UNIVERSALITY OF SWEDENBORG'S MISSION       Rev. C. TH. ODHNER       1903

NEW CHURCH LIFE.

VOL. XXIII. JANUARY, 1903.          No. 1.
     IT has recently been urged that the Writings of the New Church cannot be the Lord's own Word, because "all the Revelations which were given by Swedenborg are intended only for the New Church on earth, but are well-known facts to the angels of Heaven," whereas "the Word of the Lord is the source of wisdom for angels and men."

     It requires but little reflection to recognize how irrational is this argument. The Writings of the New Church are the revelation of the Internal Sense of the Word. The Internal Sense of the Word is the Word itself in Heaven. The Word in Heaven is the source of wisdom for the angels there. Consequently the Writings are a source of wisdom for angels as well as for men.

     The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem is called "the Heavenly Doctrine," but the reason for this appellation is not merely because it was revealed to Swedenborg out of Heaven, but primarily "because it is from the Spiritual Sense of the Word, and the Spiritual Sense of the Word is the same as the Doctrine which is in Heaven." (N. J. 7.)

     For there is Doctrine in Heaven as well as in the Church on earth, and this Doctrine is certainly "a source of wisdom" for the angels themselves.

     "The Church exists in Heaven as well as on earth. For the Word is there; there is Doctrine from the Word; and there are temples in which sermons are delivered." (N. J. 7.) But in what form does "the Doctrine from the Word" exist in Heaven? Is it in the form of books? And, if so, are the Writings of the New Church among the Doctrinal books in Heaven?

     In answer to these questions we do not hesitate to affirm that the Doctrine from the Word exists in Heaven in the fixed form of books, as well as in the form of oral communications through teachers immediately inspired by the Lord. For we know that in each society of Heaven there is a copy of the written Word, and if the Word exists there in an ultimate written form, why not also Doctrine from the Word, similarly? We know that there are vast libraries in Heaven, containing among other volumes "books for the Most Ancients, from which the society called 'Enoch' had collected correspondences," and "it was said that they have there very many things concerning correspondences, and explanations of the Word by the Internal Sense." (S. D. 5999.) Why not then also the Writings of the New Church which were given to men out of Heaven? What has come from Heaven must necessarily exist in Heaven.

     Consider, for instance, the work on Conjugial Love,--that book which more than any other of the Writings has been looked upon with aversion by professed New Churchmen,--"merely a book on eighteenth century morals," according to some; "an immoral book," according to others; "the skeleton in the New Church closet," according to Dr. Holcombe and other celestialists; ruled out from among the Theological Writings of the New Church by the English Conference. But what was its origin?

     At the very end of the second part of Conjugial Love there is an account of a conversation between Swedenborg and certain wise ones among the angels on the subject of the new revelations and especially about love truly conjugial. The angels finally said: "Write concerning this, and follow revelation, and afterwards the book written about it shall be sent down be us from Heaven, and we shall see whether the things contained in it will be received, and whether men are willing to acknowledge that that love is according to the religion with a man." (C. L. 534.)

     From this remarkable passage it clearly appears, first, that the work on Conjugial Love is an immediate Divine Revelation and not merely a report of the angelic information on this subject. And it is evident, further, that this book was actually written by Swedenborg in Heaven, and that it was afterwards "sent down" from Heaven, to be written and published by Swedenborg in the natural world.

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If such was the origin and process of publication of Conjugial Love, what reason is there to suppose that the other Writings were not similarly first written in Heaven?

     It may not be generally known in the New Church that Swedenborg actually beheld his own Writings in the spiritual world, in the form of books, and with the same titles as they bear on earth. But he bears witness to this fact in numerous statements.

     He saw, for instance, the Arcana Coelestia in a most excellent paradise in the southern quarter of the spiritual world, where he was discussing with angelic spirits on the subject of man as an organic life:

     "As I withdrew, I saw a table of cedar upon which was a book, under a green olive-tree entwined with a vine. I looked and, behold, it was a book written by me, called Arcana Coelestia." (T. C. R. 461)

     In the Apocalypse Revealed Swedenborg gives the same relation at greater length, and he states that the books which he saw on the cedar table were "The Divine Love and Wisdom and The Divine Providence." (A. R. 875.)

     Several of the other works are also mentioned by titles, as actually existing in the other world. On one occasion Swedenborg was led into the company of "the wiser ones among the Africans," and he states that "there was given to them the work on Heaven, and Hell, which they received and preserved; similarly also the works on The Last Judgment, on The Earths in the Universe, on The white Horse, and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, in order that they might select from them what they would deem useful." (S. D. 5944)

     The following passage is of exceedingly great interest, as illustrating the history of the Writings, both before and after their publication in the natural world.

     "The books on Heaven, and Hell and The Last Judgment were given to a certain spirit to peruse in order that he might state whether their content was such that they could be printed in Holland and be sold there with financial profit. He was accustomed to judge of such things, because he had been in such a business while he lived in the world, for such persons can tell very quickly whether books are of such a character. He read them through and said that he found in them things of such a nature that they could be published with all gain; but after awhile he perused them again, and he then said that they were of no account and would be accepted by nobody. From which it was evident that when he perused them the first time he was in illustration and saw in them the things which are of the light of Heaven; but when he perused them the second time he looked upon these things from natural light.

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From this it was evident, also, that Divine truths are seen clearly and with pleasure, when they are read in the light of Heaven, but obscurely and thence with no delight, when read in natural light It is otherwise with other writings which do not stand in need of the help of Heaven." (S. D. 5908)

     From this passage it appears that the two works mentioned, were, like Conjugial Love, actually written in the spiritual world, and existed there in a form to be handled and perused, before they were published on earth.

     The work on The Divine Love and Wisdom was in Swedenborg's hand in the other world, on one occasion when "two angelic spirits, seeing me near, said to those standing by: 'We know that this man has written on the subject of God and nature. Let us hear what he has written.' They therefore drew near and requested that I read to them what had been written on this subject. I therefore read thence as follows." (C. L. 416-422.)

     He then read the whole of seven numbers from The Divine Love and Wisdom, Nos. 351-357, verbatim and literatim as the text is known to us.

     And of the Brief Exposition we are told that

     "when it was published, the angelic heaven from the east to the west, and from the south to the north, appeared in royal purple, with the most beautiful flowers. On the books was written 'the Advent of the Lord:' on all in the spiritual world. By command I wrote the same on two copies in Holland." (Eccl. Hist.)

     From which it appears that the Brief Exposition was not only written in the spiritual world, but was also published there in manifold copies, each bearing the inscription "Adventus Domini."

     The question has been raised whether this inscription was to be found on all the Writings of the New Church in the spiritual world, or only on the various copies of the Brief Exposition? But, no matter, I think it has been clearly established that the Writings exist not only in the natural world but also in the spiritual, and not only in the world of spirits, but also in Heaven, and presumably for the sake of Divine instruction, as "a source of wisdom" for the angels as well as for men.

     What, indeed, would the men of the New Church do without the Writings in the world to come? What would Heaven itself be without the Word and the Divinely inspired Doctrine from the Word? What other Heaven is there for us but the "New Jerusalem," the City of God, the Doctrine and the life according to the Doctrine of the Lord in His Second Coming?

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     Beside the direct evidence just quoted, there is abundant collateral evidence of the objective existence of the Heavenly Doctrine in the spiritual world, and of the universality of Swedenborg's mission as a revelator,--a revelator not only for the Redemption of spirits and men, but also for the perfection of the light of Heaven itself.

     Thus we read of a certain society of Jesuits in the imaginary heavens who had seized upon the Heavenly Doctrine and were per forming miracles by means of it in their mountain by their diabolical arts.

     "They caused to appear in the air a resplendent, shining banner, by which they stirred up those in the neighborhood in their defense." On inquiry being made "they said at first that they had done it by means of prayer, but they had made the light by art, in that they had cast the Heavenly Doctrine into a crucible, and when the crucible was sent down, they had taken it out of the fire and placed it in a lamp; and it was found that they had also made the bright flying signs in like manner by means of that Doctrine, by casting it forth on high and thinking at the same time of such things as appeared. As these had made use of such an art, which is a magical one and most shocking because done with Divine truths, they also were cast down. The earth opened beneath their feet, and they were swallowed up, being cast into hell. (A. C. 5413)

     Thus the Last Judgment upon this imaginary heaven was effected directly through the "Heavenly Doctrine" and it was, indeed, the revelation of the Heavenly Doctrine which caused the entire Last Judgment in the world of spirits. For the Last Judgment was effected entirely and solely by the descent of the Lord as the Divine Truth,--the Second Advent of the Lord,--and the Writings of the New Church are and constitute the Second Advent of the Lord.

     This is the meaning of the important statement in the Apocalypse Explained, no. 641:

     "The reason for the Revelation at the end of the Church, is that a separation of the good from the evil may be thereby effected, and also the establishment of a New Church, and this not only in the natural world, but also in the spiritual world. For the Church exists in both worlds, and a revelation is made in, both worlds, and through it a separation, and also the establishment of a New Church."

     It was this new revelation of Divine Truth,--this Second Advent of the Lord,--that set free the simple good from the ancient dominion of the imaginary heavens, but how was this Second Advent effected in the spiritual world where the Judgment and the Separation were to take place in the first instance?

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Was it by the Advent of the Lord in His own Divine person? No! Was it by means of some invisible, immediate, or inorganic "influx" and "permeation" of Divine Truth in the outer atmosphere? No, for in the spiritual world as in the natural, "this Second Advent of the Lord takes place by means of a man, before whom He has manifested Himself in Person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit, to teach the Doctrines of the New Church through the Word, from Him." (T. C. R. 779)

     It was, therefore, through Swedenborg, or, rather, through the Books which he wrote by Divine Inspiration, that the Second Advent of the Lord, and the Last Judgment, and the establishment of the New Heaven were effected,--a stupendous truth, but little realized as yet in the New Church on earth!

     But though the Last Judgment and the second Redemption were effected principally in the world of spirits, it would be a mistake to think that this Revelation from the Lord out of Heaven had not a powerful effect upon Heaven itself.

     Though the First Coming of the Lord principally effected the Redemption of men on earth and of "the saints under the altar" in the "lower earth," yet we are told that after the Glorification "the Sun of Heaven shone in seven-fold strength." There was a similar effect produced in Heaven through the Second Advent of the Lord in the Revelation to the New Church.

     Not only were the angels themselves instructed directly through Swedenborg in things unknown to them before, but they saw all things of angelic wisdom more clearly on account of the ultimate reflection and reaction of the clearer light which had been established in the spheres below heaven and on earth. For all sight is caused by the reflection of the light from ultimate objects, and the clearer the reflection, the clearer the sight.

     For instance, it was given to Swedenborg to instruct the angels on the subject of degrees, and on the actual difference between the two worlds and their mutual relation, and this not only by word of mouth, but by actual experience, the angels being allowed to descend into Swedenborg's natural plane, whence they viewed the difference between it and their own planes. (De Verbo iii.) He was to them a most wonderful individual, as wonderful as to us on earth, for never before, since, the creation of the world, had there been a man who was simultaneously and consciously in both worlds. (S. D. Index, 102, and other passages.)

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     And on other subjects, also, he was permitted to instruct the angels of the highest heaven, as on the origin of evil, (C. L. 444), and on the subject of miracles:

     "My discourse on Miracles being finished, the angels kissed me for what I had told them, and said that they would sometime invite me again into their assemblies. I thanked them and promised to return when leave was granted me from the Lord." (De Miraculis.)

     And as a final illustration of the universality of Swedenborg's mission we may quote the following remarkable passage:

     "The angels said to me that at times they are in much wisdom, and at other times in less: sometimes in clear light and sometimes in obscure, according to the direction of their thoughts. But their thoughts are not turned to themselves, but to man, and thus to the human race, with whom are those things into which their thoughts are terminated. They said that they knew this from much experience, and that, when their thoughts are turned to those things which are in my thoughts from the Heavenly Doctrine, they are in greater clearness than at arty other time." (S. D. 5610.)

     From all of which it is clear that the Heavenly Doctrine revealed through Swedenborg, is a source of wisdom for angels as well as for men, and consequently is the Word of the Lord. And on this account it was that when the Revelation of the Heavenly Doctrine was completed, through the publication of the True Christian Religion, and not before, the twelve apostles were sent out to preach the new kingdom of the Lord throughout the universal spiritual world.

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WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN 1903

WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN        PENDLETON       1903

"And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the Sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Apocalypse xii, 1.

     The Lord is the Sun of the spiritual world; for the sphere of His infinite Love and Wisdom appears as a sun to the angels in Heaven, a sphere of fire and of light; in the midst of this sphere is the Lord Himself, the infinite Divine Man; but the Lord, such as He is in the inmost of the Sun of the spiritual world, can never be visible to human eyes, or grasped by the human understanding; but the encompassing sphere of the Lord is visible to the angels, appearing as a sun like the sun of the natural world; still the Lord does sometimes appear as a man, or as an angel, in the sun, clothed as it were by the sun's sphere of fire and light; He also at times appears as a Man out of or below the sun, clothing Himself then with such things as are with the angels, in this manner veiling and accommodating Himself, in order that He may appear not only to the human understanding in the subjective form of truth, but also to the human eye in the objective form of a Man.

     The angels are images of the Lord, and hence every angel is encompassed by the sphere of his own love and wisdom; this sphere is sometimes seen as a sphere of gentle flame, or as halo of light, encompassing the angel and shining even to a distance; such a sphere is sometimes seen around many together, or around an entire society, a sphere or halo of fire and light, the warmth of which is felt and the light seen. The same thing is true in this world, though not exhibited in objective form; a sphere of the love and thought of every one emanates and encompasses him; how often one feels the warmth of the love of another, and sees the light of his mind and is influenced and moved by it? Angels and men are thus but images of the Lord, forms of love and wisdom, and are encompassed by a sphere of the heat of love, and the light of wisdom; but when those images of the Lord are perverted, and become images of hell, then they are surrounded by a dense gross fire and light, which is often exhibited to view in hell.

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     The representative images of the Apocalypse were all seen in the spiritual world by John, and the new Church was exhibited to him in the representative form of an angelic woman, clothed or encompassed by a sphere of flame and light, manifesting the quality of that Church, what it is in the heavens, and what it is to be with men on earth. "A great sign was seen in Heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."

     The Church is represented in the Word throughout as a woman; in the Apocalypse she is seen as a woman clothed with the Sun, and as a bride adorned for her husband. And it is important to remember that representations in the Word, especially in the prophetic Word, are from the spiritual world; that is, they were seen in the spiritual world by the prophets and written down by command. The Apocalypse is replete with such representative images, seen by John while in the state of his spirit, or when the eyes of his spirit were opened and saw the wonders of the spiritual world. In that world, especially in the region of the natural heaven, spiritual things are presented to view in objective form, or in images such as we see around us in our outward world; and it is common there for the Church to be represented as a virgin of great beauty, clothed and adorned according to the quality of the Church that is to be represented. In Chapter XXI, the Church is first seen as a city, and then under the form of a woman, or a bride who is to be the wife of the Lamb. When seen as a city, the Church is represented as to doctrine, but when seen as a bride, the Church is represented as to the affection of truth. This twofold representation of the Church was given in the closing scenes of the Apocalypse, because these two are essential to the Church, namely, doctrine and the spiritual affection of truth, without which two the Church is no Church before the Lord, and in the sight of the angels of heaven. Doctrine is first in order of time, and then follows spiritual affection, which must be in the doctrine or the doctrine has no life. The man, who is in the doctrine or faith of the Church, but who is not, or not as yet, in its spirit and life, is not, or not yet, conjoined with heaven; hence the moon is said to be under the feet of the woman. Those who are in this state are not under the direct rays of the sun of heaven, but the light in which they are is light reflected through the minds of others, as is the case with children.

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     The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse treats of the temptation--combats in which the Church must be before it can be established among men in the world. The first verse, being the first of the series in the chapter, exhibits to view that which is the first of the Church, or its inmost principle of life, from which is the strength and courage of combat, without which the man of the Church is not able to sustain the assaults of evil spirits, the spirits of the dragon, the great red dragon, who wishes and endeavors to destroy the Church as soon as it is born into the world. This first and inmost living principle of the Church is a spiritual affection, and is represented by the woman clothed with the sun, under whose feet was the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and the affecting scene follows of the woman crying because of the pain of childbirth. But there is further and greater cause for grief: a horrible monster appears, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and whose size or dimension is so that his tail drew down a third part of the stars of heaven. Never was such a monster seen before! Is it any wonder that the woman is afraid? For behold he stands before her ready to devour her child as soon as it is born. But the child is caught up into heaven and is saved, and the woman flies into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of sod, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days. But the dragon pursues the woman, and he casts out of his mouth after her a river of water, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood of foul waters. But the woman is saved, for she is given the two wings of a great eagle that she may fly in the wilderness to her place; and even the earth helps the woman, for it swallows up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. Thus is described the great temptations the Church is to endure before it is established with men, and how the affection of truth, which is the Church because it is its essential life, is preserved and prepared for the increase which is to come.

     Since the affection of truth is the inmost of the life of the Church it is important to know what the affection of truth is.

     There are two general affections of truth, the natural affection and spiritual affection. These two appear alike to the outward view, but differ inwardly as heaven and hell differ from each other.

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The difference is not in the form or appearance, but in the ends, for the end of one is in hell, and the end of the other in heaven. The end in the natural affection of truth, being in hell and from hell, is the end of honor, reputation, wealth in the world and for the sake of self. The end in the spiritual affection of truth, being in heaven and from heaven, is the Lord and His kingdom, and the good of all in His kingdom.

     Man is continually led by his ends and to his ends, whatever the form may be. While in this world the form may altogether differ from the end. The end may be in hell, from hell, and look to hell, but the form may be heavenly, and look to heaven, as it is with hypocrites. In the other world man is led to that which has always been his end, and the form is brought into agreement with the end. If heaven be the end, man will be led more and more to his end, and he will be affected by the spiritual truths of the Word, because these are what lead to that which is the end of his life. But if hell, or self, be the end, he will also be led to his end more and more, and he will despise and hate the spiritual truths of the Word, because these lead him away from his end, and so he rejects them, in his heart, though he may hold to them outwardly so far as and so long as they may be made to serve him. These are said to be in the natural affection of truth; but this is not the affection of truth, but the affection of self in the truth.

     Some, however, are in the sphere of the natural affection of truth, who do not act from any deliberate end of evil. These in the Writings are called the simple; children are also in this state. They have as yet no understanding of genuine truth, no rationality in spiritual things; hence in their minds are appearances and falsities. They have faith in those who lead and teach them, and are easily led astray. But because they do not have faith in themselves, but in their leaders, and have formed the habit of obedience to them; as children to their parents, they can be withheld by the Lord from evils after death. They form heavens distinct from those who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and are signified by the moon under the feet of the woman.

     The woman clothed with the sun is the Church in the superior heavens, those under the Lord as a sun. The woman with her feet is the Church in the superior heavens, those under the Lord as a moon.

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The spiritual affection of truth reigns in the superior heavens, and the natural affection of truth in the inferior heavens; but in the inferior heavens it is a natural affection of truth from a spiritual origin. These two affections flow into the world, and are variously received according to the state in which men are. The natural affection of truth exists in some degree with all, or wherever there is any external order of life; but the spiritual affection of truth is found only with a few. This affection is to be the peculiar gift of the New Church, and where it is not, the New Church is not, or not as yet. To enter into this affection is the same thing as to enter into the New Church, and he who enters the New Church and does not enter into this affection remains in the outer boundaries, or turns his back, crosses the border, and passes out into the night.

     There are three distinct stages by which the man of the New Church comes into the spiritual affection of truth: 1. To know the truth and understand it. 2. To will the truth and do it. 3. To be affected by the truth, and take delight in doing it.

     In the first stage the truth is acquired by reading and the various means of instruction. It is the state of knowledge in the memory, and of the understanding formed by thinking from knowledges in the memory. The second stage is the stage of self-compulsion, when man is at war with his own delights, and which is attended with much anxiety and temptation. The third stage is the stage of spiritual affection; it is a state of spontaneity in doing; or when the truth is carried into life from delight of heart. This spiritual affection, this delight, this spontaneity, is the gift of the Lord to those who have fulfilled the condition of the first and second stages by co-operating with Him in the work of regeneration. It will be seen, therefore, that the New Church is at first natural, or in natural affection, and afterwards it becomes spiritual, or loves truth from spiritual affection. It is first as the moon under the feet of the woman, but afterwards it is as the woman clothed with the sun. When it is as the moon, and in the light of the moon, it is not as yet conjoined with heaven, but is in a state of preparation for conjunction.

     Conjunction with heaven is conjunction with the Lord in heaven, and at the same time consociation with the angels. This conjunction and consociation is by love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbor; and when there is such conjunction and consociation by love, the spiritual affection of truth is then present in the Church; for this is its source and origin, that is to say, the source and origin of this spiritual affection is in the Lord, is the Lord Himself, and hence is only with those who are conjoined with the Lord by love.

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And in order to be in such conjunction, and receive such affection, man must be consociated with those who are in such love, who are the angels of heaven. No man can ever be conjoined to the Lord, and receive the affection of spiritual truth from him, unless he be consociated with angels, and with good spirits in the world of spirits, who are themselves also consociated with the angels of heaven.

     To bring about and establish the consociation of man with good spirits and angels, the Lord has made His Second Coming, by the revelation of spiritual truth from Himself, by the performance of the Last Judgment, by the subjugation of the hells, by the formation of the new Heaven, by the establishment of a new Church upon the earth, and finally by endowing those with the spiritual affection of truth who are able to receive it; for this affection is the Church, and when it is present the Church is present.

     The conditions, then, for the establishment of the Church, or of endowing it with the affection of truth are: that spiritual truth be revealed; that the Last Judgment be accomplished; and that the new Heaven be formed, and the new Church in the world of spirits. When these things take place the New Church can be established on the earth, and man can be consociated with the angels and conjoined with the Lord, can be affected by truths, and by that affection be led from earth to heaven and be saved.

     After the Last Judgment was performed, which is described in several of the preceding chapters of the Apocalypse, the twelfth chapter opens with the words, "And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun." Representatively, the sign was the woman clothed with the sun, but spiritually the sign is the appearing of the spiritual affection of truth as the inmost of the Church, after the Last Judgment and the Revelation of spiritual truth,--a sign testifying that the Lord has come, that the Judgment has been accomplished, that spiritual truth has been revealed, that heaven is present, and that the new Church is now to be established with men in the world. The new Church is thus where men are spiritually affected by the truths of revelation, and is to be found nowhere else, whatever the appearance may be.

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     The effect of such conjunction with the Lord, and consociation with the angels, which may now take place, the result in man of being spiritually affected by truths, is that he hungers for instruction, longs to learn more and more the way of life which leads to heaven and the Lord. Every one desires to be instructed in those things which he loves, and he labors with all his force and energy to provide the ways and means for such instruction, the knowledges by which his love may come into its exercise and full fruition; these knowledges are the daily food of his life, he longs and seeks for them continually. Every man loves some one thing above all others, and he is always affected by what he hears and learns of that thing, and he desires continually to hear and learn more. This is true of all natural loves, and it is true of all spiritual loves; he who loves God, he who loves his neighbor, he who loves good, he who loves use, he who loves the kingdom of heaven, ever longs to be instructed in the things that lead to them,--he longs to be instructed in spiritual truths, for these are what lead and introduce into spiritual life, which is the life that he loves above all things. He is affected by spiritual truth when he hears it; he is in the spiritual affection of truth, which is an indication that he loves God, the neighbor, and eternal life; it is with such as these, such as are spiritually affected by truths, that the new Church is to be built; all others are outside, are as the moon is under the feet of woman.

     It is said that spiritual affection is the Church, being its inmost, its essential, its soul and life, for that which is the life of a thing is that thing itself; and so the spiritual affection of truth, the sour and life of the Church, is the Church itself. For the Church exists with man, and among men, when there is a reactive with man and among men, a reactive of that which is from the Lord. This reactive or reciprocal is spiritual affection, and this affection is the reactive of love to the Lord, of the love which flows in from the Lord immediately from Himself, and mediately through heaven. The reactive is also the receptive, and when the reactive exists in man, when he is affected in heart by the spiritual truths of the Word, he is prepared to receive those truths into his interior life. This is the reason why the Church, as to the affection of truth, is represented by a woman; for in the conjugial the woman is the reactive, hence a woman is a form of affection since affection is the reactive of love; a woman is clothed with love or the affection of love, and a man is clothed with wisdom or the truth of wisdom; and as a woman is clothed with love, this is sometimes presented objectively in the other world, and hence that most radiantly beautiful type of the Church, as the affection of truth, presented in the spiritual world to the vision of the apostle John, a woman clothed with the sun.

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     The moon was seen under the feet of the woman, presenting in objective form, or in a representative image, the distinction between the spiritual affection of truth, and the natural affection of truth; the one above, the other below; the one of heaven, the other of the world; let us then examine a little further into this distinction, that the truth may appear more clearly in the light of contrast.

     The spiritual affection of truth is to be affected by the truth itself, but the natural affection of truth is not to be affected by the truth, but by considerations of worldly advantage, gain, or pleasure. The spiritual affection of truth removes the thought of self, and lifts it to the Lord, but the natural affection of truth keeps self before the eye of the mind, as the one and only end of existence and life. The spiritual affection of truth elevates the thought into spiritual light, in which the Lord is seen, and the good of His kingdom; but the natural affection of truth keeps the thought in the sphere of the world, and its false light, and the Lord is not seen, but only man; human intelligence is loved and worshiped, and not the Divine Wisdom. The spiritual affection of truth willingly and obediently follows the truth wherever it leads, and turns neither to the right hand nor to the left; but the natural affection of truth is wilful and rebellious, and struggles against the laws of order, and the disposition of Providence. The spiritual affection of truth looks to the good of the Church, and makes the Church first in all things; but the natural affection of truth looks to self interest, and self advancement, and regards the Church as an instrumentality by which to gain natural ends. The spiritual affection of truth, while it teaches and leads, is also willing to be taught and led; but the natural affection of truth, whilst it is willing to teach and lead, is not willing to be taught and led by truth to good in the way of heaven; it desires rather to dominate the thought and life of others.

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The spiritual affection of truth sees and knows the Lord; but the natural affection of truth does not see the Lord or know Him, although it professes Him with the mouth and lips. The spiritual affection of truth is conjoined with the Lord, and consociated with the angels of heaven; but the natural affection of truth is interiorly disjoined from the Lord, and associated with the devils of hell. The spiritual affection of truth enters into the combat of temptation, and never yields until the battle is fought and the victory won; but the natural affection of truth yields at the first threshold of combat, and becomes the servant and drudge of infernal spirits. In short, the natural affection of truth is contrition without repentance, faith without charity, thought without affection, the understanding of truth without the will of good; it has the form of the Church without the essence and life of the Church; and of those who are in it the Lord says in the Judgment, Depart from me ye workers in iniquity.

     Still, of the Lord's mercy some are led out of natural affection into spiritual affection, and after death are introduced into the interior heavens of His kingdom; and others, while remaining in the general sphere of natural affection, are still capable of admitting something of spiritual light into their thought, and after death are introduced into the exterior heavens of His kingdom. But the mass of those who are in it are cast out of the Lord's kingdom after death, and find their eternal resting place in the prison house of hell.

     Natural affection may be made instrumental, yea is instrumental, in introducing to spiritual light with children, and the simple or the well disposed among men. But it must be regarded as a merely temporary or preparatory state, and not the permanent state of human life, the state of reformation preparatory to the genuine regeneration of man or new birth into spiritual life. And so instead of remaining ill the science or natural intelligence of spiritual things, or in a state of thought from truth in the memory, man passes on by spiritual intelligence to wisdom, such as the angels of the interior heavens have; and thus his wisdom, instead of being as the moon under the feet of the woman, becomes as the crown of twelve stars upon the head of the woman, the woman clothed with the sun.

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     We are instructed that the new Church is at first natural; but if it remains so, if it becomes confirmed in this state, it is lost and damned, with whatsoever body, or society, or individual, it so remains; it will be for a time as the moon under the feet of the woman, but afterwards even the light of the moon will be blotted out, and thick darkness will reign.

     It must cease to be merely natural, but must take on a spiritual form and quality, in order that it may become what it is to become: a blessing to the human race, the perpetual seminary of heaven, the perpetual means of conjunction of man with God. Amen.

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DECREASING BIRTHRATE 1903

DECREASING BIRTHRATE              1903

     "A French-Canadian family of fifteen or sixteen children is common and a family numbering twenty-five is not infrequent. English families of five and six children are considered large. It is not surprising therefore that the French-Canadian people should increase at a much more rapid rate than the English population. In Ontario and other English provinces marriages are decreasing and there has been a marked falling off in the birth rate."--(New York Sun.)
SPIRITUAL DIARY 1903

SPIRITUAL DIARY       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1903

     THE fifth volume of the English Diary comes before the reader as the completion of the entire work; as a fact, however, it completes only the text of the work. It contains the latter half of Part III. of the Latin edition, (Part IV, having, for the sake of observing the chronological order of passages, been published in the preceding volume). But in the Latin, there are two other Parts, V. and VI., containing Swedenborg's voluminous indices to the whole work. These have never pet appeared in any translation, and until they also have been included in the English edition, that edition cannot be said to be complete. But of this matter we shall have more to say below.

     The work of the translator is very satisfactory, and is in marked contrast to the work of the translators of the earlier volumes of the Diary. The translation is simple and direct, and Swedenborg's style has been retained throughout. If anything, the translator has been over-conscientious in his striving after literal exactness. This is evidenced in the great number of bracketed clauses indicating words not in the original. There is hardly anything that so tends to disturb the current of a reader's thought as these bracketed clauses. It is true that, in any translation, it is often necessary to supply words not contained in the original, and when these are supplied for the elucidation of what appears to be the sense, they should of course be placed between brackets. But this is entirely unnecessary in cases where the sense is absolutely clear. In such cases the use of brackets only serves to bring into doubt a rendering which is unassailable. To illustrate: Sunt quaedam, Mr. Buss renders "There are certain [women];" Materata quae F in Sweden, he renders "An aunt who [was] F in Sweden;" and Loquutus sum cum angelis quod angelis sit gaudium, "I spoke with angels [to the effect] that," etc.

     There are other cases in which words are added that are not necessary to the sense, as, for instance, in n. 5943, where in naturali is translated "in the natural [state];" and in n. 5776, where ad illos quos coluerunt is translated "to those [men] whom they have worshiped."

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However, we notice with satisfaction that the number of these bracketed clauses is much less in this volume than in its predecessors, and that, in no case which we have observed, do they give more than the obvious sense of the original.

     Over-conscientiousness seems also to be partly responsible for the adoption by the translator of such awkward expressions as "such ones," (in one case, n. 5943, "such [ones]") for such, (tales); "what ones" for "who" (quirtam); "globe of earths" for "globe" (orbis terrarum).

     In two cases Mr. Buss has substituted new words for those in general use, and the result is most unfortunate. Thus the word commune is rendered "usual," instead of "common," and we read "She said it is impossible to love one's wife, because it becomes a usual thing" instead of "because it becomes common" (quia fit commune). The love of the wife may be a usual thing,--as indeed it is in heaven,--and be far from being common, the latter word in this connection involving the idea of something neglected and vile.

     The other case to which we refer is the translation of "seminarium" by "seedplots" instead of the usual word "seminary." The result is startling: "Marriages are seedplots of men and thus seedplots of heaven."

     The Spiritual Diary is one of the most difficult of all the Writings to translate. The language is, at times, very obscure, and this makes it difficult to arrive at the true meaning. Mr. Buss has brought to this task both care and ability, and, on the whole, has dealt with its difficulties in a very satisfactory manner. In two passages, however, he appears to have mistaken the sense of the Latin. In n. 5936, the translation reads "Women who think in the way men do...do away with the feminine nature, which is affectional, owing to which they must be with married men" (ex qua erunt cum maritis). This last phrase should be rendered "from which they should be with their husbands." Again, in n. 5942, the words percepi influxum nunc tristitae, nunc hilaritatis et alios, Mr. Buss translates by "I perceived with others as well [as myself] an influx sometimes of sadness, at others of cheerfulness." A more faithful translation would be "I perceived an influx, sometimes of sadness, sometimes of cheerfulness, and also other influxes."

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     A valuable feature in the volume before us, as also in the fourth volume, is the inclusion of a correct translation of the many Swedish words and phrases which occur in the original. Readers of the Latin have long been tantalized by meeting with Swedish words left either entirely untranslated or with a very inadequate translation; in some cases also the Latin editor was unable to decipher the Swedish and was forced to leave a blank in the text. All this is done away with in the present volume. The Swedish has been translated by Rev. A. Bjorck, and his translation compared with that made for the Concordance by Prof. Odhner. In addition to this, the original Swedish has been inserted in footnotes.

     The consideration of this matter brings prominently to mind the great importance of the work now being done by the General Convention in conjunction with the Academy,--the phototyping of the manuscript of the Diarium. Many of the blank spaces in the Latin edition indicate the presence in the manuscript of Latin words which could not be deciphered; and, Mr. Buss, having no access to the original manuscript, has, of course, been obliged to transfer these blanks to his translation, where we notice quite a number of them. One use, surely, that they will perform, is to whet the appetite of New Churchmen for a phototyped edition of the manuscript itself.

     In addition to the Swedish notes, the volume under review contains also a number of English notes which will be of great use to the general reader. Some of them supply references to preceding passages, which are referred to in the text only by the vague directions "just above," or "some pages back," etc. Others give a few biographical particulars respecting the persons mentioned in the text. But there does not seem to be any consistency in regard to these biographical notes. Out of the twenty-five or more names mentioned in the volume, not a dozen are thus referred to; and while a note identifies "the 'Pope who was recently dead," there is no note to show whom Swedenborg refers to when he speaks of "the author of the Whole Duty of Man." (See N. C. Life for 1892, p. 62.)

     In a few cases the notes give the teachings of other parts of the Writings, which bear on the text. While there can be no objection to these particular notes their occurrence causes one to wonder why the particular passages to which they belong were selected for annotation.

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It would seem better, either to altogether omit commentatory notes, or else to make them complete. If the work is to be issued simply as one of the Writings, let it speak for itself; if it is to be issued as the Writings annotated, then let the notes be as full and complete as the ability and judgment of the commentator may dictate.

     However, in the matter of notes there is a great improvement over the preceding volumes of the Diary, and in not a single case does the note criticise, still less contradict the text. This policy was doubtless suggested to the editor by the fact, which he himself candidly admits, that in one case in the fourth volume where his footnote had criticised the text, further study had shown him that the text was right and the note wrong, as was pointed out in N. C. Life for 1890, p. 28. On page 34 of the present volume he requests the reader to make the necessary correction to volume IV., after which he states that the new "evidence" which had led him to revise his conclusions had also led him "to revise the opinions detracting from the authoritativeness of the contents of the
Diary expressed in his preface to that [i. e., the fourth] volume. On this matter the reader is referred to the preface to the present volume." In this last preface Mr. Buss clearly establishes that the Diary is "fully authoritative" and that its contents are "from the Lord."

     It is to be regretted that the editor's recognition of the error in his former preface did not lead him to see the unwisdom of attaching to any of the Writings prefaces dealing with their authority. Let the discussion of human opinions on this subject be thrown into the open forum of the Church,--the pamphlet, the journal and the platform,--and not be set up at the threshold of the works themselves to bias the mind of the reader, and to interpose themselves between him and the "Servant of the Lord."

     It is not surprising that the Editor should feel it incumbent upon him to lay before his readers what he now considers the error of his former preface with regard to the authority of the Diary; the desire to do this is only natural and praiseworthy. But we regret that in the present preface he has also raised up the old question as to whether Swedenborg did or did not intend the Diary to become public property. The belief which the editor "ventures to entertain" on this subject is that the Diary is a private record written by Swedenborg "as here given, for his own use only," but to which he "intended to frequently turn back, and on which he purposed to draw for materials to be incorporated in works he actually did publish."

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Such an opinion tends to throw a general doubt upon those portions of the Diary which Swedenborg did not insert in works published by himself, and, especially, upon those numerous little details which he omitted when he did make such insertions. And the doubt tends to be even stronger, when the reader reflects that Swedenborg was the "illumined servant of the Lord" and was therefore the best judge as to what should, and what should not be published. Time and again have these doubts been made use of by New Churchmen to discredit one or other of the teachings of the Diary.

     Moreover, if it is true that Swedenborg wrote the work for "his own use only," it is at once forced upon our mind that there is need of some strong and convincing reason why it should be published either at this or any other time. The editor anticipates the question, and he answers it by showing that the contents of the Diary are "from the Lord" and are therefore "entirely reliable and fully authoritative;" and that they are the property of the whole human race. But if they are "from the Lord" what justification is there for the assertion that Swedenborg wrote them "for his own use only?"

     It is undoubtedly true that the manuscript of the Diary is not so written that it could be put into the hands of the printer. But this proves nothing. Thousands of records are made for the use of posterity, which the recorder has no active intention of publishing; but we cannot say that, therefore, they were made for the recorder's "use only." The truth is that it is impossible to tell with certainty what Swedenborg's intentions were in this respect and, in the light of our present knowledge, any theory as to this must be, at best, an ingenious conjecture; but the Church cannot rest its case for the establishment of the authority of the work on ingenious conjecture.

     The Church is not concerned with Swedenborg's intentions. These would come to the fore only if the Diary were regarded as Swedenborg's private record. And it is here that Mr. Buss falls into confusion. For while on the one hand he shows that the contents of the Diary are "from the Lord" and "fully authoritative," yet, later, he implies that he regards Swedenborg, and not the Lord, as the source of their authority.

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His words are "The latter parts of the Diary were written contemporaneously with the Writings....The entries written in that later period, therefore, may be safely and confidently relied upon as showing the sense in which Swedenborg himself understood the Doctrines which the Writings had up to that time disclosed. They throw important side-lights upon certain matters stated in the Writings." As soon as such a position is assumed, the matter of the Swedenborg's intentions becomes an important one in considering the publication of his record.

     All this becomes of entirely secondary importance when we trace the authority of the Diary to the Lord. We are then concerned only with the Divine Providence by which Swedenborg was led to record, and by which his record was afterwards preserved for the use of the New Church.

     The fifth volume, being the last, contains an index to the whole work. This index is the work of Mr. James Spiers and covers 136 pages. We have already referred to the indices prepared by Swedenborg. They are two in number, one occupying 416 pages and the other 144 pages of the Latin edition, the smaller being for the most part an index to the Lesser Diary. The value of these indices consists not only in their completeness as indices, but also and principally because the lengthy references serve as the author's own interpretations of the passages referred to; and, in many cases, add new particulars. A striking example of this is given in the preface of the volume under review, where Mr. Buss settles the true meaning of a passage which apparently teaches the ultimate salvation of the lost, by showing from the Index that the passage treats of those in "captivity" and "who are being vastated." Another, is an instance which does not appear to have come under Mr. Buss's notice. In n. 5492 the contraction "Er: Br:" is rendered "Er[ic] Br[ahe];" but reference to this number in the Index shows that the true reading is "Erland Broman."

     In view of the importance of Swedenborg's indices, it seems strange, to say the least, that the translator of the Diary should not have crowned his labors by including them in the translation.

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We find no explanation why this has not been done, nor any hint that there was ever any intention of doing it. Indeed the very existence of these indices is referred to only in a casual way and nothing whatever is said of their value. If expense were the only obstacle, it would have been an easy matter to have abridged the indices very considerably by shortening the language where it does not differ materially from the text. The result would have been an English index far superior in every way to the one which is now published. Had this new index been in the nature of a digest, such as Rich's Index to the Arcana Coelestia, the reasons for its compilation when a voluminous index already existed would have been comprehensible. But, on the contrary, the English index follows exactly the same plan as that adopted by Swedenborg, whose work has thus been done over again, and, as will be seen in the sequel, done most inefficiently.

     But, even granting that it was necessary to thus duplicate work, the English reader is surely entitled to expect that the compiler of the new index would carry on his work with a constant reference to the indices already prepared by Swedenborg. Not only has he not done this, but he does not seem to have even consulted the latter; or, if he has done so, it has been in the most superficial way. Nor is there such merit in the new index as would cause us to condone or excuse the compiler's neglect. Considered merely as an index, without any reference to the interpretative use of Swedenborg's indices, the new index cannot be compared to the latter either with respect to completeness of detail or to the number of references. Thus under "Adultery" Swedenborg gives 98 references; of these, the English work gives only 19, to which it adds 8 references not found under the word in Swedenborg; among the references omitted are such important ones as "The increase of the hells at this day from adulteries," "The commission of Adultery closes heaven," etc. Under "Marriage" the English index gives 15 references, and under "Conjugial Love," 14. But Swedenborg, under "Conjugium," gives 70 references, of which only 18 are adopted in the new index. Anyone at all familiar with the Spiritual Diary will readily imagine the importance of the references that have been omitted. Under "Africa" the English index omits 10 of Swedenborg's references, and adds one new one; among the omissions being references to paragraphs on the ideas of the Africans concerning the Lord, and on the new revelation made to them, etc. Under "Altitude" Swedenborg gives 34 references; the English work omits all these and gives a single reference, though 3 of Swedenborg's references are given under "High," to which 7 additional references are added.

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Under "Face" only 4 of Swedenborg's 30 references are used, the omissions including a number of passages of exceeding great interest. Under "Charles XII." the new index omits 3 of Swedenborg's references; and only 5 are given under "Gehenna" where Swedenborg gives 22. And so on in the more than twenty-five entries which we have examined.

     But the omissions which will be most readily discovered by the ordinary reader, and which will probably be among those most missed, are the names of persons. We have counted over fifty names of people whom Swedenborg met in the Spiritual world and of whom he gives more or less interesting particulars in the Diary, not one of which is referred to in the new index; and among these names are such prominent ones as Gustavus I., Leibnitz, Ulrica, Socinius, Louis XIV., William Penn, etc., etc. In this respect also Swedenborg's indices are far more complete.

