence attribute good to themselves, they would he oftener exempted from ordinary misfortune. Thus there are hidden causes at work; for it is known that when misfortune arrives many of the faithful think about good, and in such sort that they consider that they should be spared on account of the good that they have done; and if then they were to be spared, they would boast it was on account of their being good, and so would taunt the wicked with this; consequently, would arrogate good to themselves" (Spiritual Diary, 4630m).

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LOCAL SCHOOLS 1954

LOCAL SCHOOLS              1954




     Announcements.




     Enrollment for 1954-1955

Bryn Athyn      201
Colchester      13
Durban      8
Glenview      76
Kitchener      11
Pittsburgh      28
Toronto      15
                    352
SPIRITUAL HARVEST 1954

SPIRITUAL HARVEST              1954

     "It should be known what is signified in the Word by 'the harvest. The 'field' in which is the harvest in a broad sense signifies the whole human race, or the whole world; in a less broad sense it signifies the church; in a sense more restricted, the man of the church; and in a sense still more restricted, the good which is in the man of the church, for this receives the truths of faith as a field receives seeds. From this signification of the 'field' it is plain what is signified by the 'harvest,' namely, that in the broadest sense it signifies the state of the whole human race in respect to the reception of good by means of truth; in a less broad sense, the state of the church in respect to the reception of the truths of faith in good, and in a still more restricted sense, the state of good in respect to the reception of truth, thus the implantation of truth in good" (Arcana Coelestia, 9295:3).

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LORD'S STATE AT BIRTH 1954

LORD'S STATE AT BIRTH       Rev. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXXIV DECEMBER, 1954          No. 12
     "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy Kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will cause thee to see." (Genesis 12:1)

     The historical circumstance of the Lord's conception and birth is the cornerstone upon which rests the Christian faith. And yet the Virgin Birth is a tenet that men understand not. Over the centuries, this lack of understanding has led increasingly to question, to doubt, and even to open denial with regard to the Virgin Birth. This doubt and denial lead inevitably to a negation of the Lord's Divinity. For this reason, the manner of the Lord's conception and birth is one of the arcana into which it is now permitted to enter with understanding, and which is explained and confirmed in the Writings.
     Implicit in the Lord's state at birth were all the states of glorification that were to follow. A comprehension of the basic purpose and procedure of this glorification is fundamental to our interior acknowledgment of the Writings as Divine revelation. For only through a rational understanding of the states that were induced upon the Lord, both at His birth and throughout His life on this earth, can we perceive how God could have become man, yet without forfeiting His essential Divinity.
     At the time of the Lord's conception, Mary was espoused to Joseph. In those days this relationship was considered a legitimate marriage. It was not a full state of union, however. For there was prescribed a certain period of time, during which there should be no physical consummation of the marriage.
     With regard to this relationship that existed between Mary and Joseph at the time of the Lord's conception-a state of legitimate marriage, yet not one of physical intimacy-the Writings give only one direct reference: that "it was necessary for Him to be born of a virgin in legitimate marriage with Joseph" (God the Savior).

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Suffice it here to observe that Joseph would seem to represent the function of the heavens, as that medium through which the Lord descended and accommodated Himself to conception, yet from which He took nothing into His essential Divine. Even so, Joseph himself contributed nothing to the conception of the Divine seed, yet his established relationship with Mary provided that the birth of the Lord should be regarded as legitimate in the eyes of men. Mary, we are told, represents the church as to the affection of truth
(Canons II, chap. ix), which affection must be present in some measure in order for the Lord to be born, as it were, with man.
     There is, however, another and more tangible reason why the Lord was born of a virgin, and not of the seed of man. For the Writings reveal that the soul of man is contained in the seed of the father, while the material substances from which the soul weaves its physical body in the womb are contributed by the mother (AC 1815, 2005, 3290). The Lord, we are told, was born as any other man, but with this exception, that His soul was the Divine itself (AC 1460). This last was of necessity to the accomplishment of the glorification.
     Our thought concerning the Lord's birth should be conditioned by the fundamental statement that He assumed the human according to His own Divine order of creation (TCR 89). The essence of this order is the going forth and descent of life from the Lord through discrete media, whereby this life is successively accommodated, even down to the ultimate plane of matter at rest. With this ultimate matter the descending life clothes itself and commences its return to the Lord in completed forms of use (cf. TCR 33; DLW 52-56, 291, 294). It follows, therefore, that the Lord, who willed to take on the human according to the order of His own creation, submitted Himself to this same ordered pattern of successively descending degrees in creation, and so accommodated His inmost Divine to the ultimate plane of womb-life.

     The Lord's state at birth is said to be most arcane (AC 1414), that is, most secret, most deeply hidden. It is this arcane state that is representatively depicted in the words of the text: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, to a land that I will cause thee to see."
     "Abram" here represents the Lord as to His assumed human. "The Lord," or "Jehovah," represents the Divine life, which formed and constituted the inmost soul within that human from its very conception. By the Lord's speaking to Abram, we read, is here signified the "first mental advertence of all" (AC 1410), the first stirring of mental life with the Lord as a baby.

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The Lord's command to Abram, to "get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, to the land that I will cause thee to see," compasses the whole of the glorification process that was to be. For these words signify that the Lord was to recede from the corporeal and worldly things of His external man, in order that the spiritual and celestial things of His internal man might be presented to His view (AC 1411-13).
     In the Canons (V:iv) we are told that the Divine seed from which Mary conceived was the Divine truth from the Divine good, in its essence infinite and uncreate. In contrast to this, we learn that the spiritual seed-bed of all human conception is also truth from good, but truth in finite and created form, having impressed upon it the blemish of hereditary evil (ibid.). The difference, then, is that the soul-primitive of the Lord was in itself Divine-pure Divine truth proceeding from His Divine love, unobstructed by the network of paternal hereditary evil that constitutes the outermost degree of every human soul (cf. DLW 432; AC 1438). For the seed, or soul-primitive, from the father with every man is the first receptacle of life from the Lord, "but such a receptacle as it was with the father; for the seed is in the form of his love" (DLW 269). This being so, had the Lord been born of any other than Divine seed, His reception of love and wisdom from the Divine would have been perpetually finited, or limited, by reason of His having a human, paternal heredity. Had this been the case, the glorification could not have been possible.
     The Lord indeed had a paternal heredity. But this was a Divine heredity from Jehovah, or from the Divine love itself. The Lord also had a maternal heredity from Mary which was in itself evil (AC 1444). It was of necessity that the Lord should have this maternal heredity adhering to Him from birth. For we read: "the Lord underwent and endured the most grievous temptations, temptations so great that He fought alone and by His own power against the whole of hell. No one can undergo temptation, unless evil adheres to him; he who has no evil cannot have the least temptation; evil is what the infernal spirits excite" (AC 1444). And the number concludes with this striking assertion: "In the Lord there was not any evil that was actual, or His own, as there is in all men, but there was hereditary evil from the mother" (ibid.).
     The maternal heredity served as the medium whereby the hells could approach the Lord while He was on earth, thus enabling Him to close with them in the bitter combats of temptation, and thereby conquer and subjugate them, without at the same time destroying them. For had the Divine itself of the Lord come in contact with the hells, without the mediation of His Human, they would have been destroyed in an instant; even as our earth would be consumed by the unmediated fire of the sun.

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     With specific regard to the Lord's state at birth, we are informed that He alone was born a spiritual-celestial man, while all other men are born natural, with the capacity of becoming either spiritual or celestial by regeneration (AC 4594). In Him truth was conjoined with good, or love, from birth (AE 449; a). But we are also told that His human was not Divine from birth, because it was contaminated with hereditary evil from the mother (AC 6716). Thus, there existed in the Lord's natural man from birth two kinds of good (AC 3518). The good, or love, which He had from the Divine was "His own" [proprium] (ibid.), while the good in His natural from the mother was "in itself evil" (ibid.). This latter good, however, was of service for the reformation of the natural, after which this external, or mediate, good from the mother was totally rejected (ibid.). Hence the statement that "the will in the Lord was Divine from conception, and was the Divine good itself; but the will that He had by birth from the mother was evil" (AC 5157; cf. 1573:3).
     This reference to two kinds of good, or two separate wills, in the Lord-the one Divine, the other in itself evil-may well give us pause for studied reflection as to just what was the Lord's "will" from the Divine, and what his "will" from the mother. From a study of the doctrine concerning the motivating loves with which the Lord was invested from birth it becomes clear that He never willed, nor even tended toward, actual evil. For He was born spiritual-celestial (AC 4594), having from birth a desire for good and a longing for truth (AE 449:a). In Him truth was conjoined with good from the beginning (ibid.). His ruling love-His proprium--was from the Divine paternity, and was an inmost desire to save the universal human race (AC 2500). In the light of these teachings, we cannot think of the Lord's temptations as having involved the least desire or will toward evil on His part. When yet, on the other hand, we are assured that the Lord was tempted, to a depth utterly beyond any human sustaining or comprehension. Now, since there was in the Lord no actual evil (AC 1444, 1921), nor even the desire thereto, on what basis, then, could He enter into temptation?
     In number 1573 of the Arcana Coelestia it is stated that hereditary evil existed in the Lord only in His external man, and that from this hereditary blemish there was also falsity in His external man. But note well that this falsity was not derived from the principles of falsity (ibid.). That is to say, the falsity in the Lord's external man did not enter or become confirmed in His interiors by any will toward evil. In this, the Lord stood completely apart from all other men.

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It was this falsity in His external man whereby, although He did not appropriate it to Himself, still the Lord could be tempted. For He was assailed by these falsities in the form of appearances from the hells; appearances which, during His states of temptation, seemed in themselves to be true.
     Reflect upon the statement, that when the Lord came into a perception of the perverted state of the race, He "willed to withdraw from that perception. The reason is manifest, namely, that the perception from the Divine, and the thought therefrom concerning the human race, that such was its quality, struck Him with horror" (AC 2222). In this there was temptation inconceivable to the human mind. For the false appearance, insinuated into His human by the ever present hells, was that the race had fallen to the point where men could not be left in freedom and still be saved. So intense was this temptation that our Lord, God Himself, in His state of humiliation, willed to overlook, thus not to acknowledge, the existence of this low estate with the race. And without this acknowledgment on His part, the glorification process itself could not have been achieved. The hells would have been victorious in their quest to subjugate humanity completely, and all mankind on this earth would have perished. Thus we come to see that the Lord's states from birth were such that His temptations, while they were to involve nothing of active evil on His part, were nevertheless to induce upon Him the uttermost of grief and despair, even to the seeming failure of His Divine love to bring salvation to men.
     From this it is evident that the hereditary evil from the mother, which resided in the Lord's external man, and which is referred to as a "will," was not perceived by Him with desire. It was in Him, but never of Him; in Him, as that ultimate organ through which the forces of evil could approach and assault, but never, even for an instant, of Him; for the whole purpose and endeavor of His inner Divine love was the subjugation of this very infernal influx and its co-responding proprium, or will, in all men. This self-induced veiling of human proprium, taken from Mary, gave rise to compelling anxiety from false appearances with the Lord-the appearance that He could not save mankind; the appearance, as He hung upon the cross, that His Divine soul had deserted Him. This last is said in the Writings to have constituted the final and most grievous temptation, wherein the Lord cried out in the extremity of anguish: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But the actual will of the Lord-that which was His very own, and which He perceived as His inmost love and desire-was Divine from birth.
     Thus did the Lord bow the heavens and come down. Yet in His descent to conception and birth, He took nothing of human proprium into Himself, into His interiors, either from angel or man.

570


And in the return process of glorification, He was to bring even the external frailty of the human additament that He had assumed into a full union with the Divine soul that was His very life. He was to break clear at last of all accommodations and appearances. And in so doing, He was to subjugate the hells fully even on the natural plane, reorder the heavens, and maintain the spiritual freedom of mankind. Amen.

     LESSONS: Genesis 12:1-9. Matthew 1:18-25. AC 1414.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 531, 515, 532.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 51, 119.
GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH 1954

GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH              1954

     A Christmas Lesson for Children

     "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.

     "When Herod the king had heard, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule My people Israel.
     "Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found, bring me word again, that I may come and worship Him also.
     "When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshiped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way" (Matthew 2:1-12).

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     "By 'gold, frankincense, and myrrh' are signified all things of the good of love and of faith in the Lord; by 'gold' those of the good of love; by 'frankincense' those of the good of faith; and by 'myrrh' those of both in things external. The reason the wise men from the east offered these things was that among some in the east there remained from ancient times the knowledge and wisdom of the men of old, which consisted in understanding and seeing heavenly and Divine things in those which are in the world and upon the earth. For it was known to the ancients that all things correspond and are representative, and consequently have a signification; as is evident from the most ancient books and monuments of the Gentiles. Consequently they knew that gold, frankincense, and myrrh signify the goods which are to be offered to God. They also knew from their prophetic writings, which were of the Ancient Church, that the Lord was to come into the world, and that a star would then appear to them, of which star moreover Balaam, who also was one of the sons of the east, prophesied" (Arcana Coelestia, 9293:3).