     Again in the matter of headings the new index is very unsatisfactory, references being given where none are needed, and vice versa. Thus we find an entry "Conrad Bibbing, 5892-4," and another, referring to the same person, "Bibbing, Conrad, 5867." Then, under "December" we find an entry about Louis XIVI; the same entry occurs also under "France," but there is no entry "Louis XIV."

     Other serious defects in the new index are the scarcity of cross-references, with which Swedenborg's indices abound, and faulty proofreading, the figures in several of the references being incorrect.

     The index is a most important part of a work, serving as a key to unlock its treasures. And especially is it important in a work of so miscellaneous a character as the Spiritual Diary where there is no sequence of narrative to guide the reader in his search for a given statement. But the index before us but ill serves its purpose; it is at best an ill-fitting key and one that, it is to be hoped, will be discarded or radically mended when the time comes to issue a second edition of the Diary.

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     A second edition is certainly needed even now; for, taken as a whole, the present edition is a most unsatisfactory production. The first three volumes have been translated according to a very different standard of accuracy from that which has governed in the last two. These early volumes are full of glaring, and sometimes,--especially in the translation of Swedish words,--ridiculous errors. The early volumes also contain an entirely unnecessary amount of editorial comment, and criticism.

     It has been abundantly shown by Prof. Vinet, of the Academy, who commenced a careful and minute comparison between the phototyped manuscript of the Diary and the Latin edition, that the latter contains many misreadings which make the sense both obscure and absurd. These misreadings are doubtless responsible for much that is objectionable in the English translation of the first three volumes. But now that the phototyped manuscript of that portion of the Diary coveted by these volumes has been published, there is nothing to prevent the work of revision being undertaken at any time, and it seems desirable that this should be done as soon as possible. If only the first three volumes were completely revised, we should have a very presentable translation of the entire work.

     Yet there is no doubt that when the remainder of the Diary is phototyped, it will become evident that there is a necessity for revision of the last two volumes also. There are many obscure passages, some of which are doubtless due to misreadings of the manuscript; and in addition to this there are those cases, already noticed, where the Latin editor was unable to decipher the original.

     When the time does come for a complete revision of the Diary and its issuance in a second edition, it is to be hoped that such edition will be free from all commentatory prefaces. A good bibliographical introduction is really all that is required. It would also be desirable that the future editor confine his footnotes to an elucidation of the literal meaning of the text, and other like external matters, without entering into a discussion pro or con respecting the teachings involved. A valuable feature would be the addition of an Appendix containing an extended biographical account of all the persons mentioned in the Diary; the basis of this work has already been prepared by Dr. Kahl and issued under the title Narratiunculae de vitis hominum, etc.

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And, above all, is it desirable that Swedenborg's indices be included in the translation. Probably the best way in which to present them so as to be of the greatest use would be to extract the numbers quoted, and, retaining their language, to place them in numerical order, together with the headings under which they are found. In this way the reader could see at a glance what Swedenborg himself says of any given number and under what heading he indexes it,--for, we might add, valuable interpretative light is often thrown on a passage by a consideration of the heading under which it is indexed; as, for instance, in the case of the passages which treat of the salvation of the evil, some of which are indexed under the word "Captivity."

     But these suggestions look forward to the more or less distant future, for it will necessarily be several years before we have a complete phototyped copy of the Diary including the Index, and probably many more years will elapse before the work of revision of the Latin and retranslation into English is undertaken. But, however long it may be before a second edition appears, the members of the New Church, sensible of the precious knowledges of the other life with which, owing to his labors, they can now enrich and delight their mind, will feel nothing but gratitude to Mr. Buss for opening up to them, even though in an imperfect way, the rich mines of wealth contained in the Spiritual Diary of Emanuel Swedenborg.

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CONVERSATION WITH CALVIN AND FIFTY OF HIS FOLLOWERS CONCERNING THE ATHANASIAN CREED 1903

CONVERSATION WITH CALVIN AND FIFTY OF HIS FOLLOWERS CONCERNING THE ATHANASIAN CREED              1903

[MINOR WORKS BY SWEDENBORG.]

     I. Concerning the Person of Christ.

     I read the Athanasian Creed before Calvin, and in it the following words: "The right faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and Man; God from the substance of the Father, begotten before the world, and Man from the substance of the mother, born in the world... Who, although He be God and Man, is yet not two but one Christ. One, not by conversion of Divinity into flesh, but by assumption of humanity into God: One altogether; not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the rational soul and the flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ."

     1. After I had read these words before Calvin, and, at the same time, before fifty priests his followers, I asked Calvin whether he had receded from these teachings in the Creed, which yet is received and acknowledged by the whole Christian world. Calvin said that he saw he had fully receded.

     2. I asked him, why he had done so. He answered, that he had paid no attention to those words, and that now that he did pay attention, he saw that he had receded from them and had written according to his own thought.

     3. I asked him what he thought now. He answered, that if the Creed is true, and if it is universally acknowledged as the true doctrine concerning the Trinity, and concerning the Divinity of Christ, he had clearly erred.

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     4. I asked him whether he wished to acknowledge that the Divine and the Human, or God and Man, in Christ, is one Person, as soul and flesh are one man, according to the words of the Creed. He answered, that he did wish to acknowledge this, but that he could not, because he had confirmed himself differently.

     5. I asked him whether he believed Christ to be one Person or two. He answered, One, if hypostatic union makes one, but that he had believed that the Son of God was someone else, and that He was with the Father; and that Jesus Christ was separated from Him, because He was in heaven.

     6. I asked him whether there were thus two Christs, He answered, that there were, and that therein he had receded from the Creed.

     7. I asked him about the hypostatic union, from whom was it? He answered, that it was from God the Father, and that this was the idea he had had.

     8. I asked him about the soul of Christ, what it was? whether it was not the Divine Itself, since it is said in Luke, that it was from the Holy Spirit and the Power of the Most High? He answered, that he had seen this statement in Luke, but that he had tacitly believed within himself that the soul of Christ was from Joseph.

     9. I asked him whether Christ as to His Human is not the Son of God, as is openly said in Luke i, [35], and also when He was baptized, Matth. [iii, 17]; moreover, also by John, [John i, 34], and also when He was transfigured, [Matth. xvii, 5; Mark ix, 7; Luke ix, 35], and in many passages elsewhere. He answered that when he had mentioned and thought of* the words "Son of God," he had not meant Christ Jesus as to His Human. When I said that to mean what he meant is contrary to Scripture, he answered that he saw that such was the case, but that he had not thought that it was contrary to Scripture. I wished him to renounce it, but he was conscious of his thought while in the world, and he said, that, on that account he was not able to.
     * The Latin here has sensit; possibly, the true reading is scripsit.--Tr.

     10. At last he confessed that he had thought Christ was the son of Joseph, but that he had not dared to write this.

     Priests, his followers, were present to the number of fifty, and they heard Calvin give these answers to the questions.

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Then I asked them whether they did not see, that, with regard to the Person of Christ, Calvin had fully receded from the Athanasian Creed. They answered that they had often read that Creed but had paid no attention to those words there; and they were surprised that they saw them now for the first time with attention. They confessed that Calvin had openly dissented from the Creed; they also confessed that, as often as they had named Christ or heard Him named, they had not understood the Son of God but a pure man who, for the human race, was made Righteousness; and that, when they had named only God, they had understood God the Father.

     II. Concerning the Trinity of Persons.

     I read, before Calvin and some priests his followers, these words from the Athanasian Creed: "There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit;" and also these: "Like as we are compelled by Christian verity to confess each Person by Himself as God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Catholic religion, to say three Gods or three Lords."

     1. I asked Calvin whether, from these words, he had confessed or thought of three Gods, although with his lips he had said, and still did say, one God. He answered that he had thought of three unanimous Gods.

     2. I asked him how he could reconcile his thought and speech so as to make them one, when each Person is to be confessed as a God by Himself. He answered that he could not.

     3. I asked him: how three could be one; whether it was by unanimous consent, or in some other way. He answered, that it was by influx.

     4. I asked him, how could one person continually think the same as another? must not each one think something by himself? He answered that he had not thought of this before, and that now that he did think of it, he perceived that each Person must also think something by himself.

     5. I asked him, how then were they one indivisible essence? did not the essence thus become divided? He answered, that sometimes it becomes divided, but that they finally accommodate themselves.

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     6. I asked him, whether the essence is divided when the Son, as Mediator and Intercessor, speaks to the Father. He answered, that there was a division then, but only for the moment.

     7. I asked him whether there were not thus three creators of the universe. He answered that there were, but that one did the work of creation through the other,--the Father through the Son, and the Son through the Holy Spirit.

     8. I asked him what idea he had of the birth of the Lord from eternity. He answered that he had a vague idea.

     III. Concerning the Personality of Calvin. His Quality.

Afterwards I asked Calvin how he could ascend into heaven with an idea of three gods, and with an idea of the Lord as being two. He answered that he had been admitted into a certain inferior society of heaven, and that he had dwelt there among the hindermost, who are not much explored; but that, when he had been explored, he had descended, because he could not subsist there; and that he had then betaken himself to Luther in the world of spirits, with whom he had dwelt for a certain period, and this because Luther acknowledged the Human of the Lord as Divine, and he did not seem to himself to be safe anywhere else.

     With regard to Calvin, the priests said that he was an upright man, but simple; and that he had written according to his own simple thought, not reflecting whether what he wrote was or was not in accordance with Sacred Scripture, just as he had not reflected whether or not it was in accordance with the Athanasian Creed.

     IV. Concerning Justification.

     Afterwards I spoke with those priests on the article concerning justification by faith alone.

     1. They were asked what they understood by good works, whether merely such things as were enjoined by the Roman Catholics, or also the works of the second Table of the Decalogue. They answered that they understood both.

     2. They were asked whether the works of that Table of the Decalogue contribute anything to salvation. They answered that they contributed nothing, but that they must still be done, because they were commanded.

     3. They were asked whether, if a man does them, it is pleasing to God. They answered that it was, if men do not place merit in them.

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     4. They were asked how they understood these things in the Word: That he who does His commandments loves God and is loved by God; also, the passages about good fruits, and about the works according to which man shall be judged; besides many others. They answered, that works follow from faith.

     5. They were asked how they follow from faith; thus, whether man shall do them, or whether we must believe that God does them through man. They answered that man must do them of his own strength, because they are civil works, and that God has no part in them.

     6. They were asked whether these were the good works which follow faith. They answered that they were.

     7. They were asked how they could follow faith, when there was nothing of God in them, but only what is of man, and when, therefore, there was no bond between faith and works. They answered that they follow faith because by the imputation of faith man's sins are remitted, and then whatever a man does is good in the eyes of God, thus also these works.

     8. They were asked whether it was necessary for anyone to repent, since, by faith, all sins were remitted. They answered that one can if he wishes to, but that it contributes nothing to eternal life, but only to secular life.

     9. They were asked, how then did good works follow faith? They answered, like fruits from a good tree.

     10. They were asked whether faith produces good works in a similar manner as a tree produces fruit. They answered that by fruits from a good tree they understood all the works that a man did after he had received faith, because in the eyes of God they were good.

     11. They were asked whether good works cohere with faith as fruit with a tree. They answered that they did not cohere in the same way.

     12. They were asked whether there was thus any bond between good works and faith. They answered that there was none.

     From these things the conclusion was reached that the phrase "Good works follow faith as fruit a tree," is only a sound, and nothing more.

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Editorial Department 1903

Editorial Department       Editor       1903

     A recent novel quotes the following "old-school" Presbyterian hymn:

"I know that God is wroth at me,
For I was born in sin;
My heart is so exceeding vile,
Damnation dwells within.
Awake I sin, asleep I sin,
I sin with every breath,
When Adam fell, he went to hell,
And damned us all to death."

     This terse statement of the doctrine of original sin may no longer be comme il faut, but that doctrine still forms the unchanged foundation of the whole scheme of salvation in the Old Church of the present day.

     

     Mr. Manby, in his Swedish New Church magazine, presents some very interesting suggestions connecting the "animal spirits" with the "limbus" or finest substances of nature which man retains after death and which form "the cutaneous envelop of the spiritual body in which spirits and angels are." (See D. L. W. 257, 423; T. C. R. 103; De Wis. viii: 7.) The question of the limbus is one of the most intricate points in New Church Theology, and but little has been said about it of late years. Some, as for instance Dr. Burnham in his Discrete Degrees, look upon the limbus as a material substance; others identify it with the substances of which the external memory is composed. The animal spirits, we understand, is the same as the third or purest blood, a highly sublimated material fluid. It is difficult to see how this blood can form a cutaneous envelope of the spiritual body. We should be glad to hear from any of our readers who have studied this subject.

     

     Writing on the late Mr. Fred. Tennyson, a brother of Lord Tennyson, the Rev. W. H. Buss in Morlzing Light for November 8 brings out some interesting facts. Mr. Tennyson was a member of the Jersey (Channel Isles) Society for 25 years, and was a staunch believer in the New Church. "Of the spiritual destitution, not to say corruption, of modern Christianity Mr. Tennyson's views were very pronounced indeed. . . . He had absolutely no hope of Christendom; on the contrary, he quite believed in the rapid decay of empires, and the ecclesiasticisms of Europe, and even in vast conflagrations of war that would come as a flood of fire and sweep them all away."

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Mr. Buss writes to show the utter absurdity of the charge, recently revived, that Mr. Tennyson, before his death, repudiated the New Church.

     The same Journal contains also an interesting note respecting Mr. James Glen, the gentleman who first introduced the Doctrines to the American continent. In a recently published book dealing with the Glasgow High School, of which Mr. Glen was a member, there is a letter written by him, dated Rio de Janeiro, September, 1802, in which he says that he has professed the Doctrines for 21 years, and would be glad to hear if there are any "of that persuasion" in Glasgow, and concludes with an earnest recommendation of the Writings.
PREVENTION OF OFFSPRING 1903

PREVENTION OF OFFSPRING              1903

The universal growth of this deadly evil is creating more and more alarm among patriotic and philanthropic persons. Marion Harland, in a recent issue of the Philadelphia North American, speaks out as follows:

"The Creator has set upon each wedded wife the stamp of His invisible purpose. That purpose cannot be ignored or lightly regarded without sin. If this great country of ours is denationalized before the sands of the new century have run out, American matrons will have an account to render to the Lord of the Harvest.

     "This is not bombast, but the partial utterance of what bums like a fire in my bones as I witness the growth of an evil which is like a sure, slow-creeping blight in homes and in communities. Illiterate foreigners number their children by the half dozen and the dozen. Native Americans have an average in the Southern and Middle States of three to a household; in New England of one. We need no "lightning calculator" or patent process of figuring to work out the sum suggested by statistics."

     Our readers will co-operate with the Life in the warfare against this heinous evil, by sending us any data, statistics. or articles on this subject that may come under their notice.
UNITARIANISM IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 1903

UNITARIANISM IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND              1903

     Under the caption "A Theological Sensation" the Rev. Isaiah Tansley, writing in Morning Light of November 22d, presents some significant evidence with regard to the growing Unitarianism of the Christian world. It appears that Canon Freemantle has recently come out with a pronouncement which denies the Divine conception of the Lord, and makes of His miracles mere myths. Similar views are expressed in the Encyclopaedie Biblica, where, in an article on Mary, "the Divinity of the Lord is as plainly denied as anything can be, and the words in our Lord's life that are considered to be really true are reduced to about nine brief passages in the Gospels." Further, the Canon of Rochester, the editor of the Encyclopaedia, "clearly gives his sanction to these views termed 'advanced.'"

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Mr. Tansley comments, "We are frequently told that the Churches are coming over to our views, and that they are being preached and accepted by ministers of all denominations. The modern trend of thought hardly bears this out." We might add that not only the Encyclopaedia Biblica but also so standard and universally accepted a work as the Encyclopeadia Britanica is subject to the charge of Unitarianism. Turning its pages at any appropriate heading, we find again and again, sometimes subtle, sometimes open, the denial of Christ, the rejection of the Word, the belief in evolution, in materialism, in infidelity. And this book fairly represents the learning of the whole Christian world!
SIGNS OF THE TIMES 1903

SIGNS OF THE TIMES              1903

     Dr. Sewall, in the Messenger for December 10, calls attention to the desolate state in modern theological circles, and quotes some recent significant utterances by eminent authorities. Thus the Rev. E. N. Packard, D. D., in the Congregationalist, admits that "the higher criticism is accepted in its method, spirit, and results in many of our theological seminaries, and is taught in certain chairs with the implied sanction of the administration. This is true in all the denominations." "The Congregationalist reviews favorably the work of Prof. G. A. Barton, of Bryn Mawr, who teaches that Yahwe (Jehovah) was a god of the Kenites, a development from the primitive mother goddess Ishtar." "The late Prof. Paine, of Bangor Seminary, the seminary whence issued a half-century ago Dr. Pond's fierce attack on Swedenborg and the New Church, 'goes beyond most Unitarians in denying any unique divinity to our Lord.'" "The Unitarians at the beginning of the last century took many of the critical positions now held and taught in our seminaries. But we today, as professed orthodoxy, are going beyond them. They do not need to come over to us; we have simply gone over to them."

     Evidences such as these are daily accumulating, and it is, indeed, clear that the theological and moral disintegration of the Old Church is progressing far more rapidly than the organic establishment of the New Church. And thus it was also eighteen centuries ago. The growth of the Christian Church did not keep pace with the disintegration of the Jewish. Meanwhile the simple good, who are ultimately to be brought into the New Church, are preserved "under the altar," while the New Church itself remains in the wilderness among a few, where she is nourished "for a time, and times and the half of a time."
GATHERING CLOUDS 1903

GATHERING CLOUDS              1903

     The New Christianity for November interrupts its usual glowing apotheosis of "the New Age" by a very earnest and timely editorial on "The Desolation of Greed."

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Contrasting the present with "the good old times before the war," the editor remarks:

     "There was a time when divorce was a rare phenomenon in our country. Marriage held until death. But since the beginning of the seventies the cloud, before no bigger than a man's hand, has so grown in size as to cast its black shadows all about us."

     "Now to be at all rich is to be a millionaire, and money is the cry and the ruling god. The poor are striving to get rich, and the rich are grasping for greater riches. The ideal of home life has changed from that of domestic love and a large family to that of business success and the least possible number of children. Money and social rivalry crowd out and kill genuine love as the motive in marriage, and with this love goes all else that is tender and redeeming. Honesty, truthfulness, sincerity, and all that is moral, altruistic and truly religious, are banished with the growth of the kingdom of Mammon. The situation is indeed serious, and this matter of desolated marriage and home, though central in importance, is but one of the aspects of the extending general ruin." Our contemporary suggests as a remedy the formation of clubs to labor for economic, social and moral reforms, but all this is vain. As in the days of Noah and as in the days of Christ, so now there is no remedy for the Old Church and its deformed civilization. The Divine Truth, which came to save, is and will be rejected by all except a few, and among these few, "collected together" and "separated" from the Old, will the Christian Church and Christian civilization survive and revive.
ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINES 1903

ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINES              1903

     Nya Kyrkans Tiding for November contains a striking editorial on this subject, which we wish we could lay before our readers in its entirety. Taking as his text the words "All my fountains are in thee," in the eighty-seventh Psalm, which describes the glory of the Holy City, the editor shows that the Lord Himself has all His fountains of Divine Truth in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and that these, therefore, "contain all the truths of the Word." "What was and is sufficient for the Lord, must surely be sufficient for us if we are contented with His fountains. "The difficulty with some is that they separate the Word from the Doctrine which is revealed in and from it. But these must not be separated from one another. The Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, when viewed as a whole, is the Word, the Word in the Letter and in the Spirit. And we may well ask, What, indeed, do we know about the 'spirit and life' of the Word, except what the Lord has given us to know through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg?

     "This revelation of God will be sufficient not only for the present, but for the future and to all eternity. It will be all-sufficient. The Scripture never speaks of any other future revelation than that of the New Jerusalem.

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Let us remember that the Divine words of our text treat inmostly of the Lord. He has placed 'all His fountains' in His Holy City. He has no others. Humanity will undoubtedly discover more and more veins of water as time passes and men become more receptive, for the expression 'all' is a very inclusive word. But all of them, if they be genuine, will be found within 'the City of God,' within the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. And this will be true not only in time, but also in the life eternal, 'for all instruction there is given from the Doctrine which is from the Word, and not from the Word without the Doctrine. The Christians are instructed from the Heavenly Doctrine which entirely agrees with the internal sense of the Word.' (H. H. 516)"
WHAT IS THE INTERNAL SENSE OF THE WORD? 1903

WHAT IS THE INTERNAL SENSE OF THE WORD?              1903

     A CORRESPONDENT, whose letter is published in this issue of the Life, is unable to affirm the position that the Writings are the Word, and this because the internal sense of the whole Word is not explained seriatim in the Writings. While he believes that all truth is present in the Writings, "still there must be a certain arrangement or series of truths in those books which are not explained seriatim, which the Writings do not cover," and he therefore concludes that "in this sense it would appear correct to say that the Writings contain 'only some of the infinite truths of the internal sense.'"

     The difficulties by which our correspondent is troubled arise from permitting ideas of time and space,--of external form and arrangement,--to predominate in the idea of the internal sense of the Word, and it is this external idea that has brought the whole subject of the Word and the Writings into confusion in the Church at large and has led to the rejection of the Writings as the Word of God.

     According to the commonly prevailing conception in the New Church, the internal sense of the Word is merely the verbatim and seriatim translation of the literal sense according to the science of correspondences.

     This is the idea which is formed by nearly every one when he first comes into the New Church from the Old, and it is true as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. For this is only the summary, the mere external shell of the internal sense, a brief abstract, dry and unintelligible without the light of genuine Doctrine.

     It is most necessary to remember that "the internal sense is not only that sense which lies hidden within the external sense, but is also that sense which results when many passages of the sense of the Letter are rightly compared with one another." (A. C. 7233.) In other words, the internal sense is not only the mere abstract summaries resulting from the application of the law of correspondence, but it is chiefly and primarily the genuine and infinite Doctrine, which was drawn from or out of the Letter of the Word, because it is this Doctrine which is contained within it.

     Take, for instance, the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as explained in the Arcana Coelestia.

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What is it that constitutes the real internal sense of this story? Is it merely the verbatim and literatim translation of the correspondence of each verse? No, this is only the summary, the summary of the internal sense itself, which in the form of Doctrine is further evolved and explained after each verse. And what is this Doctrine but the whole Doctrine of the Lord, which again is still further explained and systematically presented throughout the Writings of the New Church?

     It is impossible, on account of our limited space, to quote here all the statements in the Writings which teach that it is the Doctrine of the Church which is and constitutes the internal sense itself, and we can only give the following references, in the hope that our readers will look them up for themselves:

     1. That the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem is the same as the internal sense of the Word. A. C. 2762, 9025, 9034; N. J. 7.

     2. That the internal sense contains the truths of the Doctrine of the Church, and that these constitute the internal sense of the Word. A. C. 9086, 9424; T. C. R. 207.

     3. That the Doctrine of the Church is the internal sense itself. W. H. 11; A. C. 9380, 9409, 9410, 10400, 10584.

     4. And, finally, that he who knows the genuine Doctrine of the Church has the internal sense, and is actually in it. A. C. 9430, 10276, 10400.

     When, in the light of these teachings, we learn to look upon the Word as Divine Teaching or Doctrine of Truth,--sensual in the literal sense and rational in the internal sense,-and not merely as a series of correspondences,--then it will be easily seen how unfounded is the opinion that the Writings of the New Church "do not give the whole of the internal sense" or that "only some of the infinite truths of the internal sense are revealed in the Writings."

     For when the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, came down from God out of Heaven, it came down as a whole, "a city that is compact together," perfect, glorious, Divinely built. Twelve is the measure and number thereof,--twelve foundations of twelve precious stones; twelve gates of twelve pearls; twelve thousand furlongs its length and breadth, and its wall a hundred and forty-four cubits; the tree of life within it bears twelve fruits, yielding its fruit every month. For the Doctrine which is the New Jerusalem contains and reveals all the goods and truths of the Word,--all, not "some" or "a few," twelve, not five! What truth is there that is not contained in the Doctrines, and what Doctrine is there that is not revealed in the Writings? In what respect is the most excellent, the final and crowning Revelation of God to man--imperfect?

     The whole of the internal sense of the Word has been revealed in the Writings, because the whole Doctrine of the internal sense has been revealed. The application of the Doctrine, to the Letter of the Word and to the problems and uses of life, is the never-ending work which the Lord has given the men of the New Church to do, according to Doctrine and illustration from it. Let them never imagine that they can do it merely by the application of the science of correspondences, without the Doctrine.

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     We must by all means make a distinction between Divine Revelation and our present understanding of it. The men of the New Church have as yet scarcely entered upon the work of interpreting the Word, and have the faintest possible conception of the contents of the Writings. But because our knowledge and understanding is so slight, are we on that account to say that "only a few things" have been revealed The most profound student of the Writings at the present day,--what is his conception of the Word and the Writings when compared with the knowledge of the men of the New Church a thousand or a million years from now!

     The Lord alone can have a universal view of the internal sense as a continuous or connected whole,--or of Doctrine or Divine Truth as a whole with all the particulars thereof, even as He alone can have a view of the whole of Heaven as a Maximus Homo. But this does not mean that the whole of the internal sense has not been revealed. If the whole had not been revealed, the parts could not be seen. Though we cannot bear the sustained sight of the solar disk, but only the particular rays and general light, yet is not the whole of the sun shining in the heavens?

     Thus also all Divine Truth,--the whole of the Doctrine of the internal sense,--has been revealed in and by the Writings, but we can grasp only the general light and particular rays as reflected from, or illustrated by, special parts or texts of the Letter of the Word. And there is not a single part of the Letter into whose mysteries we are not able to enter intellectually, according to our illustration from the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

     The Doctrine of the internal sense has been revealed as a systematic whole, and thus the infallible and all-sufficient laws of genuine exposition have been given. The whole science of correspondences has been revealed, and thus the means of interpretation according to these laws. The first and the last of the books of the Word in the Letter have been explained seriatim, from which we may learn the Divine method of applying the means according to the laws. And, finally, there is scarcely a chapter or even a verse of the whole Word which is not directly or indirectly explained in the Writings, and thus the Lord has everywhere provided guides for the genuine interpretation of His Word, and guardians against its misinterpretation. What more can be needed?

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Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     THE New Church Publishing Association, of Stockholm, announces the publication of a thirteenth volume of the Swedish version of the Arcana Coelestia, and a new version of the Doctrine of Faith. The translation of both is the work of that skillful, careful and indefatigable laborer, the Rev. C. J. N. Manby.

     

     The essay on "Swedenborg's Theory of Fire," by Alfred H. Stroh, in the October issue of The New Philosophy, is an exhaustive and valuable contribution to the understanding of the gradual development of this theory in Swedenborg's mind, as first expressed in various early letters and hitherto unpublished works, and as finally outlined in the Principia.

     The same issue contains a further installment of Swedenborg's important work On the Senses, translated by the Rev. E. S. Price.

     

     The Holiday number of the New Church League Journal is a very handsome publication, graced by a fine reproduction of D. Morelli's Madonna and Child. Miss Maud G. Sewall contributes a Christmas carol, "Oh, Hope of All the Ages!" with new music. There is a great amount of news of the League and its members, and a sincere effort is made to interest the young people in each other and in the distinctive organization of the Church. This is well, but it would be still better if more attention were paid to the work of awakening an interest in the distinctive Doctrines of the Church. Some attempts are made in this issue, but the instruction is mixed up with much misleading and disorganizing talk about the widespread "modification of old beliefs" as due to the invisible descent and permeation of the New Jerusalem in the world outside the New Church. Several pages are devoted to "The Progress of the World," with news about the Coal Strike, Trusts, etc., but no new light is shed upon these questions of the day.
NEW TRANSLATION OF "DE VERBO." 1903

NEW TRANSLATION OF "DE VERBO."              1903

     After much annoying delay the Academy Book Room is at last able to announce the separate publication of Swedenborg's posthumous work Concerning the Sacred Scripture or the Word of the Lord, better known in the Church under the Latin title De Verbo. The translation of this small but important work appeared in installments in the New Church Life during 1900 and 1901, and the present publication is the first complete English edition of the work. The translation is the work of the Rev. C. Th. Odhner, who in a prefatory note explains the history of the manuscript and the various more or less fragmentary editions that have appeared.

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While some of the paragraphs will be found incorporated in other works of Swedenborg, the greater part of this opuscle contains original matter, and is, to use the language of Johnny Appleseed, "news, right fresh from heaven." The price of the pamphlet is 30 cents.
SOME NEW BOOKS 1903

SOME NEW BOOKS              1903

     The Journal of the General Convention, 1902. Always interesting as an index of the work and progress of this great branch of the external New Church, the Journal is each year growing in size and in the perfection of external arrangement. The list of Ministers counts 108 clergymen, of whom 33 are not in active service. The table of statistics presents a total membership of 6,812, or two members less than reported last year. Ninety-nine societies were reported in the last journal. This year the number is reduced to ninety-four. The Theological School at Cambridge reports an increase of $1,437 in its annual income.

     

     The Code of Joy. By the Rev Clarence Lathbury (Swedenborg Publishing Association, Germantown, Pa.; 223 pp.) A book supposed to explain the Beatitudes. It is full of "sweet gladness," poetic feeling, brilliant diction, sentimental theology, and Unitarian conceptions of the Lord. The author is a New Church minister, and the book has been published in German by our simple-hearted, misguided brethren, and has created quite a stir both within and without the New Church.

     

     The simultaneous publication in the New Church of two works on the Jewish sacrifices seems an unusual coincidence. The one is a book of 138 pages, by the Rev. John Worcester, entitled The Jewish Sacrifices and Their Christian Meaning (Boston, Mass., N. C. Union), and is a systematic exposition of the moral significance of the correspondences in the sacrificial ritual of the Jewish Church. The author, here, as in all his works, endeavors to accommodate the spiritual sense of the Word to the apprehension of an outside audience, he speaks not in the language of the New Jerusalem, but in a dialect which is "so sweetly mawkish and so smoothly dull."

     

     The other work is of a very different character. It is a pamphlet of 36 pages, by the Rev. James F. Buss, and is entitled The Jewish Sacrifices in Their Relation to the Atonement. (London, Spiers.) In concise language, intelligible and interesting to New Church people, the author first shows from the Letter of the Word that the animal sacrifices of the Jews, and particularly the case of the scape-goat, do not furnish any basis for the Old Church doctrine of Substitution and the vicarious Atonement, but teach simply the necessity of the shunning of evils. In the second part the author takes up the spiritual significance of the details of the sacrificial ritual, and presents many suggestions that may be of practical assistance to any New Church expounder of this part of the Word.

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WRITINGS AND THE INTERNAL SENSE 1903

WRITINGS AND THE INTERNAL SENSE       CLAUDE TOBY       1903

EDITORS New Church Life.
     May I put before you a, difficulty I have in accepting the Writings to be the Word, at least in its full sense as understood by the General Church? I should like in the first place to say how much I enjoy reading the Life, and also what a high opinion I have of the ministers of the General Church, both in respect to their ability and their charity, and I say this not in any patronizing spirit, but with all sincerity. But I am unable to affirm the position that the Writings are the Word in the full sense that the Word in the letter is the Word. My difficulty is that the Writings do not give the whole of the internal sense. We have in extenso the internal sense of Genesis and Exodus and the Apocalypse and a summary of the Prophets and Psalms, but what about the Gospels, the books of Kings and other parts not treated of' I can very well see that a truth to be a truth must be of universal application and must involve all other truths, and that the truths in the Writings must embrace all truths; this would appear to be the meaning of your remarks in reference to the Rev. L. G. Landenberger's letter, but this does not to my mind quite meet the case. Although the Writings explain incidentally much of the Word, still the fact that the explanation is not seriatim, but only incidental, seems to me to make a great difference. Moreover, there are parts not touched upon at all. Must it not be, for instance in John's Gospel, that there is a series of truths which is not given in any other part of the Word? If this is not so we could do without that book. And again, what is the relation of the Gospels to each other? I believe I am right in saying there is no direct explanation of this in the Writings. But if they are part of the Word, there must be in them a series of truths not to be found anywhere else, and since the Writings do not give this series, but only explain certain parts incidentally, I cannot but think that the Word in the letter is fuller, gives more details, although at present the internal sense is but imperfectly known. It is said that truth is infinite, but that does not explain what that series of truths is, in those books of the Word where it is not given. If it were possible to understand the Ten Commandments internally and externally in all particulars we should know as much as the whole of the Word contains, yet in order that truth may be presented to the human mind, the Lord has amplified these Ten Commandments into the books of the Old and New Testaments, so that the truths there may be more clearly seen. So with the Writings. All truth is there, undoubtedly; still there must be a certain arrangement or series of truths in those books which are not explained seriatim, which the Writings do not cover; therefore in this sense it would appear correct to say that the Writings contain "only some of the infinite truths of the internal sense."

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     There is another point upon which I should like to know the view you take. In the compilation headed "The Testimony of the Writings concerning themselves," the Rev. C. Th. Odhner quotes from Doc. ii: 404: Gjorwell visited Swedenborg and after returning home wrote an account of his conversation with Swedenborg; it is from this report that the quotation is made, but I quite fail to see how this report, or part of it, can be quoted as "The Testimony of the Writings concerning themselves." Who can say if the conversation be accurately reported? Or even if accurate, since Swedenborg did not write it, how can it be "The Testimony of the Writings concerning themselves?" A good deal of importance appears to be attached to it, inasmuch as this quotation is placed at the top and is again cited further on. Some explanation would be acceptable. I should
also like to ask: Is the Adversaria, which is referred to in this compilation, to be regarded as of equal authority with the Arcana It was written previous to the Arcana, when Swedenborg apparently was not in full illumination, and contains statements endorsing the idea of three persons in the Trinity (Vol. I, page 6), and the doctrine of substitution (Vol. I, No. 613). Your view of these points will receive careful consideration. CLAUDE TOBY, 138 Clarendon Rd., London, W., England.

     The main question of our correspondent's letter is answered in another department of the present issue. While the quotations from the Documents and the Adversaria are not, strictly speaking, testimonies from the Writings themselves, yet they are collateral and corroborating testimony. They can, however, be left out of the collection of passages, without disturbing the general conclusions, for the testimonies from the Writings themselves are conclusive enough. EDITORS.
EXPLANATION FROM MR. CABELL 1903

EXPLANATION FROM MR. CABELL       Paul B. Cabell       1903

EDITORS New Church Life:
     In your issue for the current month, under the head "Church News," certain remarks made by me at the late meeting of the Maryland Association are quoted as coming second-hand from the Neukirkenblatt and the N. C. Messenger. The quotation is in the main correct of what was said at that meeting, but there is an error in attributing too much to one speaker. What was said by me in the way of regret at the extreme position of the Academy in placing the Writings of Swedenborg on a level with the Word is quite fairly stated in the first paragraph of your report (p. 711), but the remarks quoted in the second paragraph concerning the need of discriminating in the various Writings of the Church between those which are from the Lord while Swedenborg read the Word, and those which are from the angels, or from "things heard and seen" by that author, were made by another speaker, Dr Sewall.

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     I was not ignorant, as you seem to suppose, of Swedenborg's statement concerning several of his works being in the spiritual world, but I have seen no intimation in his pages that they are there regarded as another or new "Word of the Lord." In T. C. R. 701, mention is made of an epistle of Paul being read in the world which had not even been published in this, from which we may make their appearance among spirits and angels by some process of which we are not accurately informed. Therefore I can imagine how the Theological works of Swedenborg, published by him in this world, might be reproduced in the other, and there be of use even to the angels, not as a means of teaching them what they already abundantly knew, but of informing them how far their knowledge of spiritual things had, of the Lord's good providence, been revealed to men on earth. In that well known "memorabile," quoted by the Convention's Committee from C. L. 532 and T. C. R. 847, in which, for the information of the angels, are enumerated all the subjects upon which Swedenborg was permitted to instruct men on earth, there seems to be not one with which the listening angels were not already familiar, they in several instances expressing surprise that men should need enlightenment on subjects so well known to themselves. Your remark that the Pauline and other epistles "are not in any sense a divine revelation" will sound strange to most ears. Paul himself seemed to be of another opinion, as may be seen in I Cor. ii, 13. See also Chap. VII., 6, of the same epistle, where he distinguishes between what he writes by permission and what he writes by command. There is a passage in the Diary [n.4824], where it said that "Paul was not allowed to take a single parable and not even a doctrine from the Lord, and to expound and explain it, but he took all things from himself," but we should remember that Swedenborg did not publish this statement, and it seems quite fair to conclude that the great Apostle to the Gentiles, in writing his epistles that were to be "doctrinal books useful for the establishment of the Christian Church," took the most of what he wrote "of himself from the Lord." It is hardly safe therefore to characterize his writings as "not in any sense a divine revelation." Paul B. Cabell, Wilmington, Del., Dec. 10, 1902.

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PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1903

PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       H. S       1903

     THE second annual meeting of the Philadelphia District Assembly was held this year at Bryn Athyn, on Sunday, October 19th, about two hundred members and friends being present, including visitors from New York and Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Camden, Allentown, and Baltimore.

     The event which marked the occasion as one of unusual interest and importance in the annals of our body was the ordination, at the morning services, of three priests,--one into each of the three degrees of the Priesthood. Mr. William B. Caldwell, who graduated last spring from the Theological School of the Academy, and who has since served as a candidate, preaching occasionally in Bryn Athyn and Philadelphia, and regularly during the summer at Baltimore, was ordained a priest of the first degree. Mr. Caldwell has been engaged, for the year, to preach at Bryn Athyn. The Rev. George G. Starkey was ordained into the second or pastoral degree, as he has been called to Denver, to exchange place with Pastor De Charms. The ordination of the Rev. Edward C. Bostock into the third or episcopal degree was in pursuance of the decision reached in the late council meetings at Berlin, Ont. Mr. Bostock, while remaining for the present at Bryn Athyn, has assumed charge of the General Church in England.

     In spite of the two distinguished gatherings of the past year (namely, the Dedication, and the meetings of the Swedenborg Scientific Association, both of which brought visitors from elsewhere), the attendance was full and fairly representative, taxing our seating capacity to its utmost, even though the smaller children had to remain away. The service itself was even more beautiful than usually. The soft colors of the great window, the quiet, but rich, effect of the carpet and furnishings, made a fine setting. The pipe organ is also a new thing for us, and as Bishop Pendleton entered and passed up into the chancel, between the tables upon which were placed the three new stoles and some choice flowers, we felt something of the power of beautiful externals. The ordinations, with the declarations of the candidates and the Bishop's charge, took the place of the sermon. All three were recognized at the same time as ministers in their respective new degrees, within the General Church. Arrangements had been made at all the houses to entertain the visitors at dinner, and at 4 o'clock the Assembly was opened by the Bishop, of whose address we give the following abstract:

     The Bishop said that it seemed well to present a brief summary of his address delivered at the annual meeting of the Council of the Clergy and of the Executive Committee in June, on the subject of Toleration.

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     It was stated that unity exists where there is harmony of many; there is no such thing as a one by itself, a simple one, but a compound one, or a unity made up of parts, and when these parts are in harmony, one with the other, there is unity. This unity is unanimity, a unanimous conspiring or breathing together as it were, as in the case of a society in heaven. There is unity without unanimity.

     This unity or unanimity is from the two universal loves, love to the Lord and love to the neighbor. All appearance of unanimity that does not have these loves in it as its internal is but a mere appearance, and is soon broken asunder and scattered with those who are in it. These two loves together make what is called mutual love in the Writings, so that it is mutual love that is the ground of unity or unanimity. Unanimity is thus a spiritual thing, a spiritual state. Mutual love is charity, which has in it love to the Lord; and it cannot exist as a natural thing, unless this spiritual thing, this spiritual unanimity,-spiritual fraternity or brotherhood,--be in it, which is mutual love.

     We are told that mutual love is the firmament of heaven; it holds heaven together. If this does not exist as yet on earth, what then? There is the appearance of unanimity among men, but it arises largely from compulsion. Such a unanimity might appear even with a band of robbers, which is from compulsion, or from a strong bond of mutual self-interest or self-love, making the appearance of unanimous thought and action. This is not the unanimity of heaven. There is no unity in it; but there may be on the earth something like the unanimity in heaven, and this exists where there is mutual toleration, a mutual self-compulsion to that which is right and just and true, or against that which is evil and false and unjust.

     If there exists this mutual self-compulsion, there is in it the beginnings of the unanimity of heaven; for, as we are told, all spiritual conditions begin in man by self-compulsion; man, having in himself things opposite to the life of heaven, must compel himself, and thus resist those things which are of his natural mind; bring himself under control, self-control. So it is with mutual love; it begins with a mutual toleration, and if it does not begin with a mutual toleration it will never begin at all, so that without this in the Church on the earth there is as yet nothing of the real life and quality of Heaven in the Church.

     The strongest forms are those which are yielding in the external, but firm in the internal. This is the very principle of toleration. Toleration involves at the same time patience, and both of these must be in the Church, in order that the life of heaven may be present.

     We have received from the Fathers of the Academy certain doctrines that are known as Academy doctrines. These doctrines have come to us as a heritage from them, and the more we examine these doctrines the more we see that they are true, that they are the universals by which the Writings are to be understood, and the more we realize with gratitude the light and illustration which the Lord gave to the early leaders of the Academy that they might formulate the doctrines of the Church.

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We have received this inheritance, but we cannot continue in the same state; the Church cannot stand still; it must grow, and this growth must be in the direction of a mutual toleration in the Church of one with another.

     This is the second annual meeting of the Philadelphia District Assembly. We have now in our country three district assemblies organized, and one in Canada and one in Great Britain, making five altogether. These district assemblies are as it were in a state of childhood as yet. They must be cared for. They are cared for by the General Church, the Academy, and the societies in the General Church. Our members are occupied with these activities, and so we are not able to do much as yet of active external use in the District Assemblies, but there are great uses ahead for such bodies, and we are justified in making a beginning of such organizations. We hope and expect to see an active state of use in all of the district assemblies in time to come, when they are grown, so that we should not be discouraged because we are not able to undertake very active uses at present. The greatest use, as I have remarked before, is to increase our mutual love, meet together, discuss the principles of the Church, and their application to the life of the Church; to come together in social life, and cultivate the very principle of which I have been speaking--that of brotherly love--love beginning in a mutual toleration--which is nourished and cultivated when we are together. When we are apart, feelings from the natural man rise up sometimes, suspicions and other evil activities which tend to disappear when we meet together. The cultivation of mutual toleration is an actual use performed by the district assemblies, particularly as it seems impracticable for the General Assembly to meet every year. But it is practicable for the district assemblies to meet, and let us trust and hope that their uses will greatly develop and grow, that they may prepare to take on a more mature and adult state in time to come.

     Mr. Odhner pointed out, as a law of toleration for the New Church, the Lord's teaching in Matthew, "that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." The right cheek is the affection of good and the left, the affection of truth. When our enemies offend us, we are not to resist evil from evil, or to retaliate in kind. But we are to resist from the affection of truth. We are to turn the light of revealed truth upon the evil, and then it is the Lord who resists the evil, and not we ourselves from our proprium. Thus also in the case of evil and falsity in the Church at large. The good of the Church demands that these should be criticized and brought to light, but it should be done from the affection of truth, not from anger or from the desire to ascribe evil motives to those who may differ from us. This law of toleration has been the law of the Academy. It has always been fearless in defending the Lord's Revelation, but it has not imputed intentional evil to its opponents. On the other hand, the vilest slanders against the personal lives of the members of the Academy are constantly being circulated, and they are accused of intolerance and dogmatism, because they dare to turn the "left cheek" to their adversaries, instead of covering up all doctrinal differences by natural good feeling.

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Genuine internal toleration may appear externally intolerant of falses and disorders, but passes not judgment upon the internal states of men. External toleration tolerates all things except spiritual truth and spiritual good.

     Mr. Bostock illustrated genuine toleration by the doctrine concerning Shem, and Japheth, who, when their father lay uncovered in his tent, went backwards and covered him, i. e., they were unwilling to dwell upon the evil, and excused it as the evil of ignorance, and they therefore covered him with a garment, which means that they presented the truth which would correct the evil. Mr. Acton and other speakers drew the distinction between the attitudes we should take toward those who differ with us as to essentials and as to non-essentials, and between genuine and merely apparent toleration. Mr. Potts reminded us that real toleration can be exercised only towards that which is evil, or which we think is evil.

     After the close of the discussion, supper was served in the Gymnasium, and the evening was given up to wisdom, wit and music. But everyone knows how impossible it is to convey the flavor of these things in print. Zeal, and the deep affection born of our epoch-making faith, alternated with mirth and pathos. As the years roll on, and common joys and sufferings draw us nearer to each other and to loved ones gone before, one feels more and more like drawing the veil over these scenes--they are so precious a tradition. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Acton was at his best as toastmaster, while Mr. Childs led the songs, giving us one beautiful new verse to "Our Own Academy," and several impromptus. Mr. McQueen, of London, was also with us, and his earnest words were much appreciated. It is to be hoped that Prof. Odhner's review of the struggle

     in the Church for the distinctive Priesthood will be published. The chief toasts of the evening related to the great event of the day, viz., "the ordinations." The subject of the New Church Life also came up for serious and affectionate attention. H. S.

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Church News 1903

Church News       Various       1903

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Church of the Advent resumed its services on the first Sunday in September. Two weeks afterwards the semi-annual meeting of the Society was held. The pastor made a short address to the congregation, in which he spoke of the unity of the Church and of the duty which each one has to perform to the Church in order that it may be a unit. He referred to the human body as made up of many members, organs, and viscera, all co-operating and working together, so much so that in the movements of the body they act as one. The co-operation of all is required that the body may properly perform its uses. If any one organ does not do its part, the uses per formed by the body are impaired, and the whole body suffers. A part of the body cannot be affected without affecting the whole. The same may be said about a society of the Church. Each one of such a society has a use to perform, a duty, which, if it be neglected, will detract from the usefulness of the society as a whole, and will prevent it from reaching its full fruition. When all work together for the same end, and from the same affection, then the whole society works like one man, and then there is real unity. So far as there are any who are lukewarm and indifferent, and who neglect their duty to the Church, so far the unanimity and harmony of the whole is disturbed. Unity does not admit of inactivity or indifference on the part of any one. The truth is a living thing, and it requires to be lived, for otherwise the life that is in it recedes, and we are left with nothing but a shell.

     During the summer several of our members left us for other parts of the Church. Dr. and Mrs. Cooper have removed to Bryn Athyn, and Dr. Boggess and Mr. Charles Ebert have removed to Pittsburg. But the remaining members have perfected the organization of the Society, and on the whole there is greater activity and interest than before.

     The first social of the season was held on September 30. A number of toasts were proposed and responses were given by several of the members, who, though formerly reluctant, are now developing a good deal of ability in the making of speeches. Singing and dancing closed the program.

     The Bishop's visit, on November 30, was much enjoyed by the members of the Advent Church. On such occasions the interest is quickened and the connection and fellowship with the Church at large is more distinctly felt. The Bishop's sermon at the morning service, on the text, "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man," was followed with close attention, the development of the internal sense being full and convincing and certain new applications highly interesting.

     In the evening there was a social gathering in the hall, which was well attended in spite of bad weather. Mrs. Pendleton, Rev. Alfred Acton and Mr. C. H. Asplundh, of Bryn Athyn, were present. The toasts were as follows: "The Church," the Bishop responding; "The Spirit of Loyalty and Courage," Rev. E. Cronlund; "The Academy," Rev. Alfred Acton; "The Church in Everyday Life," Mr. Reuben Walker; "Our Duty to the Church," Mr. K. Knudsen, and "The General Church," Mr. W. H. Zeppenfeld. The usefulness of such gatherings, especially during visits of the Bishop, was evident to all.

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     Bryn Athyn, Pa. On November 9th in the afternoon almost the whole Society was gathered in the cemetery to witness the funeral of Mr. Samuel A. Klein. The simple service was conducted by Mr. Acton.

     In the evening a memorial meeting was held, presided over by Mr. Synnestvedt, who gave a short address, after which he read a letter from Mr. S. H. Hicks testifying to the strong and loyal character of Mr. Klein. Mr. David H. Klein gave a short sketch of his brother's life, and Mr. Pitcairn spoke of the importance of cherishing a real idea of the other life. Mr. Acton dwelt on Mr. Klein's work for the Society at Brooklyn. He also referred to his last meeting with Mr. Klein, two days before his death, and spoke of the joy he had expressed at the prospect of entering the Spiritual world. Mr. Odhner spoke on our memorial meetings as being the revival of a custom which had fallen into disuse since the time of the Ancient Church. Remarks were also made by the Bishop and Mr. Price, and Mr. Acton concluded by referring to the bright prospect, now before our brother, of meeting one with whom he could live forever. It was generally felt, at the close of the meeting, that while these memorials are for those from whom we are separated for a time, yet they bring us a joy and peace which become more manifest at each succeeding meeting. They give us a more living realization of the other world and a greater desire to prepare for it and to look forward to it. This, perhaps, was the predominant thought of the meeting.

     The first Academy School social of the year was held on the evening of October 18th, in the Art Room, and thanks to the able management of the Committee under the guidance of Mr. and Mrs. Odhner as host and hostess it proved a great success. This was due not a little to the two games which formed an addition to the usual dancing. The boys were first asked to assemble in an adjoining room, there to write descriptions of the dress of their dancing partners, and when these were produced and read aloud such merriment was provoked. Later the young ladies were in turn surprised by a request to draw portraits of the boys, which they did, and in many styles, ranging all the way from rigid realism to the impressionist type.

     On this occasion we were honored by the presence of several adult visitors who had come from a distance to attend the Assembly, among them Mrs. Caldwell, of Toronto, and Mrs. Heath, of New York, who added much to the pleasure of the evening by their charming singing.

     "Ye Annual Faire and Harvest Festival of ye Goode and ancient village of Brynne Athynne" was held in the Gymnasium on Hallowe'en, October 31, and proved a success, both as a social reunion of the "squires and dames" of the borough, as a means of displaying the products of farm and garden, and as satisfactory to the management financially.

     Promptly at 8:30 the doors were thrown open. and when the pleasure-seekers had paid their paltry admission fee they were ushered into the "grounds," where a most pleasing spectacle greeted the eye. On every side stacks of ripened Indian corn, golden sheaves of wheat and rye, festoons of gorgeous autumn leaves; and finally pumpkins, other vegetables and luscious fruits all harmonized to produce a typical picture of rural beauty and prosperity.

     A hymn of thanksgiving was first sung and then Mr. Synnestvedt opened the fair.

     The patrons then wandered about to view the display and soon the fun was at its height. The effect of the throng in rustic attire was striking. Brawny farmers strode about commenting upon the sights in regulation drawl. Country dames paraded about displaying their finery and criticising things in general.

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Fair maids gazed at the exhibitions in wonderment or shyly mingled with the bashful country bumpkins. While the elders visited the prize exhibits of produce, the younger folks made merry. The Bazaar of the "Serke" Club attracted many and was soon sold out. Fortune telling, an electric exhibit, a stereopticon and an animal show were all in progress at the same time, not to mention many other specialties. An organ grinder, accompanied by an Italian woman and a monkey, drew forth both laughter and coin from the crowd. A striking miner and a policeman were very conspicuous, the latter being compelled to make several arrests during the evening.

     Magic lantern views of "Ancient and Modern Bryn Athyn" were thrown upon a curtain and brilliantly elucidated and explained by our historian, Prof. Odhner, who disclosed many wonderful facts about the village "when it was first dug up, before its restoration."

     A stage performance followed these views. The policeman sang song, after which a farce was presented involving two darkies and an aged hotel man in comic tragedy.

     After refreshments had been served on the "American plan," the unsold exhibits were "knocked down" to the lowest bidder and dancing for the lads and lassies filled the intervening hour until midnight.

     On the morning of Thanksgiving Day, November 27th, services were held in the Chapel, and in place of the sermon we listened to an inspiring address by the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt, who first drew our attention to the many natural comforts we should be thankful for, our educational benefits, national freedom and protection, and the conveniences of modern invention; next to the spiritual blessings so manifold to those who are members of the Lord's New Church.

     In the evening the young and old of the Society united in social festivity, the feature of this occasion being the discomfiture of some of the "old folks" in their noble attempt to win at a "young folks'" game.

     The next census of the village of Bryn Athyn will have considerable 'growth from without" to record, the most recent additions being the families of Mr. George Heath and Mr. Ernest Robinson.

     During November we had a visit from Miss Elizabeth Kendig, of Renovo, and Mr. Kintner, of Pittsburg.

     On Sunday evening, December 7th, the Society assembled to bid farewell to Rev. George Starkey and family and to welcome Rev. Richard DeCharms and his family, these two ministers having exchanged their fields of use. Mr. Starkey was presented with a copy of Vol. V. of the Spiritual Diary, and in a short speech feelingly thanked the Society. A number of toasts were drunk and responded to, and an opportunity given us to hear a few words from Mr. DeCharms, who has been almost a stranger in his many years of isolation.

     Allentown. On Saturday, November 27, the members of the Society were invited to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Waelchli, to join in the celebration of Mrs. Waelchli's sixtieth birthday. The date of the celebration had been postponed in order to permit of the presence of Mr. Acton, the pastor. The time was passed happily and merrily with speech and song. Most of the speeches were on the use which Mrs. Waelchli had done for the Church, in bringing up a large family, every member of which is in the New Church. Nor was the part the Academy has played in the education of these children forgotten, and "our own Academy" was heartily toasted. But, perhaps, the most pleasant feature of the meeting was the speech of Mr. Waelchli, in which he referred to the 38 years of their married life and their hopes for the increased delights of that life in the other world to which they must soon come.

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     Brooklyn. December 7th was a "memorable day" for the Society here, who were favored by a visit from Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton, and Mr. and Mrs. Hicks. At the morning services, when the Bishop preached, there were 21 present--including two not members of the New Church--the largest congregation we have had for several years. In the afternoon, at the invitation of Mr. Childs, the whole Society--or all who could go--repaired to Yonkers, where we enjoyed the first social we have had since many years back. There were 15 present, including Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton, Mr. and Mrs. Hicks and Miss Anna Klein, of Bryn Athyn. The meeting was facetiously called by Mr. Childs "The Yonkers District Assembly"--a name which was duly honored in a song, and was the cause of much merry discussion. The "Assembly" was presided over by the Pastor, Mr. Acton, who proposed toasts to the General Church, Confidence, the Brooklyn Society, Mr. Samuel A. Klein. The toast to Mr. Klein was the occasion for several speeches on the faithful work which he had done for so many years for the Brooklyn Society, which owes much of its present prosperity to him and to his father before him. The Bishop and Mr. Acton also spoke on the continued performance of his uses by Mr. Klein in the Spiritual world and its effect on the Church on earth. A toast to the Academy was an honored toast, and one to which Mr. Childs, the only original "founder," for the time being, in America, did full justice with both speech and song. The other original "Founders," Mr. Benade, and Mr. John Pitcairn, were also duly honored. Altogether, we had a most delightful time, and we could not imagine a better even at Bryn Athyn. But for this we owe much to the sphere brought from the centre by our visitors, to the many inspiring remarks of the Bishop and Mr. Hicks, and last, but not least, to the genial and bounteous hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Childs.

     Pittsburg. It was hoped that a report of the Second Pittsburg District Assembly, which was held from Thursday, October 23, to Sunday, October 26, would have appeared in the December or January of the Life. But as this report has not yet been finally prepared for publication, the following general account of the Assembly may be of interest:

     The meetings were very enjoyable and were participated in by quite a number of visitors, including Rev. C. T. Odhner, Rev. A. Acton, Mr. Pitcairn, Mr. Asplundh, and Mrs. Pendleton, of Bryn Athyn; Rev. D. H. Klein, Mr. James Boggess and Mrs. Lena Davis, of Middleport Mr. S. A. Powell, of Given, O. (a nephew of Rev. David Powell); Rev. T. E. Bowers, of Toronto, and Rev. W. E. Brickman, the pastor of the Allegheny Society, who was accompanied by several of his members.

     The Educational meeting on Thursday afternoon was occupied by a somewhat animated discussion of the question of play and work in the education of children. At the Assembly proper, which was opened in the evening, the principal subjects of discussion were, Loyalty and Harmony--introduced by a paper read by Rev. D. H. Klein,--the growth of the Church, and New Church Life. A number of speakers took part in these discussions, and the sphere of interest was maintained throughout the meetings.

     At the services on Sunday morning, Mr. Bostock preached; and, in the afternoon, the Holy Supper was administered. At both these services the Church was uncomfortably crowded, and several of the local members afterwards expressed themselves as more than ever impressed with the necessity of having a larger place for worship. We understand that the Society contemplates taking steps to this end in the near future.

     Bishop Pendleton was obliged to leave for Chicago on Monday morning, thus before the Men's Meeting, which was held in the evening.

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This meeting was presided over by Mr. Bostock, and about 35 men were present, including Mr. Brickman and several members of the Allegheny Society. Almost every man present took an active part, and the meeting proved to be one of the most successful of its kind ever held in the General Church. Many points of great interest were introduced by the different speakers, but undoubtedly the leading theme of the speeches was the necessity for the men of the Church to read and study the doctrines of Conjugial Love if that love is to be established with them.

     Atlanta, Ga. Following the coming among us of Miss Vickroy and her brother, Edwin, with his wife, came the discovery of Mrs. Weegand, a sister of Mrs. A. G. Carter, formerly of Toronto, now of Bryn Athyn. Their father was the Rev. W. H. Fehleisen, a Lutheran clergyman, who was persecuted on account of his faith in the Heavenly Doctrines, and fled from Germany to this country in 1840.

     On Sunday, November 9th, Mr. Hughey and Mr. Morrell, of Cascade, carried two wagon loads of us town folks out to their little country church, which was erected several years ago by Mr. Hughey and the Rev. Ellis I. Kirk. Mr. J. A. Morrell, who was baptized in Travers City, Mich., by the Rev. J. R. Hibbard, has been superintendent of the Sunday School here for a number of years. Though notice of the meeting could not be given in time to all the neighboring residents, there was a good attendance, and we were all happy to learn that the worship and instruction left a very favorable impression in the minds of some who now for the first time learned of the New Church. It is proposed to hold services at Cascade at regular intervals, possibly once a month.

     Glenview and Chicago. Since the District Assembly social life in our Society has been more or less at a standstill. However, the Wednesday and Friday evening classes have been held regularly and have been well attended. In these classes our pastor is giving a very interesting course of lectures on the various nations of this world as they are seen in the world of spirits. Thus far the English, Dutch, Swedish, German, French, Italian, Russian and Mohammedan nations have been covered. In the case of each some distinguishing characteristic has been and many interesting anecdotes about its life and situation in the world of spirits have been pointed out.

     On November 27 a very successful dance was held in the Chicago branch of our Society. L. G.

     Berlin, Ont. On Thursday, October 16th, which was Thanksgiving Day in Canada, services were held in the church in the morning.

     In the evening Mr. and Mrs. Stroh gave a social at the school, which was one of the most enjoyable we have had for some time. The room was nicely decorated with the products of the field, while a couple of tables were spread with various fruits and vegetables, bringing home to us all the wonderful providence of the Lord in providing us with so much and so great a variety of things useful to our bodily life. More than the usual amount of singing was indulged in. Of course there was dancing.

     One of the most interesting surprises of the evening, and one with which the party came to a close, was the total eclipse of the moon.

     In the afternoon of the same day a number of our young men went to a shooting match in one of our neighboring villages, and were so successful as to bring home some eight fowl, comprising turkeys, geese and ducks.

     On Friday, October 31st, Hallowe'en evening, we held our regular monthly social. The party was given by Mr. and Mrs. Steen at the School, and for variety and strangeness it was one which will be remembered for some time.

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The lighting of the rooms was supplied by pumpkin heads. The serving of refreshments of fruit, pop-corn, nuts and cakes was done in baskets made out of pumpkins. The choosing of partners for some of the dances was left to fate, the gentlemen being given duplicates of things given to the ladies. One of these was cards, on which were drawings, copies of various things such as advertisements, etc. They were exceedingly well done and afforded a good deal of favorable comment.

     A musical game, in which the answer to questions was played on the piano, was another feature of the evening's entertainment. The participants guessed the answer from hearing the music played.

     As noticed above, our monthly socials are under the charge of different families of the society. It was lately decided to try this method of holding socials, the former method of leaving it to a committee not having been sufficiently successful. Thus far the new method has been a great improvement.

     On Tuesday evening. November 11th, the men's regular monthly meeting was held. Our pastor at the present time is taking up the doctrine concerning spheres. R. W. S.

FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. "Sons of the New Jerusalem" is the ringing name of a "secret society" for New Church boys, recently inaugurated at Brockton, Mass., under the auspices of the Rev. H. C. Hay. Only members of the Sunday Schools can be elected members, and the officers are all under seventeen years. It is intended to develop the organization into an American league of New Church boys.

     Owing to failing health, the Rev. Frank Gustafson has found it necessary to resign from the pastorate of the Society in Buffalo, N. Y., and from the work of the Ministry. It is his intention to return to the practice of Medicine.

     The Rev. Adolph Roeder has recently been delivering a series of "Study-Talks" in the public library of Newark, N. J., on "Songs of the Nursery and the Street in Symbol Psychology." The ancient rhyme "London Bridge is falling down" furnishes an occasion for talking about the "symbol-psychology"--i. e., the correspondence--of bridges. "Jack and the Bean-stalk" is symbol-psychologized into a connection with "the descent into hell of Orpheus, Aeneas, and Christ," etc.!

     The Rev. Walter E. Brickman has resigned from the pastorate of the Society in Allegheny, Pa., and the resignation has been accepted. Mr. Brickman expects to enter upon a course of study in the Theological School of the Academy of the New Church.

     At the annual meeting of the Society in Washington, D. C., on October 16th, the Rev. Frank Sewall was unanimously re-elected pastor for another term of three years.

     The corner-stone of the new temple of the New Church in Cincinnati was laid on October 28, with appropriate ceremonies, and in the presence of a large audience. The General Convention will meet this year at Chicago on June 27th.

     The Illinois Association held its annual meeting on November 14-16 at Springfield, Ill., where there is a new society composed chiefly of young people. The Society at Wellsville, Mo., united with the Illinois Association.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The death of Mr. Joseph L. Grundy, on November 6, at the age of ninety-one years, removed from the New Church in this world one who was probably the last remaining link between our time and the days of Hindmarsh and Clowes. Mr. Grundy was born in the New Church, and was baptized by the Rev. Robert Hindmarsh, of whom he had vivid recollections. After a somewhat adventurous life, he spent his last years as librarian of the New Church College at Islington, London.

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     The prosperity of the Society established last year at Hillhead, Glasgow, has exceeded all expectations. Originally it was intended that a year's trial should be made, but eight months has been found to be sufficient, and the Society is now placed on permanent basis. In connection with his duties, the pastor, Rev. J. F. Buss, started last October to issue an eight-page paper, the "Monthly Church Magazine." It is sustained mainly by advertisements.

     Judging from the reports of the reopening services recently held at Ynysmendwy, there appears to be among the Welsh people of this town an interest in spiritual subjects such as has long ceased to characterize the people of England and America. The report brings vividly to mind the early days of the Church, when the missionary lectured in crowded halls and to eager audiences. The services at Ynysmendwy were conducted in Welsh by the pastor, Rev. Mr. Rees; Mr. Ashby, the President of Conference, delivering an English sermon in the morning, and both gentlemen preaching in Welsh and English, respectively, in the evening. At the latter service, "the little Church was unable to hold all the people: and though the pulpit steps were used to seat the young people, "still many had to go away. Great interest seems to have been maintained throughout the long service, although the two sermons together lasted over an hour and a quarter. Fancy an English and American audience under like conditions! A remarkable and novel feature of the service was the manner in which the people sought to express their affections. Spontaneously, they took up the last verse of each hymn, and sang it again and again, it being a mystery how it was finally determined when the hymn was to be brought to a conclusion.

     SWEDEN. Pastor Manby spent a portion of last summer in a second evangelistic journey to the most northern towns of Sweden, near or within the polar circle, and even here he found some affectionate receivers of the Heavenly Doctrine. At Hudiksvall he lectured to an audience of 300 persons, but at Lulea only 50. He sold an unexpected quantity of books, however, and felt consoled when finding that the local Methodist preacher on the same day had only three hearers.

     GERMANY. The little Society in Berlin has moved into larger and brighter quarters in Dennewitz Strasse 19. The organization is as yet of a private character, and is not reported to the city government, as it is feared that greater publicity would provoke much trouble with the ecclesiastical and judicial authorities in Berlin. The leader Herr Carl Mertin, is rendering satisfactory services, though physically infirm and occupied in hard work. The Rev. Fedor Goerwitz paid a pastoral visit to the Society on October 3, when 35 persons were present, among them some new friends from Berlin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Two new members were received and the Holy Supper administered to 18 communicants. The Sunday School, under the leadership of Freulein Reissner, counts 23 children.

     AUSTRIA - HUNGARY. The Rev. Adolph Roeder, president of the German Synod in America, has recently been advertizing German New Church works for free distribution in some of the leading newspapers in Vienna. In response, he has been deluged with letters from all parts of Austria, and from Bohemia, Bulgaria, Servia, and Roumania, many of the writers expressing great interest in Swedenborg and the New Church.

     The Society in Budapest met on October 16th, to celebrate the resurrection of their late leader, Franz Krupka. An unusual and pleasing feature of this memorial meeting was the reading of a letter from Mr. Krupka himself, written just before his death, and addressed to this very meeting.

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Feeling himself already in the Spiritual world, he bids a last farewell to his wife and children and beloved associates in the New Church. The better is most beautiful and touching, especially the ardent words of gratitude and love addressed to his aged and faithful partner, ending with "Nun lebe wohl, mem theueres Eheweib; aufs Wiedersehn im Himmel." The Bote der Nezlen Kirche for December, in which the letter is published, presents also a portrait of Mr. Krupka, a fine, open, manly face, full of affection and intelligence.

     MAURITIUS. It will be recalled by our readers that sometime ago the Society at Port Louis applied to the local Government for a grant in support of a pastor. It is now reported that the application has been refused. The President of the Society, Mr. Augustus De Chazal, is considering the advisability of addressing to the home authorities in England an appeal from this decision. From a letter addressed by members of the Society to the Editor of the Life, we learn that the Society has already taken active steps to secure a pastor. A call has been sent to Dr. Frecken, of Geneva, a Bishop of the United Brethren, who is a believer in the Doctrines, on condition that he be ordained by the General Conference of the New Church in England. It is not yet known whether he will accept the invitation.
LOYALTY AND HARMONY 1903

LOYALTY AND HARMONY       Rev. DAVID H. KLEIN       1903


Announcements.




     FEBRUARY, 1903.          No. 2.
(A paper read before the Pittsburg District Assembly, October 25th, 1902.)

     THE Lord created man out of His Divine Love, to the end that He might make him blessed and happy to eternity. The nature of the Divine love is; such that it desires to make others happy from Itself, and it is this love which rules in the affairs of angels and of men at all times. The merciful Father of mankind is thus ever with His children, in seedtime and in harvest, in sunshine and in rain, in joy and in sorrow, and nothing is more certain or established than this unchanging love of His for all men.

     When this love is reciprocated in the hearts of men, it will find expression in a loyalty to Him Who is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe--a loyalty which is grounded in worship from a grateful and devout mind. In this loyalty there will be a trust in the unfailing wisdom of Him Who governs the universe from laws of Divine order, a yielding to whatsoever His Divine Providence may ordain, and a desire of mind and heart to come into harmony with the Divine end in creation.

     The Lord reveals Himself to man in the form of Divine Truth. By means of it He manifests Himself, indicating the laws of Divine Wisdom by which man is to be governed if he is to be conjoined to the Lord in the life of heaven.

     So loyalty to the Lord must take the form of loyalty to His revealed truth, for there is no other approach to Him than in this. Only by means of it can the Lord be known, loved and worshipped.

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     In His revelation to the New Church the Lord makes known the way through which man may be conjoined to Him; He reveals the arcana of heaven, indicating the end or purpose of His creation; He shows the way to genuine acts of charity which are forms of brotherly love--in short, in His revealed truth, He sets up a standard of life which shall be a safe guide to lead man's otherwise wavering footsteps. The highest form of loyalty among men is loyalty to this revealed truth, and it is that which is rendered to the Lord for all His benefits towards mankind.

     Every man has set before him some law of conduct as a guide to his life. It may be of such a form as to relate merely to his self love, and in that case all ideas of civil, moral, and spiritual life will be entirely subordinate to matters of personal profit, gratification or advancement. Or it may be derived from the authority of men, in which case it will have to do merely with worldly conditions, influenced by expediency. Such standards must ever be like the reed shaken by the variable wind, knowing no stability or constancy, ever subject to change, offering therefore no possible hope for the spiritual elevation of man, nor giving any grounds for consistency or faithfulness in his relations to the neighbor.

     But the standard of Divine Truth which the Lord reveals to man in the New Church is fixed and unchangeable, established for all time--today, tomorrow and forever. It is the way to life eternal and its course knows no turning.

     But love and loyalty to this standard set for man's salvation demands on his part the giving up of every other standard, whatsoever it may be. Man cannot serve two masters.

     It is this which is the test of true loyalty--the willingness to give up that which self love desires and self intelligence fosters for the sake of the truth as the Lord reveals it. This is of times a hard thing for the natural man, but it is the only form of loyalty that will prosper man in his spiritual life.

     In this form of loyalty to the Lord and to His truth, two qualities must exist--love and obedience. Without something of both of these dualities there can be no real loyalty to the truth.

     One form of the love of the truth will be to desire to know what the truth teaches, and to study it diligently, in order that it may be understood and cherished in the mind for the end of forming a true rationality.

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To learn for instance the phenomena of the other world so that man may have a strong objective picture of the life beyond, which will give form and color to his ideas of spiritual laws and render them more clear and definite so that they have a real and living place in his thoughts; to learn also the laws of charity which determine his relation to his fellow-men; and above all, to learn truths concerning the Lord.

     Man must love to learn all these things if he would be loyal to the truth, and such loyalty also involves that he give up all preconceived ideas of his own which are opposed, and which he has formed through adherence to worldly standards. Such ideas are the bricks with which man has built his tower of Babel into his imaginary heaven, and they must give way to the stones which form the temple of the New Jerusalem.

     Most certainly, then, loyalty to the truth involves the love to learn what the truth teaches. This being given, the second condition of loyalty is, obedience to this truth. Unless love to the Lord is ultimated in obedience to his precepts, loyalty is but a lip loyalty; one of the understanding alone and not of the heart; a faith alone loyalty.

     The word loyalty in our English tongue is defined as a state of being constant and faithful in any relation implying trust and confidence, or of bearing allegiance to constituted authority. What manner of allegiance would that be called which gave forth loud protestations of faithfulness and then rested listless and inactive. Yet because of man's proprium the loyalty of obedience entails on him what he considers hardships, since they require of him the giving up of the loves of the natural man.

     Inasmuch as the New Church is still in the wilderness, loyalty to its truths may also demand on the part of the faithful the element of courage--the courage which does not fear to run counter to the general trend of the world's thought and life; the courage which is not afraid of being different from the majority of mankind; which is not fearful of being misunderstood or of suffering calumny perhaps or even, if need be, persecution. Such courage needs to be grounded in the strong conviction of the power of the truth, if it is to withstand the assaults thus made upon it.

     Then there is the courage which is willing for the sake of loyalty to the truth to give up, if need be, those natural blessings which all men covet more or less, such as wealth or positions of honor and eminence among men.

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And then there is the courage which enables man to resist the blandishments of mere natural good, both in himself and in others, which would lead him to sacrifice his principles for the sake of outward good feeling and pleasantness of social relationship.

     But if loyalty to the Lord's truth demands the things which appear like sacrifices to the natural man, nevertheless it is fraught with a rich harvest of blessings to the spiritual man. The truth is the expression of the Lord's love, and it must needs lead, therefore, to that only, which will make man blessed and happy to eternity. There can be no doubt or question of this even if the appearance should sometimes lead man to think otherwise.

     As man remains loyal to the truth the conviction of its power will more and more come upon him; it will make him strong in spirit, will give evenness to his character and will elevate him where he can look with equanimity and patience on different forms of apparent misfortune or distress which may afflict his natural man. And the strength to do this will come as a gift from the Lord, for through his loyalty to the Lord's leading, as that is indicated in His truth, there are opened in him planes for the fuller reception of the Lord's love, and in this he is blessed with a new peace and calmness of spirit.

     Let us look now to the relationship which exists between loyalty to the truth and the unity and harmony of the Church. As an ultimate idea, nothing will so well illustrate this as a consideration of the forces of the human body.

     The human body is the crown of all material creation, the most perfect work of the Lord in the realms of matter. Into it are gathered products from all the three kingdoms--animal, vegetable and mineral--wonderfully related to bring about the highest use. In the uses of the body there take place combinations and compositions of chemical substances more wonderful than any that have ever been discovered by human ingenuity in the processes of chemical analysis. In the performance of the moving functions of the body, there are brought into play certain laws of motion, which embrace many more functions than have ever been discovered or used in applied mechanics. There is nothing in nature which does not in some way, direct or indirect, enter into the composition of this wonderful organism, for which reason there is no single thing in nature which can compare with it in the number and variety of its parts.

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     But the great and all pervading beauty of this body is the marvelous harmony with which so many seemingly diverse elements conspire together to produce so perfect and united a whole. Each organ has its own separate use to perform, and yet it is in some way related to the whole. No organ, however, in a state of bodily health ever intrudes itself on the function of another, nor interferes with its free action and play in the human economy, but ever seeks to act in concert and harmony with it. Indeed the very life itself of every organ depends on this harmony, for of itself, alone, it is unable to perform its functions and must needs ever have the friendly support of its fellows.

     The brain performs one of the highest uses in the body, but without bone and muscle for a basis it would cease to exist. The muscle itself cannot act, without the animating impulse of the nerves from the brain. So we can see that the body is elaborated from a harmonious combination of interdependent parts, wonderfully fabricated to make a perfect unit, each organ working systematically and sympathetically with its fellows, keeping well within its prescribed limits, yet acting in the most joyful freedom within those limits, which allow it all the necessary scope for its use.

     And when we ask what it is that causes these strangely diverse and heterogeneous parts, composed of substances from every realm of matter, to work thus harmoniously, the solution of the question is found in this--that they have a common end of use, that they are loyal (we may well say) to a common law, which has for its end the formation of a body to perform uses in the world, that this body may be the habitation of the soul, and that this soul may be conjoined to the Lord by love. It is this loyalty to a common law for the sake of a common use that causes things that appear heterogeneous in themselves to become homogeneous, which causes variety to become unity. Take away this loyalty to a common law of use, and the human body would become a chaotic, scattered mass of useless, dead particles.

     From this contemplation of the unity of the body and the harmony of its parts, we may turn to the unity and harmony of heaven to which it corresponds.

     The societies in heaven are innumerable, as are the functions of the body, and they represent indefinite varieties of good, ranging from the celestial qualities of the angels of the highest heaven to the many varieties of simple obedience found in the angels of the lowest heaven.

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They represent an indefinite range of uses, greater or less, in various degrees of eminence and subordination, yet all working together in harmony under the ruling influences of a common loyalty to the Lord's leading. So uses never clash there, but are perfectly adjusted, no society trespassing on the grounds of its neighbor nor desiring to do so, and it has its height of happiness in the particular use it is performing, and would not find the proper ultimate for its love in any other. They are all a united and harmonious heaven because every angel is in some degree a recipient of the Lord's love and in a state of loyalty to the truth. And so in the eyes of the Lord heaven appears as one man in the human form.

     We need not let the fact that there are three heavens take from us the idea that heaven is, primarily, one harmonious unit, any more than we permit the fact that the body has a head, trunk and extremities to interfere with our idea of the body as a perfect whole. Nor must we let the fact that the three heavens are discrete and distinct bring in the idea that they are far removed or have little in common. The nerves from the brain and the blood vessels are quite distinct from muscle and bone in the body, yet they are united with them in all parts of the body.

     The higher heavens rest on the lower as a basis or ultimate, and the lower heavens in turn receive mediate influx and life from the higher. Everywhere thus are their uses associated, one society of heaven contributing its offering of love to others, helping to do its share for the common good of the whole, and feeling its delight in the fact that it is contributing to the common good. For the delight of love consists in giving to others, and this expresses itself in heaven, in use to the neighbor.

     As each society progresses and grows more perfect, heaven becomes ever more harmonious and a more perfect one, through the common loyalty. And this is an expression of a general law which underlies all ideas of harmony and unity--that the good of the whole is greater than the good of any of its parts; that if the general use suffers the particular uses suffer and vice versa; and that no part can hope to grow and prosper, permanently, at the expense of the destruction or hindrance of another part, but that their prosperity, well being or happiness go hand in hand, and that in the final allotment they rise or fall together.

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     What a vista of bright pictures present themselves in the contemplation of an earthly condition where the laws of heavenly harmony and unity are applied, and where the common weal is the center of all social effort and conduct, where nation no longer struggling against nation, but realizing with a sense of the Lord's Providence that the world is for all human souls of many classes and conditions, seeks not to rise on the ruins of its neighbor's welfare, but takes its place within the limits of its greatest usefulness in response to a loyalty to a common use. It is the same with the individuals of society who are men and women.

     This is a thing far from our realization, but it is not too much to hope that in the Church something of the law of harmony may find scope as long as there is something of a common loyalty to the truth. The goods and truths of heaven are also the goods and truths of the Church, and so the Church, in embryo at least, is in the form of heaven, and its uses of love are similarly arranged and co-ordinated. The same is true in a lesser degree of every organization of the Church, and of every Church society.

     Now in the Church every member has his place as a lesser unit, and the prosperity of the Church's use, and his own individual happiness, depends on the degree of affection with which he comes into the sphere of loyalty to the use, and into harmony with his brothers in this work. At once we are brought face to face with the fact that the wished-for harmony in the Church is distinguished from that of heaven, in that man on earth is burdened with a selfish proprium which obtrudes, and which is wont to place his own love, pleasure, or convenience over and above the common welfare of the body as a whole.

     This quality is a constituent of all our frail human natures, more or less, and only as we subordinate it can we come into that real delight which comes from true harmony-the working for one common end, unselfishly and with earnestness, with a single eye to the great use of the Church. It is impossible for any body of the Church to exist as an instrument of use without this. And it is well to take the thought home to ourselves, that we guard carefully lest we permit a consideration of personal profit, caprice, or any form of self love to close our eyes to the great use and power of harmony.

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We say power, because in harmony or unanimity there is a capacity for use that nothing else can give. Two men working in harmony have a power for good far beyond the result to be obtained by their separate efforts, and this law applies with added force where there are many.

     How different when one places himself outside the sphere of the general good because he would be a law unto himself. Instead of a loyalty to the common use of the Church, from which all are to receive benefits and delight, he is selfishly devoted to that which will temporarily bring him some satisfaction, gratify some whim or fancy, or release him from some real obligation. His error is bound to recoil upon himself, because he has destroyed that peculiar delight which comes from consociation in use.

     The extreme of this principle, carried out, leads to the condition of the spirits of hell, among whom there exists no interior harmony because there is no loyalty to a common end of use. For self love is incapable of seeing beyond itself to the common good, and so its tendency is ever to disunite. In place of unanimity it gives disjunction, for harmony it gives discord, and no use can result if this be so.

     Every member of the Church has a place to fill in the economy of its uses, however unobtrusive or insignificant his own use may outwardly appear, for within it is the affection which is the life of the Church's progress. And as this affection is in the direction of loyalty to the truth, having in it the desire for harmony or unanimity, it carries with it a sphere which is felt by all as one of affirmativeness, and there is a power for use in this sphere, for it helps to support and sustain those who are in the more active performance of the particular use of the Church.

     The unity which comes from loyalty to the uses of the Church can not exist without that harmony among its members which expresses itself in charity. The angels of heaven ultimate their love and loyalty to the Lord in the works of charity or love to the neighbor. It is similar with the regenerating man on earth, save only that his charity must also take this form--that he look with patience and forbearance on the faults of the neighbor, as he in turn, knowing his own evil proprium, hopes for that patience and forbearance on their part. It is this mutual patience and forbearance and charity that makes for harmony in the Church, and the honest desire so to live together, without strife or discord, will carry with it a rich reward in the promotion of the genuine uses of the Church.

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     Discord among men in the Church arises from the effort of one to impose his will on another, and charity and harmony require that man be left in freedom to seek his own salvation in his own way with the Lord's help, and to fill his station in the Church independent of what may be another's will or opinion that he ought to do, so long as he does not interfere with the freedom of others. The interference in the affairs of the neighbor is one of the most pernicious agents in destroying the unity and beauty of brotherly love, never effecting a remedy for that which it assails.

     The angels of heaven are various in their reception of good and truth from the Lord, and the same is true of those who constitute the Church, and if a member in the Church does not come up to just that standard which others have set for him let them seek if possible to associate themselves with and love that good which they do find.

     The charity which expresses itself in good feeling, benevolence and kindness to those who love us and do not offend us, is something rather easy of accomplishment. It is very easy to be loyal under such conditions. But charity which consists in the qualities of forgiveness, patience and forbearance to those who appear to have wronged us, or who differ from us, calls for more genuine and severe effort on our part. Yet in view of the fact that we are all in evil this latter form of charity is especially essential if harmony is to exist and the Church is to become a unit.

     So we must sacrifice our petty foibles, our fancied slights and outward differences on the altar of the general welfare or common good of the Church. And it will be a sacrifice not made in vain, for it will open our hearts to a measure of love and content in the Church's use not known before. Then the Church will come into that heavenly form of harmony which is the result of a common loyalty to its doctrines and its uses.

     Behold how good and how lovely it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

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PERSUASION 1903

PERSUASION       Rev. E. S. PRICE       1903

     And power was given unto them as the scorpions of the earth have power...and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man. And they had tails like scorpions; and there were stings in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months. (Apoc. ix, 3, 5, 10.)

     As may be seen in the summary of the spiritual sense given in the Apocalypse Revealed the whole of the ninth chapter of the Apocalypse or Revelation treats of faith alone, especially with the Protestant Church, or, as it is called in the Writings, the Church of the Reformed.

     Our text more particularly treats of the persuasions that confirm and bind those who are in faith alone, so that with difficulty they may be delivered therefrom.

     Such persons are in falsities in outermost things, or in the things of the senses; for they judge all things, not from rational examination, but from the senses and their fallacies, or what they fondly call their experience. They thereby lay waste the goods and truths of the Church as locusts consume the crops of the fields and the grass of the meadows. For where is there opportunity for the goods and truths of the Church to spring up, flourish and ripen, where the doctrine of salvation by faith alone without the works of charity is taught? What is there to lead to a good life where it is taught that a man may be saved if he repent in his last hour, no matter how evil and abandoned his life may have been? These things seem to be almost so trite as to need no reiteration to a congregation of New Church people; and yet we need to be continually warned. We are after all not so far removed from the Old Church. We have ages of Old Church heredity behind us. A great part of us have not one generation of New Church heredity. We are by no means released from the fallacies of the senses, and in them there is danger; for power was given unto them as the scorpions of the earth have power. Herein the Lord has revealed where the danger lies, namely, the fallacies of the senses have the power of persuading that falsities are truths.