     "It has been generally supposed, because three gifts are mentioned, that there were three Wise Men. But no number is mentioned anywhere in the Word. There may have been more than three. But there were at any rate three different gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were very precious things such as might be brought as an offering to a king. They represent indeed spiritual gifts far more precious than anything which belongs to the natural world. They represent such gifts as the angels bring-gifts of love and faith, and obedience. The gold corresponds to the love of the celestial heaven; the frankincense to the love of the spiritual heaven, which is called faith; and the myrrh, to the love of the natural heaven, which is obedience to the Lord's commandments. Everyone who truly worships the Lord, either in this world or in the other, must bring Him these gifts of love" (De Charms, The Life of the Lord, p. 102).

     FOREKNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE

     "Predictions are from the Lord's Divine foresight. That this is the only source of predictions concerning events which do not flow according to the common order of nature, and cannot thence be foreseen, may be seen from the Word" (AC 3698).

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TEMPTATION 1954

TEMPTATION       Rev. FRANK S. ROSE       1954

      (Delivered at the Third Session of the Forty-first British Assembly, Colchester, August 2, 1954.)

     In His merciful providence, the Lord is gently leading all men. He tenderly cares for His children, blessing them with every good, and nourishing them with the food and drink necessary for their spiritual life. From time to time we are permitted to see something of this providence. At such times we can give thanks with a full heart. It is not difficult to give thanks to the Lord when He is blessing our lives with peace. But it takes real confidence and courage to acknowledge the Lord's guidance as we pass through the trials and hardships of life. Even an atheist can be content when things are going well for him, but only a deeply religious man can have inner trust and inner peace as he passes through disappointments and trouble. Perhaps this is why the beauty of the 23rd Psalm is so affecting to men of all beliefs. In it we can sense a patience and devotion to the Lord's will that almost seems beyond the reach of human beings. We can be assured, nevertheless, that it is not beyond us, and that every New Church man can study the marvelous teachings of the Writings, and in time come to echo with full conviction and sincerity, the belief: "yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me." Me can acknowledge that the temptations of life, far from being the results of a cruel and impersonal fate, are the means of leading us to the Lord's house, where we may dwell in perfect peace forever.

     The word "tempt" means to attack. To strengthen certain metals, they are heated to incandescence, and then plunged into cold water. By this trial, which would destroy lesser things, they are made more solid and enduring. Such is the purpose of all temptation. We begin life on uncertain feet. We totter from one state to another, unstable, lacking confidence in what we are doing, and not sure of what we are trying to accomplish. We are sufficiently lazy to be content to wander through life in this half-hearted fashion, pretending to move ahead, but really drifting with events. Presumably we would continue to act in this way forever, but life does not permit itself to be taken for granted.

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We are plunged into situations which are extremely difficult and extremely trying. We are given a few hard knocks, and by this means we are forced to take a more definite stand for what we assume to be right. This is often a painful process. We feel as if we are being rushed into something, but we know that indecision is more painful than action, and so we move forward. In this way we are tried, and by the at first gentle probings of circumstances, we learn to stand up for our principles and ideals. We say that we love the church, and that we are trying to be charitable to the neighbor. We say this with some meaning, but we are half making up what we say, because we are mixed in our feelings. It is only when something comes along that opposes what we love that we make a more determined effort to make it a real part of our life. When someone is attacked he has only two alternatives. He must either give in to his attackers, or else fight against them, and so he is forced to retreat or advance. He cannot stand still.
     What is our real attitude to the church? We amble casually into the organization, and vaguely profess that we understand and believe her principles. But we either forget, or do not know, that many of our ideas are contrary to the teachings of the church, and many of our little ambitions and loves are in reality selfish. We attend church if it is convenient and think that we are devoted worshipers of the Lord. But when something else comes up, we absent-mindedly pursue it, and this betrayal does not seem to disturb our peace of mind. And so we wander casually between two camps, between faith in the Lord and faith in our own ideas and loves, not realizing that our life is a foul mixture of what is good and bad-a weak compromise between devotion to ourselves, and devotion to the Lord. Half-way religion was typical of the Israelites. In many places the prophets pointed to this failing, as when Elijah asked the people: "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal then follow him" (I Kings 18:21). When Elijah said this, the people answered not a word, because there can be no justification for this state of mind.
     Eventually things happen which shake our complacency and attack our faith. The most obvious attack is that made by people with other beliefs. They challenge what we say, and thus force us to clarify our own thinking. We have two alternatives. Either we give in to them, and thus deny principles which we had thought of as important, or else we renew our confidence in the truths of the church by defending them. Faith is threatened in more subtle ways. Doubts creep in, and make us puzzle out the problem of belief. Things happen to us which do not seem to make sense, and we have either to struggle to fit them in with our faith, or else succumb to cynicism and ignorance.

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     Although this seems to be a purely intellectual fight, it is, in fact, an attack upon our love of the church. For love is what is attacked. Here we can turn to another illustration of temptation, and that is in relation to conjugial love. Married partners profess to love each other, but they are occasionally disturbed by lingering doubts. A man's love is not complete at first, because he tries to retain his old conceits and selfishness while at the same time attempting to devote himself to his wife. The love is not completely established in his mind, because rival loves are allowed to remain to torment it. These must eventually be rooted out. Through what may be quite casual and harmless external things, doubt arises in the mind and it becomes divided and confused. If he succeeds in overcoming the doubt, the love is strengthened and purified. This is why when married partners quarrel, they sometimes end up with a stronger feeling of devotion to each other than they had before. And so it is that their love conquers in its temptation, and almost flourishes on it.
     Whenever there is a beginning, there is an occasion for temptation. A young man, starting his life's work, commences with self-confidence and enthusiasm. He thinks that he knows what he is talking about, and imagines that he is completely devoted to his use. But eventually, through minor failures, he comes to realize his inner doubts, and so he is forced either to abandon the use, or to become further confirmed in it. He is tried in the fire of experience, and through this trial he may emerge better prepared to perform his use wisely and unselfishly.
     In every example we find certain common features. In the first place there can be no temptation where there is no love. An agnostic cannot have his faith attacked, for he has no faith. A single person cannot have doubts about his love for a partner he has not met. A lazy man cannot be discouraged about his failure to perform a use. In the second place, the temptation is not permitted until the love is established in the mind. In addition, the temptation comes, not as an emotional thing only, but it comes armed with falsities and doubt. The religious man is disturbed by contrary teachings. The husband is disturbed by misgivings. The working-man is upset by thoughts of inadequacy. Note, too, that the temptation should serve to strengthen, and not to destroy. It is permitted by the Lord, not to give men the opportunity of failure, but to encourage them to succeed. Where a person is so weak in his loves as to be likely to fail, the temptation would serve no use, and would simply destroy that which he has. What is more, the temptation is not only permitted for the sake of a good end, but it is absolutely necessary, for without it the end could not be achieved. A person whose faith has never been tried has no faith, but only a vague kind of loyalty.

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A person whose love has never been tried, does not realize how important it is to him. A man who has not struggled to establish himself becomes ineffective in his use, and uncertain of his reasons for performing it.
     In His infinite wisdom, the Lord extends benefits to all men. He offers them the possibility of true faith, conjugial love and the delight of use. But these gifts cannot become man's until he makes a real effort to acquire them, and to remove the things in himself which oppose them. Things that are lightly given are lightly esteemed. They come easily and they easily fade and disappear. This is why human beings are so pitifully stupid in pretending that they can drift into heaven without effort. This is why the person who takes the church for granted, and who considers it a minor part of his life, does not really possess the church, but is a heathen in religious dress. None of us are so wholeheartedly enthusiastic about our faith as to be beyond the realm of temptation. And most of us are so unconcerned about our faith as to be unprepared for it.
     Temptations arise only under special circumstances. They cannot begin until the man has acquired something of good, and something of truth (AC 2280:8, AC 711). And they are no longer possible when the mind has been completely freed of all evil and all falsity (AC 2768). The cause of the temptation is evil. Evil spirits are continually seeking out weak spots in a man's character, so that they may destroy those things which are of value in him. The Lord permits them to attack because it is useful for the man to defend himself. But he permits this only when the man is prepared. The state of preparation might be described as follows. From his earliest infancy the Lord implants remains of good deep within a man's mind. These are like little seeds that lie dormant and then begin to grow. These are what inspire him to live the life of charity. In themselves they are beyond attack. But when they take conscious form in the mind, in the perceptions of truth, they come into the open, like new born flowers, and are then subject to all kinds of influences which could not have reached them before. A man who is conscious of the truth becomes conscious of his own failings. He sees in himself weakness and ignorance, and so begins to doubt his own ability to achieve his ideals. He looks into the past, and discovers one thing after another that he now sees to be unwise. He is haunted by a feeling of failure. In such a mood, his mind is wide-open to the insinuations of evil spirits. And they lose no time in trying to make him dwell on his own failings, thus seeking to torture him with a feeling of his own mistakes, and convince him that he is beyond hope.
     Note the thing which the hells are trying to achieve.

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If they can convince a man that all is hopeless, they will have accomplished an easy victory, and no further attacks are necessary. The man will cease to fight. People do not fight for that which they cannot attain.
     They are diabolically clever. By merely using ideas which are perfectly true, they attempt to establish a deliberate lie. It is true that men fail in their ideals. It is true that men make mistakes. But it is not true that a man is beyond the hope of salvation merely because of his past. The Lord offers salvation to all men. His hands are not shortened that He cannot save. But His work depends, to a large extent, on the willingness of men to do their part. It is possible for all men to be saved if they only try. But if they cease to try, all hope vanishes. The man who feels that religion and doctrine are over his head ceases to try to learn, and so he fails to become a true member of the church. The man who feels that it is impossible for him to achieve the state of conjugial love abandons all hope of building a true marriage, and allows his marriage to decay into self-pity and brooding. The man who feels that he is incapable of performing a use ceases to try. A lie, transparent and ridiculous as it may be, is a powerful weapon. To the man in temptation it may be Very convincing. But if he can see that it is a lie, he can overcome it. And he can say with the Psalmist: "The proud have forged a lie against me; but I will keep Thy precepts with my whole heart" (Psalm 119:69; cf. Ezekiel 21:29; Jeremiah 28; John 8:44).          
     This is the first kind of temptation a man has to face. As he gradually pulls out of it, his beliefs are immeasurably strengthened, and he comes closer to the state in which his beliefs have become so deep that they are beyond attack. But temptations with regard to rational and intellectual things are mild compared to those that affect the will. The evil spirits, having failed on their first attempt, try harder and with greater skill. And this time they attack his very loves (AC 5035; AC 751). The struggle is so deep, at times, as to be almost unconscious, but it reveals itself in what are called the pangs of conscience (AC 761, 762).                    
     Through intellectual temptations a man is confirmed in his beliefs. And the devils use that very fact to torment him in a far more painful way. They make use of the strength of his ideals to torture his mind with his own failure to live up to them. For example, they first of all try to make a man deny the existence of God. When they succeed only in confirming him in that belief, they as it were ask him: "If you believe in God, how can you continue to live as you do?" They expose the weakness of his loves, and use his own conscience as a weapon with which to destroy him. A man who is not sure of his beliefs can hardly feel uncomfortable if he does not live up to them.

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But if he is perfectly clear, then it gives him intense pain to find himself acting contrary to them. He is awakened to see that he has evil loves within him that are inconsistent with his ideals, and that lead him to violate his firmest resolutions. The very fact that he knows what is right makes the temptation more grievous. His mind becomes racked with that penetrating doubt which wonders if the Lord has power to save him. He despairs of salvation, and comes into an interior state of dread, lest those things for which he lives, will be taken from him.
     It is hard enough when our enemies attack those things which we love. It is even harder when we see that our friends by their ignorance or selfishness attack the things which we love. But there is no greater grief than that which comes upon a man when he realizes that he is his own worst enemy, and that within his own mind, side by side with his most tender loves, are deadly evils that are waiting to kill them. A New Church man may come to the point where he realizes the ugliness of his own evils, and knows that these are threatening that which he holds most dear. The married couple striving for conjugial love comes to realize that they are sufficiently selfish to have emotions and thoughts arise in the mind which threaten their love for each other. And this gives them an anxiety which is beyond description. To a person with a deep love there is nothing more precious and more important to him. So it is that a lover will die rather than see his loved one suffer. A mother will suffer agonies and starvation for the sake of her child, because her love for the child is stronger than her love of self. Imagine, then, the temptations of those who feel that their highest love is threatened by their own unchallenged evils. They feel as if they are being torn apart.
     We are assured by the Writings that both good and evil flow into a man. When he is tormented by his own evils, he is in fact being tormented by hell. And when he is encouraged in good, he is being protected and encouraged by the angels. This is why the Writings teach the remarkable fact that no matter how severe the temptation may feel, it is, in truth, a struggle that goes on within his mind between good and evil, or between the angels of heaven and the devils of hell (AC 761). In that he is aware of this struggle as it affects his conscious mind, he can in freedom turn towards one side or another, and so determine the course of the fight. If he turns toward the side of good, the Lord can drive out the evils in his mind, and so allow good to replace them. In this way he is released from the iron grip of evil, and allowed to come into that state of good which he looks to as his ideal.
     The extreme of temptation is despair. At first a man merely doubts his own beliefs. Then he fears the loss of his loves. Finally he realizes his own helplessness, and cries out to the Lord for salvation.