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     By a scorpion is signified a deadly persuasive power, and by a scorpion of the earth, persuasive power in matters of the Church; for the earth signifies the Church. This persuasive power induces stupor and dullness in regard to truths; in fact, brings about a state in which truths cannot be understood.

     The reason why scorpions have this significance is because the sting of this abominable creeping thing produces physical stupor and paralysis. This Swedenborg tells us where explaining the passage before us. Scientists tell us that the venom of the scorpion attacks the red globules of the blood, paralyzing them so that they become agglutinated, clog the openings of the capillaries and prevent circulation. In like manner do persuasions of the false clog up, prevent and paralyze spiritual circulation. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man; this signifies, let it be repeated, that the persuasive power of the doctrines of faith separate from charity is such that it brings a stupor upon the understanding, as the scorpion, when he stings, does upon the body.

     It is added: "In the spiritual world there is a persuasive power which takes away the understanding of truth, and induces stupor and thus pain in the mind; but this persuasive power is unknown in the world."

     This does not mean that this persuasive power does not exist in the world, but that it is not recognized as such. The most of us do not recognize or perceive when in states of persuasion that we are paralyzed and stupid as to spiritual things; on the contrary, we appear to ourselves to be embodiments of wisdom.

     Now these solifidian locusts which consume the grass and herbs, and were like unto horses prepared for war, because they can reason, and appear to themselves to fight from the understanding of truth from the Word; and upon their heads were as it Were crowns of gold, because they appear to themselves to be conquerors, and are in the persuasion that they cannot be conquered; and their faces were as the faces of melt, for they appear to themselves as wise; and they had hair as the hair of women, for they also appear to themselves to be in the affection of truth; and their teeth were as those of lions, for it appears to them that the sensual things, which are the ultimates of the life of the natural man, have power over all things; and they had breastplates of iron, and the arguments from fallacies by which they fight appear to them so strong that they cannot be refuted.

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     And they had tails like unto scorpions; this signifies that it is the truths of the Word falsified by which these solifidians induce stupor. By the tail is signified the ultimate of the head, because the head is continued through the spine into the tail, so that the head and the tail make one, as the first and the last. When, therefore, faith alone justifying and saving is signified by the head, by the tail are signified all the confirmations of that faith in the aggregate, which are from the Word, and thus are the truths of the Word falsified. Every one who takes a principle of religion from his own intelligence, and puts it for the head, takes confirming things from the Word, and puts these for a tail. He thus induces stupor upon others, and so hurts them. Wherefore it is said, there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men.

     As to this correspondence of the tail, arising from the fact that it is the continuation of the brain, through the spine to its ultimate, "the science of anatomy abundantly shown. Look at a dog or other beast that has a tail, and coax and caress him, and you will see the crest of the back smooth down, and the tail move correspondingly; on the contrary, you will see that the crest will rise if you irritate him."

     And there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months; this signifies that the falsification of the Word by which these persuasions for a short time darken and fascinate the understanding, and thus deceive and captivate, are very subtle.

     If any one doubt that there is a stupefying and subtle persuasive power with those who are in the doctrine of faith separate from charity, let him draw one of the learned clergy of the Old Church, say, a Presbyterian, into a discussion of predestination or of faith alone, and he will see what use will be made of the scorpions tail; he will and himself stupefied and overwhelmed by passages from the letter of the Word, subtly interpreted and applied. He will he likely to experience something of the stupor above described. Yet the experiment is hardly to be advised, for no one purposely suffers a scorpion to sting him.

     Let us pause for a moment and examine the definition and derivation of the word "persuasion." It is derived from the Latin particle per, which commonly signifies through, but as a prefix to another word has usually the effect of adding strength or force, and the verb suadeo, which signifies to advise, recommend, exhort, persuade.

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In the English dictionary it is defined as: "1. To influence or gain over by argument, advice, entreaty, expostulation, etc.; to draw or incline to a determination by presenting sufficient motives. 2. To try to influence. 3. To convince by argument, or by reasons offered or suggested from reflection, etc.; to cause to believe. 4. To inculcate by argument or expostulation; to advise; to recommend." In all this, if carefully read between the lines, it will be seen that, for the most part, it is the self-love that is addressed. This becomes still more evident when it is known that suadeo is closely connected in root with suavis, which signifies sweet. Persuasive arguments are for the most part such as the natural man likes to hear,--they are sweet to him.

     What a part has not persuasion played on the stage of the churches?

     The very first Church, the Most Ancient, came to its end by listening to the persuasive fallacies of the scientific of the sensual,--the serpent in the garden of Eden. And how willingly the natural man listens to the suggestion that he is something in himself, and can do something of himself.

     With the posterity of the Most Ancient Church, the Antediluvians, persuasions of falsity and evil grew so powerful that they actually smothered the natural life, and destroyed the people from off the face of the earth, which destruction is figured in the letter of the Word. under a flood of waters that drowned all mankind.

     The Ancient Church was destroyed by magical persuasions, and those leading to the worship of idols, or external things instead of internal. But the persuasions of the Ancient Church, which was spread abroad through all lands, were so many and so various that they cannot be described. In brief, however, they were the origin of the mythologies and idolatries of all lands. These vary all the way from good and useful representatives of spiritual and Divine things, to the most direful evils and falsities.

     The special persuasion of the Jewish or Israelitish Church was their belief that they were the chosen people, and their pertinacious insistence to be such.

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They rejected the Lord when he came upon earth because He came to save men spiritually, instead of the Jews naturally. They had never been a Church, but only the representative of one; and they ceased to be that, they ceased to be a nation, they almost ceased to be a people. Urged on by the persuasion that they were the chosen of God, their last mad act was the attempt, against hopeless odds, to throw off the dominion of Rome. With the end of the siege of Jerusalem the curtain was rung down on the Jewish nation forever.

     The Christian Church was short lived indeed. But a few short years was it in some integrity, when it also became infested with persuasions of the false. How soon was it infested with the doctrine of three Divine persons, and the accompanying falsity that man is saved by faith alone in the merit of Christ! How soon also was it infested with the heresy of the non-Divinity of Christ, and, therefore, with the doctrine that man is sufficient unto himself and needs not a Savior!

     False persuasions, however, that yet have some acknowledgment of religion in them are better than no belief, yea, by means of what, with the intelligent and learned, are dire falsities of evil, the simple and ignorant may be kept in a state that will enable them to receive instruction in the other life.

     But the learned themselves are given over to persuasions that induce such stupor that they cannot see the simplest truths of faith; they are veritable blind leaders of the blind. They have no belief in any science but that of the sensual. Look through the scientific world for any rational acknowledgment of God. There are those who profess this acknowledgment, there is always a remnant, but they do not make a drop in the bucket against the number of those who have it not. And how difficult it is to escape the stupor induced by the crafty reasonings of sensual scientifics. The very fact that such scientifics are demonstrated to the senses makes it difficult to escape. "Certainly such and such things are true; there they are; look for yourself; you can see them with your own eyes."

     It is said: "The reason why stings were in their tails, is, because scientifics, sensually perceived, whether from the Word, or from the world, from which human erudition is formed, are what they deceive by; they deceive by scientifics from the Word by explaining it sensually according to the letter, and not according to its interior sense; and by scientifics from the world by using them for confirmations.

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It is to be observed that sensual men are crafty and subtle above others, consequently acute in the art of deceiving; for as intelligence and prudence belong to spiritual men, so maliciousness and craftiness belong to those who are sensual and in falsities. Evil resides in all maliciousness and good in all intelligence. It is supposed in the world, that they who are crafty and subtle are also prudent and intelligent, but craft and maliciousness are not prudence and intelligence, but viewed in themselves are insanity and folly; for they who are such remove themselves from eternal happiness and cast themselves into eternal misery, which is not to be prudent and intelligent, but insane and foolish." (A. E. 560)

     Has the New Church been infested with stupor producing persuasions? Ay, that it has. Not as with the former Churches to its utter destruction; but it has been hindered from: entering into the fruition of its heritage of wisdom and love. It is now hindered.

     The Church was stung in the past by the conjugial heresy, that, is, that there is a conjugial relation between pastor and society; it is in some quarters at this moment stung and stupefied by a fallacy of the opposite extreme, namely, that it is desirable to have a number of pastors, and what is called circuit preaching. The Church at large is now stupefied by a most noxious poison, the pseudo-charity toward the Old Church,--that it is being permeated with the doctrines of the New, and thereby rejuvenated. Why will not the New Churchmen recognize the truth that the first of charity is to the Lord in His doctrines, and that, if those doctrines teach what appear to be harsh judgments, the Lord in His Wisdom and also in His Love knows what is best, and New Churchmen are not responsible.

     The Church has been infested with Pseudo-Celestialism. It has now within its boundaries men who lay claim to conscious regeneration, notwithstanding the teaching that the Lord alone knows a man's state as to progress in regeneration.

     Since the Church at large is infested in this manner, can we of the Academy or General Church of the New Jerusalem hope to escape being stung by the scorpions of the earth? Scorpions of the earth signifies the falses arising from sensual scientifics within the Church; for earth signifies the Church.

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We have all been somewhat infested with pseudo-celestialism. We have all, at times, accepted things as true of which we are only persuasively convinced.

     "No one ought to be instantaneously persuaded concerning the truth, that is, that truth should instantaneously be so confirmed as to leave no room for doubt at all concerning it: this is because the truth so impressed becomes persuasive truth, and is without any extension, and also without any yielding; such truth is represented in the other life as hard, and of such a quality as not to admit good into it that it may become applicable. Hence it is, that as soon as any truth is presented before good spirits in the other life by manifest experience there is presently afterwards presented some opposite, which causes doubt; thus it is given them to think whether it he so, and to collect reasons, and thus to bring that truth rationally into their mind; hereby the spirit has extension as to that truth even to opposite; hence every quality of truth is seen and perceived in understanding, and hence can admit influx from heaven according to the states of things; for truths receive various forms according to circumstances." (A. C. 7298). This passage also gives the reason why miracles are no longer performed.

     There are other persuasions that have been among us, not admitted by all, but more or less by some. One may be mentioned: That the interior quality of the neighbor may be perceived and known by another.

     Further, we have no doubt but that in some sections of the Church great stress has been put upon certain externals, without being quite sure of the internals of the same; this is still done, though it would seem that now there is the endeavor to find the golden mean between the discarding of all external forms, and the being given over to observances.

     In regard to what has been said about persuasions, let us be warned against any "I told you so" arguments; for each one of us ought to be assured that, when at any time he did not fall in with what was then the general trend, he was not actuated by the conceit of self-intelligence, and of his own superior mental acumen.

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This last is one of the most insidious forms of the poison of the scorpion. Self-conceit, born of sensual fallacies, is the very laboratory of this venom that stupefies, and, if not cured, kills.

     Individually we are in these stupefying fallacies whenever we conceive that we have the truth, and our neighbor has it not; when we feel intolerant toward him for not seeing as we do, and for not deferring to us.

     We might go on particularizing to almost any length; but a word to the wise is sufficient,--to those who are wise enough to know that they are not wise, because they are in persuasions from the fallacies of the sensual, which will pursue and infest them all, so long as they stay in this world of fallacies. And power was given to them as the scorpions of the earth have power.

     But it is not given to these scorpion-locusts to kill, but to torment, as described above; and there is promise of deliverance, implied at least, in the text itself, for it is said their power was to hurt men, five months. Now, while they torment, they are not permitted to kill, and five months signifies a short time, that is, for the man of the Church. The man of the Church, who is in stupor and spiritual torment, so long as the state of persuasion lasts, will be delivered when it is ended.

     It is said in the Apocalypse Explained, where our text is treated of, that "the reason why such a deadly persuasive principle is signified by the scorpion is, because the scorpion, when it stings a man, induces a similar swooning upon his mind, and thence death, if it is not healed." (A. E. 544.)

     All these deadly stings of persuasion may be healed, and the treatment is homoeopathic; for there are persuasions in a good sense, and these are the very cure, the similimum, for the stupor and paralysis brought on by the persuasions thus far treated of.

     Persuasions in an evil sense are all those things which appeal to the evil will; but in a good sense those things are also persuasions that really convince the understanding, when it is turned to the Lord in His Revelation; they constitute the very light of the mind inflowing by an interior way, while man in humility studies the Word. This inflowing light, accompanied by the warmth of Divine beneficence, does persuade the mind of man, but it does not induce stupor, it does not paralyze, it does not kill.

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It awakens, renders flexible and enlivens the mind. The result is that man is gifted with rational judgment from the Lord. This is what the Lord Himself says:

     "In order that a soul may be in the society of angels, it ought to be altogether persuaded concerning the things of faith, and indeed so far as not only easily to admit confirmations, but also to desire to confirm faith, thus as it were to be with the current. Then light is given by the Lord, not only to understand that the thing is so, but also to perceive confirmations and to add any things that confirm. It is different with those who are not of such a character; in each confirming thing, although they have orally professed faith while in the life of the body, occurs a struggle. Thus that soul strives against the current, hence against knowledges, which therefore cannot be given to him, for they are, as it were, contrary to him; hence he is in obscurity. Such persons call faith only knowledge, wheI1 yet there is no faith unless in the knowledges there is persuasion, and in the persuasions the desire of confirming and thus love; thus faith is saving because the Lord is in faith, and the Lord is faith and He gives faith." (D. 2384, 2385.) "It is not enough to say that a thing is so; one ought to believe it; but knowing is not believing, there 'ought also to be persuasion of the truth, otherwise it is not the faith of truth; if anyone be not in persuasion, or in true faith, he is in darkness, because in falsity." (D. 2467) "Men can be forced by various bonds such as fears, joys, honors, satisfied cupidities, etc., to acknowledge and adore the Lord, but these are not the means of persuading internally, they are only means of attracting; for as soon as persons thus convinced come into another state, in which anything opposite or contrary occurs, they immediately go back, and do not acknowledge, yea, hold in hatred; wherefore in order that acknowledgment and adoration may be insinuated, and that, indeed, interiorly with man, it must be a voluntary thing; then internal persuasion takes place which remains in many states,--for without internal persuasion nothing remains, but it is changed in every change of state." (D. 2602.)

     Thus now the deadly persuasions of the old vastate Church,--persuasions we have all so abundantly inherited, which are the Locusts from the smoke of the bottomless pit, which have power to do harm in the Church, for power was given them as the scorpions of the earth have power,--are of such a quality that they blind and stupefy man so that a man is unable to see the truth, for "their torment is as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man;" this they do by making use of all manner of arguments and persuasive suggestions from the sensual things of science and of man's life in general, and they had fails like scorpions; and these persuasions cunningly and insidiously enter man's mind, and they had stings in their tails; and they injure man's spiritual life, and retard his progress so long as he remains in that state of persuasion, and their power was to hurt men five months.

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These persuasions will kill man unless he is healed. The Lord is the great Healer and Physician.

     The spiritual sense of the Word is now opened where Divine Truths in abundance are revealed by the Lord for those who will be in His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem; and in the inmosts of the truths of doctrine, and thence of life in the New Church, is the Lord in His Divine Love, from Whom, all the goods, which man there does apparently of himself, flow forth. Therefrom are rational truths, by which those who are in evils, and thence in falsities, are led to think soundly and live becomingly.

     And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

     In the midst of the street of it, aid of the river, on this side and on that, was the Tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruits every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the heading of the nations. Amen.

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RICHARD DE CHARMS 1903

RICHARD DE CHARMS              1903

     III. HIS FIGHT AGAINST THE "CONJUGIAL HERESY."

(For the beginning of this biographical sketch, see New Church Life, January and March. 1902.)

     ON returning to Philadelphia from the West, Mr. De Charms took up in earnest the great theological controversy of his life--the fight against the insidious heresy which at that time was especially infesting the New Church, and which inspired the prevailing policy of the General Convention,--that is, the "Conjugial Heresy" or the "Boston principle," as it was also called.

     According to this principle, which was first conceived by Mr. Thomas Worcester, and his brother, Samuel,--both of them then young men and new receivers of the Doctrines,--there was a peculiar "conjugial" relation between a pastor and his flock. This notion was first promulgated as far back as 18I1 or 1820, and *the arguments upon which it was based were summarized by Thomas Worcester in 1824 in the following propositions:

     "I. That there is a relation between pastor and society.

     "II. That it is the duty of the pastor in this relation to prepare himself by his life to teach truths; by which he becomes the truth of good.

     "III. That it is the duty of the members of the society, in this relation, to apply the truths which they receive from the pastor, to their lives; by which means they become the good of truth.

     "IV. That the relation between pastor and society is, therefore, that of the truth of good to the good of truth, and of the good of truth to the truth of good.

     "V. That the relation between pastor and society is, therefore, a conjugial relation." (New Churchman Extra, No. 1, 1843, p. 41, 42.)

     Though we may nowadays smile at this whole chain of reasoning as being too puerile to merit serious refutation, it none the less proved to be a source of grievous infestation to the early members of the New Church in this country, (it never took any root in England, thanks to the determined opposition of leaders such as Clowes, Hindmarsh, Noble, Arbouin. and others). In America there were not as yet any great students of the Heavenly Doctrines among the New Church clergy. Mr. Hargrove, of Baltimore; Mr. Carll, of Philadelphia; Mr. Hurdus, of Cincinnati, and Mr. Doughty, of New York, were all well-meaning but simple and rather ignorant men, whereas the rising young men in Boston were not only graduates of Harvard, but were endowed with minds of unusual activity and force, if not of great discrimination.

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The only voices which were raised against the "principle, when it made its first appearance, were those of Mr. Samuel Woodworth, the New York poet, and of Jonathan Condy and William Schlatter, of Philadelphia, but their arguments long remained locked up in private letters. Moreover, the centre of influence in the New Church shifted from Philadelphia to Boston about the year 1823, (owing chiefly to the financial disasters which then overtook the Church in Philadelphia), and the Boston brethren thenceforth had everything their own way in the General Convention.

     From the letters which at this time were exchanged between the leaders of the Church in Boston and in Philadelphia, as well as from public documents and the subsequent history and fruits of the movement, it is clear that the whole "Conjugial Heresy" was the offspring of a fundamental falsity and a fundamental evil.

     The fundamental falsity was the denial of the Divine authority of the Writings of the New Church,--the conception that the Lord could not communicate His Revelation to man except through and according to the individual good of the instrument. It was held that Swedenborg received "illumination" from the Lord only according to the degree: of his own regeneration, and that the Heavenly Doctrine, therefore, is simply the truth of Swedenborg's good,--Swedenborg's own truth--luminous, reasonable, from the Lord in a mediate way, but nevertheless essentially human and not to be placed on a level with the Word of God. If this were true in regard to Swedenborg and his Writings, it would certainly be true in regard to the ministers who receive all their light from these Writings. They, similarly, could receive the truth in no other way than in and according to their "good," and the truth which they were able to present must be nothing else than "the truth of their good." In this whole scheme, of course, the Lord was entirely left out of consideration.

     From the beginning, the leaders of the Boston society took the lead in the denial of the Divine authority of the Writings of the New Church. Thus, in 1822, Mr. Samuel Worcester wrote as follows to Daniel Lammot, of Philadelphia:

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      "You mention our seldom referring to the works of Swedenborg. We read them for instruction, and not for authority, hence we talk of what we have learned, and not of what he says." "Supposing that his works are the offspring of such a state, [the love of use], we must, of course, consider them a faithful record of what he heard and saw. But one in that state is not exempt from fallibility. The angels frequently make mistakes. To be necessarily free from them, Swedenborg must have been omniscient, or have written from dictation. In either case his works would have been the Word. Now they are only an exhibition of such truths as the elevation of his mind enabled him to perceive. They are perfect in the same degree that regeneration was perfected in him." (New-churchman Extra. 1, pp. 105, 113.)

     These sentiments are repeated, over and over again, in the pages of the Boston New Jerusalem Magazine (1837-1872), nor has the New Church in New England ever advanced beyond this its first negative attitude.

     This fundamental falsity, as a prolific seed, found a receptive ground in an evil not uncommon in Puritan circles. Without presuming to judge of the internal states of individuals, it is quite evident that the heresy had its origin in the love of spiritual dominion. There is this love in the very conception of the notion of a conjugial relation between a pastor and his society. The minister is to preach the truth of his good, and the society is to live this truth,--in other words, to obey--not the Lord--but him. Hence followed the claim that the pastoral relation, like the conjugial, is a personal, instead of an official one; that if a society were to invite another minister than its own pastor to preach for it, spiritual adultery would be committed,--thus depriving the society of the freedom of choice in spiritual things; that this relation was especially represented at the Holy Supper, as being analogous to the ultimate conjunction, (the mind revolts at recording so profane a suggestion), and that on this account there must be close communion, all "outsiders" being excluded.

     As the Church in New England grew in numbers, wealth, and influence, the effort was made to apply the "conjugial" principle to the Church as a whole as well as to the component societies. The Convention of 1838 accepted a report from the ordaining ministers, recommending that "the Holy Supper should be administered in a room where no others are present but the members of the Church," and a resolution was adopted "that it is the sense of this Convention, that no one of the societies, now its members, which shall neglect to become organized according to the Rules of Order adopted by the Convention, until after the meeting of the Convention in the year 1839, ought thereafter to regard itself, or to be regarded, as a member of the Convention."

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     This attempt to enforce the principles and government of the New England societies upon the whole New Church, under the penalty of instant excommunication, is sufficient as an illustration of that love of spiritual dominion which had conceived the "conjugial" heresy. Blind obedience to the "truth of good" of the ruling powers, this was the duty of the Church as a whole no less than of the Boston society, and this demand now sought to cover its shamelessness by the garment of obedience to the Convention as the "spiritual mother." The "wife-hood" of the individual society was generalized into the "motherhood" of the General Convention, and obedience to its dictates was made the first duty of its component societies. That this is no mere figure of speech is evident from the address of the president of the Convention, the Rev. Thomas Worcester, in 1840 The claim was here put forth, and was at the time accepted by the majority of the Convention, that "the precepts of this [spiritual] Father and Mother are to be applied to its life by the general church of the country, that is, the general church is to decide how these precepts are to be understood, and what they require all the parts of the Church to shun or to do," and that "when anyone assumes to pass judgment upon the deliberate and united doings of the whole, he assumes to have more of the Church in him, or to be wiser than the whole."

     The address continues:

     "The general church is to apply the precepts of the Word, as understood by the aid of the revelations made for the use of the New Church, to all the associations or societies composing this general church,--that is, it is to decide what its heavenly father and spiritual mother commands it to do. Thus a general church, or convention, is to decide those things which equally concern all the societies of which it is composed,--those general principles by which each component part or member is to govern itself--those modes of action which are common to all within its precincts." "Then the associations take the truths of the Word and the writings of the Church, and also the decisions of the general church, which are only further and more particular applications of these truths, applications limited to the members of the general church,--the associations take these and each one applies them to his own life as an association, that is, makes a still further and more particular application of them, decides what they require each and all the members of the association to shun and to do." (New Jerusalem Magazine, 1840; Vol. XIV, pp. 21, 25, 26.)

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     No more arrogant claims had ever been presented by the Church of Rome, and it was this fundamental evil and this fundamental falsity, threatening the Lord's New Church with utter destruction, that Richard De Charms, armed cap a pie in Doctrine and common sense, now arose to attack, tooth and nail.

     Arriving in Philadelphia, he found the "conjugial heresy" fully accepted by many in his own society, the "Philadelphia First Society," and by the whole of the "Second" society which had been under the pastorate of the Rev. M. B. Roche. He found its adherents in power in Baltimore and especially in New York, where the Rev. C. I. Doughty had been the pastor since the year 1816. Mr. Doughty had been a most enthusiastic supporter of the "principle" since its first appearance, and had applied it more strictly than even its own originators, with disastrous results both to his society and to himself. On account of his extreme insistence upon the relation, he finally was forced to resign from the pastorate of the New York society and lost favor with the New England authorities as being impolitic and impractical.

     Mr. Doughty, in the meanwhile, had come into touch with Mr. De Charms, and had by a prolonged correspondence with him become thoroughly convinced of the falsity and evil of the whole "conjugial" notion. This important correspondence was published in The Newchurchman, Vol. I., pp. 492-521, and constitutes not only a complete doctrinal exposal of the heresy, but also the rare and touching record of a good man gradually recognizing and finally frankly admitting and renouncing his error.

     Having won Mr. Doughty to the side of the truth, Mr. De Charms deemed the time ripe for a more organized resistance to the heresies and the domineering spirit then ruling in the General Convention, and for this purpose he issued, early in 1840, a pamphlet of seventy-two pages, entitled Reasons and Principles for a Middle Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States, a call and invitation which soon afterward led to the organization of the independent body of the New Church which was known as the Central Convention.

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     One of the chief uses undertaken by this Convention was the publication of a monthly magazine, The Newchurchman, in which the editor, Mr. De Charms, now found a full and free opportunity to come out in defense of sound Doctrine and of freedom and genuine order in the New Church. Continuing the propaganda which he had begun in his Precursor; but with even greater ability and maturity of thought, Mr. De Charms here not only laid bare the evils and falsities then infesting the New Church as a body, but also presented in a thorough and systematic way those principles of interior truth which alone could reform and heal the Church radically and from within,--that is, the teaching concerning the Divine Authority and infallibility of the Writings, the distinctiveness of the New Church, the vastated state of the Christian world, the importance of New Church education, and the necessity of rational freedom and at the same time of that form of order and government in the Church which is taught in the Heavenly Doctrine.

     The "Conjugial Heresy," among other things, was fearlessly exposed in numerous articles in the two priceless volumes of The Newchurchman, (1841-1844), but the Central Convention, finally deeming the magazine of too controversial a nature for a public journal, in 1843 made arrangements with Mr. De Charms to publish all controversial matter in a separate journal, to be circulated more privately. This led to the publication of The Newchurchman Extra, of which the first number (of 156 pages) appeared in 1843.

     The whole of this issue, which now is extremely difficult to obtain, is devoted to the refutation of the "conjugial heresy," the whole history of the movement being presented systematically by the publication of an important collection of original documents and letters from Thomas and Samuel Worcester and J. H. Wilkins, of Boston; Jonathan W. Condy, Daniel Lammot, and William Schlatter, of Philadelphia, together with the opinions of Robert Hindmarsh, John Clowes, James Arbouin, and Holland Weeks, on the subject of the supposed conjugial relation between a pastor and his society.

     The effect of this "broadside" was overwhelming. The General Conference of the New Church in England, in 1844, in its annual message to the General Convention of the United States, took occasion to state that "most distinctly, most unequivocally and most decidedly, no such relation has any existence; in other words, that there is not any conjugial relation whatever between a pastor and his flock or church, any more than there is between any one member of the Church and all the rest." (Minutes of the Gen. Conf., 1844, P. 58.)

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     The General Convention itself, in its reply to the Conference, in 1845, found it necessary to repudiate the "principle," by denying the imputation "that our Convention, or any considerable portion of it, [!], entertain, or has ever entertained, the idea that the pastoral relation is a conjugial relation." (New Jerusalem Magazine, vol. 19, p. 446.)

     And finally, in 1846, the original promulgator of the notion, the Rev. Thomas Worcester, in an article entitled "A View of the Pastoral Relation," and written at the request of his friends, explained the considerations which had led him to adopt the theory of the "conjugial" relation, at the same time confessing that he had "looked at things too much in the abstract," and giving the reasons why "I do not now call the relation of pastor and society a conjugial relation." These reasons were two: "1st. It is not called so in the Scriptures, nor in the doctrines of the Church; therefore I do not feel hound to call it so, and I can perform all my duties as a minister and as a man, without calling it so. 2d. If I should call it so, my language would be misunderstood by many; it would grieve some; it would irritate and enrage others: thus it would disturb the peace of the Church and turn their minds away from things which are far more important." (Ibid, pp. 172-183.)

     Though this statement of recantation still left much to be desired in the way of a frank repentance, the old issue, which had caused so much mischief and disturbance in the Church, was henceforth dead and buried, at least as far as its old formula is concerned. The tree was cut down, but its roots continued alive and have continued even to the present day to send up shoots of malignant growth in the General Convention. There has been no repentance of the fundamental falsity which takes away from the Lord the direct authorship of the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem and ascribes it instead to the man, Swedenborg The Writings are still being proclaimed as the fallible product of Swedenborg's intellect and states of personal regeneration.

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And the priests and teachers of the New Church are still supposed by many New Churchmen in New England to preach "the truth of their own good," the truth which they have prepared themselves to receive--not from the study of the Doctrines--but primarily through the advancing goodness of their hearts. This principle was plainly avowed in the address of the Rev. John Worcester to the graduating class of the New Church Theological School, published in the New Jerusalem Magazine, July, 1885, and reviewed in Words for the New, Church, Vol. III., p. 212.

     On Mr. De Charms the vengeance of his theological opponents fell with unrelenting weight. In a correspondence, published in the Journal of the General Convention for 1842, he is charged by the president, Thomas Worcester, with having published things which were not true, with having administered the Holy Supper in public, [!], having given the sacrament to at least one person who was not a member of the Church, [!], having raised the standard of revolt, whence "the peace of Jerusalem has been grievously disturbed; and the golden streets of the Holy City have been defiled with blood," etc.

     Accusations and slanders such as these preyed deeply upon the extremely nervous and sensitive temperament of Mr. De Charms. Nevertheless, though it was his lot as a pioneer to suffer alone, he had fought a good fight for the truth and the present generation in the New Church has good reason to bless his memory.

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     (To be Continued.)
POWER IN ULTIMATES 1903

POWER IN ULTIMATES       Rev. EMIL CRONLUND       1903

     IN the Writings of the Church a great deal is said in regard to power in ultimates. It is there taught that the Word was written on this earth because it is the most ultimate, for in ultimates things are more fixed, hard, stable and unchangeable, than in the higher degrees. The things which belong to the mineral kingdom in nature are more hard and immovable than those which are of the two higher kingdoms. The Word was written on the lowest earth in order that it might become a solid, immovable rock, to which the Divine truth in ultimates is also compared. And because the Lord descends to ultimates and lived the Word there, He also calls Himself a Rock. Because in ultimates things become fixed and immovable, therefore also it is that when the truth descends to ultimates with man, that is, when he lives it, then, and then only, it becomes established and confirmed with him.

     Thoughts and affections, when they are of the mind only and not of the body, are like a house in the air, but when they are lived they are like a house built on the earth. The Writings teach plainly that evil thoughts, if they have not entered into the will, and if they have not become acts, do not condemn. And it also holds true that good thoughts, if they have not entered into the will and if they have not become acts, save no one. The reason of this is that as long as a thing is in the thought only and not yet in the will and life, it is not in man, and consequently it is not fixed, established and permanent with him. Evil thoughts of the kind just mentioned may pass out of the mind, and then their temporary presence there has not defiled man spiritually. And so good thoughts may have had their temporary abode in the mind only, and in that case their presence has not rendered man clean or made him any more spiritual. It is when a thing has been lived that it becomes man's own and remains with him to eternity. The shunning of evils in the external man provides a plane into which the Divine can inflow and operate in fullness and so work out the salvation of man. The reason of this is, that an external act is something definite, something fixed, into which the truth can centre and determine itself.

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Through acts the truth receives a concrete, tangible, visible form, for they make the truth accessible and perceptible; no one can see the truth so as to have a clear perception of it except him who lives it. A thought alone is too abstract, too intangible a thing to provide a plane for influx and operation. Influx does not stop in the middle, but it passes all the way down to ultimates and there it determines itself and there must be the reaction and the co-operation, and from thence it must return again to its source. Any one may know from experience that if an evil thought has once been allowed to pass into act it is much harder to resist and overcome it, for the act provides an ultimate plane into which evil spirits may determine their influx and through which they may frequently excite the delight of that evil and may also infest the mind with thoughts about it, and all this with the idea of leading the man into it again. But if the thought has never been allowed to pass into act it is then easily dismissed and may never come up again, for the reason that no ultimate and fixed plane has been provided for it into which to centre its influx. The Divine influx does not stop in the middle, but proceeds even to ultimates, as has been said; and so also it is with the influx from hell. If this influx passes into man, but finds no ultimate resting place, it must return again to its source. But if an ultimate is provided it abides and grows. And when man provides an ultimate for evils in the external man, the door is shut against the influx from Heaven; for when evils occupy the external man reformation and regeneration are impossible. Therefore also the Word teaches that man must shun evils before he can do good, for it is not until evils are removed in the external man that the Divine influx call permeate the whole of man and render him a new creature from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot. When man lives the truth then the Tree of Life becomes rooted in the ground of his external man, and then only heavenly fruits are produced.

     The reason that man must live the truth is that all co-operation, all reaction, is by and through ultimates, and man must react and co-operate with the Lord in order that he may be saved, and it is in that very reaction and co-operation that he becomes sensible of the Divine love and presence, for it is then only that the delight of good and the genuine affection of truth can be felt by him.

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It may be evident to any one that no one can feel the delight of a thing unless he actually does it. Merely thinking about it will not give that delight. It is when man reacts with the Lord by living the truth, that its peace, blessedness and delight are felt.

     Man's body must be a temple of the Holy Spirit. The commandments of the Lord must be inscribed on the fleshy tables of his heart, and they are so inscribed through a life according to them. If the heat and light proceeding from the sun of the natural world were to stop somewhere in the atmospheres and were not to pass even to the earth and permeate it, it is evident at once that nothing could grow. They must pass down through the three atmospheres to the earth and there reach and cause the production of fruits and of life. And so also the heat and light of the sun of the spiritual world must pass down through the three atmospheres, the three regions, the three degrees of the mind of man, to his little earth and there they must react and produce spiritual life and spiritual fruits. But if evils occupy the external man then the Divine influx is compelled to stop in the spiritual atmospheres of the mind as it were, and cannot reach his external man. Evils are also compared to thick clouds in the Word which will not allow the rays of the sun to penetrate them.

     By the ultimation of the truth through a life according to it a plane is acquired that man carries with him into the other world, he carries with him a basis which will forever he the receptacle of truth and from which he will always react and co-operate with the Lord. This plane can be acquired only in the natural world. The same applies to evil, for if a plane has been acquired in the natural world through a life of evil it will forever be the receptacle of evils and falsities, nor can it ever be changed after death so as to be the receptacle of anything else. There is power in ultimates, and through the shunning of evils in the external, man acquires a power over evils and falsities, and this power over them remains to eternity, so that the evils of the proprium will for ever held in subjection, just as the Lord through His acts of Redemption reduced the hells into order and holds them in subjection and under His obedience to eternity. The Lord could not have reduced the hells to obedience unto Himself except by His coming in the flesh, for it was by coming down to the very ultimates of creation and there meeting the assaults of the hells that the Lord our Saviour took unto Himself His great power.

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     From what has been said it may now to some extent be evident how much depends on the ultimates and what immense power there is in them. If the ultimates are disturbed the whole superstructure suffers, just as the whole house is in danger of falling if the foundations are disturbed. The foundations of the heavens were shaken at the time of the Lord's coming, for the Church on earth, which is the foundation of heaven, was destroyed, and therefore the very existence of angelic heavens was threatened. But the Lord came and rebuilt the foundations of the heavens, for He instituted a new Church, and so He established His power in ultimates as well as in internals.
SMALL FAMILIES 1903

SMALL FAMILIES              1903

     "According to Professor Vierkandt, a German sociologist, the question whether American race superiority can make itself felt in the world at large depends on the size of American families. He notes, a Berlin despatch says, 'a tendency which discourages large families, because of the standard of comfort required.' No observing person will deny that there is such a tendency in this country. The Americans like children, but they hesitate to become responsible for the welfare and comfort of large families. Four children in a family are an unusual number; six make a big family nowadays, and eight invite the imputation of reckless prodigality. If Europe is safe from an American invasion until American families grow bigger, it can rest easy in its mind. At present the tendency seems to be the other way. They say that the French are growing more peaceable, more thrifty and richer. They are not invaders nowadays in commerce, and they are less and less disposed to aggressive war. They have no spare population. So it may be with us. American families can ill spare their sons for foreign service, either military or commercial. There are too few of them born."--(Harper's Weekly.)

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PREVENTION OF OFFSPRING 1903

PREVENTION OF OFFSPRING              1903

     WHILE the ministers and the journals of the New Church are expressing despair because their voice is like that of one crying in the wilderness; while the Pews are becoming empty and the subscription-lists each year smaller; while they complain that the general public has lost all interest in theological discussion, and that new issues and "lines of thought" must be found for the missionary field, and in pursuance of this policy dip into the various "isms" of the day, hoping to catch some stray fish in these muddy waters, they seem to forget that the Lord in His Second Coming has come not only for the purpose of redeeming the human race from intellectual falsities, but chiefly and primarily to save them from evil and from destruction.

     In the face of the one stupendous evil which in these latter days is overwhelming universal Christendom like an avalanche,--an evil that is devastating the Christian world more fearfully than ever Attila or Genseric devastated the Roman,--an evil that is threatening all civilized races with speedy and utter destruction,--in the face of this evil which has crept into the New Church itself, desolating its homes and overturning- the foundations of the conjugial and spiritual life, the ministers and public organs of the New Church preserve the consistent silence of the grave.

     For twenty years and more New Church Life has been calling the attention of the Church to this baneful evil, the Prevention of Offspring, but during all this time there has been no answering echo to its call, with the one exception of a courageous paper which was read before the last meeting of the Council of Ministers of the General Convention, but for which, as yet, no room has been found in any of the journals Of the New Church. What is the reason for its non-appearance? What is the reason of the supine silence of the servants of the Lord, while Herod, the love of the world, is murdering the little ones of Heaven and the Church, and Rachel is weeping for her children?

     It is not because we hope to counteract this evil in the world at large that we publish from time to time items and statistics concerning the birth rate and concerning the progress of the devastation in the Christian world, but in order that it may be checked at least in the New Church.

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For this purpose we reprint now the following significant article from The Church Times, an organ of the Anglican Church, for September 12th, 1902:

     "'Children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward'--so sang the Psalmist of life. 'Children are a heritage of the devil; and the fruit of the womb is a nuisance to be got rid of'--thus declares the prophet of modern civilization.

     "We are in a sad way. The nation is hurrying on to self-destruction; the teachers mostly responsible for national righteousness are silent, whilst the few of prophetic insight who happen to speak are regarded as fools or fanatics. Do we exaggerate? What teacher of eminence, save the Bishop of Worcester before his elevation to the episcopate, has opened his mouth to declare plainly that the limitation of the family as increasingly practiced amongst us is a sin against God, a danger to national existence, and the ruin of personal religion? Not one, so far as we know. Let it be a question of the colour of a stole or of some ceremonial detail and the whole Church throbs with excitement, episcopal charges ring with denunciation, and Parliament is stirred to its not very profound depths. But a direct counsel of God is treated with flagrant contempt, a hedonistic theory of life adopted by wealthy and poor alike, the sources of Empire dried up, and few seem to mind, many even dare to excuse, whose proper course would be to lead in the defence of Divine truth.

     "Secular journalists, some of them, are beginning to take alarm, and we owe much gratitude to the Standard which, in its issue of the 5th inst., devoted two columns to the lesson of the census on the national birth-rate. We have lately heard striking words on the functions of journalists, but we have yet to learn that the Church should leave one of her principal functions to the daily press--viz., that of warning the nation when it departs from morality. The excuse proffered by ecclesiastical authorities, that this is an unsavory question, and one to be left to medical teachers, is worthless. With the Bible as our guide in dealing with unsavory questions, we are not left in doubt as to the proper methods of treatment; and as the facts are placed beyond surmise in public documents, there is no longer the excuse that the subject is all too vague and uncertain for the clergy to speak plainly and openly. The fear lest, by allusions in spiritual teaching, the clergy may do more harm than good, and teach evil where holy ignorance has prevailed, may be dismissed.

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The advertisement columns of some newspapers, the unscrupulous use of our postal facilities by the nostrum-mongers who live on sin-promulgation, nay even the gossip amongst women of all classes, have removed what necessity there may have been years ago for reticence on the part of spiritual teachers. If the clergy of the English Church do not know that marriages are now frequently made subject to the compact 'no children,' they must be blind and deaf to what is going on around them. Their ignorance, we fear, is not always so real as it appears. To their undying credit the Roman Catholic clergy in England, and Canada have faced the evil with uncompromising force, and where they have failed--viz., in France, to stem the tide of corruption, it is not for want of effort, but because the compulsory division of property under the Code Napoleon has proved too strong an incentive to misnamed prudence. The abstention of laymen from the Sacraments in France is rather to the credit of the clergy than otherwise, as everyone is aware, who knows anything of the interior life of the people.

     "With the economic sidle of this question we are not so much concerned as with the moral. Let it be granted, however, that 'a teeming population is not the sole source of national welfare,' it must not be forgotten that every producer is also a consumer, and that the English people have, in past times, been able to occupy new territories to the increase of commerce, because, of their numbers, they could afford to send out bands of colonists. At home the building trade has in many places discovered what the limitation of families means in house-provision; abroad the migration of the more fertile peoples of Italy, Austro-Hungary, and Russia to the United States, replacing the Anglo-Saxon elements, means that the essentially Saxon character of the States is in danger of being supplanted by one that is less likely to make for human progress and liberty.

     "Men plead that with a very small family they have more comfort, less anxiety, and a better chance of making provision for old age. But what if these things, which might all be gained by sounder economics, are achieved at the cost of qualities necessary to true human development. Does more comfort mean simply more pleasure and excitement? For less anxiety are we to substitute more selfishness and avarice?