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In despair the purpose of temptation is complete. For a man must eventually realize that of himself he is both ignorant and evil, and that it is solely of the Lord's mercy that he is saved. This he cannot pretend to believe so long as he is proud of his intelligence and confident of his loves. But when, through the experiences of life and their attendant temptations, he realizes how helpless he is, he can sincerely cry out to the Lord who alone can save him. And when he has thus acknowledged his dependence on the Lord, he can be gifted by the Lord with a life that is entirely freed from all of the human failings and evils into which he was born. So it is that he comes to the end of a long and difficult journey. In that journey he may have felt that all was useless. In that journey he may have wished that he could turn back. But on reaching the goal he can be interiorly thankful that it was carried to completion (AC 8179). And even though he had fought all along as if by himself, he can confess, at the end, that it was solely of the Lord's mercy that he was saved, and that he could have done nothing from himself (AC 2694).
     Is it not a marvelous thing that the blackest moments of a person's life are attended with the greatest hope and promise? A man who believes this believes in the Lord's providence. And he knows that there is nothing that can befall him, no matter how unfortunate and evil, that the Lord cannot use to lead him to a higher good.
     Throughout his life, a person faces anxieties of one kind or another. No matter how perfect he may become, he never passes beyond the reach of external difficulties and inconvenience These things, in themselves, are only capable of disturbing his physical and emotional states. They do not penetrate to his deeper thoughts and loves. Rut it is very often true that spiritual temptations come upon a man who is undergoing natural anxieties (AC 8164). For in these states his own evils rise up to attack his inner principles and loves once again. A man may be tired and discouraged. In this state he begins to feel not only his physical weakness, but even more powerfully his failure to live according to his spiritual ideals. His past rises into his mind, and suggests to him that he has never been faithful to his beliefs, and that it is impossible for him to succeed. These things bring with them a most complete and bitter torture. His whole being, from his highest loves and thoughts down to his very moods and bodily health, is in pain.
     Few of us, perhaps, have been brought to the state described in the Writings, in which we see our evils so clearly, and realize our failing so acutely, that we cry out for His mercy and salvation. Perhaps this is a sign of our inability to sustain such complete and terrifying temptations. We can be sure that if we feel confident, if we feel accomplished, if we feel proud of our lives, we are not fully aware of the truth that it is solely of the Lord's mercy that we are saved.

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     People often wonder why the Lord teaches us to pray that we be not led into temptation. If temptations are useful, why should we seek to avoid them? We have noted that temptation is possible only when man is gifted with genuine loves, and with the truths of faith. We can be sure that when this condition exists in our hearts the temptations will come; and to us it will, if anything, seem to be too soon. We will plead that we are not ready. If we but knew the power of the hells, we would not feel so confident that we could sustain their attacks. And we would pray, with deep conviction, that the Lord keep us from temptations, until in His good time we are ready for them. Then, and only then, can we be assured that He will be with us, fighting within us to remove the power of evil over our minds, and to establish His kingdom there.

     The Writings teach that a man in temptations is interiorly at peace (AC 3696). This may at first appear to be untrue. But we can see that it must be true, as we look around and notice the unrest of those who have no beliefs, and thus who are not even prepared for temptation. They float aimlessly on the surface of life, and do not even realize that they are going nowhere and accomplishing nothing. They hit from one pleasure to another, but in that there is nothing stable in their lives, they have no peace. For peace comes first as an internal thing. Where there is solidity, there is peace. A man could not even begin to endure: temptations, were he not inmostly at peace. Like the soldier on the battle field, he must be sure of his own ground before he can undertake to fight. And in that his ideals are from the Lord, and his weapons from the Lord, he is fighting from Him who is the Prince of peace. So it is that no matter how troubled may be the surface of his life, nor even how greatly disturbed his deep thoughts and loves, he is still at peace because the Lord is with him (TCR 126). He may not be conscious of this peace while in the midst of battle, because his mind is so occupied with the turmoil in and around him.
     This condition is beautifully summarized in a brief incident in the New Testament. After the Lord had taught the people about the kingdom of God, He retired with His disciples and continued to teach them. In the evening He said to them, "Let us pass over unto the other side." They bearded the ship, and the Lord went into the hinder part of the ship, and slept. Suddenly a great storm arose and buffeted the tiny craft. When the storm became too great for them, and they feared lest they sink, they woke the Lord and said: "Master, carest Thou not that we perish!"

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And the Lord arose and rebuked the sea, and said "Peace, be still."
     From the moment of birth the Lord is present with a man. He teaches him, at first simply, and then more interiorly. So it is that He is preparing him for temptations. After this preparation is complete, the Lord suggests that a man pass over to the other side, and begin to apply the truth to life. This challenge he accepts with confidence and pride. The disciples considered themselves as practiced sailors, and had no thought of needing the Lord's help. A man feels that he can carry on, once having learned the truth, without the Lord's ever present guidance. And so he does not seem to notice the fact that the Lord is as it were asleep in his mind, because he is not conscious of His presence.
     When the storms of temptations arise, the first thought is one of self-preservation, and a man quickly tries to defend himself. But eventually he comes to realize that the task is too difficult for him, and so he turns to the Lord in desperation. When the storm has convinced him that he can no longer carry on alone, but that he is in danger of sinking into the lowest of evils, the Lord as it were awakes in the mind, rebukes the falsities and evils, that are disturbing it, and says "Peace, be still." Immediately the confusion and torment subside, and the Lord asks with infinite tenderness and love: "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" To such a question a man can only respond with an acknowledgment of his own weakness, and increased wonder at the Lord's power. Then he becomes childlike. Then he becomes a true disciple of the Lord. And having been led through a journey which shook him to the very foundation, he can acknowledge with true sincerity and humble belief that the Lord alone had sustained and helped him. He can praise the Lord in the words of the Psalm:
     "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.
     He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
     Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.
     Thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
     Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days."

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MISS CELIA CENTENNIA BELLINGER 1954

MISS CELIA CENTENNIA BELLINGER              1954

     A Biographical Sketch

     The factual story of Miss Celia Bellinger's career in uses may be told very simply. As it unfolds, it falls into a pattern unified by devotion to New Church education-periods of teaching alternating with years spent in study and observation of educational methods at home and abroad; summer schools attended; and interruptions at the call of family duty which stopped only her formal work, for she carried with her a love of and faith in New Church education that could always be ultimated wherever there were New Church children and their parents.
     A daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Bellinger (Lizzie Doering), Miss Celia was born in Waterloo, Ontario, on February 16, 1876, the year in which the Academy was founded. She was educated in the New Church Day School in Berlin (Kitchener), and in the Academy School on Wallace Street in Philadelphia, from which she graduated in 1894. Undecided as yet about entering the teaching profession she returned home to Canada. But she did some student teaching in the Carmel Church School, and in 1903 entered the Normal Class of the Academy. After graduating she visited Europe, where she observed kindergarten methods in Germany. A period of teaching in the Bryn Athyn Elementary School followed, and Miss Celia then entered Teachers' College at Columbia University, from which she graduated in 1910 with a major in education.
     After she had paid another visit to Europe for further study, family illness took Miss Celia to Denver, Colorado. But from 1914 until 1918 she taught in the Pittsburgh New Church School, which she helped to organize under the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt. Her next teaching post was in the Olivet Day School, Toronto. Family illness then took her to Florida, but she returned to Pittsburgh and taught there until 1928. During that period, in the summer of 1926, she took educational courses at the University of London and visited a number of prominent English schools.
     From 1928 until her retirement in 1936, Miss Celia taught in the Bryn Athyn Elementary School; beginning with the 5th grade, moving on to the 6th a year later, and beginning in 1930 to teach 7th grade geography. In addition to her regular duties she gave courses in the Normal School, and in the more recently organized program of educational courses in the College she instructed future teachers in the teaching of geography and in classroom management.

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She also pioneered the Elementary School Journal, which later became the Parent-Teacher Journal and is now known as New Church Education.
     To attempt to convey Miss Celia's contribution to New Church education is, however, another thing. As a grade teacher she believed that the sphere of the classroom should be like that of the ideal home-warm, intimate, respectful, with pupils and teacher working together in love toward a common goal; and she certainly excelled in classroom management. In teaching geography she passed on to her pupils a strong love for the peoples of the world, and she was adept in all situations at instilling moral and spiritual values. Through her contact with the College she conveyed the ideals of New Church education to future teachers in such a way as to arouse deep affection for them. In her travels-and she was a tireless traveler through the United States and Canada as well as abroad-she inspired younger teachers in the schools of the church, isolated parents, and children as well, with her own love for New Church education. Both in line of duty and in retirement her life was given to the promotion of New Church education and wherever she went she was the unofficial ambassador of the cause to which she was dedicated, her concern the state of New Church education and its advancement through an increasing flow of teachers and pupils into the schools of the church. Her educational philosophy is to be found in two articles from her pen: "A Woman's Preparation as a Teacher" and "The Spirit of the Classroom.
     This leaves much unsaid. And indeed the most important things can not be said in a single sketch, because Miss Celia's real contribution to New Church education is in the hearts and minds of the former pupils, parents, and younger teachers who were influenced by her. So perhaps the rest can be told with the aid of their words.
     On her 75th birthday, Miss Celia was publicly honored at a Friday Supper of the Bryn Athyn Society. Telegrams were received from the Kitchener, Pittsburgh, and Toronto Societies, paying tribute to her patient and wise service, honoring her devotion and ability and singleness of purpose in furthering New Church education, praising her zeal and inspiration; all recalling her work among them with deep appreciation, and expressing affectionate greetings. From "her countless friends and former pupils of several generations" she received an inscribed testimonial recognizing her work as a teacher and with younger teachers in later years. We close this sketch by quoting its closing words. "Loving the truth, broad and understanding in sympathy, firm in loyalty, and wise in counsel, she has indeed been a mother in Israel. May the Lord prosper her work, here and hereafter." That this hope will be granted we do not doubt.

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NECESSITY OF TRUTH 1954

NECESSITY OF TRUTH       Rev. MARTIN PRYKE       1954

     Charter Day Address

     (Delivered at the Service in the Cathedral, October 15, 1954.)

     One of the most distinctive, and one of the most obviously rational, of the doctrines of the New Church is the teaching that every man may be saved, if he himself so wills. Many religions, many branches of the old Christian Church, have claimed that they alone have the key to salvation, and that all who remain outside of the walls of their own particular dogmatism are destined to everlasting punishment.
     As we look about us in the mental and spiritual chaos of our day we may well have fleeting doubts as to the salvability of many. We may ask, what can become of a man, born into such an environment, who is trained in ways of disorder?-perhaps in the midst of unseemly ostentation, perhaps amongst the most squalid and appalling conditions. Can such men fulfil the destiny sought for them by a loving God? Can such ignorance concerning spiritual things as there is in the world today provide the way to salvation, and to the everlasting delights of the heavenly kingdom? Can a man ever lift himself from the pit into which he was born! Despite the problems entailed, our reason tells us-and revelation demonstrates-that all men are capable of salvation. And we delight in such a knowledge and reassurance, for it surely testifies to the everlasting care and mercy of God. We certainly cannot believe that a loving God ever permits conditions which will make impossible the salvation of one man. The whole purpose of His creation is that a heaven may be formed from the human race-a heaven freely chosen by all who constitute it. This purpose would be wholly frustrated if ever a single man were denied the possibility of finding heavenly happiness if he chose it; if any man were born and brought up in such evil that all good was impossible; if any man were born into such falsity that no truth could gain a foothold with him.
     Put simply, the mercy and love of God provide that any man who lives a conscientious life, according to his understanding of what is required of him, can be saved. Any man who struggles to live according to the standards which he believes to be true, however perverted they may in fact be, can, after death, be instructed in the true standards and so be prepared for heaven.

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This is possible because on earth such a man has taught himself to submit to an authority higher than himself, has accustomed himself to the principle that man must live, not for himself alone, but for others, and in obedience to a supreme power. Thus, in His mercy, God provides that men may be led to His kingdom by many ways. Some are straight and true, some false and tortuous; but if man so chooses, all may lead to the one goal.
     The truth of this assertion can hardly be doubted, for to deny it is to ascribe injustice and cruelty to the very God who created the wonders of the sea and land, of the human body, of the greatest tree and the smallest flower. Can such a God deny the possibility of salvation to any man, or condemn any man, against his will, to eternal misery and frustration? "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they!" (Matthew 6:26).

     We may be tempted, in view of this rational teaching concerning the salvability of all men, to ask: Why, then, is it so important that we should seek the truth whilst on earth? If from falsity man may proceed to eternal salvation, why Should he trouble to seek truth? Why, if men may be saved in darkness, has the Lord twice come amongst them to shed light; why has He made Himself known in the written pages of revelation!
     The appearance may be, then, that the effecting of God's purpose-the establishment of a heaven from the human race-does not require a knowledge of the truth. But this is not so. Heaven is the kingdom of God; it is ruled according to His Divine order; and it is heaven because of this very fact. Divine truth, Divine order, is imprinted upon all of unperverted creation; it is the harmony which holds together all the multifarious parts of the whole. Where men obey this Divine order-whether it be on the material plane of natural science, the moral plane of social behavior, or the spiritual plane of love to the neighbor and the Lord; wherever men obey the true order, then they will produce fruitful results; they will harness the powers of nature for the material benefit of man; they will establish a social order which protects all men alike and preserves a freedom of conscience and of religion; they will establish a spiritual order, which is the order of heaven, whereby many can live in a state of mutual service, charity, love and peace
     It follows, then, that Divine truth is essential to men's peaceful and fruitful living together. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32); which speaks of more than worldly freedom.

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It is spiritual freedom-freedom from evil, from disorder, from frustration and from conflict-that is here promised.
     Inasmuch as heaven is the kingdom of God and is governed by His order-governed by the free cooperation of the angels and not by compulsion-then it is manifest that all who enter therein must have a knowledge of that order and truth; just as a good citizen must know the laws of his country. Yet, as we have seen, those who have been brought up in falsity and ignorance, can be saved and can enter this kingdom of order. They do not, however, enter it in ignorance; they pass through a long period of preparation in the world of spirits, where they are at one time shown the error of their former concepts and the nature of genuine truth. It is demonstrated to them, carefully and patiently, that the way which they have known can only lead to the destruction of human society, can only cause disruption amongst mankind; that it can in no wise lead to a growing and everlasting happiness of men living together in fruitful and peaceful concord. They are shown, on the other hand, how Divine truth, accommodated to the understanding of man, and typified in the two Great Commandments enjoining love to the Lord and to the neighbor, may establish a genuine and lasting harmony, which will bring many men and women, varied indefinitely as to personality and genius, into one workable whole; even as the multitudinous parts of the human body are brought into a single functioning unit, fit to perform uses. Thus they are instructed in Divine truth and are prepared to enter heaven.

     Before the fall: when creation was still in its pristine state and man was living in true order, all necessary instruction in spiritual things was given on earth; it was not necessary for this to be done in the world of spirits. This was, and is, the orderly way for man to prepare for heaven. It is the Divine will that all should receive an earthly preparation within the framework of truth; it is not His will that we should be prepared amidst misconception and falsity. Man himself destroyed the primitive order and brought about conditions such as we know them today. Despite man's perversity, the Divine Providence has constantly provided, by advent and revelation, that no man shall be incapable of salvation, but man has so distorted worldly order that now many must find that salvation by devious paths.
     The consequence of the destruction of truth and the introduction of falsity and ignorance has been twofold. It means that many men can no longer prepare for heaven by the orderly processes originally ordained, but must proceed by a blind groping which can only be enlightened in the other world; and it also means that the world itself is a place of evil and falsity, wherein only a small remnant of good and truth yet remains.

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     Creation is the fruit of God's love and is in His image. If man, who has free will, is to find joy and contentment in that creation, then he has to learn to comply with the laws of creation which are the expression of God's will. We can live without those laws, but when we do, each man makes his own rules; each man, each society, each country, goes its own way, and the result is chaos of man's own making. This surely is borne out by our experience of the world today. Each man is trying to follow his own path, and so there is constant friction and conflict; each part of the community is far more anxious to obtain dominance for itself than to forward the welfare of the whole; nations, terrified by the consequences of modern warfare, seek to maintain peace by covenants and leagues and councils, only to find that when the pride or material advantage of some particular nation is endangered, then the whole edifice comes toppling to the ground.
     It is only when all men resort to the order and truth of the Creator-the teaching of God's Word-that this chaos can be turned to harmony and peace. Then only will true charity come amongst men; then only will nation live at peace with nation. No amount of good intention can remove the present evils, fear, war, social injustice. The good intention which undoubtedly exists with some needs the direction and enlightenment of Divine principles-principles which show, without doubt, what is right and what is wrong, what will bring peace and what will bring war, what is just and what is unjust. For, be it remembered, the teachings of the Word are not abstract doctrines which have no application to life; they are definitely underlying principles which can, and should, be applied to every least thing that we do from day to day.
     This truth will not, then, simply affect the wider issues of the world, but it will radically change the life of each one of us. If we apply it by consciously shunning those things which the Word shows us to be evil, shunning them because they are sins against God, then our whole outlook becomes changed: spiritual and eternal things become more important than material and earthly things; the welfare of the neighbor becomes more important than that of ourselves; the Lord is loved above all else because He is the only source of genuine love and wisdom, and because from Him comes all true happiness for mankind; we become anxious to fit ourselves into the order of things, rather than to adapt all others to suit our own ends. All of this is a complete reversal of our lives, effected by the determined application of revealed truths in each day's problems, in each temptation.

     The Academy founders saw nothing more clearly than the absolute necessity of truth. They saw, as we have tried to indicate, that truth is fundamental to the order of heaven and equally fundamental to true order on earth.

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They saw that the Lord has revealed Himself in a threefold revelation so that mankind may have the truth; may prepare for heaven with its aid, and may establish a new order on earth upon its sure foundation.
     These early church fathers did not doubt that there is an absolute truth; they were not deluded by the popular belief that there is no such thing as truth, that it depends upon how a person looks at it, that something is true for one person and false for another. They recognized that behind all that we see and know there is an underlying truth which is the infinite wisdom of God; which is the Divine order and organization of His creation; the unchangable laws of the universe, both spiritual and natural.
     Such was the basic acknowledgment of those who brought into being our beloved Academy. They desired, struggled and sacrificed, that the truth might be made known to succeeding generations. They built so that the truths given in the revelation of the Lord's second advent might be established in the earth, confident in the knowledge that only thus could mankind be saved from its present pass.
     In this they did not look simply to their own children or their own descendents, or to the few who might come within the Academy walls but they looked to the welfare of mankind as a whole; they sought to lay the foundations of the New Jerusalem. For this their vision, their devotion, their sacrifice, we honor them; and for the same qualities we honor those who now continue in the task.
     Those who are now benefitting from the work of the Academy builders, both past and present, those young people who now come to the Academy for refreshment of the mind and soul, can best show their honor, their keen appreciation, by recognizing the basic principle behind all these endeavors. "The truth shall make you free." If we can see and truly recognize this principle, then the fruit of their labors will be in our lives, and their work will go forward into the generations of the future-a smouldering beacon bursting into fame in a darkened world.
     The Psalmist said: "Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way; by taking heed according to Thy Word" (Psalm 119:9). Let this be the message that we all take away from this celebration of the anniversary of the establishment of our schools. Let us remember that it was to this end that our founders looked; that the youth of each succeeding generation should turn to the Word of the Lord as its guide and light; that that above all else should set its standards, the pattern of spiritual behavior-lest the gospel of the second advent be snuffed out amongst us, and it be left to others to light it anew.

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     A great trust is placed in our hands-a knowledge of the Lord's second advent, and the benefit of an education based upon its teaching. It is for us to decide whether we are worthy of the trust, whether we use it, whether these blessings become full and useful in our lives. The choice is whether or not we "cleanse our way" by "taking heed according to His Word"; that is, whether or not we have the conviction, the determination, the courage to use the Divine teaching in the things of our daily lives, and so truly to establish the New Jerusalem in our midst.
LORD'S PRAYER 1954

LORD'S PRAYER       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1954

     12. Conclusion

     What has been presented is most general teaching concerning the Lord's Prayer. Far, far more is contained within it. Indeed, there is within it the entire Word of the Lord. Wherever we may read in the Word reverently, there comes to us something that has its place in the prayer; in the whole of it, and particularly in some portion of it. The Lord's Prayer is infinite truth, filling all the heavens. So there is ever more and more we can learn that applies to it.
     And yet we would say again what was said at the beginning: In praying the prayer let there not be an intellectual effort to grasp its meaning, but let the thoughts be those that come spontaneously These thoughts will at no time be the same as at any previous time, even to eternity.
     Though so it should be, nevertheless it is of untold value that there should be stored up within us its interior truths, which, when we are praying, will be subconsciously present, and will impart their light and the warmth within the light. Let this be suggested. There can be times when it is well to meditate on the prayer, with what is intellectual then considerably present. In this there can be also self-examination in the light of the prayer and its truths. Thus there will be application of the rule of life that we should frequently read and meditate upon the Word of God, in this case, meditation especially upon the prayer. Wondrous things will come to mind, the influence of which will be present when we pray. Perhaps it may be said that the teachings which have been presented in these articles have been such a meditation.
     "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

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For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened" (Matthew 7:7, 8).

     [EDITORIAL NOTE: Since publication of these articles was commenced in the issue for January, 1954, we have learned that the series was, in fact, published by the General Church Military Service Committee.]
DIVINE PROVIDENCE AND THE HOLY SPIRIT 1954

DIVINE PROVIDENCE AND THE HOLY SPIRIT       Rev. ORMOND ODHNER       1954

     To what extent can it be said that Divine Providence and the Holy Spirit are one and the same thing! Recent studies have led us to conclude that they are practically identical, and to believe that such a conclusion is useful and therefore permissible.
     Nothing is perfect unless it exist in a trine (AR 875). No melody can be written with less than three notes, no figure can be drawn with less than three lines. A line by itself its nothing until it becomes a plane, a plane until it becomes a solid. The perfect man has head, trunk and limbs. In everything there is end, cause and effect.
     In God also there is and must be a trinity. Viewed philosophically, this Divine Trinity consist of esse, existere, and procedere-three Latin words for which no English words quite suffice.
     Esse means "to be." This is the very inmost of God, and is life in itself. It is to be predicated of God before any form-even the Divine Human form-is superimposed upon that life. Esse-"to be." That is all, a thing so interior that the Writings say it pre-exists "being." "To be"-this is the inmost of the Trinity, God in Himself, from which all else has being.
     Second in the Trinity is existere. This does not mean "to exist," in the modern sense of "to live, to be." Derived from two other Latin words, ex meaning "from" or "out of," and sto, stare, meaning "to stand," it means "to stand forth, to be manifest." In the Trinity this is God made manifest, God standing forth to our view, God in form, the Divine Human form that we can see. In the corresponding trinity in man, esse is his life itself-a reality, to be sure, but utterly invisible; existere is the form his life builds up around itself, first in the shape of the body, then in the character of the mind or spirit.

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     Third in the Trinity there is procedere, "to proceed, to go forth." Answering to it in man there is what goes forth from him, his use, his sphere, his influence on others. In the Divine Trinity it is that which goes forth from God, the Lord, the Divine, as this exists in things created from Himself.
     More familiarly, the names of the Trinity are Father, Son and Holy Spirit,-the Father one with esse, the Son one with existere, the Holy Spirit one with procedere.
     About this trinity, however, there is the peculiarity that it, this particular Divine Trinity, did not come into existence, save in time, with the glorification of the Lord's Human. "The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified"-a sentence horribly mistranslated in English Bibles to agree with the false concept of three co-eternal Persons in the Godhead.
     "The Holy Spirit was not yet." But God is infinite and therefore unchangable. Still stranger, therefore, will the teaching seem that the Trinity itself did not exist before creation, except "ideally" (Canons, Trinity, iii:3); that word here being used in its strictest meaning, as an adverb derived from the word "idea." Only in idea did the Trinity exist before creation. Before that, there was only God in Himself and God in form. There could have been no Divine Proceeding, for there was nothing into which the Divine could proceed. There was nothing created, and the Divine Proceeding is the Divine in others created from itself.
     "Proceeding," when said of the Divine, has nothing to do with space or distance. Unconfined by space, the Divine does not have to proceed from place to place. It is omnipresent, everywhere and immediately, with no necessity for geographical travel or even for spiritual progression through changes of state. The Divine is omnipresent, immediately and in fulness. Yet there is God in Himself, and there is God in or with us whom He has created. Any good love we have is such-not the Divine in itself, but the Divine with man. The Divine from itself, it is called, and this, properly, is the Divine Proceeding.
     Before creation, obviously, there was nothing for the Divine to be in or with, except itself. There was, therefore, no Divine Proceeding, except ideally. As soon as creation began, however, the Divine proceeded into it, for the Divine, even then, was omnipresent. Thus the Trinity came into actuality with creation.
     But even so, it was not the same Divine Trinity it is today. Old Christianity divided the Divine into three separate Persons, and that is why it purposely mistranslated the passage, "the Holy Spirit was not yet, for Jesus was not yet glorified." It inserted the word "given," making it read, "The Holy Spirit was not yet given"; the gift of the Holy Spirit being called the regeneration and salvation given to those who believe on Christ.