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Will pounds saved for a rainy day (the saving, in the face of the cost of more pleasure, being itself very questionable) atone for the loneliness of an old age without the support and society of younger kith and kin? Sensible men know the inevitable answer to these questions; we need not dwell upon them. But an inquiry made some years ago in America, as to the present financial position of artisans who married twenty or more years ago, showed that the men who had but one or two children were not better off today than those who had rejoiced in large families; and observation at home has long since convinced us that, as a rule, the prolific parents are in their old age infinitely better men and women, if not better off financially, than those who have had but little of family cares. As for the children themselves, the educative power of a large family, within itself, is far superior to that much-vaunted public school training which Englishmen value so highly. No school comradeship does so much for a boy, and still less for a girl, in the way of character development and the inculcation of the noblest qualities, as the daily contact with brothers and sisters.

     "The most serious aspect of the whole subject is the decline of the glory of motherhood. When, as is the case today, motherhood is regarded rather as a shame than a glory, the end is not far off--the utter ruin of all high ideals and inspirations. The place of the mother in all that has led humanity upwards can hardly be exaggerated. The greatest names among men who have added to the lustre of their race witness to the enormous influence of mothers who valued their Divinely-given function. We are met by the response that motherhood entails suffering and anxiety. That suffering is the price of motherhood, is true, but it is also true that not nature, but our false standards of comfort and delicacy and luxury, are mainly responsible for most of the suffering. Women who work reasonably, not as slaves, suffer less than do their leisured sisters. But granted the full tale of suffering, is there no reward' is there no recompense? Would the world be richer or poorer in love if there were less pain, things being what they are in humanity? Will human life show more generosity, more forbearance, more self-sacrifice, more patience, when one child represents the average 'family?'

     "We ask all who think at all deeply on social subjects to consider remedies for the decadence which has set in amongst the English people.

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Instead of sneering at the prolific parents, might we not honour them the more, and assist them more generously in the task of rearing? Ought we not to encourage better home life, and in Church activities work more from the home as a basis? Are the clergy wise--we might put it more pointedly--who omit from the Marriage Service those honest, Biblical teachings on family life and the blessings of child-bearing? We have been told on high authority that 'omission is prohibition,' and as in this matter it is pretty certain that the highly sensitive man and woman who are offended at the plain words of the service have generally arranged to 'prohibit,' nothing pleases them more than to secure the 'omission' by the ecclesiastic who knowingly or unknowingly connives at their sin. Deeper than all the causes of this evil already mentioned lies that which is affecting our national and religious life all through, hedonism--love of pleasure, the substitution of ease for duty, self-seeking put in the place of obedience to the will of God. It is of little use merely to lament over the census figures; unless we endeavor to penetrate the surface, and search out the real source of the mischief, our laments will be profitless.

     "The Church, which includes the laity, must consider her ways, she must inculcate more strenuously the dignity of duty, the blessings of sacrifice, the vanity of pleasure-seeking: then we may hope for restored family ideals and see in child-bearing the most glorious work that God has ever given to man."

     The article contains also some interesting statistics which we hope to publish in a future issue.

     There is grand tragedy in the hopelessness which confronts the Christian world in the presence of this evil. Appeals to patriotism, humanity, morality, all these are nothing new. They have been issued before, and never more forcibly than in Zola's novel, Fruitfulness, but they have availed and will avail nothing against the flood of greed, love of ease and pleasure, heartless worldliness and selfishness, that has engulfed the Christian world. Roman philosophers and political economists of the second and third centuries were as earnest in their way as now the Church Times, in their protests against this same evil, which then was sapping the life-blood of the Empire. As then, so now, nothing but an entirely new Revelation, and from it a New Church, could save universal mankind.

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The old had to go, and so will it now, for the human race cannot be preserved without the love of offspring, and this cannot survive without love truly conjugial, and this, again, cannot be given except to those who receive the Lord in His new Advent. And even for these there is no hope unless they "flee unto the mountains" with their wives and their children, while the abomination of desolation overtakes Judea.
BLESSEDNESS OF CHILDREN 1903

BLESSEDNESS OF CHILDREN              1903

     "Behold, children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is the reward.

     "As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth.

     "Happy the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed when they speak with the enemy in the gate." (Psalm 127:3-5).

     "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

     "Behold, thus shall be blessed the man that feareth the Lord." (Psalm 128: 3-4).

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WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE PHOTOLITHOGRAPHS? 1903

WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE PHOTOLITHOGRAPHS?              1903

     MR. CHARLES HIGHAM, Of London, in the Messenger for August 27, 1992, issued an appeal to the New Church public in America, asking for information as to the present whereabouts of the 42 sets, (of twelve volumes each), of the Photolithographed MSS. of Swedenborg which were received from Sweden by the General Convention in 1871.We supposed that a full record of the distribution of these sets would be found in the Journals of the Convention, but on investigation we find that this is not the case, the reports being not only too general, but also confused and contradictory. We then hoped to find some documents in the Archives of the Academy throwing light upon this mystery, but here also we met with disappointment. Our attention was drawn still more to this subject by a recent appeal from the Royal Library of Stockholm, asking where a certain volume could be obtained to replace one which has been lost from the set deposited there. It is clear that it is the duty of the Church, not only to reproduce the Manuscripts, but also to preserve a record as to the whereabouts of the sets, or they may otherwise be lost for the use of the scholars for whom they were intended.

     From the Journals of the Convention this much appears: that there were in all 100Ioo sets printed in Stockholm. Of these 7 sets were presented as gifts to European universities, I was presented to the photolithographic firm of Mr. Mandell in Stockholm, with whom also 2 sets remained in soiled proof-sheets, and 6 (not 9) sets were delivered to Mr. Theodore Mullensiefen, a German subscriber to the work. This left a balance of 84 sets, to be divided equally between the Church in England and in America.

     Of the 42 sets, which fell to the share of the Church in England, we have no knowledge, but hope that Mr. Higham will before long publish the results of his investigations. Of the forty-two sets which were delivered to the General Convention, to sets were surrendered to the trustees of the Rotch Legacy, (they having subscribed for that amount); 17 sets were delivered to individual subscribers in this country, I was sent to a (now unknown) subscriber in Germany I set was presented by the Convention to the Rev. W. H. Benade and 3 remained in the custody of the General Convention itself.

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The trustees of the Rotch Legacy subsequently reported that they had loaned 1 set to the Urbana University, 1 set to the Mass. N. C. Union, and had presented 1 set to the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, but of the further distribution of the remaining 17 sets we know nothing.

     The names of the individual subscribers not having been preserved, and some sets having been destroyed or changed owners, it seems best to begin de novo, by publishing the names of the present owners of sets, as they become known from time to time, and for this purpose we appeal to all our readers to supply us with such information as they possess.

     We append a list of those sets and their owners, of which we have present knowledge.

     1 set was presented to the Academy or sciences, Stockholm.

     1 to the Royal Library, Stockholm.

     1 to the University Library, Upsala.

     1 to the Imperial Library, St. Petersburg.

     1 to the Imp. Library, Vienna.

     1 to the Bibliotheque National Paris.

     1 to the Imp. Library, Berlin.

     3 to Mr. Mandell, the lithographer, formerly of Stockholm, afterwards of New York, (preset
whereabouts unknown).

     1 to Rev. W. H. Benade, (this set, we believe, was destroyed by fire in 1900.

     1 to the Chicago Society, but was destroyed by fire in 1871.

     3 sets belong to the Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     1 belongs to Mr. John Pitcairn, Bryn Athyn.

     1 to Bishop Pendleton, Bryn Athyn.

     1 to the Peabody Institute, Baltimore.

     1 to the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, Chicago.

     1 to the Western N. C. Union, Chicago.

     1 to the Rev. W. H. Acton, Colchester, Eng.

     1 is deposited with the Mass. N. C. Union, Boston.

     1 with the Urbana University.

      Total, 23.

     The correction of any inaccuracies in this list will be appreciated no less than further information.
     THE EDITORS.

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GOD THE SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST 1903

GOD THE SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST              1903

MINOR WORKS BY SWEDENBORG.

[The numbering of the paragraphs has been inserted by the translator.]

     1. That the theology of the whole Christian world is founded on the worship of three Gods.

     2. That God is one in essence and person.

     3. That in Him is a trinity, and that this must not be distinguished into persons.

     4. That Divine attributes constitute His essence.

     5. That these are many, and also succeedant.

     6. That the succeedant Divine attributes are Creation and Conservation, Redemption and Salvation, Reformation and Regeneration.

     7. That these are Divine, but that they are not as God is in Himself.

     8. That the one God willed to become a natural Man, and thus a complete Man, for many reasons, the primary of which was the redemption of angels and men.

     9. Passages from Scripture showing that there is one God.

     10. That He is the Redeemer and Savior.

     11. That He came into the world.

     12. That, as to His Human, He called Himself Jesus Christ.

     13. That Jehovah Himself came into the world and became the Savior and Redeemer.

     14. That the one God is not only the Creator, but also the Savior and Regenerator.

     15. That, as to the Divine Truth, He descended and took upon Himself a Human, is confirmed in John, Chapter I.; also, that He was from eternity, which is also confirmed from the account of his nativity, Luke I.

     16. Passages from the Sacred Scripture showing that He is the Truth and the Light; also, that He is the Word and that He fulfilled the whole of it.

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     17. That all things were made by Him.

     18. That in the spiritual sense, Divine Truth is called the Son of God.

     19. That Divine Truth is meant by Messiah, Christ, King, the Anointed, and David.

     20. That Divine Truth is meant by angel and by one sent.

     21. That Divine Truth is meant by glory.

     22. That in no other way could all things in the heavens and in the hells have been reduced into order.

     23. That in no other way could the Lord have destroyed the old Church and instituted a new Church.

     24. That in no other way could He have admitted temptations into Himself, and have suffered.

     25. That in no other way could He have been in the state of exinanition and have prayed to God the Father as though absent from Him.

     26. That in no other way could He have become Redemption and Justice from His own power.

     27. Thus, that in no other way could He have united the Human to the Divine and the reverse, and thus have adjoined the Human in time to the Divine from eternity.

     28. That in no other way could He have been and become one with the Father.

     29. That all things which are in the Divine are together in the Human.

     30. That the Lord glorified His Human in the order in which He makes man spiritual, or an angel. Concerning the two states of man's regeneration.

     31. That thus He made His Human Divine.

     32. That thus He became the First and the Last, thus the all in all.

     33. That Divine operation is from firsts through lasts, and that because, in the Church, lasts had failed, therefore, He made Himself the Last.

     34. That man cannot be conjoined with God except by means of a visible and accessible Human.

     35. That every male is born, as to his spiritual origin, from Truth as a seed.

     36. That the reason why men have not hitherto perceived this, and why consequently there have been so many opinions about the human nature of Christ, is because men have had no distinct understanding concerning the nature of good and truth and of their marriage, nor concerning the nature of the will and the understanding, nor of the soul and the body.

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     37. That the virgin also, of whom He was born, signifies the Church as to the affection of truth.

     38. That it was necessary for Him to be born of a virgin in legitimate marriage with Joseph.

     39. That Christ, alone is Man from eternity and natural Man in time.

     40. That in Him everything is Divine from the Divine in itself.

     41. That He alone is to be approached, in order for salvation.

     42. That He must be approached immediately, and that if He is approached mediately, communication is intercepted.

     43. Here may be adduced those passages, and what may follow, which treat of the "great affliction."

     44. That to worship three Gods is to worship none.

     45. That no one comes to God or is conjoined to Him, unless the Human be approached; that otherwise God is not accessible.

     46. Because God the Father is the Redeemer as to the Human.

     47. That in order for conjunction, there must be a visible God, thus one accessible and fixed; this is not so apparent to Christians, but it is to all others.

     48. That the Divine Truth suffered.

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Editorial Department 1903

Editorial Department       Editor       1903

     The editor of the Neukirchenblatt, in his January issue, in replying to our comments in the December number of the Life, not only ignores the teachings there presented, i.e., that "all Divine Truth in general is called the Word" (A. C. 5075), and that "by the Word is meant all Divine Truth" and "every Revelation," (A. C. 2894), but he goes so far as to assert that "Swedenborg repeatedly denies that all Divine Truth is the Word of God!"

     During a partial eclipse of the sun, some time ago, we noticed how all shadows assumed strange and distorted shapes, every leaf of the trees casting a semi-lunar shadow on the ground. The thought occurred, how distorted would be all human conceptions of truth if only a part of the Divine Truth were revealed; if, each instant, the Sun of the spiritual world did not reveal itself in its fullness; if, for instance, the Writings contained "only a small part of the spiritual sense." If this were the case, the men of the New Church would forever wander in the distorted light of a perpetual eclipse, incapable of conceiving a single spiritual idea in its proper outlines.

     But the Lord as a spiritual sun shines ever in His fullness, and spiritual eclipses do not come from Him, but from the Church, when, like a darkened moon, it interposes its doctrinal reports and decrees and dogmas between the Lord and man.
What is the Use of Controversy? 1903

What is the Use of Controversy?              1903

"Its effect is like that of fermentation in the preparation of wine, by which it is cleared of impurities; for unless that which is wrong is ventilated and thus expelled, what is right cannot be seen and adopted" (Swedenborg to Beyer, Doc. ii:316).

     Without spiritual conflict the faith and the life of the Church cannot become purified and formed. Nothing that is worth having can be gained without conflict. The seed that falls on the bar, hard ground, seldom takes root. The soil must be broken up by the sharp point of the plow. Truth cannot enter unless falsities be removed.

     The first faith with a man of the Church is like a diamond in the rough. It is a stone of light, but obscured as yet by a thousand misconceptions and fallacies. When these come in touch with more genuine, conceptions of truth there is conflict, but by constant trituration the gem is cut. Each discussion, (or controversy, if you please), brings out a new phase of the truth; obscurities are removed; clearly defined facets are formed which brilliantly reflect and refract the light from the Lord, until gradually the homely pebble becomes as it were a fountain of light, a precious stone of beauty and lustre.

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     Some stones are not wroth the cutting, but had better be left in "peace."
IMPORTANT NEWS FROM SWEDEN 1903

IMPORTANT NEWS FROM SWEDEN              1903

     At the regular meeting of the Royal Academy of Sciences, held in Stockholm on Thursday, December 11th, 1902, Dr. Retzius, the world-famed physiologist, introduced Mr. Alfred H. Stroh, of Bryn Athyn, Pa., asking him to exhibit to the members an original portrait of Swedenborg, which recently has come into his possession. Dr. Retzius then related how, a short time ago, he had received an official inquiry from Vienna, in reference to the correct text of a certain passage in Swedenborg's unpublished work, De Cerebro; how he had looked into this manuscript of Swedenborg, now preserved in the library of the Royal Academy, but had failed to decipher the difficult handwriting; how his attention had been called to the presence in Stockholm of the young American, Mr. Stroh, who was entirely occupied in work with Swedenborg's MSS., and what, together, they had found in these MSS. Dr. Retzius concluded with the statement that the time now seemed propitious for a complete examination of all the scientific MSS. of Swedenborg, with a view to their publication by the Royal Academy, and he moved that a committee be appointed to take this whole subject into consideration. The motion was unanimously carried, and Dr. Retzius then appointed as members of this committee Dr Arrhenius, the famous chemist, Dr. Nathurst, the geologist and paleontologist, Dr. Loven, the physiologist, and Dr. Henschen, the cerebral pathologist, the committee including also Dr. Retzius himself. The continental scientists, Professors Lorentz, Fischer, and Ross, who recently received the Nobel prizes in Stockholm, were present at the meeting. An account of the meeting and its transaction is published in the Stockholm daily, Aftortbladet, for December 12th. Dr. Retzius and Dr. Arrhenius are reported as specially interested in Swedenborg's scientific system. Since the appointment of the committee, Mr. Stroh has furnished Dr. Retzius with a complete list of Swedenborg's anatomical and physiological works, both published and unpublished. It is needless to say that the New Church in general, and the Swedenborg Scientific Association in particular, will await with the greatest interest the further development of this most important and unexpected movement.
INFLUENCE OF SWEDISH ON SWEDENBORG'S LATIN 1903

INFLUENCE OF SWEDISH ON SWEDENBORG'S LATIN              1903

     Translators of the Writings have long suspected that some of the peculiarities of vocabulary and diction in Swedenborg's Latin are attributable to the influence of his native tongue. We have noticed many instances of this influence, not only in the Spiritual Diary, where they are very frequent, but also in some of the other Writings.

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     Thus in the Doctrine of Life it is stated that "a clergyman who is in the good of love to the neighbor, whenever he teaches and leads, does a good work, because from the love of saving souls; a magistrate who is in that good, whenever he disposes and judges, does a good work because from the love of serving his country, society, and fellow-citizens" (n. 72). The original, here, for "priest" has homo sacerdos, and for "magistrate," persona magistratus, instead of simply the usual words sacerdos and magistratus. The Concordance translates this "a man, a priest" and "a person, a magistrate," and the Rotch edition has it "a man who is a priest" and "a person who is a magistrate." Rut such literalism is unnecessary in this case, for Swedenborg was clearly translating into Latin the customary Swedish words for "clergyman" and "magistrate," prestman and magistratsperson.

     Another instance, a very curious one, occurs in the Divine Providence, n. 254, where it is said that "a peasant may be in a state of the highest joy when he goes with new clothing of coarse wool, and sits down to a table on which are pork, a bit of cheese, beer and vinum adustum." This latter term has greatly puzzled the English translators. Adustum comes from aduro, to burn, but "burnt wine" did not seem to make any sense. Mr. Ager, in the edition of 1899, like the Rotch edition, took refuge in "common wine," while Mr. Hayward, in the Boston edition of 1840, has it "sour wine." All this was guess-work, however, a thing scorned by the first translator, Dr. Tucker, of Hull, who, in the London edition of 1790, boldly cuts the Gordian knot by "rendering" it thus: "A table furnished with plain and wholesome food."

     But it is evident that the vinum adusfum is simply a direct translation into Latin of the Swedish branvin, or brandywine, a cheap, weak, colorless whisky, distilled mostly from potatoes, which is used at every table in Sweden as an appetizer before the meal. The Swedish edition of 1866 renders it thus, and Prof. Imel Tafel also has it Branntwein.
AS TO THE CANON OF THE WORD 1903

AS TO THE CANON OF THE WORD              1903

     It has always seemed curious to us to hear New Churchmen refer to their own reason as the infallible test of the canon of the Word. They say that they know that certain books are the Word of God because they sec that they have an internal sense, whereas other books are not of the Word, because they do not have this internal sense. They accept the statement in the Doctrine of the the New Jerusalem n. 266, not because it is the authoritative statement of the Lord Himself, but because it agrees with their "rationality." And yet, who of them has actually, scientifically, and systematically tested this "unauthoritative" statement of the Writing? Who is there, in the whole New Church, that has actually tried the experiment of applying the science of correspondences to all the books of the Bible, canonical and uncanonical, to find out for himself whether or not there is a connected internal sense in each of these books?

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Take, for instance, the Chronicles. Who is there that can explain why these do not contain the internal sense as well as the books of the Kings? Hardly any difference between them appears in the style and sense of the Letter. After all, every New Churchman has to fall back on the authority of the Writings in this as in most cases, and there is a good deal of "bluster" in that pride of self-intelligence which will not accept any other authority than itself!

     If the teaching as to the canon of the Word were Swedenborg's, and not the Lord's, we would be uncertain indeed as to what constitutes the Word of God and what does not, since nobody, thus far, has been able to verify this statement by practical experiment. But it is self-evident that no one can, in the supreme instance, pronounce authoritatively as to the authenticity of any work, except the author of that work. Who can tell what is the Word, except its Divine Author alone? It is by the light of the Writings, and by it alone, that we know what is meant by the Word, and if we see, it is not by virtue of our reason, but by virtue of the light. "In Thy light we see light." By the Writings we see the Word. Both are Light, and both are therefore the Word of God, for there is no other Light.
DO THE WRITINGS HAVE AN INTERNAL SENSE? 1903

DO THE WRITINGS HAVE AN INTERNAL SENSE?              1903

     Some of our readers were disturbed at our statement in June last, that the Writings have an internal sense, and we were told that this claim was an unwarranted and even impious innovation, placing the Writings on the same ultimate level with the Letter of the Word in the Greek and the Hebrew. But if that editorial, (p. 345), be read over again, it will be seen that we nowhere claimed that the Writings of the New Church have an internal sense in the same way as the Word in the Letter, or that they are the Word in the same sensual, ultimate sense.

     It is well-known in the New Church that the Doctrine of discrete Degrees applies to the science of correspondences as to all other things, and that, therefore, the correspondential style of Divine Revelation is a relative one. Every Divine Revelation is correspondential and has an internal sense, and internal senses one within the other even unto the Divine itself, but each Revelation is in this respect somewhat different from every other one.

     Thus in the books of the Ancient Word, "the correspondences signified celestial and spiritual things more remotely than those in our Word," (T. C. R. 279), that is, the internal sense was even less apparent than in the Old Testament. Consider, for example, this passage in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah, as quoted in Numbers xxi:14, 15, "With Waheb in Supha, and with the watercourses of Arnon, and the ravine of the water-courses which went down to dwell in Ar, and touch upon the boundary of Moab." The natural sense is absolutely wanting in this passage, the internal sense resting solely upon the significance and connection of the geographical names.

     In the books of our Word the internal sense is less remote from the sense of the Letter, but even here there is great variety. It is more remote in the style of the prophets than in the historical books, and more remote in these than in the Psalms, and it is more remote in the Old Testament as a whole than in the Gospels.

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     It is impossible to understand the relation of the Writings of the New Church to the Writings of the First Christian Church, without an understanding of the relation of these to those of the Jewish Church. The Writings of the New Church are not the Word in the same sense as the New Testament, and the latter is not the Word in the same sense as the Old Testament, yet all are the Word of the Lord, because equally from the mouth of the Lord.

     In the Hebrew Scriptures the internal sense rests not only upon the words and the letters, but upon the very curves and horns or tittles of the Hebrew characters, and in a supereminent degree upon the still more curved forms of the ancient Hebrew characters which now are "lost." It is quite clear that the New Testament is different in this respect from the Old, for there is no teaching to the effect that the characters of the Greek alphabet in their very form involve celestial and spiritual things as do the Hebrew letters. In fact, the New Testament was originally written in capital letters throughout, and not in the cursive characters in which we now possess it.

     In the Gospels, on the other hand, the internal sense rests chiefly upon the significance of the words and sentences in their whole connection, that is upon the general natural sense of the teachings there presented, and in very many places, far more frequently than in the Old Testament, the internal sense shines forth openly, as the naked Truth, in the form of Doctrine adapted directly to the rational man. While the Lord's meaning is still seen "as in a glass, darkly," still the New Testament as a whole is a revelation on a higher, more internal plane. It is a lifting of the outer veil, an approach and a preparation for that crowning Revelation in which the Lord speaks to men "eye to eye."

     Now, in those places in the Gospels where the Lord speaks openly to His disciples, are we to suppose that his teaching is not the Word of God, because it is rational intelligible Doctrine? That it does not have an internal and supreme sense, because not written in the figures of sensual correspondences? That there is nothing within every truth, even though it be presented nakedly to celestial angels?

     Every truth, no matter how presented by the Lord, is correspondential and has a deeper meaning, simply because it is Truth, the form and appearance of Good. A statement that has nothing within it, is not a truth,--no, it is not even a falsity! It is nothing! To say that the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem does not have any internal sense, is to say that there is nothing within it, that it is nothing but empty words. But since it is what it claims to be, a systematic, connected chain of "continuous" truths from the Lord, it not only is the internal sense itself, but contains within it internal senses or, what is the same, internal degrees of understanding, leaching from the comprehension of the simplest man on earth, through each of the heavens, even unto the Lord Himself. Thus the natural rational appearances of truth in the Writings contain deeper intellectual ideas within, and these still more internal celestial perceptions, and these the Divine Truth itself, and that these degrees correspond to one another is evident from the universal law, that the containant corresponds to that which it contains.

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Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     THE Chicago Chronicle for Dec. 12th publishes quite an exhaustive account of the origin of the New Church in Chicago and of the Illinois Association. It is in the main correct, and presents some details which were not generally known before, but states of Mr. Scammon that "after his first wife died, he ever regarded her as present with him, and never failed to have a plate laid for her at table, with a bunch of flowers placed in it." Such old gossip never dies!



     The Reading Calendar of the General Church of the New Jerusalem for daily lessons from the Word and the Writings, for the year 1903, has now been published, and may be obtained at the price of ten cents. The Calendar is now in its twenty-fifth year of uninterrupted publication. We hope there may be a revival in its use by the families of the General Church. While some may prefer to pursue an independent course of reading, still this ought not to interfere with the use of the Calendar by those who recognize the use and pleasure of reading in a "choir." At any rate, the Calendar is unquestionably of great service as an aid in maintaining the regularity of family worship, and the disuse of the Calendar indicates too often, not a greater development of individual studiousness, but a discontinuance of regular reading and worship.



     The collection of passages entitled "The Testimony of the Writings concerning Themselves," which was published in the October number of the Life, has now been issued by the Academy Book Room as a tract under the more appropriate title of "Swedenborg's Testimony concerning his Writings." This contains, also, as an appendix, the collection of passages respecting "Authority" and respecting "the Affirmative principle, and the Negative," which appeared in this Journal in the issue for November. The whole forms a neat pamphlet of 46 pages, and will be of permanent value, not only as a hand-book of ready reference to the important subjects here treated of, but as a powerful means of missionary work in the New Church itself. Price, 10 cents per copy.

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     How to read Swedenborg understandingly, a tract by the Rev. Charles H. Mann, published by the New Church Educational Association of Orange, N. J. The aim of this publication is to assist new readers of the Writings in overcoming the difficulties which they are apt to encounter before they have become thoroughly familiar with the peculiarities of Swedenborg's style, difficulties which are stumbling blocks to many, but which we regard as providentially appointed guards, placed at the gates of the New Jerusalem lest any one should enter in who is not in the genuine affection of truth. Mr. Mann's explanations are in the main good and helpful, and we notice with satisfaction his advice to new readers not to reject immediately everything which may seem incomprehensible or irrational or contradictory, but to hold the judgment in abeyance on such points, patiently awaiting further light.



     The Swedenborg Monthly, a serial tract, to be published nine months in the year by the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society, under the editorship of the Rev. C. H. Mann.

     This new contemporary rightly terms itself "a new venture in New Church journalism," as it consists entirely of extracts from the Writings, arranged under various headings. The contents of the January number deal with "God as a Principle and God as a Person," "Correspondence," "Worship, its substance and its form," "The spiritual sense of Jesus calming the Sea," "The payment of Duties and Taxes," and "Short utterances of Great Truths."

     The usefulness of this form of presenting the Truth directly from the Writings depends upon the wisdom, the theological soundness and carefulness of the one who selects the passages and supplies the headings. The Divine Truth in the Writings is a sharp two-edged sword; being the spiritual Word of God, it reveals all Truth, but, again, being the Word, it may be used to confirm the worst of heresies. The first issue of the Swedenborg Monthly presents some of the introductory Doctrines very forcibly, indeed, and the passages are as a rule well selected, but there is one instance in which there is danger of misunderstanding. Under the heading "The interior thought of God places Him within one's own self," we find this extract: "An angel can see God, that is, the Lord, both within himself and also without himself. . . . When the angels think interiorly of the Lord. they then do not think of Him otherwise than as in themselves," (D. L. W. 130), a heading and a statement which, without further explanation or warning, might be seized upon by a Christian Scientist as expressing the fundamental falsity of his heresy.

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Church News 1903

Church News       Various       1903

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     Bryn Athyn, Pa. On Dec. 19th the second school social was held under the auspices of Prof. and Mrs. Doering, and while no very unusual features graced the occasion it was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended.

     The Christmas Festival took place on Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 24th. After a short and impressive service, and an address by the Bishop in the Chapel, where the Christmas offerings to the Church were made in the shape of gifts to the Schools, the children and congregation repaired to the Assembly Room (formerly the Art Room) and viewed some beautiful tableaux illustrating the scenes surrounding the birth of the Lord into the world, and the approach of the wise men, guided by a beautiful star, which grew ever brighter and brighter. This was accompanied by the singing of appropriate music and explanatory remarks by the Head Master. Mr. Synnestvedt. The Festival concluded with the presentation of Christmas stockings to all the children,--an amazing and lively multitude.

     On Christmas Day services were conducted in the Chapel by Mr. Synnestvedt, whose sermon dwelt especially upon the great power which flows from the conjunction of good and truth, the deeds flowing from which are represented in the Word by sons and daughters. The Holy Supper was afterwards administered, and the offertory was devoted to the orphanage.

     On Dec. 20th the Bryn Athyn Young Folks' Club held a card party and dance, which pave opportunity for the release of much holiday spirit. This Club, which, by the way may need an introduction to your readers, is organized to facilitate the interchange of good-will among its members and the provision of social entertainment, and any degree of success which may attend its efforts may be fully accounted for by the fact that the feminine element is very large among its members, and this of course acts as an additional stimulus to the male members, who must preserve the balance of power.

     During the holidays Miss Amena Pendleton, of Pittsburg, and Miss Olive Bostock, of Chicago; also, Mr. Arthur Carter, of Canada, paid the settlement a visit.

     The coming among us of the Rev. and Mrs. Walter E. Brickman has been hailed with hearty welcome. They have taken a little house at "The Orchards," a thriving suburb of Bryn Athyn, where dwell also the Odhners, De Charmses, Hansensl and the Misses Doering. They are talking of forming a diocese of their own.

     The society having permanently rented the chapel in the Academy building for the exclusive uses of worship, the College has vacated the chapel, and now holds its morning exercises in the room above, which was the Art room. For the first time since 1888, we now have the privilege and pleasure of meeting on Sundays in a room devoted to the exclusive use of the worship of the Lord.

     The winter term of the Schools opened on January 5th, and was introduced by a particularly interesting, but blood-curdling lecture from Prof. Odhner on the ten general persecutions of the early Christians.

     The Academy Library has during the past month been enriched with some very valuable works which deserve to be mentioned.

     One of them is a "Government Publication of the War of the Rebellion," a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies, published under the direction of Hon. Elihu Root, former Secretary of War.

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The work consists of 130 large volumes, with a magnificent index, enabling the students to find any detail about that great war. The work was presented by Mr. S. H. Hicks. The other work, presented by one of our lady friends, is John Lord's Beacon Lights of History, in fifteen volumes. A sumptuous work indeed.

     The Sunrise service at the opening of the new year was held this time in the Academy Chapel, and it so happened that the sun did rise bright and clear, and made the eastern window resplendent as with jewels. The breakfast which followed was provided by the regular Friday Class committee of ladies, and consequently was more complete, places having been provided for one hundred and eight, which were all occupied. As usual the speeches at the tables were characterized by the elements of retrospection and introspection. It is not our custom to indulge in the proverbial "good resolutions," but to endeavor to see what we can of the future by examining the quality of our common state, especially as to those things which may be amended. Upon no occasion of the year do we feel more strongly the sphere of a lame family. Whether it be the subtle influence of the morning and its heavenly correspondence, or the unusual nature of the surroundings, or merely the influx due to the realization that a period of time has been completed, another of our few years on earth gone, with a new one just inaugurated, certain it is that there is a peculiar charm about these meetings, and we can truly say that the thoughts and purposes expressed a year ago did mark the beginning of a new state, and remained with us more or less throughout the year. It was 10 o'clock in the morning before we dispersed this time, and the young folks danced for an hour more.

     The Local School opens the new year under decidedly improved conditions, having rented rooms in the College building. The move was made rather suddenly, but arose out of the urgent need for more space, especially for the Primary classes, the growth of which has been so rapid that in two years they have quite outgrown the "Little Brown Study." It had been suggested that we remodel the Club House, making of it a two-storied structure, but the expense of this seemed too great, so we were glad to accept the offer of the Academy. We occupy four rooms on the first floor, the two at the north end being devoted to Miss Grant's classes, and the two at the south end by those of Miss Lucy Potts and Mr. Synnestvedt. The Intermediate classes are under the Head Master, and have lessons besides from Prof. Doering, Prof. Vinet, and Bishop Bostock. It is an interesting sight in the morning when the busy little ones, like bees swarming about a hive, begin to gather in the north corridor. After assembling in our rooms for roll call and preparation, at the sound of the gong we file up in line to the Assembly Hall, where our sixty little ones sit behind the others. The Bishop usually officiates at the simple opening service, and as he gasses out, we descend to begin our tasks for the day. Our hours are shorter than the College periods, and we miss our old locomotive bell: the gongs for their periods ring four for each change of class and are as hard to ignore as a modern electric alarm clock. The advent of the youngsters to the sedate halls of learning has had its effect upon the general sphere, and they certainly give the august body of Professors and Seminary teachers ample intimation of their presence. H. S.

     Middleport, O., On Friday, Dec. 11th instead of the monthly card party, a sense-training social was held at the home of Rev. and Mrs. Klein. A feature of the decorations was the ceiling, which was hung with many colored streamers of twisted crepe paper, which were draped from the center to the four walls and formed an almost solid mass of color at the center.

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The games included guessing odors, guessing and remembering numerous articles felt, but not seen, a gun causing a flurry of excitement among the ladies; guessing weights of objects, gauging distances, etc. For one game forty-eight objects and pictures were distributed about the rooms, each representing some geographical name. The exploring parties were divided into groups of three, each choosing his co-workers by matching many different colored stockings cut from glazed paper.

     The best evidence of the success of the entertainment was the gasp of astonishment which greeted the announcement that it was nearly midnight.

     On the evening after Christmas the regular Church supper was held at the home of Mr. Klein, to which it had suddenly been transferred on account of the serious illness of Mr. Lou Cooper. After the meal the folks adjourned to the parlor, where the candles on a diminutive Christmas tree gave the only illumination. Christmas songs from the Hosanna were sung and a happy, peaceful Christmas sphere prevailed.

     The Swedenborg Principia Club, of Middleport, Ohio, continues to hold its August meetings at the pastor's home every Monday night. Echoes of deep and learned discussions about points and spirals are heard, succeeded presently by lighter tones of less weighty conversations. Whiffs of tobacco smoke reach the surrounding regions, with the occasional comfortable chuckle of well-contented men, who are resting from arduous intellectual struggles, which only readers of the Principia can appreciate.

     The meetings are called late and I adjourn at various times, but they seem to be a source of genuine pleasure to the members. T. K.

     London. The most encouraging news we have to report is that the society in London has at last procured an abiding place. Services have, heretofore, been held at the houses of different members, while the School and the weekly doctrinal class met in Longfield Hall, next a door to the Burton Road Church. The society has now rented a three storied house on Holland Road, about 7 minutes walk from the Burton Road Church. A member of the society, with his family, occupies the second and third stories and the basement, with the exception of one room, which Mr. Czerny has taken. On the first floor, which is devoted to the uses of School and Church, are two large rooms connected by folding doors, which will hold about 60 persons. There is quite a large garden at the back of the house, which serves as a play ground for the school children. At present we have 19 pupils in the School. We used the rooms for the first time on Christmas morning, when the Holy Supper was administered. On the following Sunday we held services, which were attended by about 50 persons. Just before moving into our new quarters we had a brief, but very pleasant and encouraging, visit from Mr. Pitcairn. He attended the last meeting of the doctrinal class in Longfield Hall, at which we completed the reading of the work on the Divine Providence. Upon his return from America Mr. McQueen gave us a very interesting account of his visit. The address of our new place of worship, which is also that of Rev. Mr. Czerny, is 99 Holland Rd., Stockwell, London, S. W. C. M.

     Colchester. To no back in our history to last October I wish to mention the great pleasure and profit that we derived from reading together Bishop Pendleton's address to the Council of Ministers held in Berlin last June. We can say with great joy that there now exists with us a state of unity and co-operation, which will surely promote our growth and prosperity.

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We enjoyed the two visits of Mr. Alfred Stroh very much, and were much interested in what he had to say about his work in Sweden.

     Sunday, September 28th, completed Mr. Czerny's first year of work in our midst. The longer we know him, the more do we appreciate the spiritual benefits he has been instrumental in giving us and our children.

     It may be of interest to your readers to know our plan of work for the winter. Rev. Mr. Czerny, Who comes here every other Sunday to preach, has arranged to remain over until the following Monday morning, and now conducts a doctrinal class on Sunday evenings, at which we are reading the work on the Divine Providence. The attendance at the class is about 21, and we enjoy the instruction very much indeed.

     On Thursday evening, each week, we meet at our little room. Every alternate week we practice the new music.

     The other Thursdays are devoted to reading and conversing about articles from New Church Life or from other sources suggested by Mr. Czerny. Among other things we have been reading passages from the Doctrines concerning the great religious leaders. After the reading we spend the remainder of the evening in social intercourse. We find these meetings very interesting and profitable.

     Some little time ago we received a visit from Mr. McQueen. He gave us an account of his visit to America, waxing eloquent and speaking for nearly two hours. We were very much interested in what he had to say about the General Church and our interest in that body was stimulated and strengthened by this personal account of one of our own members. C. C. M.

     MISSIONARY WORK IN OHIO.

     Continuing my missionary journey, the evening of November 11th was devoted to a visit with Mr. Gustavus Elbel, in Canton. A stay of two days was made with Mr. Joseph A. Frankhauser and family to at Mansfield. On the evening of November13th, we held a meeting at their house. Some of the neighbors were invited in, and two young married women whose parents were New Church people in Monroe county came in from the country. These latter, as also the Frankhausers, manifested a decided interest in the Church, and requested me to visit them and their families. A few books were sold at the close of the meeting.

     My visit with the friends near Gallon was very useful and pleasant. Mrs. Sarah Burger and her two sons, and a young woman who lives with the family, are new receivers, and are all eager to learn. There is no doubt that the truths taught made impressions that will be lasting. New receivers need to learn, first of all, about the utter spiritual deadness of the Old Church, and about the absolute distinctiveness of the New Church. As her sons take the Messenger, Mrs. Burger subscribed for the New Church Life, for their sake as well as her own.

     A day was passed with Mr. T. C. Martin at Bucyrus. He is an intelligent reader of the Doctrines, and we had much conversation. In Napoleon, where there was a little society many years ago, the New Church now has practically no existence.

     On my arrival at Wauseon, November 21st, Capt. W. F. Williams was at the station to meet me. He was anxious to have some of the people in the community hear a discourse on the doctrines of the Church. So he spoke to the Congregational minister of the town about inviting me to preach for him, on Sunday evening, November 23d. He did so. The Doctrine of the Lord was presented on the occasion, but there were no indications that any of the hearers believed it.

     A three days' visit was made at Vermillion, with Mrs. Jane Andrews and family. The missionary always receives a cordial welcome at their home, on the banks of Lake Erie.

     Sunday, November 30th, was passed in Lakewood.

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In the morning of that day, the pastor, Rev. James Taylor, preached a decidedly plain and practical and doctrinal sermon.

     In Cleveland a few calls were made, and Mr. Roscoe R. Kendig and family were visited, and their infant daughter was baptized. I also had a pleasant chat with our kind New Church friend, Ezra Nicholson, Esq., of Lakewood, at his office in the city. He is interested in all kinds of work and uses in the Church, and also promotes them.

     After my arrival in Erie, Pa., December 3d, all the members in the New Church Circle who could be reached were called on at their homes. Services were held on December 7th at the residence of Dr. E. C. Cranch, when the Lord's Supper was also celebrated, and in the evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Glenn. There being somewhat of a snow-storm on that day, the attendance was smaller than usual. The reading meetings still continue to be held every two weeks; and there is no lack of interest in the things of the Church, on the part of those who attend. After a visit of two days in the country at Erie, I came to Buffalo, December 10th. The Rev. H. C. Dunham is to be here for a month. My stopping place over Sunday is with Mr. James A. Pincott and family, who always make me feel at home with them. JOHN E. BOWERS.

FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. On the Sunday before Christmas the Brooklyn Society surprised its pastor, the Rev. J. C. Ager, by presenting to him a Set of engrossed resolutions, together with a purse containing a check for $1,500, in order to enable him to undertake a journey to Palestine. Mr. Ager has now served the society for thirty-seven years.

     As intimated in our November issue, a movement was started last summer to organize a new society in Washington, D. C., separate from the "National Church," of which Rev. Frank Sewall is the pastor. This movement has now culminated in the formation of a society styling itself "the New Church Mission, of Washington, D. C." The new society, in its printed constitution, bases itself upon the belief that "the usefulness of church organizations is their only authentication,"--a platform which is not strikingly new, and "in accepting Emanuel Swedenborg as a teacher of revealed truth, this organization holds that the words are of Swedenborg, though the truths are of the Lord,"--a platitude which does not distinguish the new society from the old one. The whole movement seems to be a negative one, founded on the denial of the Divinity of the Writings and of order in the Church. The leaders think that the masses can be better reached "through a simple form of worship than through the old church forms peculiar to Ecclesiasticism," and they propose to inaugurate a new era in missionary work by proclaiming "truth that will stir the heart and send the life-blood to the finger tips," etc.

     The Christmas celebration of the Indianapolis Society was distinguished this pear by the distribution of presents, and by a series of tableaux representing the four successive Churches. The Golden Age was represented by a little boy and girl, she standing at a tent door and receiving a pomegranate from him. The colors prevailing in this scene mere red and gold. The Silver Age was represented by an older boy and girl, the symbols being a bunch of grapes and a rainbow, and the prevailing color of white. For the Copper Age there were a man and woman, he holding a bunch of bronzed twigs, and she kneeling before him.

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The Iron Age was represented by two women kneeling before an idol, having chains about their necks, the ends of which were held by an old man who stood over them with drawn sword. And the New Church, finally, was represented by a youth and a maiden kneeling before an altar on which lay the open Word, which he was reading, while she, resting one hand on his shoulder, looked upward.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The Blackburn Society, which has been without a minister for many years, has secured the services of Mr. W. R. Hornet, a student of the N. C. College.