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It would have destroyed the idea of a co-eternal Trinity of Persons to accept the stated truth: "The Holy Spirit was not yet."
     From creation, of course, there was the Divine Proceeding, the Divine in and with others created by Himself. But nowhere does the Old Testament speak of the Holy Spirit, but only of the Spirit of Holiness or the Spirit of God. This is important, for the Divine then was not immediately present with men from itself in ultimates, but only representatively present through the medium of angels and spirits.
     Now it is otherwise. The Lord glorified His Human down to the ultimates, making all of it Divine. Thus did the Divine itself reach down much further than it had ever done before, even to the plane of men, with whom it had been present only mediately and representatively before. And it is this presence of the Lord immediately from Himself, in and with the beings of His creation, which is meant by the Holy Spirit. All holiness now proceeds from the Divine Human of the Lord Jesus Christ alone-all good and truth, all love and wisdom, and every Divine operation to effect man's reformation, regeneration and salvation. This, today, is the Holy Spirit; and this, today, is the Divine Proceeding, the Divine from itself in men and angels. Nowhere do the Writings teach that there is today any other Divine Proceeding than that which they call the Holy Spirit.
     In several places it is distinctly said, "The Holy Spirit is the Divine Proceeding" (AE 1225e, 1232). Frequently it is said that all the Divine now proceeds from the Divine Human (Cf. Ath. 177). And we would note also that the True Christian Religion treats of the Holy Spirit especially as that Divine operation which effects man's justification (TCR 139), and subdivides this operation into the works of reformation and regeneration; "and, in accordance with these, renovation, vivification, sanctification and justification; and in accordance with these latter, purification from evils, forgiveness of sins and . . . salvation" (TCR 142). All these, of course, are the works of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
     The Holy Spirit, then, is the Divine proceeding, and the Divine Proceeding is now the Holy Spirit. It is the Divine from itself with angels, spirits and men, and is especially that Divine at work to reform, regenerate and save.

     Let us now turn to the subject of Divine Providence. In the work by that name, we read: "The infinite and eternal in itself is the Divine itself, or the Lord in Himself, while the infinite and eternal from itself is the Divine Proceeding, that is, the Lord in others created from Himself, thus in men and in angels; and this Divine is the same as the Divine Providence.

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For by means of the Divine from Himself the Lord provides that all things may be continued in the order in which and into which they were created. And as this is the work of the Divine Proceeding, it follows that all this is the Divine Providence" (DP 55). [Italics added]
     Here it is specifically said that the Divine Proceeding, the Lord in others created by Himself, is the Divine Providence. We have already seen that the Divine Proceeding, the Lord in others created by Himself, is the Holy Spirit. Would it not be safe to assume, at least in this instance, that two things equal to the same thing are equal to each other?-the Holy Spirit is the Divine Proceeding, the Divine Providence is the Divine Proceeding, the Holy Spirit is the Divine Providence.
     Again we read: "Spiritual love is such that it wishes to give its own to another. . . . The Lord's Divine love is such infinitely. From this it follows that the Divine love, and therefore the Divine Providence, has as its end a heaven consisting of men who have become or are becoming angels, upon whom the Lord is able to bestow all the blessings and felicities that belong to love and wisdom, and to communicate these from Himself in them" (DP 27). [Italics added]
     Notice these last words, "from Himself in them." The Lord gives men and angels the delights of heaven, not visibly as a God seen in the sun above them, not as a Person among them, but from Himself in them. It is from those things we have adjoined to our lives from the Lord, those things that are still the Lord's in us, that the Lord gives us the delights of heaven. "Let no one cherish the idea," we therefore read, "that the Lord dwells among the angels in heaven, or is with them, like a king in his kingdom. In respect to their sight He is above them in the sun there, but in respect to the life of their love and wisdom, He is in them" (DP 28-31). [Italics added]
     The Lord, then, gives men heaven from Himself in them. He is not in reality on high, but as to the angels' life of love and wisdom is within them. Elsewhere we are taught that the distance between the angels and the spiritual sun, where the Lord dwells, is only an appearance arising from difference of states. Providence, we therefore conclude, is not a Divine government of our lives from on high, but rather is such a government from and by means of those things that are His within us. Every Divine truth we know, every love of good adjoined to them, each has within it that which effects the purposes of Providence, each works according to those laws of order that are called the laws of Providence, and works, indeed, to effect and ensure the operation of those laws.
     Usually, in acknowledging Providence, we think and speak of it as Divine government over the more external affairs of our lives-our births, marriages, fortunes, and the times we die.

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Such a Providence I would by no means belittle or deny, but are we not taught that every end, aim, purpose and working of Providence regards what is eternal? The infinite and eternal could have regard for nothing less. Providence governs every most minute detail of our lives, of course, but always and only out of regard for its eternal effect upon our spirits.
     Consider these basic teachings concerning Providence. First we are taught that Providence is the government of the Lord's Divine love and wisdom (DP 1). It is, then, not a control over our lives by whim or fancy, but a government, and, being Divine, the most orderly government possible. Next we are taught that it is such government to ensure the state of things after creation (DP 2). Note this: the conservation of the state of things after creation is this Divine government that is called Providence.
     Next, in thus outlining the work Divine Providence, we come to the teaching that from the Lord two things proceed, love and wisdom. They go forth from Him as an absolute one, and they are received as a one in everything of creation except the human mind. In every plant there is, as it were, all knowledge needed to carry out its purpose in life-how to grow, turn toward the sun, drink in the rain, etc. In every animal there is instinctive knowledge of how to carry out its loves and desires. But in man love and wisdom are two distinct things: He can love what he does not understand, understand what he does not love. This is a Divine provision to enable his reformation and regeneration, else he could never even understand, much less come to love, that which he did not love at his birth.
     Yet, though this is a Divine provision, it is against that eternal order in creation that love and wisdom shall be a one. Hence we are taught that the chief purpose of Providence is that good and truth, love and wisdom, shall be conjoined in every man. Every angel of heaven, therefore, is in this conjunction of love and wisdom, while every devil is in the conjunction of evil and falsity. Indeed, in line with Divine Providence itself, we cannot emphasize strongly enough the idea that the whole purpose of Providence, the Lord's government of men, is the conjunction of love and wisdom, good and truth. That alone effects in man, builds up in him, the image of the infinite and eternal God, and for nothing less than this can an infinite God have regard.
     But this conjunction of the love of good and the understanding of truth is what makes heaven in man, and so we have the familiar teaching that Providence has as its end a heaven from the human race (DP 27). Every single work of Providence, indeed, has this as its very life-leading the good and willing man as far into heaven as he can be led in freedom, and leading the rebellious and evil man as far upward toward heaven as he will permit himself to be led.

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And what is this but the Holy Spirit, the Divine operation that effects man's salvation! Hitherto we have not called that leading of evil men upward through hell the Holy Spirit, but only Providence; but what else can it be?
     Concerning this heaven that is the end of Providence, recall that earlier teaching that the Lord gives heaven to men and angels from Himself in them. And this, the Divine Proceeding, the Divine in others created from Himself, is also the Holy Spirit-the Divine at work to give men heaven.
     Next, in the work on Providence, we are taught that each and every single work of the Lord looks to what is infinite and eternal. "Providence, in all that it does, regards the infinite and eternal . . . from itself in saving the human race" (DP 55). The Divine, indeed, could look to nothing less.
     Following this comes the teaching that there are laws of Providence unknown to men (DP 70). "Laws of order concerning man's salvation" they are called elsewhere (AE 1135:3). But these laws are now revealed, and, it is said: "The laws of Providence are what make known its nature; and only he who knows its nature can acknowledge it" (DP 70).
     Make known its nature, they do, indeed, and show it to be something far greater than a government over the more or less external affairs of our lives mentioned above. Every one of them deals with man's reformation and regeneration, and they are specifically called the laws "by which the Lord cares for and rules the things of man's will and understanding" (DP 70). In complex detail, they are listed in the Apocalypse Explained to the number of ten; in more compact form, they are listed as five in Divine Providence. Hear them, and note that each concerns reformation and salvation. Yet these are what "make known the nature of Providence."
     I. It is a law of the Divine Providence that man should act from freedom in accordance with reason.
     II. It is a law of the Divine Providence that man should, as if from himself, put away evils as sins in the external man; and the Lord is able in this way and in no other to put away evil in the internal man, and simultaneously in the external.
     III. It is a law of the Divine Providence that man should not be compelled by external means to think and will, and thus to believe and love, the things of religion, but should guide himself and sometimes compel himself.
     IV. It is a law of . . . Providence that man should be led and taught by the Lord from heaven by means of the Word, and by means of doctrine and preaching from the Word, and this to all appearance as if by himself.

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     V. It is a law of Providence that nothing of the operation of Providence should be evident to man's perception and senses, but that he should nevertheless know about it and acknowledge it.
     These, then, are the explicitly revealed laws of the Divine Providence which "make known its nature." Each of them concerns man's salvation-the means by which the Lord reforms, regenerates and saves. These works, these operations, are, of course, of the Lord alone. And these Divine operations, effected by the Divine Proceeding-by the Divine which is in the beings of His creation-are also the Holy Spirit.
     There are other general teachings, given in the form of chapter headings, following the statement of these five laws. They, too, may or may not be laws of Providence, but they are not so called. Briefly, they teach the following: Man's own prudence is nothing, but the Divine Providence is universal; Providence looks to eternal things, and to temporal things only so far as they concord with eternal; Man is admitted interiorly into truths only so far as he can be kept in them until the end of life; The laws of permission are also laws of Providence; Evils are permitted for the sake of salvation; Providence is equally with the good and with the evil [though, of course, not in their evils]; Providence appropriates neither good nor evil to any man; Every man may be reformed, and there is no predestination; and, finally, the Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of His Providence.
     But do not all these further teachings simply emphasize the idea that Providence is the Lord's government over our lives to lead us into heaven? And is not such leading that work of the Lord that is called the Holy Spirit?-that work of giving the delights of heaven to men and angels, not from above, not as a King among them, but from those things which are His in them.

     These are, perhaps, three general things which mitigate against the idea that Divine Providence and the Holy Spirit are one.
     First, there is the teaching that Providence is equally with the good and with the evil. We rarely think of the Holy Spirit thus. But is it not? The Holy Spirit, as treated of in True Christian Religion, is the Divine operation to lead men to heaven. Would not that also be with evil men?
Does the Lord work only upon good men to lead them to heaven? With the evil, the Holy Spirit operates to lead each of them as far toward heaven, or as far upward through hell, as the man will permit himself to be led.
     Second, there is the teaching that Providence governs man both from within and from without.

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Is not that also true of the Holy Spirit? The True Christian Religion states that, strictly speaking, the Holy Spirit is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord (TCR 139); and then comes that other statement that here it is treated of as being the Divine operation to lead men to heaven, because that is how the church today regards it.
     The Holy Spirit is the Divine truth. Is it not by means of Divine truth that the Lord leads men to heaven, both from within and from without-from both, in connection with good men; mostly from without, with evil men! It is a truth that we must work to live. Whether we love that truth or not, whether we inwardly obey it or not, it is yet a truth bearing upon each of us from without: we must obey it. Thus the Lord leads evil men to the performance of uses; and the good man is led to the same performance of uses inwardly also, through other truths, as, for example, the truth that only the performance of uses to others gives genuine delight.
     The good are led to heaven by Divine truths, both from within-those they see and understand and love; and from without-those laws of order and society which they do not yet consciously see or love, but which, none the less, work toward their salvation and eternal happiness. The evil are also led, upward through hell, by truths, mostly from without-imagine what a hideous inferno the evil would immediately plunge into, were they not restrained from without by laws, by truths! and even a little, by truths from within: the evil man sees the truth that if he leads a useful life, his reputation, honor and gain will be enhanced. And the Divine truth that effects these works of Providence is the Holy Spirit, the Divine Proceeding, the Divine in and with others created from Himself.
     Also concerning this particular phase of the subject is the teaching that the atmospheres are the last, the ultimate, of the Divine Proceeding (Ath. 191). Do these relate to the Holy Spirit! But there is Providence in the atmospheres, even in the air. Its changes force us to work for food and clothing and shelter. That is the Divine, the presence of the Lord, in the atmospheres, leading us upward through life into, or toward, the life of heaven.
     And the third possible objection we see to this proposition that Providence and the Holy Spirit are a one is the belief that the Divine government over our lives is primarily concerned with circumstances more or less external. (We have no real objection to this belief, except as to the emphasis laid upon it by the use of the word "primarily.") There is, of course, firm doctrinal basis on which this idea is based. First, there is the teaching held by some in our church that Providence governs our births, bringing those particular beings to birth who can be of use in the Gorand Man of heaven.