     The twenty-first annual meeting of the N. C. Orphanage was held in London last October. From the report of the Managers it appears that the institution is now caring for 23 orphans. The "first design" of the Orphanage, as given in its rules, is to "afford maintenance, clothing and education (including instruction in the doctrines of the New Church) to orphans."... Judging from the Address of the President (Mr. A. Packhouse), these objects, with the exception of the rather essential one referred to in the parenthetical clause, seem to have been attained, but the "instruction in the Doctrines" has been sadly neglected. Mr. Backhouse said that "it is not always easy to give the orphans instruction in the doctrines." on account of their being scattered in many homes in all parts of the country,--a rather unsatisfactory explanation, if, as is to be hoped, the orphans are placed in New Church homes.

     The President's Address dealt at some length with the question of what had become of the 101 children adopted by the Orphanage since its institution 21 years ago. We learn that none of these children have failed in life, and that 4 or 5 of them are contributors to the Orphanage, but it does not appear how many have remained in the New Church, though this is the essential point. The Address, however, gives the unpleasant impression that they are few. After referring to the oft-noticed fact that a very large percentage of the children attending N. C. Sunday Schools,--[on which the wards of the Orphanage are dependent for their religious instruction],--are lost to the Church," and lamenting the disappointing showing of the Wards in the last Sunday School examination, the President continues. "It is unsatisfactory to find that so many of the old wards appear to drop their attendance at Sunday School directly they leave the Orphanage."

     MEXICO. La Via de Pat, (the Way of Peace), a religious weekly published at Monterey. Mexico, recently published an editorial article recommending the Writings of Swedenborg. This was in answer to another Mexican journal. La Luz, which had expressed indignation at "meeting ideas of Swedenborg in a Christian journal."

     AUSTRIA. Dr. Max Neuburger, of Vienna, writing to the president of the Swedenborg Scientific Association, announces his intention to prepare for the publication of Swedenborg's Scientific and Philosophical works in the German language, by awakening attention through a series of short articles in the periodicals on phases of Swedenborg's Science, and by a published treatise on Swedenborg as a physiologist.

     BRAZIL. Senor L. Castro de La Fayette. the leader of the New Church in Rio de Janeiro. in a letter of Dec. 4th, 1902, informs us that "the New Church here goes on steadily. Our Doctrines are now spreading in some of the States of Brazil. A new society of the New Jerusalem was founded at Recife, (Pernambuco), by one of our friends, who has received here the new light. At Belena, (chief town of Para), there is a small group. There are also some isolated receivers in several parts of the country."

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Just Published 1903

Just Published              1903


     
Announcements.


DE VERBO.

     Concerning the Sacred Scripture or the Word of the Lord.
From Experience. By Emanuel Swedenborg. The first complete Edition in the English tongue. Paper, 55 pages. Price, 30 cents, postpaid.

     This work, printed in installments in "New Church Life," is now for the first time published in complete form. As it contains teachings not given in any other work, it is essential for every New Churchman, who desires to complete his library, to secure a copy.

     Swedenborg's Testimony Concerning His Writings. Being a compilation from the Writings and the Documents of passages explaining the nature of Swedenborg's Inspiration, and the Relation of the Writings to the Word in the Letter. With an Appendix, treating of the Authority of Divine Revelation, and concerning the Affirmative Principle, and the Negative. Paper, 36 pages. Price, 10 cents, postpaid.

     The above Compilation was recently published in "New Church Life" and by request is now published in pamphlet form.

     It is a document well worthy of circulation, and the quotations here gathered together contain food for study by all New Churchmen.

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CARL HJALMAR ASPLUNDH 1903

CARL HJALMAR ASPLUNDH       C. TH. ODHNER       1903


MARCH, 1903.           No. 3.
     IN MEMORIAM.

     Carl Hjalmar Asplundh was born at Stockholm on February 11th, 1862. His father was a watchmaker, and our friend, on leaving school when about 15 years of age, started in to learn his father's trade, but soon finding this occupation too quiet for his restless energies he entered for himself upon various business ventures in Sweden and Finland. But of these youthful efforts of his budding business-genius I have but little knowledge. Mr. Asplundh, I understand, received his first knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrines through his boyhood-friend, Joseph E. Rosenqvist (now pastor of the New Church in Gottenburg), whose father was a zealous member of the New Church.

     I have heard him say that his attention was first seriously arrested by Swedenborg's remarkable disclosures concerning the terrible character and ultimate fate of the Swedish hero, Charles XII. He had never admired that bloody idol of mistaken patriotism, and he thought that the disclosures were not only credible, but worthy of further investigation. Together with Mr. Rosenqvist, Mr. Asplundh, in the fall of 1879, began to attend the services of that most eloquent and convincing New Church preacher, the Rev. A. Th. Boyesen, in Stockholm, and it was then and there that I first met him, he being then a youth of seventeen, and I a year younger.

     Mr. Boyesen's congregation at that time consisted largely of new converts, most of them strangers to one another and somewhat afraid of being compromised by further acquaintance. There were quite a number of young men and boys in the congregation, but for some time the majority came and went, without addressing one another after the services.

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There were no social life, and no efforts to circulate the literature of the Church.

     Dissatisfied with this frigid state of things, Mr. Asplundh, Mr. Rosenqvist and myself, after a while drew closer together, and in the fall of 1880 began a propaganda among the young men of the congregation. A little society, the "Immanuel League," was instituted, with some twenty members, and for a couple of years we were very active, indeed. We used to come together once a week to study the Doctrines, to read original papers, to "discuss the by-laws" and enjoy ourselves socially. I remember that Mr. Rosenqvist wanted the society to be distinctly religious. I wanted it to have a somewhat literary flavor, and Mr. Asplundh wanted us to "do something." All were fairly running over with enterprise. We set on foot the first New Church socials in Stockholm, and tried to enter into communication with the young people of the Academy in Philadelphia. In the summer of 1881 we used to visit the various Lutheran churches in Stockholm, in order to distribute tracts to the people as they passed out of church, and occasionally we came into conflict with the justly indignant ministers. And its the winter of the same year we gained permission to have two tables with New Church books and tracts placed at the entrance of our hall of worship. Mr. Asplundh presided at one of the tables and I at the other, and few were allowed to pass by without purchasing something. This was really the beginning of the New Church Book Room in Stockholm. It was here that Mr. Asplundh first displayed those business qualities which afterwards made him so eminently successful as the manager of the Academy Book Room. But all our efforts were boyish, and we little dreamed of the serious duties that were in store for us in a distant land.

     Having emigrated to the United States in 1882, I lost sight of Mr. Asplundh for a short time, but we met, most unexpectedly, one evening in the winter of 1883, after a lecture by the Rev. Chauncey Giles in the church on Chestnut street, in Philadelphia.

     Mr. Asplundh, I then learned, had left Sweden in 1882, With the intention of emigrating to Australia, but while in London he had been induced by a sea captain to go with him on a sailing cruise to Philadelphia. Arriving here, and having but a very slight knowledge of English, he asked for the address of the Swedish Church, and was promptly directed to-Twenty-second and Chestnut street. He now began to attend here regularly, and became acquainted with another Swedish New Church man, Mr. Carl E. Forsberg, and both of them, soon after their meeting with me, became members of the Advent Society, then worshiping in the temple on Cherry street.

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     When settling in Philadelphia, Mr. Asplundh first worked with a watchmaker, but before long he secured a more congenial situation as bookkeeper with the Boericke and Tafel Homeopathic Firm, and he remained here until 1890. He now became intimately associated with the students of the Academy's Theological School, several of whom were his countrymen. A few of us, in 1886, organized the Scandinavian New Church Mission, in order to advertise and distribute the Swedish tracts which were being published by the American New Church Tract Society, and Mr. Asplundh was our treasurer,--his first treasurership.

     On October 26th, 1887, Mr. Asplundh married Miss Emma Steiger, the daughter of the devoted treasurer of the German New Church Missionary Union, Mr. Arnold Steiger. He was the first of our contemporary circle of young men to forsake the single state, and the rest of us soon afterwards followed his example. In his sixteen years of married life he was blessed with eight children, seven of whom survive him.

     In January, 1890, Mr. Asplundh accepted the invitation to take charge of the Academy Book Room and of the financial affairs of New Church Life, which in that year was adopted as the official organ of the Academy. The Book Room thus developed into a publishing office, which year after year, under Mr. Asplundh's efficient management, grew into greater and wider usefulness. The work connected with the various publications of the Academy, such as the Life, the Psalmody and other works, occupied a great deal of his time and painstaking care, and I, for one, desire to place on record my deep gratitude for the care bestowed by him on the publication of the Annals of the New Church. There were endless and tedious details to be looked after in this work, and when I grew weary Mr. Asplundh's perseverance and exactness put me to shame.

     In addition to these duties, he was also made custodian of the Academy's library, which previously had been in a more or less chaotic condition, but was now arranged and catalogued by him in a systematic and practical way.

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And the burden upon his shoulders was still further increased, when, in January, 1896, he accepted the arduous duties connected with the office of treasurer of the Academy, an office for which he had been well trained as assistant to the preceding treasurer, Mr. Robert M. Glenn, who, from their first acquaintance, had taken a special interest in him. In 1897 he became the treasurer of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and in 1900 of the Swedenborg Scientific Association, bringing to bear upon his work in these bodies his customary energy and never-failing enthusiasm and industry, which again resulted in an ever-increasing measure of co-operation by the Church.

     He was always deeply interested in the important use of preserving and reproducing the remaining manuscripts of Swedenborg, and the renewal of this work, after an interval of twenty-five years, was owing largely to his insistent efforts. The first fruits of this movement was the Academy's publication, in 1895, of the phototyped edition of the Summaria Sensus Interni. With this little work in our hands, Mr. Asplundh and I visited the General Convention, which was held in Washington, in 1896, and Mr. Asplundh here effected the present arrangement between the General Convention and the Academy, which has resulted in the now nearly completed phototyped edition of the Diarium Spirituale. It would be difficult to describe all the labor which our friend expended upon this work, involving no end of planning, corresponding, contract-making and supervising. And with the same intelligent devotion he planned and set on foot the present undertaking of the Swedenborg Scientific association, of copying (by hand) the scientific manuscripts of Swedenborg in Stockholm.

     But, beside these more general uses he was ceaselessly active in the local work of the Church and the schools at Bryn Athyn, as president of the Civic and Social Club, as member of the Council of the Society, and as general man of affairs to whom everybody came with a thousand and one details. A large share of the general and local work of Mr. Glenn fell immediately upon Mr. Asplundh, but he worked with undiminished vigor up to the day when he was seized by the sudden illness (pneumonia), which, on February 12th, the day after his forty-first birthday anniversary, terminated his comparatively brief, but most useful, career in this world.

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     Of his moral and spiritual qualities, I leave to others to speak, but as one of his earliest friends I wish to bring this sincere tribute to his memory.

     He was a friend such as can be found only in the New Church,--a spiritual friend, loving only what is good and true in his friends. His affection was elevated above merely personal or sentimental considerations, and yet was not destitute of genuine natural good. Being a Swede, he was naturally hospitable,--like his adopted countrymen. Genial, sanguine, quick to sympathize, though often hiding his sympathy under a playful joke; ever ready to help where help was within the far-reaching radius of his eye; unselfish, forgiving, patient and prudent--such a friend was Carl Hjalmar Asplundh in the estimation of all that knew him.

     Being called away so suddenly from us in the midst of the active performance of the uses which he loved with such intense devotion, it is easy to see him now, a resurrected spirit, surrounded by the surprised, but welcoming, circle of friends who have gone before him. We can see him quivering with eagerness to start in with the work, just where he left off, a few days ago. To the hour of his death, the uses of the Academy occupied his mind, and we can imagine his joy in finding a field for his energies, no longer limited by time and space, by lack of means or of co-operation, but wide as the heavenly kingdom itself. We can see the Academy folks above, assembled in joyful meeting to receive him, inquiring for the news of the beloved cause on earth, and introducing him to new associates. We can see him quickly installed in the office for which he prepared so faithfully in this life, as treasurer and guardian of the eternal funds of goods and truths with some educational establishment of the heavenly Jerusalem. For there are treasures and treasuries there as here, collected from the loving hearts who have "laid up for themselves treasures in heaven," and there are angels appointed to guard them, so that they may be most wisely expended for heavenly uses, the chief of which are the education of the young and the instruction of novitiate spirits.

     These treasures, we are told in the Spiritual Diary (n. 5999), are connected with the libraries in Heaven, where are stored all the sacred works of the successive Churches, from the Most Ancient to the New Church.

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It is a pleasing thought that our friend, by his double office as treasurer of the Church and as librarian of the Academy, was thus trained for the united office of librarian-treasurer in the world which he has now entered. How he will revel in the treasures which he will find there! How his restless brain will teem with new ideas and plans for further improvements in arrangement and classification, and for the publication of the priceless treasures of the New Jerusalem throughout the spiritual world! How happy he will be in the performance of these uses, while waiting for the arrival of the loved ones he left on earth.
     C. TH. ODHNER.
T'IS BUT A MOMENT! 1903

T'IS BUT A MOMENT!       EMILIE SCHNEIDER       1903

T'is but a moment--
Oh, my heart, be still!
The storm will pass, the lightning's flash will cease.
Though trees be broken on the moaning hill,
There will be peace!

T'is but a moment--
Let the sea roar loud,
And hiss around me through the fearful night!
The sun at last will break through fog and cloud.
There will be light!

T'is but a motnent--
Oh, my soul, be calm!
Be strong, and wait for comfort from above!
There is no wound, but love will be its balm.
And God is Love.
EMILIE SCHNEIDER.

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EATING GRAPES IN THE NEIGHBOR'S VINEYARD 1903

EATING GRAPES IN THE NEIGHBOR'S VINEYARD       Rev. E. C. BOSTOCK       1903

     When thou comest into the vineyard of thy companion thou mayest eat grapes according to thy soul, to thy satisfaction, but thou shalt not put them into thy vessel. Deut. xxiii, 25.

     This law, like all other natural laws contained in the letter of the Word, derives its origin from a spiritual law.

     In the letter it simply gives to the sons of Israel, the privilege of eating all the grapes they desire, when they come into or pass through their neighbors' vineyard, but at the same time forbids them to carry off any of them in baskets, bags, or other vessels.

     But the spiritual law, from which this law flows, is interior, and applies to angels and men in all ages and in every place; it is a law of order in heaven and the Church and is therefore a law of charity.

     The internal sense of these words teaches us how to feel, to think, and to act toward the good of charity which is with those who are in a different doctrine and religion from ourselves.

     In general it teaches that we may learn and accept the good of charity which is with those who are in a different doctrine and religion from our own, but we must not imbue such good and conjoin it with our own truths.

     We may eat grapes to our satisfaction but we must not put them in our vessels.

     The explanation of these words is given in the following passage from the Arcana Coelestia "'When thou comest into the vineyard of thy companion thou mayest eat grapes according to thy soul, to thy satisfaction, but thou shalt not put them into thy vessel.' Deut. xxiii, 25. This law involves that every one, when with others who are in a different doctrine and religion, may learn and accept the goods of their charity, but must not imbue them and conjoin them with his own truths; vineyard, because it is the Church, is where there is doctrine or religion, grapes are the goods of charity, vessel is the truth of the Church." A. C. 5117.

     From this teaching it plainly appears that a vineyard, since it represents the Church, also represents doctrine and religion, which make the Church, and that the vineyard of our neighbor is his doctrine and religion.

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A vineyard signifies the Church because grapes, which grow in a vineyard, signify the goods of charity.

     To eat signifies, in general, to appropriate, but here to learn and accept, that is, to know the quality of the goods of charity with others, and to acknowledge them to be goods of charity.

     A vessel signifies the truth of the Church, for, as food and other good things are put into vessels, so good is insinuated into truth. Therefore to put grapes from our neighbor's vineyard into our own vessels is to imbue the goods of charity represented by grapes, and to conjoin them with our own truths.

     To imbue goods is to make them our own, that is, to enter into them from affection; and to conjoin them with our truths is to confirm them by means of the truths of our religion. Every truth has its own good, and must not be conjoined with other goods; thus there is a good of charity which belongs to our doctrine and religion, and another good which belongs to another doctrine and religion. Our text teaches us to acknowledge the good of other doctrines, but not to enter into them, and conjoin them with our own doctrine.

     It is manifest that this is very important teaching. Let us examine it therefore a little more closely and consider some of its applications.

     This law is of no use to those who believe that no one is saved outside of their own doctrine and religion. It involves, therefore, the acceptance of that great truth which the Lord has revealed to the New Church, namely: That the Divine Providence has so governed and provided, that there are truths sufficient for salvation in every doctrine and religion, and therefore that some are saved in all religions.

     We may therefore meet an Idolater, a Buddhist, a Mohammedan, a Catholic or a Protestant in whom there is some good of charity, formed by such truths as are in his religion.

     It is true that in all these religions, and especially in the Catholic and Protestant religions, there are many falsities and fallacies, some of which are sure to adhere to the minds, even of those who are in the good of charity, and these are the means of holding them back and of preventing progress; but still if they worship God, shun evils as sins against Him and live in charity, these falsities and fallacies can be removed in the other life.

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     Toward these men we are to exercise charity according to the spiritual law contained in our text; we are to eat grapes in their vineyard according to our soul, to our satisfaction, but we must not put them into our own vessels.

     In carrying out this teaching discrimination is necessary. Not every one who professes religion and lives outwardly a moral life is in the good of charity. In all the religions mentioned above there are falsities opposed to the good of charity, and this is especially true of the Catholic and Protestant religions, which hold the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead, and of salvation by faith alone. It is only the simple in these doctrines and religions who receive the good of charity and they do not understand nor enter deeply into the falsities which destroy charity, but they live in simplicity according to the Commandments. Those who enter into the falsities and confirm them in life and understanding do not have any good of charity for us to learn and accept.

     We must therefore discriminate between these two classes; not that we are able to judge their interiors, but that we must see the difference between the two states and make our external judgment according to what appears.

     For example, suppose we meet one to be professes to be an Atheist. We do not know what may be stored up in his interiors and therefore we do not know what his spiritual state may be after death, but we do know that he appears to have no religion and that if he is really what he professes to be he has no love of God and no genuine love of his neighbor; thus no genuine good of charity appears for us to learn and accept. Therefore we cannot even eat grapes in his vineyard, much less put them in our vessels.

     Or suppose we meet one who professes a belief in the trinity of persons, the vicarious atonement and salvation by faith alone, and who so understands these doctrines as to maintain that good of life is unnecessary to salvation, and, therefore, does not shun evils as sins against God, but only as against civil and moral law. With such a one no spiritual good appears, and therefore we cannot eat grapes in his vineyard, we cannot learn and accept the goods of his charity, for even if remains of such good exist within, yet they do not appear. We cannot eat grapes that we cannot see.

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     Then, again, we must discriminate between merely natural good and genuine spiritual good. The good represented by grapes in our neighbor's vineyard is genuine spiritual good, and this good exists only when man does good from religion.

     Mere natural good flows from an hereditary or acquired natural disposition; it is not done from religion, and may exist with those who are at the same time in evils of life. But genuine spiritual good can not exist unless man shuns evils as sins against God, and does good from religion. It is this good which is signified by grapes, and it is this good that we are to look for and eat when we are in our neighbor's vineyard.

     That such discrimination is necessary is taught in many places in the Doctrine of the Church, such as the following: "It is of interest to Christian prudence well to scrutinize of what quality the life of man is, and to exercise charity according to it. The man of the internal church does this with discrimination, thus with intelligence; but the man of the external church, because he cannot thus discern things, does it indiscriminately." A. C., 6704.

     The law of charity which is to guide us in our attitude to those of a different doctrine and religion from ourselves is taught in many places in the Doctrine. In the Arcana Coelestia 2385 it says; "Thus everyone would say, in whatever doctrine and in whatever external worship he might be, This is my brother, I see that he worships the Lord and that he is good." You will note here the conditions, namely: We must see that he worships the Lord and that he lives a good life.

     Again, we read in another place, that when charity vanishes "evils succeed, and, with the evils, falsities insinuate themselves, whence come schisms and heresies, which would never be if charity should reign and live; then they would not even call schism schism, nor heresy heresy, but a doctrinal according to one's opinion, which they would leave to the conscience of every one, if only he did not deny the principles, that is, the Lord, life eternal, the Word; and if only his life were not contrary to Divine Order, that is, against the precepts of the decalogue." A. C. 1834 Here again it appears that, while one is not to let doctrinal differences and differences of external worship prevent him from recognizing others as his brethren, yet there are some restrictions. The neighbor must acknowledge the Lord, life eternal and the Word, and must live according to the precepts of the decalogue.

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     Let me ask your attention to one more short passage: In the Ancient Church "they acknowledged as men of the Church all who had lived in the good of charity, and they called them brothers, however they differed in truths which at this day are called matters of faith; in these, one instructed another, which was among their works of charity, and also they were not indignant if one did not accede to the opinion of another, knowing that everyone receives truths so far as he is in good." A. C. 6628.

     In our attitude towards others, it appears that it is most important to learn to discriminate between essentials and non-essentials. We are not to accept and favor what is directly opposed to the worship of the Lord, the Word of God, and the life of charity, while, at the same time, we see and acknowledge that one may be in many errors and falsities and still be in the good of charity, from a life according to essentials. We are also to instruct others who appear to us to be in error, but not to grow indignant if they do not agree with us.

     This is very hard for most of us, for we live in a sphere of faith alone and our hereditary nature, derived from the Christian world, gives us a tendency to exalt faith above charity. But, although it is contrary to the natural man, nevertheless it is to be done, for it is of charity.

     If now our attitude towards those who are in a different doctrine or religion from ourselves is clear, let us see if we can form a clear idea of what is meant by imbuing their goods and conjoining them with our truths, that is, by putting these grapes from our neighbor's vineyard into our vessels.

     Let us suppose it is our good fortune to meet a Mohammedan who acknowledges one God, and who, so far as we can see, lives in charity, shunning fraud, false-witness and murder as sins against God, and, at the same time, lives a connubial life with his wives. We may see and acknowledge that he is in some good of charity, though it is external, as is indicated by his living with more wives than one. But we must not imbue, that is, enter into his external good and confirm it by our truths.

     This illustration is extreme, for it would seem impossible for a New Church man to confirm the good of polygamy by the truths of the New Church; yet a man who is only in the letter of the Word might do so. He could do so by citing the cases of Abraham, Jacob, David, etc., while he passed over or explained away any passages that seemed opposed.

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     Let us now suppose we meet a member of the Old Church who is in simple good, so far as we can see, and from the letter of the Word believes that the chief thing of religion is to attend to the externals of worship, to give to the poor, and to engage in the benevolent work which is generally understood by charity. We can see and acknowledge that with such a one there is the good of charity, since he does these things because they are commanded in the Word, and at the same time lives according to the Commandments. But we must not take that good for our good; we must not enter into the externals of worship and benevolent work, as the chief thing of religion, nor must we confirm such an attitude or state by such truths from the doctrines as teach the necessity
of external worship and the use of benevolent acts; for the New Church man knows that the chief thing of religion is to shun evils as sins and to perform faithfully the duties of his office or business.

     It has been maintained that it is right for a New Church man to take the Holy Supper with others, even in milk and water, rather than not join with them; and this position is confirmed by the teaching that the internal state of charity is the essential in this Sacrament. If we know others who, from ignorance and simplicity, partake of the Holy Supper in milk and water, we may recognize what good we can see in their state; but to join with them would be to imbue their good and to confirm it by the truth of the New Church that the internal state is the essential in the Holy Supper, to the exclusion of the commandment of the Lord to use wine. Such application perverts the internal truth and destroys its good. When thou comest into the vineyard of thy companion thou mayest eat grapes according to thy soul, to thy satisfaction, but thou shalt not put them into thy vessel.

     This spiritual law may be applied to our attitude and relations to societies and bodies of the Church as well as to individuals, for societies are to be regarded as larger men. We may, for example, recognize the good of use of Mohammedanism, for we are taught that it is a religion adapted to the oriental mind, and that it was the means of driving out idolatry; but it requires no argument to prove that we can not enter into and imbue its good, nor join with Mohammedans in worship.

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     But when we come to consider our relations to Catholic and Protestant societies some are in doubt. This doubt, however, ought not to exist, for we are clearly taught in the Doctrines of the Church, that, while there is a small remnant of the simple good left in these bodies, they themselves, as societies or bodies, are dead churches, teaching the existence of three persons in God, Salvation by Faith alone, and many other falsities opposite to the worship of God and the Life of charity. Since the Lord has revealed to us this state of those bodies of the Church, we cannot recognize in them anything of spiritual good; there are no grapes for us to eat. We must, therefore, hold toward these bodies a different attitude from that held by us toward individuals who appear to be of the remnant, and who are in or among those churches, but not of them.

     Let us now consider the application of these words to our attitude toward other bodies of the New Church, such as the General Convention. It is our duty to see and recognize the good of charity of this body of the Church. In it the Lord Jesus Christ is recognized and acknowledged as the only God of Heaven and earth; the Word is received as Holy, its Internal sense is acknowledged, and it is believed and taught that the man of the Church must live the life of charity. It is plain, therefore, from the teaching of the passages quoted above, that we are to acknowledge the General Convention as a brother body of the New Church. But there are many points of difference between the General Convention and our body of the Church; both as to doctrine and as to practice, and therefore we must not imbue their good and confirm it by our truths. We may eat grapes in their vineyard according to our soul, to our satisfaction, but we must not put them into our vessels.

     It has been thought by many that if there was charity there would be no separate or different bodies of the Church such as the General Convention and the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and they have confirmed this idea by the passage, quoted above, teaching that when charity vanishes "evils succeed, and with the evils falsities insinuate themselves, whence come schisms and heresies, which would never be if charity should reign and live." And also by the following: "If charity were in the first place, and faith in the second, there would be another face to the Church, for then men would call no other Christians but those who lived a life according to the truths of faith, that is, a life of charity; and also then they would know what charity is; also, then, they would not make many churches, distinguishing between them according to the truths of faith; but they would say there is one Church, in which were all who are in good of life, not only those who are within the orb where is the Church, but also those who are outside of it." A.C.6269.

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     But a careful examination of the teaching of these passages and of others containing similar instruction makes it plain that it is an internal unity which results from charity, which is so far external that those in different doctrines and externals of worship acknowledge all who are in genuine good of life to be of the Church, and all who live according to the truths of the Christian religion to be Christians. That external union is not contemplated is manifest from the closing words quoted above, where all the good even those outside the Christian world are said to be of the one Church.

     This also appears from the teaching of the passage read for our lesson (A. C. 1285), in which the variety in the heavens and the different viscera of the body are cited as illustrations of the unity in variety produced by the general prevalence of charity and mutual love.

     To this may be added the following: "If they received the truth itself for a principle and confirmed this, as, for example, that love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbor are the things upon which hangs all the law, and concerning which all the prophets spoke, and thus that they are the essentials of all doctrine and worship--the mind would be illuminated by innumerable things which are in the Word, which, otherwise, would lie hidden in the obscurity of a false principle; yea, then, heresies would be dissipated; and from many there would be one Church, howsoever the doctrinals, and also the rituals, thence flowing or thither leading, may differ. Such was the Ancient Church which extended through many kingdoms. With them, doctrinals and rituals differed, but still the Church was one, because charity was essential in them and then was the kingdom of the Lord, in the earths as in the heavens, for heaven is such." A. C. 2385.

     Doubtless separations and divisions have occurred in the New Church, caused by a lack of charity. These are much to be regretted, and it is the duty of every one to do all he can to prevent their recurrence by cultivating a truly regenerate life, and by himself acting from charity in all his relations to the Church and to his fellow members.

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     Doubtless, too, when there has been a just and sufficient cause for a separate existence and performance of uses, lack of charity has caused much friction and unnecessary internal separation; but it seems to be the plain teaching that differences of doctrine and of externals of worship must be expected in the New Church, as in the Ancient Church. But it will still be one Church if charity and mutual love prevail in all its parts, and if its members obey the law given to us in the internal sense of our text. Let us eat grapes to our satisfaction in the vineyard of our neighbor, but let us not put them into our vessel; let us learn and accept the good of charity with others; let us regard them as brothers, each according to his good, but let us, according to order, retain our own good, according to our own truths; let us not strive to put the good of others into our truths, lest we lose both good and truth. When all do this there will be truly one Church.

     This spiritual law which, stated in another form, is the law that every good has its own truth and every truth its own good has especial application to marriage. It is upon this general law, that the law against marriage between those of different religions depends. Conjugial love makes one with religion. Viewed in itself, it is a union of souls, and a man's soul is formed by his religion. The man is in the love of growing wise, and religion is the inmost of his wisdom; the woman is in the love of the wisdom of her husband, and the inmost wisdom loved by her is her husband's religion. In other words, the husband is truth and the wife the good of that truth, and truth can only enter into legitimate conjunction with its own good. True conjugial marriage, therefore, can only exist when the husband is in the love of growing wise from the same spiritual truths that are loved by the wife, that is, when they have the same religion.

     My brethren, may the universal law of order contained in our text be deeply impressed upon our minds. The order and life of heaven and of the Church depends upon the conjunction of good with its own truth and with no other. The angels of the celestial heaven may look into and see the good of charity in the spiritual heaven, but if they descend and enter into it they lose their wisdom; and if the spiritual ascend they are filled with anguish and distress.

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The angels of one society of heaven see and accept the good of charity of other societies, but they live and enjoy the happiness of their life in their own society and in their own house.

     So, too, must we on earth. Discriminating between good and evil, we may and ought to learn and accept the good of charity with others of different doctrine and religion; but let no false charity, no consideration of worldly advantage or pleasure, lead us to take their good for our own, or to conjoin it with our own truths. Let us lead our own individual life.

     May the wards of our text be to us a continual reminder and guide both of the charity due to others and of the charity given to us by the Lord in the truths of our own doctrine and religion.

     When thou comest into the vineyard of thy companion thou mayest eat grapes according to thy soul, to thy satisfaction, but thou shalt not put them into thy vessel. Amen.

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SPIRITUAL VIGILANCE 1903

SPIRITUAL VIGILANCE       Rev. W. B. CALDWELL       1903

     No man can truly trust in the Lord unless he has genuine love of spiritual things. Love alone awakens the mind, and only the love of spiritual things awakens the spiritual mind. The Lord "neither slumbers nor sleeps," because He alone loves perpetually. From Him alone are the goods and truths of spiritual life and He alone by His perpetual presence in those goods and truths awakens the mind to them and keeps it awake and alive by the light and warmth of His love, by which also He protects against evil and falsity, and gifts man with heavenly peace. Genuine peace and rest is in the activity of love. Its satisfaction and contentment is in activity and not in mere rest, for if it rest its activity and delight cease. The peace of love is the peace of life, but the peace of idleness is the peace of death. So long as a man's love is active and he is obtaining his heart's desire, he is wakeful, but when his affection flags or he does not obtain what he desires, his thought languishes and he sleeps. If he loves and desires spiritual things, he will be awakened to a state of interest and attention by spiritual things, and he will delight to meditate upon them, but will be lulled to sleep by merely natural things. On the contrary, if he does not love spiritual things, he will be enlivened, exhilarated, and have his interest fully awakened by natural things, but be easily lulled to sleep when he is called upon to give his attention to spiritual things. The merely natural in every man does not care for spiritual things unless he have learned them naturally as knowledges and can use them as a means to selfish gain, and he can only come into a spiritual love of spiritual things by a self compulsion to it, but soon he will have a spontaneous delight in them and find that they enliven him. From long generations of indifference to spiritual things we have been handed down an inheritance of bodily and mental objection and stubbornness which it will take many generations to subdue. For this reason it is difficult for some to hold the mind long in spiritual light without its collapse and sleep, and when such a state exists those unaccustomed to concentration of thought are put to sleep or the attempt easily overcome by the monotony of application when the weary state of mind prevents its long attention to one subject.

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This physical and mental infirmity due to inheritance and lack of early training, as also to improper habits of rest, is not so serious a thing with those who really love spiritual things, though it is an infirmity to be shunned and overcome. It is a condition which closes the mind to much spiritual food and consequent growth, like an imperfect digestion which fails to store up the nourishment of food in the blood.

     Spiritual interest in spiritual things is only attained by the cultivation of the understanding, and when this has been long in disuse it is difficult. The spiritual state to which this corresponds is real disinterest from the love of evil, for sluggishness and over-readiness to sleep in the body corresponds to this disinterest. But when we consider how bodily states prevent the activity of spiritual thought and how hard it is to overcome the difficulty there is comfort in the teaching of the Doctrines that "men who, while in the world, are in love to the Lord and the neighbor, have angelic intelligence and wisdom, but hidden in the inmosts of their interior memory, which intelligence and wisdom can never appear to them before they put off corporeal things. Then the natural memory is lulled to sleep, and they are awakened into the interior memory and successively afterwards into the angelic memory itself." (H. H. 467.)

     As spiritual love opens the spiritual mind and removes natural thought of space and time, which become relatively tedious, so also on the other hand sleep annihilates time and space by oblivion. Time appears long or short according to the conjunction of thought with affection, and when our thought is from affection there is little thought of time, for thought and affection are then conjoined. Time is separated from affection, or becomes external thought in which there is not the delight of interior affection, as, for example, in states of compulsion, then time appears long, or becomes obliterated by slumber and sleep. It is to get away from the tediousness and undelight of merely sensual life, the length and dragging of time when there is no interior affection, that men seek a living death in sleep, and use soporifics as artificial means of obtaining it. This corresponds to what the man of the Church does when he immerses himself in merely natural things because he is too weak to fight in temptations and because he has no interior spiritual affections.

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     All states of attention to time and space and the things thereof without the perception of a use therein, thus of something spiritual and eternal, are relatively sleep, and as men on earth cannot but be more or less given to such thought their life in this world is more or less a sleep compared to spiritual life. The Lord Himself is within all space without space and within all time without time, and those who become spiritual by conjunction with Him are removed more and more from space and time into a perception of His Providence, into a state of wakefulness relatively to a sleep. To the Lord all space and time are immediately present He alone sees all things from eternity and to eternity, and the series of all consequences in a state of complete light and wakefulness, but He gives to men and angels a relative awakening to a perception of things eternal in the present. The thought of mere space and time, or of the mere present, without interior perception of series and consequences closes the interior thought of the mind, and this gives a further reason why monotony induces sleep when there is no interior opening of the mind. When the interiors of the mind are open there can be an infinity of delight in dwelling upon one thing. A merely external man desires external variety, and becomes relatively asleep when this variety does not come to delight him. He is like an animal. But an internal man desires internal variety and finds mere external variety monotonous, dull, and uninteresting, even provocative of sleep.

     The man who has some image of the Divine foresight and providence in him will be fully awake and prepared for uses and events, but to do this the interior thought of the mind must be kept open, and the affection of uses cultivated by constant reflection upon them. This is to provide our lamps with oil, and to be ready for the Lord's coming. He comes both by influx into our loves and inclinations, and by His providing opportunities of use in the loves and inclinations of other men. This is where the conjunction of influx and afflux takes place--in the uses of charity. Influx from the Lord into the love of use, and afflux from the desire of others for that use. We receive this according to the voluntary desire to do uses. "Freely ye have received, freely give."

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     Every use and cause among men requires a leader, whose watchful guidance is essential to its success and establishment. He it is who loves it more than others, who is in illustration above others to foresee its ultimate realization, or possible failure, who gives his untiring energies to it, and who rests not until it is accomplished.. This is true even among merely natural men, that they evince remarkable genius and foresight from an intense love for a cause, but it is more especially true and will be more especially true of spiritual men who have from the Lord a superior vigilance in the uses of His Providence. It is by means of such men that the Lord establishes His Church, and to them He imparts a measure of His infinite love and activity, which knows neither rest nor sleep. Without men who are ever ready and willing to sacrifice personal comfort and peace to the cause of establishing the Lord's Church in themselves and in others, and who indeed only find their personal peace and comfort in a restless activity to that end, it would never grow and live among men. And this activity is a spiritual one, and a natural activity flows therefrom. Natural activity in which there is no spiritual activity is a sleep, to awake men from which the Lord has revealed Himself in the natural world awakening them from their long sleep, and inspiring them with a lasting love for abiding in the light and day and full wakefulness of heavenly life, and with a new and enlightened trust in Him, their keeper, who neither slumbers nor sleeps.

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THEOLOGY OF ORIGEN 1903

THEOLOGY OF ORIGEN              1903

     IT has been known for some time in the New Church, that Origen, the greatest of the early Christian Fathers, believed in the existence of a spiritual sense in the Word, but it does not seem to have been generally known that, in other respects also, he approximates the doctrinal system of the New Church to such an extent as to make him, essentially, a teacher foreshadowing the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem.

     The early Christian Church, "the bright new star appearing in the starry heaven," was in the beginning an internal Church, because the Lord had revealed to it interior Divine Truths. On this account, it was a Church "which saw or, rather, was able to see Divine Truths in the light" (T. C. R. 176, 109), and though this star soon fell from the firmament, still "the men of the Christian Church could have been in fuller light, if they had acknowledged internal things, and had believed and done the truths and goods which the Lord taught." (A. C. 4489) Had they done this, their teachers and leaders would in each generation have grown more and more internally wise. The genuine truth concerning the Lord, the Word, and the regenerate life, would age by age have shone forth in clearer light. The descent of the New Jerusalem would then have been accomplished gradually, and the Lord in His Second Coming would finally have been received with open arms, instead of being rejected with contempt and hatred.

     In the remarkable phenomenon of Origen as a teacher of Theology, we see clear evidence of the Lord's merciful design for the Christian Church. Up to his time (A. D. 185-253), there had been steady internal progress in the Church, each Father improving upon his predecessors in clearness of doctrine, until the development culminated in Origen, who gathered into a focus not only the surviving rays of light from Egyptian learning and Greek philosophy, but also the most interior and as it were esoteric teachings of the apostles of the Lord, as these had been handed down through the Apostolic Fathers.

     In this combined light of Doctrine, Philosophy, and Science, he entered upon a profound study of the Word of God, with the result that the ivory gates of the inner sanctuary of the Scriptures were opened to him;--not wide open, indeed, as to Swedenborg, but ajar, enough to enable him to catch a glimpse of the glory within, and to let some of the heavenly sunshine stream forth upon the Church.

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     We may say, in truth, that the Divine Love, through Origen as a medium, made a supreme effort to save the early Christian Church from the impending destruction and to bestow upon it the fulness of light which was intended for it. But the light was rejected, for the love of spiritual dominion had already invaded the Church. Actuated by jealousy, the bishop of Alexandria declared Origen a heretic and excommunicated him. Rome followed suit, and throughout the ages the brand of heresy has never been removed. Even at the present time, though all church historians unanimously admit that Origen was the greatest and dearest of all the Fathers, they are equally unanimous in deploring and sneering it his "wild and phantastic allegorical interpretations of the Scriptures."

     In comparing his critics with one another, we have become convinced that few have seriously studied the works of Origen, but, as in their criticisms of Swedenborg, they have simply followed established prejudices and copied one another. What is even more remarkable is that none of the critics has raised the accusation that Swedenborg plagiarized from Origen, although he has been accused of stealing his ideas from so many other sources. In this instance there would be at least an appearance of justification for such a charge, as the resemblance between the two is most striking. But there is not the slightest historical evidence that Swedenborg had deeply studied Origen or any of the Fathers. His life was otherwise occupied, and his knowledge of Church History, though sound and extensive, was only general.

     For an account of the life and work of Origen the reader is referred to any of the Encyclopedias. The extracts in this article are from the collection of Origen's works in the Anti-Nicene Christian Library (Edinburg, 1869), Vols. x and xi.
ORIGEN ON THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD 1903

ORIGEN ON THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD              1903

     In the preface to his work, De Principiis, Origen states that the following is among the points clearly delivered in the teaching of the apostles: "That the Scriptures were written by the Spirit of God, and have a meaning, not such only as is apparent at first sight, but also another, which escapes the notice of most readers.

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For the words of Scripture which are written are the forms of certain mysteries (sacramentorum), and the images of Divine things. Respecting this there is but one opinion throughout the whole Church, that the whole law is indeed spiritual, but that the spiritual meaning which the law conveys is not known to all, but to those only on whom the grace of the Holy Spirit is bestowed in the word of wisdom and knowledge." (Vol. x, p. 5.)

     "We hold, then, that the law has a two-fold sense,--the one literal, the other spiritual,--as has been shown by some before us. Of the first, or literal sense, it is said, not by us, but by God speaking in one of the prophets, that 'the statutes are not good, and the judgments not good' (Ezech. xx: 25); whereas, taken in a spiritual sense, God says in the same prophet, that 'His statutes are good, and His judgments good. Yet, evidently, the prophet is not saying things which are contradictory of each other. Paul in like manner says that 'the letter killeth, and the spirit giveth life,' meaning by the 'letter' the literal sense, and by 'the spirit' the spiritual sense." (xi: 443)

     He compares the spiritual sense of Scripture to "the kingdom of heaven" which is 'like a treasure hid in a field.' The very soil and surface, so to speak, of Scripture,--that is, the literal meaning--is the field, filled with plants and flowers of all kinds; while that deeper 'spiritual' meaning are the very hidden 'treasures' of wisdom and knowledge which the Holy Spirit by Isaiah calls 'the dark and invisible and hidden treasures,' for the finding out of which the Divine help is required: for God alone can burst asunder the brazen gates by which they are enclosed and concealed, and break in pieces the iron bolts and levers by which access is prevented to all those things which are written and concealed in Genesis. (X:335)

     "Scripture frequently makes use of the histories of real events, in order to present to view more important truths which are but obscurely intimated; and of this kind are the narratives relating to the 'wells' of Abraham, and to 'marriages' and sexual relations recorded.... The Scriptures desiring us to imitate not the literal acts of those who did these things, but the spiritual." (xi:210.)

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     The reference to the "wells of Abraham" is very suggestive. Philip Smith, in his History of the Christian Church, quoting from some work to which he does not give the reference, states that "Origen wished to guard against the error of many Christians, who, while they acknowledged the same God in the Old and in the New Testament, yet ascribed to Him actions unworthy of the most cruel and unjust of men....     Those who would insist on the Letter alone were like the Philistines, who filled up with earth the wells which the servants of Abraham had digged; the spiritual interpreter was, like Isaac, to open the wells." (p. 140) This interpretation is identical with the one given in the Arcana, 3412.

     Like the Writings of the New Church, Origen not only asserts the existence of the spiritual sense, but proves it, as in the following statements:

     "The object of all these statements on our part is to show that it was the design of the Holy Spirit, who deigned to bestow upon us the Sacred Scriptures, to show that we were not to be edified by the Letter alone, or by everything in it,--a thing which we see to be frequently impossible and inconsistent; for in that way, not only absurdities, but impossibilities, would be the result; but that we are to understand that certain occurrences were interwoven in this 'visible' history, which, when considered and understood in their inner meaning, give forth a law which is useful to men and worthy of God." (x: 322.)

     Beginning by showing that the city of Jerusalem signifies 'the Jerusalem which is above,' he follows this up by proving that all the various cities in the Holy Land, which have Jerusalem for their metropolis, must be lower degrees of intelligence. "And if these are not to be understood by us in a carnal sense, but as signifying certain Divine mysteries, it certainly follows that those prophecies also, which were delivered concerning Egypt, Babylon, or Sidon, are not to be understood as spoken of those places as situated on earth." Thus also in respect to Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, etc. (x: 330, 332)

     This spiritual sense, he shows, is contained not only here and there, but throughout the Word, and in the New Testament as well as in the Old.

     "Seeing the prophetic style allowed by all to abound in figures and enigmas, what do we find when we come to the Gospels?

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Is there not hidden there also an inner, namely, a Divine Sense?.... And who, on reading the Revelations made to John, would not be amazed at the ineffable mysteries therein concealed, and which are evident even to him who does not comprehend what is written." (x: 297, 298.)

     "The same style of Scriptural narrative occurs abundantly in the Gospels, as when the devil is said to have placed Jesus on a lofty mountain, that He might show Him from thence all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory. How could this literally come to pass? And the attentive reader may notice in the Gospels innumerable other passages like these, so that he will be convinced that in those narratives which appear to be literally recorded there are inserted and interwoven things which cannot be admitted historically, but which may be accepted in a spiritual signification." (x: 317)

     The following sounds almost as if taken from the Writings of the New Church: "Many, not understanding the Scriptures in a spiritual sense, but incorrectly, have fallen into heresies." (x: 291.)

     "Now, the cause, in all the points enumerated above [about the Gnostic heretics], of the false opinions, and of the impious statements or ignorant assertions about God, appears to be nothing else than this, that the Scripture has not been understood according to its spiritual meaning, but according to the merely literal meaning." (x: 294.)

     Though Origen never discovered the word "correspondence," as the one expressive term for the nascent idea in his mind, he is clearly reaching for it in this definition:

     "Now, a 'spiritual' interpretation is of this nature: when one is able to point out what are the heavenly things, of which the Jews 'according to the flesh' served as an example and a shadow, and of what future blessings the law contains a shadow." (x: 305.)

     This spiritual relation, for which Swedenborg alone found the fitting expression of "correspondence," Origen, like Swedenborg, termed "the key of knowledge."

     "Since innumerable individuals fall into mistakes, it is not easy to pronounce, without danger, that any one knows or understands these things, which, in order to be opened up, need the key of knowledge, which key, The Saviour declared, lay with those who were skilled in the Law....

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For His words run thus: 'Woe unto you, ye teachers of the Law, who have taken away the key of knowledge: ye have not entered in yourselves, and them who wished to enter in, ye hindered." (x: 299.)

     He had also an idea of the difference between representatives and significatives, for he believed that "ill the mystical sense there were two minds of symbols,--the allegorical where the Old Testament prefigured the history of Christ and His Church; and the analogical, where the narrative typified the things of a higher world. For, as St. Paul speaks of a 'Jerusalem which is above,' Origen held the existence of a spiritual world, in which everything of this earth has its antitype. And thus passages of Scripture, which in their letter he supposed to be fictitious, were to be regarded as shadowing forth realities of the higher world which earthly things could not sufficiently typify." (See Robertson, Vol. 1., pp. 108-110.)

     Not only had he a firm belief in the existence of a spiritual sense within the Letter, but he had a distinct perception of a trine of senses, in an ascending series.

     On the basis of Solomon's teaching in the Proverbs: "Do thou describe these things to thyself in a three-fold manner" (Prov. xxii: 20, 21), Origen lays down this general rule of interpretation: "Each one, then, ought to describe in his own mind, in a three-fold manner, the understanding of the Divine letters,--that is, in order that the simple may be edified by the 'flesh' of the Scripture, for thus we term the obvious sense; while he who has ascended a certain way may be edified by the soul of the Scripture: while the perfect man may receive edification from the spiritual law, itself, which has a shadow of the good things to come. For as man consists of body, and soul, and spirit, so in the same way does Scripture, which has been arranged to be given by God for the salvation of men." (x:300, 301.)

     He then goes on to show that the literal sense is for those who are spiritually called "orphans" and "widows,"--those who "are yet children in soul and not able to call God their Father," and those who "have not yet become worthy of the heavenly Bridegroom. But the spiritual sense is for those who "possess a mature faculty of wisdom, capable of receiving spiritual teaching."

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     He recognized also that the Divine Providence, throughout the letter of the Word, had placed sign-posts pointing from the letter to the spiritual sense:

     "Now, in order that we should not believe that there is nothing in the Scriptures save what is obvious, the Word of God has arranged that certain stumbling blocks, as it were, and offences, and impossibilities, should be introduced into the midst of the law and the history, in order that we may not, through being drawn away in all directions by the mere attractive nature of the language, either fall away altogether from: the true doctrine, as learning nothing worthy of God, or, by not departing from the Letter, come to the knowledge of nothing more Divine." (x: 312, 313)

     Thus God, in revealing the Scriptures, "composed a texture of both kinds [natural and spiritual], in one style of narration, always concealing the hidden meaning more deeply; but where the historical narrative could not be made appropriate to the spiritual coherence of the occurrences, He inserted sometimes certain things which either did not take place or could not take place. . . . Now all this was done by the Holy Spirit in order that we, seeing that those events which lie on the surface can be neither true nor useful, may be led to the investigation of that truth which is more deeply concealed, and to the ascertaining of a meaning worthy of God in those Scriptures which we believe to be inspired by Him." (x: p. 312.)

     Nevertheless, like the Writings of the New Church, he was careful to guard against the rejection of the truth of the literal sense:

     "Let no one, however, entertain the suspicion that we do not believe any history in Scripture to be real, because we suspect certain events related in it not to have taken place; or that no precepts of the Law are to be taken literally, because we consider certain of them incapable of being observed.... We have therefore to state in answer, that the truth of the history may and ought to be preserved in the majority of instances.... For the passages which hold good in their historical acceptation are much more numerous than those which contain a purely spiritual meaning." (x: 323, 324)

     His ideas of the spiritual sense are admirably summed up in the following teachings concerning the veiling and unveiling of Divine Truth, both of which are involved in the idea of Revelation:

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     "As long as anyone is not converted to a spiritual understanding, a veil is placed over his heart, with which veil, i. e., a gross understanding, Scripture itself is said or thought to be covered; and this is the meaning of the statement that a veil was placed over the countenance of Moses when he spoke to the people, that is, when the Law was being publicly read aloud. But if we turn to the Lord, where also is the Word of God, and where the Holy Spirit reveals spiritual knowledge, then the veil is taken away, and with unveiled face we shall behold the glory of the Lord in the Holy Scriptures." (x:10.)

     "The splendour of the Advent of Christ, illuminating the Law of Moses by the light of Truth, has taken away that veil which had been placed over the Letter of the Law, and has unsealed, for everyone who believes in Him, all the blessings which were concealed by the covering of the Word." (x:286.)

     He considers it "exceedingly difficult not to say impossible" to open up every individual point involved in the mysteries of the Word. Even the apostle Paul, "seeking into the depths of Divine Wisdom and knowledge, and yet unable to reach the end, so to speak, and to come to thorough knowledge, exclaims in despair and amazement, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God!" Therefore, not even "the hosts of holy angels can fully understand the beginnings of all things and the limits of the universe." (x: 296, 339, 341)

     Nevertheless, by the help of the Holy Spirit, those who prayer- fully investigate the mysteries of the Word" will certainly be able to learn very much and those of a higher degree [of mind] more than those of a lower." And he therefore exhorts "every one, according to his strength, to stretch out for better works and for a clearer apprehension and understanding, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, to whom be glory forever!"

     "Let every one, then, who cares for truth, be little concerned about words and language, seeing that in every nation there prevails a different usage of speech, but let him rather direct his attention to the meaning conveyed by the words than to the nature of the words which convey the meaning." (x: 341.)

     The following seems almost like a prophecy of a future Swedenborg:

     "As men, however, make little effort to exercise their intellect, or else imagine that they possess knowledge before they really learn, the consequence is that they never begin to have knowledge; or, if there be no want of a desire, nor of an instructor, and of Divine knowledge be sought after, in a religious and holy spirit, and in the hope that many points will be opened up by the revelation of God,--since to human sense they are exceedingly difficult and obscure,-then, perhaps, he who seeks in such a manner will find what it is lawful to discover." (x: 297.)

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     And the following will affect all New Churchmen as being a spiritual prophecy of the real nature of the Second Advent of the Lord:

     "As in Deuteronomy the Law is made known with greater clearness and distinctness than in those books which were first written, so also by that Advent of the Saviour which He accomplished in His state of humiliation, when He assumed the form of a servant, that more celebrated and renowned Second Advent in the glory of His Father is pointed out, when in the Kingdom of Heaven all the saints shall live according to the laws of the everlasting Gospel; and as in His Coming now He fulfilled the Law which has a shadow of the good things to come, so also by that future, glorious Advent, will be fulfilled and brought to perfection the shadows of the Present Advent, according to the designation, employed by John in the Apocalypse, of 'an everlasting
Gospel.'" (x:338, 339.)

     (To be Continued.)

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LAST JUDGEMENT 1903

LAST JUDGEMENT              1903

[MINOR WORKS BY SWEDENBORG.]

     CONCERNING THE ENGLISH.

     1. The English appear a little to the right, in front, in a plane immediately above the head. The light with them appears more interior than with others in the Christian world, in which light the spiritual is received which inflows from above. They see clearly and instantaneously what inflows, and at once receive it; nor do they let it down into their natural so grossly as others. Hence it is that in their natural the spiritual also appears clearly, while with others it appears more obscurely. But this applies to those of them who have loved uprightness and sincerity, have acted from truth and sincerity, and have, at the same time, thought of God and religion.

     2. When the Last Judgment was being carried on, the Protestants were led to the middle, where they appeared in the following order: The English in the centre; the Dutch towards the east and south; the Germans further away towards the north; the Swedes in the centre at the north and west. All appeared according to their common genius in respect to the reception of good and truth.

     3. Few of the English become genii (the character of genii may be described), because they do not depend much on their own thought, but on authoritative utterances; for they readily receive if only they are persuaded that their authority is a learned and sincere man, and of their own nationality; their thought then appears lucid and interior.

     4. It was perceived that many of the English have received the Heavenly Doctrine, and have thereby come into the New Jerusalem; for they are of such a character that they receive the truths of faith more readily than others, and see them in interior light.

     5. I have talked with Englishmen about their inborn disposition, as to whence it comes that when they hear truths from one among themselves who is worthy of confidence they see them, and thus readily conform themselves to them; and as to whence it is that with them there appears a snowy something above their natural, that it is from heavenly light from which is intelligence; also, that it is similar with the Dutch, except that with them this snowy something does not appear, but, instead, a something firm in the confines of their spiritual and natural mind, and that, therefore, they are slower.

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The cause of the appearance of light with the English was told, namely, that it is from their life which differs from the life of all other nations. That it might be perceived that this was the cause, a comparison with the present day Italians was instituted, showing that the two governments were entirely opposite to each other. In England there is freedom to speak and write about both civil and spiritual matters, but absolutely no freedom to use deceit and cunning in order to cheat others, to lie in wait for the purpose of murder, nor to rob and kill; and that if they do these things there is no escaping the penalty. But the opposite is the case with the present day Italians. In Italy there is freedom to cheat others by cunning and deceit, and also to kill; this freedom comes from the fact of there being so many places of asylum, and also from dispensations; but there is absolutely no freedom to speak and write about the ecclesiastical or civil affairs of the kingdom, because of the inquisition. Hence it is that the Italian nation keeps all these things within, and thus a fire, which is lingering hatred, revenge and fierceness; and this fire is like the fire after a conflagration, which smoulders for a long time under the ashes, and consumes. But it is different with the English nation; that such a fire is not stored up, but at once burns out, because it is granted that nation to speak and write freely; and that the English are held in sincerity and justice, by the fact that it is not allowed them to cheat, rob, or kill, since there is then no dispensation, and nowhere a place of asylum.

     6. That the English have quite an exquisite perception that a thing is so, when it is told them from reason; they have an interior sight in respect to religion, but that this sight which they have is a receptive sight, though it is not so active as to lead them themselves to see, before the matter has been confirmed by some famous leader among them. Their interior sight is called intuitive, receptive and affirmative sight; it is also called confirmative, but confirming principally by means of elegances woven together in a spiritual manner.

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This descends and proceeds from the snowy something above their head. In the spiritual world, this is apparent with the English, therefore, also, among Christians, they are in the middle, for in the middle are those who are in interior light.

     7. It was shown how a book or writing appears to them when it has been sanctioned by a man in whose erudition they have confidence, and how a book or writing appears before it has been so sanctioned. In the latter case, when they read the book or writing they see nothing but the mere letter, or the sense of the letter; but in the former case they see the sense of the thing and not of the letter. for then, from their belief that the thing is so, they are in illustration, so that approval gives illustration. Therefore, no writing, howsoever distinguished it may be, is purchased by them, until it has been praised by a man +worthy of confidence.

     8. Because the English are of such a genius, therefore priests and also magistrates are set over them in whom they have confidence as being intelligent and wise, and then they give consent to them and to everything that they say and teach. By this means they are held in obedience, and also in doctrine. But those who are insubordinate, and also the wicked, are expelled from their society, for otherwise they would dissolve the bond and the unanimity.

     9. I have had much speech about faith with English priests, among whom were also bishops. Because it was from their doctrine, they insisted that faith alone produces a striving after good. But when they were questioned as to whether by this striving they meant a man's manifest will, they were unwilling to admit it, because everything that proceeds from man's manifest will is not, in itself good, and that it is meritorious; wherefore, by this striving, they meant an internal operation of which the understanding has but little knowledge; consequently, that such a striving after good is interiorly within faith, and that it does not become manifest except by a proneness to the deed. They were so tenacious of this opinion, and, also, of the opinion that faith produces the good which is called charity, that they had no desire to be drawn away from it, although it was told them from heaven that faith does not produce anything of charity, but that charity produces faith, and that faith before charity is not living faith, but only knowledge; further, that man ought to do good as if of himself, and that otherwise nothing of good is inrooted and implanted.

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But to this they shut their ears. It was told them that one of their cleverest men* had thought out reasons and ways, to the number of a hundred, to confirm the doctrine that faith produces charity; and that he had wandered along each way, as is done in the spiritual world by thinking that the thing is so, but still, when he came to the end of the way, he saw, from the illustration given him, that he was wandering, which he as often confessed. Moreover, their solemn exhortation to the Holy supper was read to them, in which are the following words:** ["The way and means to be received as worthy partakers of that Help Table, is, first, to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God's commandments, and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life; and if ye shall perceive your offences to be such as are not only against God, but also against your neighbours, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction according to the utmost of your powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other, and being likewise ready to forgive others that have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offences at God's hands, for otherwise the receiving of the Holy Communion doth nothing else but increase your damnation. Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of God, a hinderer or slanderer of His Word, an adulterer, or he in sin, malice or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent you of your sins, or else come not to that Holy Table; lest after the taking of that Holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you, as he entered into Judas, and fill you full of all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul."] Then they thought, being unwilling to say it aloud, that this is for the laity, and that the doctrine is for the clergy.

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Wherefore it was announced to them, that life according to the faith of the laity saves, but life according to the doctrine of the clergy condemns, since in the faith of the clergy there is no life nor in their life any faith, but these are in the life and faith of the laity.
     * This was the author of The Whole Duty of Man. See S. D. 59588 and Cont. L. J. 46.--TR.
     ** In the original there is here a blank space indicating that the Exhortation referred to, or some extract from it, is to be inserted.-TR.

     10. In the spiritual world, images and many other things can be formed from ideas of thought, and can be presented to view; this is peculiar to that world. These English priests, therefore, set about forming an image in the likeness of a man from the ideas of their thoughts concerning faith alone, or concerning faith separate from charity. When this image was finished it appeared monstrous, not unlike Dagon the Idol of the Philistines in Ekron; therefore, it was cast into a certain lake.

     11. In the spiritual world, it is said of the English that in their sermons they love elegance, and that such elegance has indeed a delightful sound in the ears, but gives little instruction, especially
when, by means of it, they treat of faith and of justification thereby; that they then so arrange their words that one scarcely knows whether any good work is to be done or not. They so weave together the series of their conclusions, that it sounds as if some good is to be done, when yet all the conclusions involve that faith produces good works unconsciously to the recipients.

     12. In the spiritual world, the appearance of the earth is similar to its appearance in the natural world. There are city places there and also country places; those who in our world have lived in cities also live in cities there; in like manner, those who have lived in the country. Moreover, the cities in the spiritual world are like the cities in the natural world, but this only in respect to the streets and public squares: they are not similar in respect to the buildings, nor do the good and evil dwell in them promiscuously; but in the middle of the city, where, also, it is more elevated, dwell the best who are the governors and magistrates; at the east those who are in the clear good of love; at the west those who are in the obscure good of love; at the south those who are in the clear light of truth; at the north those who are in the obscure light of truth. The good of love and the truth of faith decreases from the middle to the outmost boundaries. Since the cities there are similar to the cities in our world, there is also a London there. This is like our London in respect to the streets, but not in respect to the houses, nor in respect to the inhabitants and the quarters in which are their dwellings.

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I was led into it in the spirit, and wandered through it and recognized it. And I spoke with some there, to the effect that men in the world would be astonished, and would scarcely believe that they who live in London also see London after death, and, if they are good, dwell in their own city although in a different way. They said that neither would they have believed it if they were in the world, because such a thing does not fall ill with sensual ideas, but only with rational ideas illustrated by spiritual light; and that, when in the world, they had not known that what is spiritual appears before a spirit, as what is material appears before a man, and that all that exists in the spiritual world is from a spiritual origin, as all that exists in the natural world is from a material origin; in like manner the houses of a city, which are not built as in the world, but rise up in a moment, created by the Lord; and so with all other things. They rejoiced that they were now in England as before, and in its great city. And they said that there is also another London below, which is not unlike their London in respect to the streets, but is unlike it in respect to the houses and in respect to the inhabitants, in that the evil dwell in the middle and the upright in the outmost boundaries; and that those come into that London from the London in the world who had not been in any spiritual love, nor hence in any spiritual faith, but had indulged in the pleasures of the body and the lusts of the mind; and that in the middle, where the evil dwell, that city sinks, by turns, into the deep, and thus the evil are cast down into hell; and that the chasm is made whole again, and again the evil are collected into the middle of it, and are again swallowed up by hell. This is in the world of spirits; it is different in heaven and in hell.

     CONCERNING THE DUTCH.

     13. The Dutch are quite clearsighted, and are constantly steadfast in their own religion, not receding from it unless entirely convinced, and, even if convinced, they still turn the back. They are strong in judgment from natural rational lumen, and from this they take a just view of matters in the world, and especially of matters of business. Their light appears somewhat obscure, because their spiritual light is conjoined with natural light, and this because they are continually thinking about business.

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     14. That snowy something which is with the English does not appear with the Dutch, but in its place something firm, which is a sign that they are constant in the things of their religion; but there is this difference between the two nations, that the Dutch judge of civil, moral, and also of spiritual things, from themselves and not from others, and they reflect especially upon intellectual matters, and upon the chain of reasonings.

     15. The Dutch appeared in the angle towards the east and south; at the east, because they love religion unadorned and without images, that they may regard it as it is in itself and not from images; and at the south, because they excell in understanding.

     16. It is a common trait of the Dutch nation, that they are strong in judgment from natural lumen, from which they take an exceedingly just view of things, especially of things of the world; and because they are continually thinking about their business, spiritual light conceals itself in the natural, on which account, also, they are able to grasp what the truth is in religion, and yet, when they are convinced, they still turn the back.

     17. The Dutch are not so eager for money, as for business itself; business is their end and love and is in the first place, while money is the mediate end, and is loved for the sake of business, and thus is in the second place. In heaven, those who are of such a character are loved, each one being estimated according to use. It is different with those who are avaritious, as the Jews are, with whom money is in the first place, the very end and love, and business in the second; theirs is avarice, which is sordid, in the degree that the love is for money alone.

     18. On the day* of the Last Judgment, those of the Dutch who had done nothing of good from any religion or conscience, but solely on account of their reputation, that, for the sake of gain, they might appear sincere, were cast out of their cities, villages and lands. For, when the regard for reputation and gain is taken away, as is the case in the spiritual world, such men rush into every kind of wickedness, plundering whomsoever they come across when they are in fields or without the cities.

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I saw a great number of such men cast into a dark chasm, stretching obliquely under the eastern tract, and also into a chasm stretching under the southern tract. This was seen on the 9th day of January, 1757. Those only were left, with whom there was religion, and, from religion, conscience.
     * In a corresponding passage in the Continuation concerning the Last Judgment, n. 53, the text reads: "In the days of the Last Judgment."--TR.

     19. I was in the spirit, and it was then granted me to wander through quite a notable city inhabited by the Dutch. In this city, all the streets were seen to be roofed over, and provided with wooden gates which were closed, on which account there was no wandering about the city without the permission of one of the Governors. But, afterwards, it was granted me to speak with the magistrates, who dwelt in the middle of the city. By these I was explored as to whence I came and what I wanted; and when they understood that I had come merely for the purpose of seeing, in order that I might publish to their brethren who were still in the world what their lot was and what kind of dwellings they had, then they related many things to me, and especially these: That they who dwelt in that city were among the prudent and intelligent of that nation; that there were many such cities, distinct from each other, according to the affections and perceptions of truth from good; that they were in the world of spirits, and that, after some time passed there, they are elevated thence into heaven, introduced into societies there, and become angels; also, that the city was double and triple, or a city under a city, and when one descends by a flight of steps, he comes into a new city.

     (To be Continued.)

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Editorial Department 1903

Editorial Department       Editor       1903

     By a mistake of the binder, a number of copies of the February Life were sent out in wrong form, pp. 73-88 being reduplicated, while pp. 89-104 were left out. On the return of such defective copies to the Book Room, correct copies will be substituted.

     

     THE Rev. Charles E. Doering has accepted the appointment to succeed Mr. C. Hj. Asplundh as Treasurer of the Academy of the New Church, and as Manager of the Academy's Book Room. He has also been appointed Treasurer of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. He will be assisted in the publishing department by a literary committee, consisting of Rev. C. Th. Odhner and Rev. A. Acton.

     THE POSTHUMOUS WORK ON THE LAST JUDGMENT.

     We publish in this issue the first installment of a translation of Swedenborg's posthumous work On the Last Judgment. This work was written about the year 1760, as a sequel to the work On the Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed (London, 1758), but was not published by Swedenborg, who, instead, in 1763, published the Continuation concerning the Last Judgment, which contains several extracts from the unpublished work. The latter remained in MS. until 1816, when a Latin edition was published by Prof. Im. Tafel, as an appendix to the Diarium Spirituale. From this text the Rev. T. B. Hayward prepared an English translation, part of which was published in the New Jerusalem Magazine for 1864. The present translator has carefully compared the Latin edition of 1846 with the photolithographed copy of the Manuscript itself. The work, as will be seen, is replete with teachings which will be new to most of our readers.
ISSUE, IN ENGLAND 1903

ISSUE, IN ENGLAND              1903

     In the midst of all the mental activity excited by the endorsement, by Convention, of Mr. Reed's report on the status of the Writings, only one member in the whole Convention, one of the younger ministers, came out publicly in an unequivocal acknowledgment of the Divinity of those Writings. All the public utterances an the subject made by the other Convention ministers were directed to supporting the position laid down by Mr. Reed, which, especially, denied that the Writings are a Divine Revelation. Still there was some activity of thought on the question; it was brought to the attention of the Church, and her members were placed in a position where they could, if they chose, think upon it and arrive at a definite conclusion. But in England there was not even so much as this. Indifference as to the whole matter seems to have characterized the writers of the Church there, and its public journals.

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A bare reference to the Convention Report was all the public notice taken of it in England; and. as far as any discussion of the subject is concerned, this has been left entirely to the American and Continental papers. In fact, until quite recently, there has not appeared for a long time in England a single public utterance on the authority of the Writings, nor has any effort been made to bring this question, the most important that can possibly come before a New Churchman, to the attention of the Church.

     Lately, however, there has appeared in Morning Light a sermon which brings up the question, and in which the writer, the Rev. James F. Russ, gives expression of his views in regard to it. In the course of this sermon. Mr. Buss says: "The affirmative principle is to believe that whatever the Lord has revealed in the Word and the Doctrines of the Church is Divinely true and must of necessity be admitted to be true 'because the Lord has said it;'" and later on, he exhorts to a cultivation of this affirmative principle "which embraces Revealed Truth, the Word in the Letter and the Writing of the Church, which are the Lord's revelation of the Word in the spirit--because the Lord has revealed it, and it therefore must be true, consequently on account of its being Divine." This language, though emphatic in the right direction, still leaves something to be desired. For while Mr. Buss is clear and explicit in affirming that the Writings are Divine, that they are a "revelation of the Word in the spirit," that whatever they contain is to be believed "because the Lord has said it," yet he fails, whether unwittingly or not, to set forth the necessary conclusion that therefore they are the Word of God.

     This criticism may seem like splitting hairs, but a little reflection will show that there is more in it than at first appears. In itself, it matters little whether a man is willing to call the Writings the Word or not, the essential thing being that he regard them as the Lord's own teachings and not Swedenborg's. If, contrary to the well known usage of the Writings, he chooses, at all times and under all circumstances, to confine the meaning of the term "The Word" to the Letter, then, of course, he will never he willing to call the Writings the Word. In this case we can excuse him for his views, as arising from ignorance of the language of Revelation. Rut this ignorance cannot be pleaded by New Church ministers and teachers and with them, therefore, it is a matter of importance whether or not they acknowledge the Writings not only as Divine, but also as being therefore the Word of God. Not that there is any special virtue in the mere use of the term, but because the use of the term is a test of what is really meant by "Divine." Even the Convention will acknowledge that the Writing are a "Divine" Revelation when yet in the same breath they add that it contains but a little of what the lowest angels know, and that it is not God's Word. Even the Unitarians will say that our Lord was a "Divine" Man, but they will not call Him their Lord. Apparently Mr. Buss is much in advance of the Convention position, but is he, who so emphatically declares that what is revealed in the Writings is true because the Lord has said it, willing to acknowledge that those Writings are therefore the very Word of God? When the minister is ready to teach that the Writings are the Lord's Word, then for the first time will the Church come to see that they are really a Divine Revelation.

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EPISTLES AND THE WRITINGS 1903

EPISTLES AND THE WRITINGS              1903

     Driven from pillar to post, those who deny that the Writings are the Word of God have lately found it necessary to make room for the Epistles of Paul as a secondary kind of Divine Revelation, in order to find some historical precedent for a Divine Revelation which still is not the Word of God. This idea has found recent expression in several quarters, and a correspondent in the January Life seems quite surprised at our statement that the Epistles are not in any sense a Divine Revelation. This, he remarks, "will sound strange to most ears. [Old Church ears, chiefly.] Paul himself seemed to be of another opinion, as may be seen in I Cor. 2: 13. See also Chap. 7: 6 of the same Epistle, where he distinguishes between what he writes by permission and what he writes by command." The writer then throws doubt upon Swedenborg's statement that Paul "took all things from himself," by reminding us that "Swedenborg did not publish this statement," and he concludes that this statement really means that Paul "took the most of what he wrote 'of himself from the Lord,' "--just as the recent Report of the Convention claims for Swedenborg.

     We, on our part, have been as much astonished at our correspondent's position, as he is at ours. We had supposed that every reader of the Writings admitted that the Epistles are not in any sense a Divine Revelation, for the teachings on this subject are unmistakable, both in the Spiritual Diary and in Swedenborg's letter to Dr. Beyer.

     While we are told in these documents that the Pauline and the other Epistles are good and useful books of doctrine for the Church, we are also told that Paul "did not retain even a little word of what the Lord taught, nor does he mention a single one of His parables; thus he received nothing of the life and preaching of the Lord." (See Doc. 224; A. E. 815; S. D. 4212.) And while Paul certainly enjoyed a certain kind of "inspiration," this consisted only in a general "influx into the things which were with him," such as "enables even the wicked to preach well and write letters." (S. D. 4212, 6061.) And we are taught, in fact, that the Epistles of Paul "were permitted in the Church, lest those who are of the Church should do evil to the Word of the Lord. For if a man lives in an evil way and still believes the holy Word, he does evil: to Heaven; therefore the Epistles of Paul have been permitted; and therefore Paul was not allowed to take a single parable, and not even a doctrine, from the Lord, and to expound and explain it, but he took all things from himself. The Church does indeed explain the Word of the Lord, but by means of the Epistles of Paul; on account of which, also, it everywhere recede from the good of charity, and accepts instead the truth of faith." (S. D. 4824.)

     Are all these doctrinal statements to be discredited simply because Swedenborg did not Publish them? The real question is, are they true or not? Swedenborg certainly wrote them, and his sources of information were undoubtedly superior to those of his present detractors in the New Church.

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     But our correspondent claims for Paul what Paul, with all his egotism, dared not claim for himself. He never claimed Divine inspiration, or that his epistles are Divine Revelation. He was merely the exponent of the Doctrine which he had received from the other apostles. The statement in the A. V. (I Cor. 7: 6) that "I speak these things by permission, and not of commandment" has been wrongly translated and conveys a totally wrong impression. If our correspondent will consult the original he will find that it should be rendered "But these things I say from a fellow-feeling, and not from duty." And the "fellow-feeling" was certainly a vile one: "It is good for a man not to touch a woman; nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife. For I would that all men were even as I myself [i. e., unmarried]. But if they cannot contain themselves, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn."

     But apart from this, what intrinsic or extrinsic evidence is there for classifying the Writings with the Epistles? What do they have in common? Did Swedenborg, like Paul, receive nothing from the Lord? Did he not explain a single one of the parables or doctrines of the Lord? Did he take all things from himself' Do the Writings lead to "faith alone?" Are they merely given by Divine Permission, as a sop, to divert Christians from profaning the Word? Even the most negative of New Churchmen could hardly take this view. Far from being in any sense a Divine Revelation, the Epistles are merely sermons by early Christians, but still "good and useful books," so far as they agree with the Lord's own genuine Doctrine. It was not upon them that the Lord founded the Christian Church, but upon the Gospels. They bear the same relation to the Gospels that the works of Clowes. Hindmarsh, Noble, and others bear to the inspired Writings of the New Church, which are the "everlasting Gospel" of the Lord's Second Coming.
WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 1903

WHAT OF THE NIGHT?              1903

     "The morning cometh, and the night also." How wonderfully, day by day, this prophecy is being confirmed by the signs of the times. As the light of the Word is dawning clearer and brighter upon the Lord's New Church, in the same degree the darkness of Egypt is gathering thicker and blacker upon the Old. The darkness in the Old Church is increasing because "the morning cometh," for the light of Heaven is darkness to Hell. Every ray of light from the New Revelation produces a corresponding shadow in the vastated Church. Every truth that is offered from Heaven is turned into its opposite falsity by the Christian world.

     This effect of the Second Coming is particularly evident in the treatment of the Word by the modern scientific world. The Higher Criticism, for instance, is easily recognized as a new shadow produced in the Old Church by the revelation of the internal sense to the New Church. The Writings reveal the difference between the signification of "Jehovah" and "Elohim," and explain why the one Divine name predominates in certain portions of the Word, and why the other prevails in other portions. (See A. C. 89, 300.)

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But no sooner was this revealed out of Heaven, than the powers of darkness presented an opposite "revelation" on this very point. The biblical critics discovered that the use of the name Jehovah in some parts and of Elohim in others offered a crushing evidence of fraud, of wholesale interpolations, in the composition of the sacred volume. "Higher Criticism" sprang into life, and with shouts of triumph drove its dissecting knife into the 'good old book," pretending to uncover layer after layer of spurious documents inserted among the original ones by a long series of "Jehovistic" and "Elohistic" scribes, until, like an onion that is peeled to its core, there is nothing left of the original Scripture.

     Thus also in regard to the revelation concerning the Ancient Churches and the Ancient Word. The Lord in His Second Advent disclosed the long-forgotten "secret of the ages," and Divine Providence at the same time led men to investigate the ruins and dust-heaps of Egypt and Chaldea. Records of Ancient civilizations were brought to light which most conclusively confirm all that is revealed in the Writings concerning the Ancient Church and the revelation that was given to it. But has all this led the Christian world any nearer to the Light? No, for every new archeological discovery has been eagerly seized upon to serve the kingdom of darkness, to confirm the universal denial of the Word, its inspiration and authority.

     Last month Professor Friederich Delitsch, the greatest of all Assyriologists, delivered a lecture before a most distinguished audience in Berlin, comprising the Kaiser and his wife, the imperial chancellor, and others of the court. If the whole theological and scientific world was profoundly stirred by Prof. Delitsch's lecture on "Eabel and Bible" of a year ago, what will be the effect of this last lecture, in which it was boldly declared that "the 'revelation' of the Old Testament, scientifically considered, is untenable."

     As a result of the recent investigations in the valley of the Euphrates, Science has now come to the irresistible conclusion "that the whole Jewish code of ethics, laws and commandments, was not original, but had been taken bodily from Babylonian and Assyrian writing." The lecturer "threw on the screen pictures of tablets dating back 5000 years before Christ, containing the Ten Commandments, which the Old Testament tells us were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai."

     This, he held, effectually disposed of any supposed Divine origin of the Decalogue. And he showed further that almost the whole of the Jewish ritual, the Sabbath, the unleavened bread, the festivals, the high priest's breastplate, etc., had a Babylonian origin, no less than many of the "pretended" miracles of the Old Testament. The prophets were similarly proven mere plagiarists, and the beautiful 45th Psalm (describing the marriage of the Lord and His Church) was degraded to a mere Oriental love-ditty. "If this psalm be considered Messianic," said Delitsch, "it reminds me of the excesses of the monk who crosses himself three times, if in the Latin psalm the word 'maria' (meaning 'seas') is mentioned. After all, we do not need such 'revelation,' but only the revelation which we find in our hearts."

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     Not only the Old Testament, but also the New, was torn to pieces by the lecturer, and particularly the Lord's miracles, which he compared to magical tricks common among the ancient Babylonians. In conclusion, he stated "that the aim of his investigations was to further the development of religion on the basis laid down by the Kaiser."

     To the men of the New Church the discoveries of Archeology are most welcome; they are so many rays of light from the Word of the Ancient Church, gloriously illustrating and confirming the Word of the New Church. And thus, to them, "the morning cometh," even out of the ruins of Egypt and Chaldea. But to the Old Christian Church the light from the monuments bring darkness and destruction. The walls of Jerusalem and Samaria are broken down. As of old, Israel and Judah are now again being devastated by the hordes of Ausyria and Babylon, and the remnant of the people, the remnant of faith in the Letter of the Word, is carried into captivity by false reasoning and false science. For, "although there will be enlightenment to those who are of the New Church, still it will be night to those who are of the Old." (A. C. 10134)
Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     Our Brazilian New Church contemporary, A Nova Jerusalem, in its October number commences a biography of Swedenborg, "o revelador da Nova Egreja." The editor, in his "declarcao," announces his journal as a pronounced opponent of "Egreja Romana, das communhoes christas, do espiritismo e do materialismo," and pursues his program with much fearlessness and ability.



     Dr. H. K. Carroll, in the New York Christian Advocate for Jan. 8, publishes the annual statistics of the various churches in the United States for 1902. We learn that the net gain of all the denominations during the past year were 720 ministers, 1,251 churches, and 403,743 communicants, which is considerably less than half of the gain during 1901. The Church of the New Jerusalem is credited with 149 ministers, 157 churches, and 7,802 communicants. These figures, we think are nearly correct.



     The New Church Messenger for January 21st is devoted to the subject of "womanhood" and all the leading articles are written by the representative "new women" of the Convention. Swaggering independence, phantastic notions, and a mass of words without point or wisdom, seem to be characteristic features of the "new womanhood." We are thankful that there is still left something of the old womanhood in the New Church,--"dos ewig weibliche," as Goethe calls it.

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     It was a relief to receive, a week later, the "Swedenborg number" of the Messenger, dealing exclusively with the life and work of Emanuel Swedenborg, and profusely illustrated by portraits and pictures.



     The London Swedenborg Society has just issued a second edition of J. J. Garth Wilkinson's translation of Swedenborg's philosophical work On, the Infinite and the Final Causes of Creation. In addition to the matter contained in the first edition, including Dr. Wilkinson's "Introductory Remarks," the present edition contains also an "Introduction" by the Rev. L. F. Hite, and a short index to the work prepared by the editors, Rev. James Hyde and Rev. Isaiah Tansley. The whole makes an attractive looking volume of about 300 pp., uniform in size with the Latin edition of De Infinito published in 1886 by Messrs Paul, Kegan, Trench and Co.



     One result of the illness of the King of England from appendicitis, we learn from Morning Light, has been to bring to public notice Swedenborg's teaching respecting the functions of the vermiform appendix. Among the numerous letters from doctors and laymen, which appeared in the public Dress at the time, was one in the London Daily News, for June 26, 1902, signed "J. M.," which contained a citation from the Animal Kingdom, Vol. II., p. 138, describing the important uses performed by that ill understood but very obstrusive little organ,--which so many of our medical men regard as nothing more than a troublesome superfluity inflicted on man by blundering Nature.



     Most New Churchmen feel more or less repugnance to what is called the Biblical novel; but, in these days of "higher" criticism, it is not often that a protest is made in the Old Church against this class of literature. Such a protest, however,--and a vigorous one--was recently made by a reviewer in the London Daily Chronicle, who, writing some weeks ago under the heading "Misusing the Bible," confesses "to having but small enthusiasm for that class of fiction which attempts to retail Scriptural narrative in popular form. If it confines itself to the incidents recorded in Holy Scripture, it is certain to spoil them in the telling. And if it seeks to fill out the original history with imaginative decoration, the confusion between fact and fiction becomes hopeless. Added to which, there is a sense of the impropriety of' tampering with Holy Writ' which must, we fancy, affect every thoughtful reader of this sort of amalgam of ancient and modern texts. The Bible stories are not, we submit, a fitting material for modern fiction at all; in substance and in association they should be sacred from the hand of the bookmaker."



     A most remarkable set of coincidences in the lives of two New Churchmen is noted in a recent issue of Morning Light which quotes from a letter written in 1891 by Dr. Hill, a former president of Harvard University, to Mr. Benn Pitman, who inserted it in his book, "The Life and Labours of Sir Isaac Pitman."

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Dr. Hill states that he was informed by a minister in Somerville, Mass., that among his parishioners was a man named Isaac Pitman. This gentleman, when in England, called on his English cousin of the same name. The two men were of no known relationship, but "they were of the same age, of the same name, with the same zeal for shorthand, with the same devotion to Swedenborg and with the same adherence to two or three other isms." among them, it would appear, being homoeopathy and vegetarianism. Dr. Hill concludes that these coincidences "seem to indicate the probability of mental peculiarity inherited from a common ancestor several generations back." They are certainly not the result of mere chance, and in view of what the Writings teach as to the recurrence of hereditary dispositions which have lain dormant for several generations, Dr. Hill's conjecture seems a not unlikely one.



     New Churchmen in the far off island of Mauritius are receiving some plain teaching respecting the state of the Christian world, which is as rare in the established societies of the New Church as it is faithful to the Writings of that Church. At one of the recent meetings of the Port Louis Society. Mr. Ackroyd, the preacher, speaking of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, showed that the teaching there given is not too general for individual application, as is so often supposed; he then went on to show that the application was to the Old Church, actually and now,-a Church which is "vastated by evils of life and falses of doctrine." At the following monthly meeting he spoke even more plainly to the same effect, showing that at this day the New Church was in the presence of two principles "which prevail in and animate the Old Church,--faith alone, and the profanation of the things of heaven and the Church" and he quoted to his hearers, the Lord's words. "Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins." If our ministers would give their congregations more of this kind of teaching, we should hear a great deal less about the "permeation theory," and would see less of its effects,--empty pews, and reduced membership.



     The Creation Story of Genesis I. A Sumerian Theogony and Cosmogony. By Dr. Hugo Radau. Chicago. 1902. 70 pp. The author enters here into a very thorough comparison of the Hebrew and the early Babylonian accounts of Creation, and comes to the conclusion that Moses, or whoever wrote the Biblical story of Creation, was the first higher critic, who criticised and reduced the earlier Babylonian-Semitic account so as to make it conformable with his own Hebrew theories! Professor Sayce, of Cairo, reviewing Dr. Radau's book, agrees with that author "in believing that the writer of Genesis I. had a Babylonian account before him. Whether, however, it was the Assyrianized epic, which we have recovered from the library of Nineveh, is quite another matter.