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Then, too, we have the direct teaching that the Divine Providence of the Lord is most particular and most universal concerning marriages (CL 316:3). This, incidentally, is said concerning marriages in heaven. Again, there is the teaching that the time of each man's death is determined by its use (SD 5002-3). Yet again, there is the specific statement that the Lord gives riches and honors to those who will not be hurt by them, withholds them from those whom riches and honors will injure (AC 8717e). In line with this is the teaching that fortune-we call it "luck"-is Providence in the ultimates of order (DP 212). So also the many statements that all accidents, mishaps, etc., are controlled by Providence. And also the familiar teaching that the Lord's Providence controls the fortunes of war (DP 251:6).
     Are these and similar things, then, the Holy Spirit? Remember, now, that the Holy Spirit is the working of the Lord to lead men to heaven. Recall what you already believe, that these particular things are the works of the Lord. All works of the Lord to lead men to heaven, or as far toward heaven as possible, are works of the Divine Proceeding, the Divine in and with others created from itself. They are, therefore, the Holy Spirit indeed, for there is today no other Divine Proceeding.
     And each of these things, note further, is the concern of Providence only in so far as it affects, or is one with, our eternal, spiritual welfare-in so far as it is of use in leading us to heaven through that conjunction of the love of good and the understanding of truth, which alone is the image of God in man (the only possible object of Divine concern) and which alone makes heaven in man or angel. Indeed, even our fortune or luck-the shake of the dice and the shuffle of cards (DP 212)-is nought but Providence in ultimates, operating "according to the quality of a man's state" (HD 276).

     We would, then, put forward the proposition that Divine Providence and the Holy Spirit are one and the same, asking that it be considered thoughtfully, but with the universal resolve that our beliefs be based only on the direct teachings or obvious inferences of revelation itself.
     To us it seems a useful and therefore permissible concept. It is notable that in the church the Holy Spirit has become the frequently-unmentioned essential in the Trinity. Why! Because, we believe, we usually call it by other names, chief of which is "Divine Providence."
     Again, this concept makes the subject of the Holy Spirit far clearer to me than it has ever been before. It makes the Holy Spirit something intimate, personal and understandable.
     And to me, also, it gives a better understanding of what Providence really is.

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The laws of Providence, remember, are revealed, not only so that we may know its nature and acknowledge it, but also so that what is the Lord's may be ascribed to Him and not to man (DP 70). Lately we have come to believe that another purpose in their revelation is so that what is not the Lord's may not be ascribed to Him. How often do we not hear: "You can certainly see the Providence in that"; or, "My, wasn't that Providential?" How often do not such statements really mean: "Fortune or chance so conspired as to bring about my momentary happiness"? It is the eternal, however, that is the concern of the Lord; riches and honors and so-called good luck are not, except in so far as they conspire to an eternal end, although for children and the simple, it is quite permissible to ascribe to the Lord anything thought to be good.
     But should not rational, adult New Church men, before they claim they can see Providence in this or that event, ask themselves whether they call also see the Holy Spirit in it? It is just conceivably possible that they can.
NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS 1954

NOTES ON THE CALENDAR READINGS              1954

     The December readings in the prophecy through Ezekiel (16:15-31) contain the rest of the prophecies uttered before Jerusalem was invested by Nebuchadnezzar's army, and a second group (chaps. 25-31) written between the commencement of the siege and news that the city had fallen. In the first group of prophecies the sins of Judah and Israel are contrasted with the Lord's love and mercy toward them; and while judgment is announced, a final restoration is promised. Here the prophet, writing from the banks of the Chebar, is seeking to call the Jewish remnant to repentance. In the internal sense, however, the subject is the vastation and rejection of the Jewish Church, brightened by the promise of a new religious dispensation. And in enactment of this representation, the prophet's wife, signifying the church, dies on the day the siege of Jerusalem begins, but he is not allowed to mourn for her.
     In the second group of prophecies, judgment is pronounced both on the seven heathen nations around Judah-Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Zidon, and Egypt-and on Assyria. Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia are to be exposed to the fury of their enemies until they are blotted out; Tyre is described as being left as a barren rock and a wrecked ship; Egypt is pictured as a crocodile dragged out of the river to die; Assyria is likened to a cedar tree that has been cut down. Involved in these judgments against the nations is the judgment upon the various perverted states of the church-the states of those who, trusting nothing but the scientifics of the natural man, and believing that the church consists in cognitions, have destroyed the truths of religion by things which do not belong to it.

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     Our readings in the Arcana (nos. 10201-10266) expound the internal sense of Exodus 30: 725. The subjects treated here in the letter are the golden altar and directions for burning incense, the expiation of souls by silver, the laver and the ceremonial washings from it, and instructions for compounding the holy anointing oil. In the internal sense, however, the subject is worship; and what is involved is that those things of worship which are from love and charity are received by the Lord, that all things of worship are to be ascribed to the Lord, that purification from evils is the first of worship, and that in all worship there must be love. We note especially the teaching that, in the church, all worship must be directed to the Lord to be heard and received.
FORESIGHT AND PROVIDENCE 1954

FORESIGHT AND PROVIDENCE              1954

     "The Lord's foreseeing is the seeing from eternity to eternity that the case is so; but the Lord's providing is the directing that it be so; and is the bending of man's freedom to good, in so far as He foresees that man will suffer himself to be bent in freedom" (AC 3869:3).
SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES 1954

SOME GENERAL CHURCH USES              1954

     GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS. Graded lessons and other material from Pre-school through Grade 11. Address inquiries to: Pastor-in-Charge, Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE. Tape-recordings of services, sermons, doctrinal classes, children's services, etc. Address: General Church Sound Recording Committee, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GENERAL CHURCH VISUAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Biblical and other slides. Address: Mr. William R. Cooper, Director, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     NEW CHURCH EDUCATION. Published by Religion Lessons Committee, monthly, September to June, inclusive. Subscription, $1.50. Editor: Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal.

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GLORIA DEO 1954

GLORIA DEO       Editor       1954


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.
Published Monthly by
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.
Editor                              Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Circulation Secretary               Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Treasurer                          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Circulation Secretary. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.
     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     The angelic Gloria which rang out when the Lord was born is more than a song in praise of the Divine love which had bowed the heavens and come down for man's deliverance. It is also an inspired prophecy of the heavenly kingdom which the Lord had come to establish in the hearts and minds of men on earth. Loving themselves alone, men had ceased to look to God as the source of life, had forsaken Him in their supposed self-sufficiency, had lost all knowledge of Him, and had put their trust in man. And when men do this from self-love, freedom is displaced by tyranny; and hatred, strife, war, and cruelty follow as the price of ambition or of security. The Lord came to restore the knowledge of God, to teach men how to love and worship Him, and to show that only as they thus gave glory to God in the highest would there be peace in the minds of men, and from that genuine peace on earth.
     In the world today many men of good will are striving sincerely to found a lasting peace among the nations, to establish justice and mercy in the state, and to promote true kindness between man and man; and we dare not doubt that the Lord will operate through their labors as far as He may. But the final truth is that only as men learn to love the Lord more than themselves will they so love one another as to live together in true peace; for men love one another truly only in keeping the commandments of the Lord from love. This is the Christmas message conveyed by the angels' song-that peace on earth, good will toward men, will be realized when glory is given to God in the highest; and the affection of this truth is one of the inmost joys of Christmas.

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NO GOSPEL OF DESPAIR 1954

NO GOSPEL OF DESPAIR       Editor       1954

     When the full impact of what is taught in the Writings about the nature of man is felt, the total effect may be a feeling of frustration if not of utter hopelessness. If man is utterly depraved and incapable of a single good impulse, if his every motive is evil and those which seem to be good are just more interiorly wicked, if the acknowledgment that one is evil probably involves a sense of merit in the good that makes it possible, and the hope that one may have somewhat of good simply a more subtle evil-of what use is it even to begin to try! Such may well be the emotional though not the reasoned response of the reader, especially the young reader; the more so if it has been his misfortune to have certain teachings overemphasized in his instruction.
     But so to think seriously is to have a distorted view of only part of the entire picture. And it is also to invite or yield to one of the most deadly attacks made by evil spirits. The Writings are no gospel of despair. They do teach that man's native will is utterly corrupt, and that of himself man cannot will and do anything good or think and say anything true. But they do so only to make it crystal clear that man stands in need of salvation which he cannot give to himself. And at the same time they teach plainly, and at length, that the Lord wills and can effect the salvation of every man. They reveal also, however, that He can do so only with man's free and willing cooperation. And they show so clearly that even the most simple may understand the forms that cooperation must take.
     The helplessness and hopelessness the Writings would instill is not that of anything being done, but the realization of the hopelessness of it being done by man himself. The former does not come from the Writings but from our own misunderstanding or insufficient grasp of them; the latter comes to us through the Writings from the Divine love itself For it is only when we see and acknowledge our complete inadequacy, and begin to love our entire dependence upon the Lord for salvation, that He can inflow with power to regenerate.
     To remove the lusts of evil in the internal mind is beyond the power of any man, and we should not even seek to penetrate too deeply into our motives lest we become enmeshed in uncertainties. But if we will do that which the Lord has revealed is our part, will strive to shun as sins against Him evils in intention and in act, we have His assurance that He will remove the lusts of evil in the internal mind. It is the glory of man that while he can do nothing good and speak nothing true from himself, he can do so from the Lord; and if he will persevere, the power to do this will be given him far beyond his conscious realization.

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INNOCENCE 1954

INNOCENCE       Editor       1954

     In the list of spiritual virtues given by the Writings the last to be mentioned is innocence. The term itself is one of many which, as part of the currency of thought, have been debased; for if innocence is associated with purity, it is the purity resulting from lack of knowledge or experience, and frequently the association is with that simplicity of mind which the sophisticated treat with mild contempt or gentle pity. But as the term is used in the Writings, innocence means an interior willingness to be led by a power other than one's own; and that is the essential characteristic common to all forms of innocence.
     As manifested toward parents at the beginning of life, in the form of willingness to submit to their leading from desire for their favor rather than from fear of punishment, this is called in the Writings the innocence of ignorance. But when it becomes through regeneration a willingness to be led by the Lord rather than by self, it is called the innocence of wisdom. This innocence consists in acknowledging from the heart that with one's self there is nothing but evil, that all good is from the Lord, and that the truth of faith is not from self but from Him. It is the very esse of love and charity, and is said to be that in which heaven stores itself up with man; and it is important to note that this spiritual innocence never becomes man's own, but is adjoined with him by the Lord.
     We may understand that such innocence is what is meant in the Writings by the Lord's own with man, concerning which we are taught that it is the only thing in which the Lord can dwell with man; that is, we may identify it with the Divine good proceeding and leading man to heaven. For the acknowledgments and desire in which spiritual innocence consists are the result of man's reception of and reaction to the inflowing Divine good, and it is in man's efforts to follow the Lord's leading that the Lord is present with him as giving the inclination and the power to make them. At the same time, if man should cease from those efforts, innocence, which does not inhere, would be disjoined, or, rather, the man would separate himself from it.
     If we reflect for a moment we shall see why innocence is placed last in the list of the spiritual virtues. Drawn together in it as into a one are all the qualities involved in the other virtues-love of religion, charity, truth, faith, and conscience; and it, in turn, flows back into them and makes them genuine, as it must enter into all true virtues. The innocence of wisdom is indeed a high virtue; and one especially to be desired, or sought, when we look back over the year and then look forward into a new year in which we may be led by the Lord to new blessings.

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DIRECTORY 1954

DIRECTORY              1954

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     Officials and Councils

     Bishop: Right Rev. George de Charms
     Assistant Bishop: Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton
     Secretary: Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner

     CONSISTORY

     Bishop George de Charms
     Right Revs. Alfred Acton; Willard D. Pendleton; Revs. A. Wynne Acton; Elmo C. Acton; Karl R. Alden; Gustaf Baeckstrom; Bjorn A. H. Boyesen; Charles E. Doering; Alan Gill; Frederick E. Gyllenhaal, Secretary; W. Cairns Henderson; Hugo Lj. Odhner; Norman H. Reuter; Gilbert H. Smith.

     "The General Church of the New Jerusalem"

     (A corporation of Illinois)

     "General Church of the New Jerusalem"

     (A corporation of Pennsylvania)

     OFFICERS OF BOTH CORPORATIONS

     Right Rev. George de Charms, President
     Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, Vice President
     Mr. Hubert Hyatt, Secretary
     Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Treasurer

     BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE ILLINOIS CORPORATION AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CORPORATION

     Right Rev. George de Charms; Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton; Mr. Daric E. Acton; Kesneil C. Acton, Esq.; Mr. Reginald S. Anderson; Mr. Carl Hj. Asplundh; Mr. Edwin T. Asplundh; Mr. Lester Asplundh; Mr. Robert G. Barnitz; Mr. Geoffrey E. Blackman; Mr. Edward C. Bostock; Mr. Robert M. Brown; Mr. Geoffrey S. Childs; Randolph W. Childs, Esq.; Mr. Gordon D. Cockerell; Edward H. Davis, Esq.; George C. Doering, Esq.; Mr. Theodore N. Glenn; Mr. Hubert Hyatt; Mr. John E. Kuhl; Mr. Sydney E. Lee; Mr. Tore E. Loven; Philip C. Pendleton, Esq.; Mr. Harold F. Pitcairn; Raymond Pitcairn, Esq.; Mr. F. G. Colley Pryke; Mr. A. Warren Reuter; Mr. Gilbert M. Smith; Arthur Synnestvedt, Esq.; Mr. Norman P. Synnestvedt. Honorary Members: Dr. Marlin W. Heilman; Mr. Charles G. Merrell.

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     The Clergy

     Bishops

     DE CHARMS, GEORGE. Ordained June 28, 1914; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1916; 3rd Degree, March 11, 1928. Bishop of the General Church. Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. President, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     ACTON, ALFRED. Ordained June 4, 1893; 2nd Degree, January 10, 1897; 3rd Degree, April 5, 1936. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     PENDLETON, WILLARD DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 18, 1933; 2nd Degree, September 12, 1934; 3rd Degree, June 19, 1946. Assistant Bishop of the General Church. Executive Vice President, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     Pastors

     ACTON, ALFRED WYNNE. Ordained June 19, 1932; 2nd Degree, March 25, 1934. Pastor of the Durban Society, Superintendent of the South African Mission. Address: Kiltrae, Flat 5, 361 Essenwood Avenue, Durban, Natal, South Africa.
     ACTON, ELMO CARMAN. Ordained June 14, 1925; 2nd Degree, August 5, 1928. Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Illinois. Address: 12 Park Drive, Glenview, Illinois.
     ALDEN, KARL RICHARDSON. Ordained June 19, 1917; 2nd Degree, October 12, 1919. Professor of Religion, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     BAECKSTROM, GUSTAF. Ordained June 6, 1915; 2nd Degree, June 27, 1920. Editor of NOVA ECCLESIA and Manager of the Book Room in Stockholm. Address: Svedjevlgen 20, Bromma, Stockholm, Sweden.
     BOYESEN, BJORN ADOLPH HILDEMAR. Ordained June 19, 1939; 2nd Degree, March 30, 1941. Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society. Address: 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh 8, Pa.
     BRICKMAN, WALTER EDWARD. Ordained, 1st and 2nd Degrees, January 7, 1900. Address: 38 Park Drive, Glenview, Illinois.
     CALDWELL, WILLIAM BEEBE. Ordained October 19, 1902; 2nd Degree, October 23, 1904. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     CHILDS, GEOFFREY STAFFORD, JR. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1954. Pastor of the Advent Church, Philadelphia, Pa. Visiting Pastor to the New York and North Jersey Circles. Address: 5007 Penn Street, Philadelphia 24, Pa.
     CRANCH, HAROLD COVERT. Ordained June 19, 1941; 2nd Degree, October 25, 1942. Visiting Pastor to the Western States. Address: 346 Riverdale Drive, Glendale 4, Calif.
     DOERING, CHARLES EMIL. Ordained June 7, 1896; 2nd Degree, January 29, 1899. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     GILL, ALAN. Ordained June 14, 1925; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1926. Pastor of the Colchester Society. Address: 9 Ireton Road, Colchester, England.
     GLADISH, VICTOR JEREMIAH. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2nd Degree, August 5, 1928. Address: 3508 Linneman Street, Glenview, Illinois.
     GYLLENHAAL, FREDERICK EDMUND. Ordained June 23, 1907; 2nd Degree, June 19,1910. Pastor-in-Charge, General Church Religion Lessons. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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     HEINRICHS, HENRY. Ordained June 24, 1923; 2nd Degree, February 8, 1925. Address: R. R. 3, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
     HENDERSON, WILLIAM CAIRNS. Ordained June 10, 1934; 2nd Degree, April 14, 1935. Secretary of the Council of the Clergy. Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE. Professor of Theology, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     KING, LOUIS BLAIR. Ordained June 19, 1951; 2nd Degree, April 19, 1953. Pastor of Sharon Church, Chicago, Illinois. Visiting Pastor to the South Ohio Circle. Address: 5220 North Wayne Avenue, Chicago 40, Illinois.
     LIMA JOAO DE MENDONCA. Ordained, 1st and 2nd Degrees, August 5, 1928. Pastor of the Rio de Janeiro Society. Address: Avenida Ruy Barboza 266, Rio de Janeiro,
     ODHNER, HUGO LJUNGBERG. Ordained June 28, 1914; 2nd Degree, June 24, 1917. Secretary of the General Church. Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Dean of the Theological School, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     ODHNER, ORMOND DE CHARMS. Ordained June 19, 1940; 2nd Degree, October 11, 1942. Assistant Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Illinois. Visiting Pastor, Fort Worth, Madison, St. Paul-Minneapolis Circles, New Orleans and St. Louis Groups, and Chicago District. Address: 2700 Park Lane, Glenview, Illinois.
     PENDLETON, DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1954. Pastor of the Washington, D. C., and Baltimore, Maryland, Societies. Visiting Pastor to South-Eastern States. Address: 800 North Carolina Avenue S.E.1 Washington,
     PRYKE, MARTIN. Ordained June 19, 1940; 2nd Degree, March 1, 1942. Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Address: 2 Elm Grove Avenue, Toronto 3, Ontario, Canada.
     REUTER, NORMAN HAROLD. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2nd Degree, June 15, 1930. Pastor of Carmel Church, Kitchener, Ontario. Visiting Pastor to the Montreal Circle. Address: 14 Willow Street, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
     RICH, MORLEY DYCKMAN. Ordained June 19, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 13, 1940. Pastor of Michael Church, London, England. Address: 135 Mantilla Road, Tooting, London, S.W. 17, England.
     ROGERS, NORBERT HENRY. Ordained June 19, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 13, 1940. Pastor of the Detroit Society, Visiting Pastor to the North Ohio Circle. Address: 1510 Oxford Road, Berkley, Mich.
     ROSE, FRANK SHIRLEY. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd Degree, August 2, 1953. Visiting Pastor to the isolated in Great Britain and to the Circles at Paris and The Hague. Address: 12 Trinity Street, Colchester, England.
     SANDSTROM, ERIK. Ordained June 10, 1934; 2nd Degree, August 4, 1935. Pastor of the Stockholm Society, Visiting Pastor of the Jonkoping Circle. Address: Brobyvagen 30, Ensta Park, Roslags Nasby, Sweden.
     SIMONS, DAVID RESTYN. Ordained June 19, 1948; 2nd Degree June 19, 1950. Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Principal of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     SMITH, GILBERT HAVEN. Ordained June 25, 1911; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1913. Address: South Shaftesbury, R. F. D. 1, Vermont.
     STROH, KENNETH OLIVER. Ordained June 19, 1948; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1950. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM. Ordained June 19, 1922; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1926. Professor of History, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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     Ministers

     CRANCH, RAYMOND GREENLEAF. Ordained June 19, 1922. Visiting Minister to the Erie Circle. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     FRANSON, ROY. Ordained June 19, 1953. Minister to the groups at Dawson Creek, B. C., and Gorande Prairie, Alta., Canada. Address: 1521 102nd Avenue, Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada.
     HOLM, BERNHARD DAVID. Ordained June 19, 1952. Assistant to the Pastor of the Durban Society, Assistant to the Superintendent of the South African Mission. Address: Flat 4, Kingsdowne, 191 Cato Road, Durban, Natal, South Africa.

     Authorized Candidates

     FIGUERIEDO, JOSE LOPES DE. Authorized, August 15, 1951. Address: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
     JUNGE, ROBERT SCHILL. Authorized, February 8, 1954. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     SCHNARR, FREDERICK LAURIER. Authorized, February 8, 1954. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
     WEISS, JAN HUGO. Authorized, February 8, 1954. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     Authorized Leaders

     ENGELTJES, HERMAN G. Authorized, November 4, 1950. Address: Laan van Eik en Duinen 206, The Hague, Holland.
     HELDON, LINDTHMAN Authorized, July 1, 1950. Address: 13 Alexander Street, Penshurst, N.S.W., Australia.

     British Guiana Mission

     Pastor-in-Charge

     ALGERNON, HENRY. Ordained, 1st and 2nd Degrees, September 1, 1940. Pastor of the General Church Mission in Georgetown, British Guiana. Address: 288 Middle Street, Georgetown 4, Demerara, British Guiana, South America.

     South African Mission

     Xosa

     KANDISA, JOHNSON. Ordained September 11, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948. Pastor of the Queenstown and Sterkstroom Societies. Address: No. 132, Location, Queenstown, C. P., South Africa.

     Basuto

     MOTSI, JONAS. Ordained September 29, 1929; 2nd Degree, September 30, 1929. Pastor of Quthing District. Address: Phahameng School, P. O. Quthing, Basutoland, South Africa.

     Zulu

     BUTELEZI, STEPHEN EPHRAIM. Ordained September 11, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948. Pastor of the Hambrook Society. Address: Hambrook Government School, P. O. Acton Homes, Ladysmith, Natal, South Africa.

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     LUNGA, SOHANNES. Ordained September 11, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948. Pastor of the Esididini Society. Address: Esididini School, P. O. Durnacol, Dannhauser, Natal, South Africa.
     LUTULI, MAFA. Ordained October 3, 1948. Acting Pastor of the "Kent Manor" Society. Address: "Rent Manor," P. O. Entumeni, Zululand, South Africa.
     MATSHININI, TIMOTHY. Ordained August 28, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948. Pastor of the Alexandra Township Society. Address: 165, 11th Avenue, Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa.
     MKIZE, SOLOMON. Ordained August 21, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948 Pastor of the Greylingstad Society and District. Address: Greylingstad P. O., Transvaal, South Africa.
     NZIMANDE, BENJAMIN ISHMAEL. Ordained August 21, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948. Pastor of the Deepdale & Bulwer Districts. Address: c/o Inkumba Government School, P. O. Deepdale, Natal, South Africa.
SABELA, PETER HANDRICK. Ordained August 21, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948. Pastor at Phoenix, Verulam, Tongaat and District. Address: c/o Superintendent.
     SIBERO, PAUL PEFENI. Ordained October 3, 1948. Address: 106, 10th Avenue, Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa.
     ZUNGU, AARON. Ordained August 21, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948. Pastor of the Durban District and Assistant Teacher in the Theological School. Address: P. O. Lamontville, Durban, Natal, South Africa.

     Societies and Circles

     Societies

ADVENT SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA               Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs, Jr.
BALTIMORE SOCIETY, MARYLAND               Rev. Dandridge Pendleton
BRYN ATHYN CHURCH                         Rt. Rev. George de Charms
CARMEL CHURCH OF KITCHENER, ONTARIO      Rt. Rev. Norman II. Reuter
COLCHESTER SOCIETY, ENGLAND               Rev. Alan Gill
DETROIT SOCIETY, MICHIGAN                Rev. Nobert H. Rogers
DURBAN SOCIETY, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA      Rev. A. Wynne Acton
HURSTVILLE SOCIETY, N. S. W., AUSTRALIA      (Mr. Lindthman Heldon)
IMMANUEL CHURCH OF GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS      Rev. Elmo C. Acton
MICHAEL CHURCH, LONDON, ENGLAND           Rev. Morley D. Rich
OLIVET CHURCH, TORONTO, ONTARIO               Rev. Martin Pryke
PITTSBURGH SOCIETY                    Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen
RIO DE JANEIRO SOCIETY, BRAZIL               Rev. Joao de M. Lima
SHARON CHURCH, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS               Rev. Louis B. King
STOCKHOLM SOCIETY, SWEDEN                Rev. Erik Sandstrom
WASHINGTON SOCIETY, D. C.                Rev. Dandridge Pendleton

     Circles
                                   Visiting Pastor or Minister
DENVER, COLORADO                          Rev. Harold C. Cranch
ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA                    Rev. Raymond G. Cranch
FORT WORTH, TEXAS                         Rev. Ormond Odhner
THE HAGUE, HOLLAND                         Rev. Frank S. Rose

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JONKOPING, SWEDEN                         Rev. Erik Sandstrom
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA                    Rev. Harold C. Cranch (Res.)
MADISON, WISCONSIN                    Rev. Ormond Odhner
MONTREAL, CANADA                     Rev. Norman H. Reuter
NEW YORK, N. Y.                          Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs, Jr.
NORTH JERSEY                         Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs, Jr.
NORTH OHIO                              Rev. Norbert H. Rogers
OSLO, NORWAY                         Rev. Gustaf Baeckstrom
PARIS, FRANCE                         Rev. Frank S. Rose
ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA               Rev. Ormond Odhner
SOUTH OHIO                                   Rev. Louis B. King
TUCSON, ARIZONA                         Rev. Harold C. Cranch

     In order to avoid confusion, it seems well to observe, in the Official Records and the Official Journal of the General Church, the recognized distinctions between a "Society," a "Circle," and a "Group."
     A "Group" consists of all interested receivers of the Heavenly Doctrine in any locality who meet together for worship and mutual instruction under the general supervision of pastors who visit them from time to time.
     A "Circle" consists of members of the General Church in any locality who are under the leadership of a regular visiting Pastor appointed by the Bishop, and who are organized by their Pastor to take responsibility for their local uses in the interim between his visits. A Group may become a Circle when, on the recommendation of the visiting Pastor, it is formally recognized as such by the Bishop.
     A "Society" or local "Church" consists of the members of the General Church in any locality who have been organized under the leadership of a resident Pastor to maintain the uses of regular worship, instruction, and social life. A Circle may become a Society by application to the Bishop and formal recognition by him.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS,
          Bishop.



     Committees of the General Church
                                             Chairman
British Finance Committee                    Rev. Alan Gill
Committee on Ecclesiastical Garments           Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner
General Church Religion Lessons               Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal
Committee on the Liturgy                    Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton
Military Service Committee                    Mrs. Philip C. Pendleton
Committee on New Church Literature               Rev. William Whitehead
Nominating Committee for Board of Directors      Mr. Harold F. Pitcairn
Orphanage Committee                         Mr. Hubert Hyatt
Pension Committee                              Mr. Edward C. Bostock
Salary Committee                              Mr. Philip C. Pendleton
Sound Recording Committee                    Rev. W. Cairns Henderson
South African Mission Committee                    Rt. Rev. George de Charms
Visual Education Committee                    Mr. William R. Cooper

     Address all Committees, Bryn Athyn, Pa., except the following: Rev. Alan Gill: 9 Ireton Rd., Colchester, England

609


Church News 1954

Church News       Various       1954

     OBITUARY

     Mr. Theodore Gladish

     On September 6, 1954, Theodore Gladish passed into the spiritual world at the age of 48 years. He was the son of the Rev. Willis L. and Laura Gladish, who both preceded him into the spiritual world.
     Theodore was born in Middleport, Ohio, on March 8, 1906, where his father was then engaged in pastoral work for the General Church. Most of his adult life was spent in Chicago and in Rockford, Illinois.
     After returning from several years of Academy education in Bryn Athyn, where he was remembered for his quiet and studious ways, he became very active in the uses of the Sharon Church in Chicago, until his work took him to Rockford, Illinois. There he established himself in the real estate and mortgage business and at one time was president of the Rockford Real Estate Board. Shortly after his move to Rockford, Theodore was largely responsible for the formation of what has since become the Rockford Circle of the General Church. It was in Rockford, also, that he met his future wife, Dagmar Rosander.
     The latter years of his life were marked by prolonged illness and failing strength, and the fortitude and cheerfulness with which he met these hardships endeared him further to his many friends.
     He is survived by his wife Dagmar; two sons, James, 17, and Ronald, 11; and one daughter, Diana, 10 years of age.
     ELMO C. ACTON

     WALLENPAUPACK, PA.

     Relieved of his duties as Visiting Pastor to the Canadian Northwest, the Rev. Karl R. Alden, unofficial "Pastor of Paupack," was able this year to spend the entire summer at the lake. Previously he and Mrs. Alden had opened their home on Sunday mornings for a simple service, but this year Mr. Alden conducted church services every Sunday morning from July 11th through September 5th in the lounge of the administration building at Mountain Bay Airport, Paupack, Pa. The use of the airport facilities was made possible by the generosity of the proprietor, Mr. Carl Walter.
     The services were announced by letter to church members summering or vacationing in the area, personal invitations from members to friends in the vicinity, and notices posted in some of the resort establishments on Lake Wallenpaupack. They were enthusiastically attended by members, children, and a few visitors, the largest congregation of the season numbering 69. A simplified order of service was followed; the large pine paneled room with its temporary altar provided a simple but dignified setting for the worship and Mr. Alden's sermons and ministrations were much appreciated by what is rapidly becoming a summer society.
     NATHAN PITCAIRN

     SOUTH OHIO

     Recently the Urbana Group, which includes members living in Glendale and in the southern Ohio area generally, successfully made application to the Bishop for recognition as the South Ohio Circle of the General Church, The Rev. Louis B. King of Chicago continues as our Visiting Pastor.
     Our tentative program provides for a pastoral visit monthly from October through June. The October meeting was held in Glendale, and every fourth meeting will be held there at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh C. Latta, Jr., 1075 Willow Avenue. The other meetings will be in Urbana, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Barnitz, 609 South Main Street.
     With Mr. King making regular pastoral visits we have been able to have classes in sequence. The first series was on Conjugial Love, and Mr. King has started a new series on the Arcana Coelestia. He usually brings some of his family or a few friends from Sharon Church with him and we greatly enjoy their visits.

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     Candidate Jan H. Weiss visited us in July. For our class and discussion he presented his plan for missionary work.
     KENNETH I. LATTA

     NEW ENGLAND

     On Sunday, September 26, some of the members of the General Church in eastern Massachusetts met again at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. Harry Furry in Sharon. We were happy to have with us the Rev. David R. Simons of Bryn Athyn.
     A service of Confirmation for Miss Barbara Simons and Mr. Robert Furry preceded a regular service of worship that was followed by the administration of the Holy Supper. During a social hour there were toasts to our Church, and congratulations to Miss Simons and Mr. Furry were extended in toasts and songs. Both young people spoke eloquently of their happiness on this day and about their future duties in, and to, the church.
     The thirteen present appointed Mr. Elmer Simons as temporary chairman, and alter thoughtful consideration it was voted unanimously to form the Sharon Group. Mr. Robert Furry was elected treasurer and Mr. Gordon Tupper secretary.
     After adjournment, all did justice to a bountiful dinner. The afternoon was then spent at Lake Massapoag, where boating, bathing, and fishing were enjoyed. Who can guess what may develop from a small group meeting in Sharon, Massachusetts, on July 23, 1954!
     GRACIE M. TUPPER

     TORONTO, CANADA

     Luring the past summer we enjoyed the privilege of having many visitors. One family which cannot go without mention is that of Candidate Robert S. Junge. Mr. and Mrs. Junge spent the month of August with us, residing in Mr. Pryke's apartment. They held open house on three different occasions, each time inviting a different age group. In this way they met all the members of the Society who were in town. They in turn were well entertained in many of the homes. Candidate Junge preached excellent sermons while he was here. He also met with the men at the home of Mr. Joe Knight for an evening of discussion, the subject chosen being "Conjugial Love."
     The young people got together quite regularly al picnics, house parties, and on a trip they made to Niagara Falls. This year they were hosts to the Young People's Weekend, which was held over the first weekend in August.
     At the end of the summer the men held a party in honor of Mr. Frank Jean-Marie who was going to the Academy in Bryn Athyn for the first time. The Sons presented Frank with a traveling bag, with a few gifts enclosed therein, to wish him a happy and instructive year.
     The Olivet Day School opened on September 7th, at which time the Rev. Martin Pryke spoke to the pupils on the lesson to be learned from the Parable of the Talents. There are 15 pupils enrolled in the school this year; and they are again fortunate to have Miss Joan Kuhl as their teacher, assisted by several ladies of the Society.
     The high school young people have commenced their classes, which are held every Sunday evening. Another young people's class has been formed for those who are out of school, are single, and are under the age of 25. This group meets the first Saturday of every month.
     The first Wednesday Supper of the season was on September 22nd. In place of the usual doctrinal class the Annual Meeting of the Society followed. The election of officers for the coming year was held, and committees were formed to look into all the needs for our new church building. During the meeting our Pastor, on behalf of the Society, presented a gift to Mrs. Clara Sargeant on her retiring as organist. This is a use to which she has given her wholehearted and efficient care for many years. Miss Korene Schnarr is now very kindly playing the organ.
     The Toronto Chapter of Theta Alpha held its first meeting of the 1954-1955 season at the home of Mrs. Ella Brown. It was an enjoyable meeting, during which we continued our reading of The Sermon on the Mount by the Rev. Richard H. Teed. The October meeting of the Ladies' Circle was held at the church hall. The evening opened with a short business meeting, after which our Pastor read to the ladies and girls of the Society paper written by Bishop De Charms, the first in a series on "The Divine Providence." At the conclusion of the more formal Dart of the evening a shower was held for Miss Doris Vowels the occasion of her forthcoming marriage.
     The first Sons meeting of the season was held at the church on September 10th.

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Following their supper, the Toronto Chapter president, Mr. Tom Bradfield, spoke on the uses of the Forward-Sons and the part that its members were to play in the forthcoming years of Church and Academy expansion. At their October meeting the Rev. Martin Pryke spoke on the South African Mission.
     On Sunday, September 19th, the Holy Supper was administered by the Rev. Martin Pryke. Then, on the following Sunday, we had the pleasure of hearing the Rev. Henry Heinrichs, the theme of whose sermon was the meeting of Isaac and Rebekah.
     The Thanksgiving weekend began with the marriage, on Saturday, October 9th, of Miss Doris Vowels and Mr. Gerard Jutras, the Rev. Martin Pryke officiating. Attending the bride as maid of honor was Miss Betty Charles, and Mr. Dennis Jean-Marie was best man. After the service a reception was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Longstaff.
     On Sunday, October 10th, the children marched in at the beginning of the service and presented their offerings of fruit to the Lord. Later, our Pastor spoke to the children, telling them the meaning of Thanksgiving.
     KATHERINE BARBER

     PORTLAND, OREGON

     It has been a long time since this area has been heard from, chiefly because there was no news to tell. But that is no longer true. The first important event was the visit of Bishop and Mrs. De Charms from August 2nd to August 4th. Many people were away at the time, but we did manage to gather eight for a dinner and class. The Bishop spoke on the distinctiveness of the New Church, and about how futile it is for us to wait until it is about time to die before thinking about the spiritual world. We must spend our entire lives getting ready for it, and we do so by reading the Word in the Old and New Testaments and the Writings and trying to apply their teachings to our lives. Busy people may not always be able to read a great deal, but the clergy are trained to assist and to supplement the efforts they can and do make.
     The second event made history. On October 23rd and 24th we had our first Northwest Gathering, which proved most successful and had a total attendance of 24. It started with a buffet dinner served in the party room of the Mellman home. There were many toasts, songs, and extemporaneous speeches. One of the toasts was to Mr. Harry E. Littlejohn from Walla Walla, Wash. He has reached the age of 90 and was the oldest member present. Mr. Littlejohn responded by telling us that he had read the Arcana six times and all the other books many times. When the tables were cleared away, the Rev. Harold C. Cranch gave us a class on "The Development of the Church." He emphasized the fact that ministers move about but the group remains, and that members should do whatever they can to spread the doctrine. He outlined to some extent the plans for our development in the Northwest. A lively discussion followed.
     On Sunday morning a combined children's and adult service, with administration of the Holy Supper, was held in the Mellmans' living room. The talk to the children was about David and Goliath, and about how we can slay one by one the evil giants that threaten us-lying, disobedience, and so on-with the stones of truth given us by the Lord. The sermon was on the internal sense of the Word. For our music an experiment was made. Recorded organ music was used to accompany the singing and it went very well.
     Although banquets are usually held in the evening, we had ours after church as many people had to leave in the afternoon. Mr. Henry Mellman was the toastmaster and the theme for the occasion was "Problems of the Isolated." Mr. Hubert Junge spoke briefly on "A Comparison of Life in a Church Center with that of the Isolated." Mrs. Sylvia Mellman told how she had learned to keep up with the church as an isolated member. Mr. Homer West then gave "Impressions of the New Church from an Outsider." Mr. Cranch commented on the speeches and then closed the meetings with the benediction. A tape-recording was made of the banquet program and is being sent to the Sound Recording Committee.
     An attendance of 24 may sound small for a gathering of this nature. However, it entailed 6460 miles of travel to bring those few people together!
     SYLVIA S. MELLMAN

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General Church of the New Jerusalem 1954

General Church of the New Jerusalem       HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1954




     Announcements.




     ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS

     The Annual Meetings of the Council of the Clergy, and of the Board of Directors of the Corporations of the General Church, have been scheduled to take place in the week of January 24th to 29th, 1955, at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.
     HUGO LJ. ODHNER,
          Secretary
IMPATIENCE 1954

IMPATIENCE              1954

     "Impatience is a corporeal affection, and in so far as man is in it, so far he is in time; but in so far as man is not in it, so far he is not in time. This appears in a kind of image from all the delights and gladnesses that belong to affection or love, in that when man is in them he takes no note of time, for he is then in the internal man. By the affection of genuine love man is withdrawn from bodily and worldly things, for his mind is elevated toward heaven, and thus is withdrawn from the things of time. The reason why time appears to be something is that we reflect upon things that do not belong to the affection or love, thus which are tedious" (AC 3827).