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The author of that epic drew his materials from older compositions, and it may have been one of these that was used by the Hebrew writer." (Open Court,. Feb.). It is of interest to compare with this the statements of Swedenborg that "the first seven chapters of Genesis were copied from the Ancient Word, and so exactly that not even one little word is wanting." (T. C. R. 279; S. S. 103; De Verbo 15.) We infer from this, that the documents copied by Moses were portions of the Ancient Word, preserved in the immense libraries of Egypt, to which Moses, brought up in all the learning of the Egyptians, had free access. The Egyptians, above all other nations of the Ancient Church, were noted for their conservative literalism, and this very fact explains the many differences that exist between the Assyro-Babylonian and the Hebrew accounts, and the greater authenticity of the latter. Corrupted texts of the Ancient Word might, indeed, be received in Babylon, when they would not be tolerated in scientific Egypt.



     A Trine of Views. By the Rev. Adolph Roeder. This is a little tract of sixteen pages, addressed directly to the members of the New Church. The author divides the members of the New Church into three general categories: the "liberalists," the "habitualists," and the "literalists." The first, of course, are his ideal New Churchmen,--the men who look upon Swedenborg simply as one in a series of such "leaders of thought" as Madame Guyon, Boehme, Rousseau, Berkeley, Froebel, Darwin, etc.,--the men who hold themselves loftily above such external things as ecclesiasticisms, but nevertheless occasionally condescend to affiliate more or less with the Swedenborgian organizations, although classifying these with all other "machines," such as the Catholic Church, the Buddhists, and the Salvation Army.

     By the "habitualists" the author means the great ignobile vulgus who are neither students nor thinkers, and who stand aghast at such mystical terms as "proprium," "limbus," "the first finite," etc. He treats these with great good humour, but draws a horrid picture, on the wall, of the class of "literalists." These are the ones, who, albeit students of the Writings, are no thinkers, have no idea of discrete degrees, but mix things up in the most frightful manner. From the fact that there are 94 miles between Philadelphia and New York, they draw the general inference that there is the same distance between all other cities in the world, a conception which Mr. Roeder justly characterizes as "not only false, but absurd." They also ascribe exactly the same Divine authority to the scientific works of Swedenborg as to the theological Writings, and are trying to establish a monarchy in the United States.

     It is a pity that the writer does not tell his readers where these "literalists" may be found, so that they may be promptly put before a court "de lunatico inquirendi." Until this be done, we will have to ascribe his "third category," with the rest of his theology, to an excessively active but rather shallow imagination.

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     Outlines of the Religion and Philosophy of Swedenborg. By Theophilus Parsons. A revised and enlarged edition. N. C. Board of Publication. New York. 382 pp. This work, which first appeared in 1876, is being advertised as a New Church Classic," and so it is in regard to literary style and ability to expound the general doctrines of the New Church in a popular and yet philosophical manner. The book would, indeed, be an admirable missionary work, were it not marred at the outset by an entirely false conception of the nature of the Revelation given to the New Church.

     On this subject the late Prof. Parsons contradicts himself in a most lamentable way. After reviewing the chain of successive Revelations, he comes to the Writings of the New Church which are excellently introduced by the following lucid passage: "Now another revelation is given. As the Christian revelation explained and carried forward the work of the Israelitish revelation, so this new revelation explains and completes the work of the Christian revelation. As the Christian revelation advanced so far beyond the Israelitish revelation as to rest upon its own miracles of mercy instead of the terrors and trumpet-tones of Sinai, so this new revelation advances one step further, and appeals only to reason and faith. For this is the second Christian revelation."

     The reader is thus, at first, led to a perception of the homogeneity of all Divine Revelations, each being equally the inspired Word of God, and the Writings the crown and fulfillment of them all. And yet the author, soon afterward, stultifies himself and separates the Writings from the Word of
God by stating that "this new revelation is indeed imperfect in many respects." "It is not given by inspiration. No intelligent receiver of the truths taught by Swedenborg regards him as inspired." "His words were not God's words, but his own; full, as we believe, of truth and wisdom, but limited in their scope, and liable to error."

     It is a curious feature of the form of charity among our New England brethren, that they constantly claim that every "intelligent" or "sincere" New Churchman must think as they do in respect to the nature of the Writings. According to this view, Swedenborg himself was neither intelligent nor sincere, for he certainly claimed that "the Lord filled him with His Spirit," and that the Revelation to the New Church was given "from His own mouth and by inspiration." (T. C. R. 779; Cor. 18, etc.)

     Among the hundreds of introductory works that have been published by the Convention and the Conference, there is scarcely one that does not in this manner belie Swedenborg himself. While laboring to convince the public of the truth of the Writings, the missionaries themselves at the very outset offer the most cogent reasons for doubting and denying the credibility of Swedenborg. What wonder, then, that their efforts are crowned with little if any fruits, and that the New Church does not grow either externally or internally in the bodies that commit ecclesiastical suicide by publishing and republishing such works as these.

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THIRD ONTARIO ASSEMBLY 1903

THIRD ONTARIO ASSEMBLY       F. E. WAELCHLI       1903

     THE Third Ontario Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem was held in Berlin in the hall of worship of the Carmel Church, on Wednesday, December 31st, 1902, and Thursday, January 1st, 1903.

     There were present eighty members of the General Church, of whom forty-nine were from Berlin, seventeen from Toronto, and fourteen from ten other places in Canada, the United States, and England. There were also present thirty-seven visitors and young people, of whom sixteen were from Berlin, nine from Toronto, and twelve from seven other places in Canada and the United States. Total attendance, one hundred and seventeen.

     LITURGICAL SERVICES.

     The first session, on Wednesday afternoon, was opened by Bishop Pendleton with religious services and an address on the subject of our existing ritualistic or Liturgical forms. He said that the printing of a new Liturgical service brings this subject actively forward. Other forms of Church activity and life have been well developed among us, but the forms of worship have been largely neglected; and our people seem to be passive or indifferent on this subject. We have become accustomed to forms that are cold and intellectual, lacking in humility, fervor and devotion. Man may indeed be saved without religious ceremony and the forms of ritual; still these are necessary instrumentalities and the Church cannot be established without them. Hence the forms of worship are enjoined both in the Sacred Scripture and the Writings. He believed that no member of our body was in doubt about the use in general of external worship, but what is needed is a fuller realization of its uses.

     He then spoke of the work on the new Liturgy, which is of necessity progressing slowly. The section containing the hymns is nearly complete, comprising about one hundred and thirty-five hymns of a high order of poetic and religious merit; these are now being fitted to excellent music by Professor George Blackman, of Chicago. Some work has been done on all the other parts of the Liturgy, but we cannot hope for completion for several years to come.

     A discussion of the Address then followed. Some of the members stated that they felt that the ritual used in their Society did not till the requirements, and expressed their pleasure that a new one was now to be introduced; others took no exception to the ritual to which they were accustomed, but expressed their confidence that what had been prepared would be found to be good.

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One speaker said that it is not the form which gives quality; that all worship is valuable to us in so far as it emulates the spirit of the Lord's Prayer; and that worship in the Church cannot be what it should be unless our every day life is worship.--Considerable difference of opinion was manifested in regard to the usefulness of hymns. On the one side it was thought that hymns which have been used in the past would recall old states which it is not desirable to recall; that new hymns could not equal the Psalmody for excellence; and that the Psalmody is to be preferred because it is the Word, and, therefore, singing from it must effect a closer conjunction with the Lord since the Lord is present in His Own. On the other side it was held that hymns are as necessary in worship as are prayers other than those given in the Word; that they are especially of use to children and the simple; that the fact that some of us have old states associated with certain hymns is no reason why we should deprive those of their benefit who do not have such associations, or who can rid themselves of them; also, that simple music, such as that of hymns, is more adapted for giving expression to the affections than much of that of the Psalmody, as the mind is then intent not upon rendering the music, but upon the worship of the Lord.

     NEW CHURCH EDUCATION.

     Rev. E. S. Hyatt next read a paper, entitled "The Lord Alone Teaches."

     The paper, which dealt with the education of children up to the age of 14 or 15, showed that man's faculties can be rightly educated only by the teachings given in the Word. Spiritual work is, really, the only work of Church schools,--except reading and writing as a means of communication, and arithmetic as a basis for the rational. Other knowledges are valuable only so far as they are used to confirm spiritual truths, and as ultimates upon which those truths may rest.

     But, as our children must look to a life of uses in the world, it is reasonable that there should be intermediate schools, where the technicalities of business may be taught. Still, the schools in which preparation for spiritual life predominates should as far as possible, precede; for what is first received remains within, and call be used to put spiritual ends into the uses of the world, which can then be performed with a sincerity and a true rationality not otherwise possible. And these are acknowledged, and respected, in those whom they deal with or employ, even by the worldly who are not concerned with such things for themselves. Thus, what the Lord teaches, should be altogether the must prominent thing in primary schools of the Church, and in such as are verging towards the intermediate.

     Because almost all must be regenerated in the performance of uses in the world, it is a law of order that there should be an intermediate state in which the technical schools of the world may be used for what they can give,--the treasures of Egypt,--which, inspired by the previously learned principles of the Church, may be used for their confirmation and ultimation. But, granting this much to technical schools, it would be desirable, where time allows, to teach Hebrew in the Church schools, as the ultimate of the Word, remembering that printing was introduced primarily that the Word might be brought within the reach of all; also, as time and opportunity allow, to have primary instruction in the sciences, such as Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, etc., and especially Anatomy.

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These should be taught chiefly to point out in them confirmations and illustrations of Divine Laws, and to lead the pupil to a correct estimate of the facts afterwards borrowed from the Egyptians. Primary Geography, History and Literature call also he used on the same principles; also, Drawing, for the development of the sense of form.

     The education here outlined, and which it is the endeavor of the Parkdale School to give, may be thought by some to fall short of the requirements of the business world; yet, after the age of 15, a good average acquirement of necessary business knowledges can be attained in three months, which will equal the acquirements of children of the same age who have devoted to them all the previous school years; and there will probably be a more interior grasp, because the principles which the Lord alone teaches have first been implanted.

     Mr. R. B. Caldwell: A particular use of New Church schools is to train young men to think that they are to be of use to the world, rather than the world of use to them. A young man who has use as his end will seldom he out of employment. New Church schools may not give what the schools of the world do, but they give what is of far greater value, namely, that which prepares for a true life.

     Mr. R. Carswell: New Church schools preserve the state of innocence with children, instil a reverence for the Word, and develop rationality from the Writings. None of these things are done by other schools. Our boys take better positions than many others who have had the same number of years of instruction in other schools.

     Mr. Rudolf Roschman: The end of New Church schools is that there may be development of the mind and formation of character according to heavenly order. Without this end, there would he no necessity for our schools. The more thorough the instruction we can give in worldly things, the better; but if we cannot do this as fully as we would like, young men can acquire what is needed in their respective callings afterwards.

     Mr. Hyatt: One point not yet touched on, and which is of great importance, is that in New Church schools the children are instructed concerning marriage and concerning the relation of the sexes. These things should be taught before false ideas have crept in. In no other schools is such instruction given.

     Mr. C. Frankish: New Church education is so essential and important, that it would be well if the General Church would place teachers in weak centres and support them.

     Rev. J. E. Bowers: The value of New Church education is evident from the results of it, which we see in the General Church.

     At this point the meeting adjourned.

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     In the evening there was a banquet Toasts were drunk to "The Church," "The General Church," "The Unity of the Church," and "The Academy." The banquet was followed by a social, and at midnight a New Year's service was held.

     At the second session, on Thursday afternoon, the discussion of Mr. Hyatt's paper was continued.

     Rev. F. E. Waelchli: Instruction in worldly knowledges occupies, as was pointed out yesterday, a secondary place in our school work. Nevertheless it is very important, and we need to determine what should be the lowest standard of requirements in this line in our schools. Where there cannot be a school coming up to this standard, it is better to send the children to the schools of the world, and arrange for their religious instruction in other ways. The paper read presents such a lowest standard. We can determine the limit as to the least amount of such instruction, but we cannot set a limit in the other direction. The more of it, the better. Education must have as its end the formation of both a heaven and an earth within man. The more fully and the more truly the earth is established in man. the stronger will be the basis on which heaven with him can rest. New Church schools alone can lay this basis in an orderly manner. It has been pointed out that certain worldly knowledges can be acquired after the course in our schools is completed; this is true; but we need also to remember that the orderly development of the mind calls for certain kinds of instruction at certain times; and if it is not then given, something has been lost which cannot afterwards be supplied.

     Rev. E. J. Stebbing: We must guard against going too far in one direction or too far in the other. If a child is fitted for heaven and left helpless in the world, if would seem wrong. It takes deep thought to bring about a true and orderly development, which will fit the child both for heaven and for a life of use in the world.

     Mr. C. Brown: We have had a struggle in Parkdale to carry on our school. It is not what we would like it to be, because our pastor conducts it without assistance, and this in addition to his other work. Nevertheless, the results have been good. The young men, who have come from it, have had no difficulty in finding positions, and have done well compared with many from other schools.

     Mr. Hyatt: In New Church schools the child is taught to have an internal principle in the work in the world, so that he works from a different end than others. The Church in its schools supplies something which cannot be got anywhere else, and is not natural to anyone.

     EDUCATION AND THE HOME.

     A paper by Mr. Stebbing on "The Influence of the Home in Education" was then read. In substance it was as follows:

     Education, using that word in the widest sense, is the cultivation of the faculties with which man is Divinely gifted, and this in and according to order. The shunning of his evils is inseparable from the work of Education.

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     Man's education begins in infancy, in the home; it is continued during childhood and youth, in the home and the School; it is concluded, as far as this life is concerned, in the home and the world, in the active performance of some use. The importance of the home is thus evident.

     The word, education, is too often restricted in its meaning by applying it to the work done in School and College. When parents hand over their children to teachers, they still retain the responsibility for a most important part of their education. Co-operation of parents and teachers, which is so important, involves that what belongs to the home should not be neglected. To the extent that it is neglected, full co-operation is wanting, for co-operation is not merely upholding the authority of the teacher, though this is important.

     The responsibility of the parents cannot be borne passively, it requires all the thought and serious consideration that can be given to it. Indeed it involves their own regeneration. The infant's first tender thought of its Heavenly Father is suggested by the protecting care and love of its earthly father; and its mother presents the image of an angel to the young child. Does not this suggest a responsibility resting on the parents?

     The home is where heavenly loves should begin to be insinuated and the spiritual and moral virtues first taught, by precept and example. It is in the training in these virtues that true co-operation consists; where there is not this training, there is not only not co-operation, but there is opposition, though it may not always break out.

     Children are much affected by the sphere in the home, and by the speech and actions of their parents. It is in this matter that we realize the need of shunning our evils that we may do our duty in the home education of our children. The home life affords opportunities for the exercise of all the moral and spiritual virtues, and where we are earnestly striving to shun our evils, these virtues will gradually manifest themselves and will make the home education of our children an ever-increasing delight and blessing.

     Mr. Hyatt: The essential of co-operation is that both teachers and parents keep the children from doing what should not be done. We must teach them, partly by compulsion, to emulate the shunning of evil. If this is not done in the homes, as well as in the school, the work is difficult.

     Mr. Rudolf Roschman: Nothing is more detrimental to a child than for him to feel that his part is taken by the parents against the teacher. If the child brings complaints, let the parent take for granted that the child is wrong, and go to the teacher with this idea in mind. Should it then be seen that the teacher has made a mistake, he will certainly gladly rectify it. But the essential of co-operation is obedience, both at home and in the school. Mr. Hyatt: It is my custom in school to have it understood that if children obey there is no need of punishment; and that when there is punishment, it is the child's own fault.

     Mr. Frankish: Is corporal punishment the best way to correct a child?

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     Mr. Hyatt: Corporal punishment should be regarded as a last resort next to expulsion, and should be resorted to only in extreme cases. All punishment should be justified even to the child itself.

     Mr. Rudolf Roschman: There should be no false sentimentality in regard to corporal punishment. It is necessary in the other world, and is necessary also in this world.

     Mr. Caldwell: The home and the school should co-operate in imparting to children a true idea of marriage.

     Mr. Carswell: We love our children and are wrapt up in them. Consequently, when the teacher corrects and reprimands them, we naturally think he is wrong. We must overcome this tendency.

     Mr. Waelchli: Children cannot be rightly educated if there is not cooperation of home and school. It is a mistake for parents to think that when they send their children to a New Church school, there is lifted from their shoulders the responsibility of training them for heaven and a true life in the world. They still have that responsibility as much as ever, and if they earnestly seek to fulfill it the essential of co-operation with the teachers exists.

     A business session of the Assembly was now held.

     The Secretary read his report, in which he stated that during the year he had conducted services five times for isolated members. The report also said that the General Committee of the Assembly recommended that the Assembly consider the subject of the support of New Church Life.

     The Treasurer presented his report, which showed a balance on hand.

     The subject of the support of New Church Life was taken up.

     "NEW CHURCH LIFE."

     The Bishop said that the Academy had found it necessary to withdraw its financial aid to the Life, owing to the extension of its own uses, and that therefore the General Church would need to support its organ itself. At the other District Assemblies, the sentiment was strongly in favor of an effort to continue the publication of the Life. The Executive Committee of the General Church had decided to raise the subscription price of the paper to two dollars, and to establish a special fund for its support.

     Mr. Caldwell said that we derive great benefit from the Life, and he commented favorably on its tone and its outspoken style. He thought we should be willing to pay more for it, and also to subscribe for others.

     Mr. Brown seconded Mr. Caldwell's remarks.

     Mr. Bowers thought that those who appreciate the paper will not object to the two dollar subscription. We cannot do without it, as the Church needs an organ, and the Life can always be depended on for sound doctrine. He considered it of great value to the isolated receivers.

     Mr. Carswell said there was just reason for increasing the price. There might be some difficulty in financing it, but we cannot do without it.

     Mr. Richard Roschman believed the Life was too valuable to let it suffer in any way, and compared it to a watchman on the tower.

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It contains a great amount of instruction, and should be read by all. We could drop some of our other papers, and give the money to the Life.

     Mr. Brown moved a vote of thanks to the Berlin Society for the reception accorded the visitors. Seconded by Mr. Caldwell and carried.

      The Secretary read a telegram from "The Canadian Girls in Bryn Athyn," wishing the Ontario Assembly a Happy New Year and a successful meeting. The greeting was received with hearty applause.

     On motion, the Assembly adjourned.

     In the evening a Men's Meeting was held in the school-room, at which the subject considered was "The Eternity of Marriage." At the same time greetings, exchanged between the two Meetings, contributed greatly to the enjoyment of the evening in both places.
     F. E. WAELCHLI,     Secretary.
MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1903

MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE              1903

     A special meeting of the Executive Committee of the General Church was held at Bryn Athyn on Saturday, Feb. 21st, the members present being Messrs. Pitcairn, Carswell. Richard Roschman, Hicks, Boericke, and Wells.

     The following Resolution was unanimously adopted:

     "Whereas, It has pleased the Lord to call Mr. Asplundh from the scene of his earthy labors to a higher sphere of usefulness; and,

     "Whereas, Our regard and affection for Mr. Asplundh inspire us to an expression of our feeling, therefore.

     BE it Resolved, That we hereby acknowledge both our personal loss in Mr. Asplundh's death, and our appreciation of his zeal and conscientiousness the position he has occupied in that Body. That we tender our deepest sympathy to his wife and family.

     It was moved and carried that this Resolution be spread upon the minutes of the Executive Committee, and a copy of the same be sent to Mrs. Asplundh.

     The Chairman, Mr. Pitcairn, spoke of the difficulty of the position filled by Mr. Asplundh, who, he added, "has been the most efficient treasurer the General Church has ever had."

     The Rev. Chas. E. Doering was unanimously elected Treasurer of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. JOHN WELLS, Secretary.

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FRIENDLY COMMENTS 1903

FRIENDLY COMMENTS       S. Pontiac       1903

Editors New Church Life.

     I thank you for the January number of the Life. I always find its pages refreshing, nay, I may say, invigorating. There is always a stalwart zeal for the Truth and an able defense of it, as you see it. The Life lets the Writings utter their own testimony, and thus bear witness of themselves. This is as it should be. The Truth needs no human apologies: it is always its own defender. Yet, there is always a danger of our own self-derived intelligence getting mixed up with our zeal. For my own part, I have always avoided arguments for or against what to me seemed at any particular time the "Absolute Truth." My heart-felt convictions love the "yea, yea," and the "nay, nay," but greatly fear ratiocinations. We seldom if ever convince our opponents through arguments; but the Truth does when it is made flesh, i. e., when we become the living organic forms of our own doctrines; then we shall draw men unto us. Emanuel Swedenborg says "whenever any have begun to reason about the things of spiritual and celestial life, or matters of faith, I have perceived that they doubted and even denied; for to reason about faith is to deny." (A. C. 215). And he says, (n. 265), that the rational is only the semblance of intelligence, and he says elsewhere that Rational Good never fights.

     I am not saying this to show we should not defend the Truth, but only to show the danger of fighting for victory instead of having a holy zeal, tempered by charity in the defence of the Heavenly Writings.

     The watchman on the walls of Zion needs much of the spirit of the Master as well as clear-seeing eyes, in order to sound his trumpet at the right time and in the right manner. I am usually pleased with what the watchman says. But I must tell him that he did not do his full duty in the January Life in what he said about the little book on the Beatitudes. I was greatly shocked when I took up that book, to find that the author had actually substituted the word "happy" for that most precious of all words, "blessed," in each of the Beatitudes. That takes the soul out of the Ten Blessings. Animals, and animal men, may be happy but the word "blessed" carries with it an inexpressible heavenly glory that can only be predicated of angels and regenerate men.

     Now, my brethren, let us have the Truth, but be sure that you put the spirit of love into it. Fraternally yours. S. Pontiac, Mich., Jan. 7, 1903.

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Title Unspecified 1903

Title Unspecified       Various       1903

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     Bryn Athyn, Pa. Friday suppers and classes are largely attended and greatly enjoyed; the gymnasium, where the tables are spread, always presenting a brilliant and animated scene. In the doctrinal class Bishop Pendleton is expounding the Apocalypse and giving us most interesting teaching from the wonders of that book.

     "Founders' Day" was celebrated on January 14th by a banquet given at Cairnwood to the members of the Faculty and Corporation, together with a number of other guests, chiefly ministers. It was a most delightful and inspiring "feast of reason," a symposium such as the ancient Athenians delighted in, but at their banquets conjugial love was not the chief subject of discussion.

     At the Friday supper, on January 16th, reference was made to the sudden death of Mr. Adam Doering, of Berlin, Ont., and a resolution expressing our deep sympathy with Mrs. Doering was adopted by a rising vote.

     An enjoyable "German" was given by the Young Folks' Club on Jan. 26th, the chief feature being the shortage of (real) men folks, a deficiency amply atoned for by several "make believes" among the young ladies.

     The celebration this year in honor of Swedenborg's birthday took the form of a school banquet attended by pupils, teachers and others, to the number of about 140. Responses to the toasts had been prepared by the boys of the College and their addresses gave evidence not only of extensive knowledge of Swedenborg biography, but of an affectionate and intelligent interest in his life, character and great uses. The boys were followed by interesting remarks by Prof. Odhner, in response to a toast to the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, and by Mr. Asplundh on the work of Mr. Alfred Stroh in Stockholm. One of the young speakers created much astonishment by bringing out the historical fact that the men, in Swedenborg's time, wore wigs,--on their heads. Another one claimed that Swedenborg graduated as a Bachelor of Arts, and a third, that he was made a Bachelor of Theology, but the fact is that he remained to the end of his days simply--a bachelor.

     The Friday supper of Feb. 6th was converted into a banquet in honor of the anniversary of the formation of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. It was made evident by the speakers, all of whom were among the original founders of this new body, that its existence began in a period of terrible internal trial and combat and not in a period of great natural enthusiasm, but that it ushered in a new period of internal prosperity and growth in spiritual uses, which we have since then enjoyed. On this occasion we were privileged to listen to most interesting historical reviews by Rev. Messrs. Odhner, Doering and Price, and to an inspiring speech by the Bishop, who looked into the future and expressed the faith that we would grow as in the past, but only according to the growth in the affection of truth and its delight. The meeting concluded very happily with the singing of many songs.

     The death of our beloved treasurer. Mr. Asplundh, after a very brief illness, was an indescribable shock to us all, coming as it did so soon after the removal of Mr. Glenn. We are feeling at a loss, indeed, but we know that the Lord will provide both for the immediate family of our friend and for us of the larger family. There is not a branch of all our work, nor a single member of our society, that is not in one way or another affected by the loss of this our kindly, helpful, ever busy brother.

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But he was wanted above, and had, to quote his very last words, "to catch the train." the train that is forever rolling on to the eternal life.

     The funeral was held on Saturday, Feb. 14th, and the memorial meeting on the following evening. Bishop Pendleton, after conducting the customary religious services, spoke of Mr. Asplundh's practical wisdom in Council, a quality that he had realized especially during the last year, after the death of Mr. Glenn. He was the first layman in our connection to give his whole time and thought to the uses of the Church. He was right at the heart of these uses, and possessed in an unusual degree that initiative faculty which makes men leaders in their respective lines. Though apparently he had now left these earthly uses, he was really more intimately engaged in them, and with the increased light received in the higher world, could labor for them with much greater wisdom.

     Mr. Odhner read a sketch of Mr. Asplundh's life, and was followed by Mr. Pitcairn, who gave testimony to his appreciation of Mr. Asplundh's great services as a member of the Board of Directors of the Academy and of the Executive Committee of the General Church. In connection with the subject of death and resurrection, the speaker read A. C. 8939 and 1854.

     Mr. Acton spoke of Mr. Asplundh's remarkable ability to concentrate his whole mind upon any one of the details in the many uses in which he was engaged, and how new uses, and ways and means for accomplishing them, constantly opened up before his eyes. Being of his love, these works will follow with him, while at the same time there will be "rest" from the labors of temptation, anxiety, and care.

     Mr. Hicks, as a member of the Board of Directors, spoke of the privilege it had been to him to be associated with two such men as Mr. Glenn and Mr. Asplundh. The latter was a very embodiment of use and dynamic energy, an energy which would not be lost to the Academy. We must now stand together more than ever before, in order to support those who are left behind to carry forward the uses.

     Mr. Price spoke of Mr. Asplundh's early association with the theological students of the Academy, and how the affection for him had constantly improved upon further acquaintance.

     Mr. Synnestvedt bore tribute to Mr. Asplundh's work as a member of the Church, and in upholding the pastor in his uses, and spoke of his great desire to extend a helping hand to all in need, especially in providing an opportunity for as many children and young people as possible to receive the benefits of New Church education.

     After a few words of grateful appreciation of Mr. Asplundh's great-heartedness, by his assistant, Mr. Emil Stroh, Bishop Pendleton concluded the more formal part of the meeting, by referring once more to the value of our departed friend as a trusted counselor, and to the value of memorial meetings such as these, in which, in the sphere of the angels of resurrection, we think and speak as the angels do, and not from the idea of the limitations of our friends.

     Loving-cups were now passed around in the large assembly, and a toast was offered "To the eternal growth of our beloved friend in intelligence and wisdom." Mr. Frederic Gyllenhaal and Mr. Alec. Lindsay expressed the appreciation of the students of the College for all that Mr. Asplundh had done for them. Letters were read from Mr. Walter Childs, Mr. Schreck, and Mr. Sewall, conveying their affectionate sympathy. Mr. Walter E. Brickman referred to the death of the Rev. Emanuel Goerwitz almost at the same time as Mr. Asplundh's passing away, and Mr. Acton depicted the joyful meeting of Mr. Asplundh with Mr. Glenn and others, bringing to them fresh news of the Church and of the loved ones left behind on earth.

170




     The meeting was concluded by a toast to the success of Mr. Asplundh's newly-appointed successor, the Rev Charles E Doering.

     Pittsburg, Pa. As there has been no regular contribution of news from here this year, a brief review may not be amiss.

     Last summer the Rev. E. J. Stebbing occupied the pulpit during Mr. Brown's vacation. In September Mr. Brown returned and the usual round of activities was resumed. Our local school opened with twelve pupils.

     The Wednesday evening suppers, followed by the Doctrinal and singing classes, have had a regular attendance. In the Doctrinal class the reading has had reference to the general subject of the creation of the universe, and the correspondence of spiritual and natural things.

     There have been two or three educational meetings, primarily for the parents and teachers, in which the discussion has been on the several papers read by Mr. Brown, wherein the general principle of developing the character and thinking faculties of the children rather than their memories, was advanced.

     In the semi-monthly meetings of the Philosophy Club, the Animal Kingdom is being read and discussed with a great deal of interest. The hospitality of our married members in entertaining the Club at their homes does much to promote a feeling of jolly good fellowship among us.

     The local Assembly in October was, of course, the most important event of the year, but this was recorded last month. Then there was the semi-annual meeting of the Society on Jan. 14, beginning with a supper and ending with speeches on the financial reports for the year. Mr. Brown delivered an address dealing with subjects concerning the welfare of the Society. Swedenborg's Birthday was also celebrated with a supper at the church.

     On Feb. 1st Bishop Pendleton made a pastoral visit to the Society, preaching in the morning and administering the Holy Supper in the afternoon. On the evening of the 2d he was present at a meeting of the Council, at which Mr. Brown announced his desire to be relieved from his connection with this Society in order to take up a course of study in further preparation for work in the educational line. The Bishop presented for consideration the names of four pastors of the General Church as possible successors of Mr. Brown, and a meeting was called for Feb. 22d to determine the choice of the Society. C. H. E.

     Middleport, O. We have had much sickness in our society of late, somewhat to the detriment of our Church uses, but it looks now as if the worst were over. Our last monthly supper, held at Semples, was very successful. A goodly number of old and young were present, who cheerfully surrendered their dignity to the fascination of progressive spelling, "buzz" and caricature drawing,--all this under the inspiration of an exceptionally good supper.

     Our celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday was more modest than that of last year Instead of a banquet we had a gathering at Dr. Hanlin's home, where Mr. Klein read some interesting papers concerning Swedenborg, which he had prepared from Tafel's Documents.

     Atlanta, Ga. The first general celebration of Swedenborg's birthday ever held in the South, so far as we know, occurred this year. The sphere of the meeting was notable for its spontaneous and happy spirit and the earnestness and deep conviction in the remarks of the several speakers. Mr. Clifford Smyth, brother of Rev. Julian K. Smyth, of New York, contributed a sonnet which he wrote for the occasion and which was much appreciated. Since his return from Columbia, where he was Consul at Carthagena, Mr. Smyth has engaged in journalism, and now has series of articles in the Sunday Constitution.

171


Mr. Smyth's sojourn among us is greatly enjoyed and appreciated by all friends of the Church here. We have found that the differences of view existing between us have been the means of affording many discussions of important questions of doctrine and application, but it is worthy of remark that the broad underlying elements of mutuality in our faith have proved stronger in uniting us therein than our doctrinal dissent in separating us from each other. R. H. K.

     Parkdale. Our Wednesday evening suppers, which were resumed last October, have been well attended, but since the middle of January the Doctrinal Class, which usually follows the supper, has been suspended owing to our pastor being in Door health. School has also been closed for the past four weeks.

     On Sunday, January 25th, the Rev. T. E. Bowers conducted service, and also assisted on the following Sunday, when Pastor Hyatt preached.

     On Nov. 23d Vera Anderson, who for some years attended our school, and later took her place as one of the young folks, passed into the Spiritual World. Her death marks the first break in the circle of our young people. A memorial meeting was held as soon as her mother and brothers were able to attend, when, in a number of speeches on the resurrection into the Spiritual World, pleasant reminiscences of our young friend were recalled.

     Swedenborg's birthday was duly honored, our weekly supper being postponed till that evening. In the absence of our pastor, Rev. J. E. Powers took charge of the meeting. The most pleasing feature on this occasion was that the principal toasts of the evening were responded to by three of our young men, who acquitted themselves with great credit. The subjects were "The Preparation of Swedenborg" (Frank Longstaff); "The Life of Swedenborg" (Norman Bellinger) and the "Divinity of the Writings" (Charles Frankish).

     An entertainment given by the married ladies of the Society in November, which took the form of a euchre party, followed by light refreshments and a musical and literary programme, was much enjoyed and pronounced a great success.

     Between Christmas and New Year's the school children gave a very pretty play, entitled "A Christmas Conspiracy." Our little folks entered into the spirit of the play and performed their parts exceedingly well, delighting an appreciative audience. C. B.

FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. Emanuel Goerwitz died at Boston on February 11th. He was the son of the Rev. Fedor Goerwitz, of Zurich, and received a University education in Switzerland; studied New Church Theology at Cambridge; was ordained in June, 1899; served first as assistant to the Rev. James Reed in Boston, and afterwards as pastor of the Bridgewater Society.

     There are at present five students pursuing their studies at the New Church Theological School in Cambridge, Mass. The department of systematic Theology is being taught by the president of the School, Rev. James Reed, Scripture Interpretation by Prof. Hite, Homiletics by Prof. Harvey, and
Correspondences by Rev. C. G. Hubbel.

     A New Church Club has been organized in New York on a more permanent basis than the one previously existing in that city. The Rev. C. H. Mann is the president, and Mrs. C. H. Smith vice-president. The Rev. Adolph Roeder on Jan. 13th presented paper on "Swedenborg's Memorabilia Rationalized"!

     From the annual report of the First New Jerusalem Society in Philadelphia we learn that its present membership numbers four hundred and fifty-eight persons, a net gain of fourteen during the past year.

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The newly organized "New Church Mission" in Washington, D. C., has formally allied itself with the "New Church Educational Association," of Orange, N. J. The president of that Association, Mr. Roeder, recently gave two lectures in Washington under the auspices of the Mission. The lectures were announced by the sending out of 70 cards, and were, besides, advertised in the amusement columns of the local papers. As a net result of these efforts twenty-four strangers were attracted to the lectures. It is not known whether they were "amused" or not.

     The Young People of the Kenwood parish in Chicago celebrated Swedenborg's birthday with a well-attended banquet at the Hamilton Club. Mr. Schreck acted as toastmaster, opening the series of toasts with an analysis of Swedenborg's character, history and labors, emphasizing his long scientific training in preparation for his mission as inspired revelator. Mr. C. J. Cobb responded to the toast "Our Glorious Church." Mr. E. A. Munger to "The New Churchman in Business," and Mr. Arthur W. Burnham to "New Church Brotherhood." The specially invited speaker of the evening was the Hon. A. N. Waterman, Judge of the Appellate Court, who made a very interesting address on the subject of Swedenborg's philosophy.
CONJUGIAL LIFE 1903

CONJUGIAL LIFE       Various       1903


Announcements.



     
APRIL, 1903.           No. 5.
     A SYMPOSIUM.

     "IN a quiet dream, I saw some trees that were planted in a wooden receptacle; one of them was tall, another lower, and two were small. The lower tree delighted me most; and at the same time a most pleasant quiet, such as I cannot express, affected my mind. When I awoke I spoke with the angelic spirits who had induced the dream. They told me what was signified by it, namely, conjugial love; the tall signifying the husband, the lower tree the wife, and the two small ones the children. They said, further, that the very pleasant quiet which had affected my mind, indicated the pleasantness of peace enjoyed in the other life by those who have lived in genuine conjugial love.

     "I afterwards saw a great dog like that which ancient writers call Cerberus, with his jaws horribly extended. It was told me, that such a dog signifies a guard, lest a man should pass over from celestial conjugial love to the love of adultery which is infernal. For conjugial love is celestial when a man with his consort, whom he loves most tenderly, and with his children, lives contented in the Lord; hence, in the world, he has interior pleasantness, and, in the other life, celestial joy. But when men pass from that love into the opposite and the delight therein appears as if it were celestial, when yet it is infernal, then such a dog is presented as it were guarding lest opposite delights should communicate." AC 5051.

     THE HUSBAND.

     IT is said in Conjugial Love, that "A wife becomes more and more a wife as a husband becomes more and more a husband, but not the reverse; for rarely, if ever, is a chaste wife lacking in love of her husband, but what is lacking, is the loving back on the part of the husband; and this is lacking, because of there being no elevation of wisdom which alone receives the love of the wife" (200).

174


These words, which Swedenborg heard from the mouth of angels, give us, both the reason why conjugial love has been so long absent from earth, and how it is to be restored. Husbands fail in loving their wives because there is with them no elevation of wisdom; the husband of the New Church, therefore, if he would become more and more a husband, must elevate his wisdom,--elevate it from the light of the world to the light of heaven.

     A woman is born a form of conjugial love, so that it is natural for her to turn to one of the other sex, and, if she be a chaste wife, to love her husband only. But a man is born absolutely devoid of conjugial love. Of himself, he would not even love the sex. The love of the sex like conjugial love is received by men from the Lord, solely through women. And these loves are received by a man only according to the state of his wisdom. If that wisdom is looking heavenward, then, as a young man, the love of the sex received by him brings with it a desire to love one of the sex; and, as a husband, the love of the wife received by him, inspires him with love of her in return and the desire to shun all that opposes. But ii his wisdom looks solely to earth and to self, then the love of the sex becomes in him the love of himself and his own pleasures in the sex, and the love of the wife finds no place in his heart.

     Elevated wisdom, or heavenly wisdom, is the only vessel which can receive the love of a chaste wife. Every husband may know this not merely as an abstract truth of Revelation, but also as a truth of life, if he will honestly and sincerely examine his life. He will then find that when he is in the affection of spiritual things, in the desire of the heavenly life, his thoughts turn to his wife and he wills to 1ove her alone, and to revive with her the first states of marriage when celestial love was with them. And he will find that, when he is immersed in evil loves--even though his mind may be active in the doctrines of the Church--when he is looking to himself and not to the goods and truths of the genuine spiritual life, he grows Cold to his wife, he separates from her in spirit, and his thoughts turn to other women.

     The Lord created man into the love of growing wise, that wisdom implanted in him might bring him the heavenly blessedness and delight of conjugial love.

175


But this wisdom, before it can receive such love, must be elevated; it must be a spiritual wisdom. Spiritual wisdom is the knowledge of spiritual things, from affection, and for the sake of life, the knowledge of truth from the love of truth; and this wisdom is acquired solely by learning from the Lord, and by shunning evils as sins against Him. Spiritual wisdom is implanted, not in the logical faculty of man's mind, but in the internal man itself which it forms By this wisdom men have a genuine rational perception from which they can see truths in heaven's own light. It is therefore by this wisdom, acquired by spiritual men from their native love of growing wise, that the Lord instructs the Church and elevates it; or, more particularly, it is by the genuine wisdom of the husband that the Lord instructs the consorts iii those spiritual truths by which alone their love can be elevated.

     For as Conjugial Love flows to the male sex only through the female sex, and to the husband only through the wife, so the light of rational wisdom flows to the female sex, only through the male sex, and to the wife only through the husband.

     We are taught that the love of the wife is elevated only by the wisdom of the husband. In itself her love is a natural love, but conjoined with the wisdom of the husband, it becomes a spiritual love. Not that a wife can have no spiritual love unless her husband is in genuine wisdom, but that in such case the love between them is not spiritual conjugial love. But it must be remembered that the wisdom of the husband is genuine wisdom only so far as it receives Conjugial Love from the wife. This love is its consort which gives it heat and life; without ii, the light of wisdom is but a cold light within which is spiritual darkness springing from the insanity of the conceit of self- intelligence.

     It is, then, the duty and the privilege of the husband of the New Church, to cultivate in himself a genuine wisdom. It is only as this is done by the men of the Church that Conjugial Love will be restored to earth. For this love call now be restored, because, in the rational revelation now given to the Church, truths are given by which men may become wise. Wisdom call now be restored, and by wisdom the love of marriage can be elevated and become Love truly Conjugial. It is for the men to study the truths of Revelation,--to go to the Writings, to read them, to think over them, and to do this from the desire and purpose of living them.

176


And men cannot do this unless they turn their face to their wives, and receive through them, the love of wisdom. Every husband will find that so far as he turns himself to his wife and away from other women, so far he is in illustration and sees spiritual truth, not as a scientific fact, but as the living Word of God; and that so far as he is not turned to his wife, he is in no illustration, but, ii in light at all, in a cold light with no internal vivifying affection.

     This cultivation of genuine wisdom by the husband is the need of the Church,--it is the need of the world. Even in the Old Church "it rarely ii ever happens but that a chaste wife loves her husband," but there, there is no return, for there is no wisdom. We see this exemplified in the attendance at Church services. What a large majority of the attendants consists of women! Where are the men--the husbands? Their "love of growing wise" finds its delight, not in spiritual and real things, but in worldly and transitory things. As a consequence of this state of men in the past, darkness and night has overtaken the Church and it has become dead.

     In the New Church also we find the women interested and faithful; there is no lack of their affections in the things of the Church. But a Church can never be built up by this alone; it needs also the "rugged rationality" of the men; it needs that the men also become active, that they think over the things of the Church, that they form their rational thought from them, and speak and act from that thought; in a word, that they cultivate an activity of mind in the things of spiritual life. If we would see the Church grow and prosper, it is for us men to be inspired by the affections of our wives, and to continually arouse ourselves from that spiritual sluggishness to which we are so prone. And as men do this, the sphere of chaste love which is ever going forth to them from their wives, will enkindle their wisdom and make it genuine and living from the heat of heaven; and that wisdom will, in turn, elevate the wife's love into the light of heaven, and together they will ascend on the path of life.

     In the other world, this union of love and wisdom, was once beautifully illustrated to Swedenborg. He was in the house of a conjugial pair, and as they talked on conjugial love, suddenly there appeared on the wall as it were a living rainbow consisting of three colors, crimson, hyacinth and white.

177


They then saw how the crimson passed through the hyacinth and tinged the white with dark blue, and how this flowed back through the hyacinth into the crimson and elevated it as it were into flamy brightness. The crimson was the conjugial love of the wife, the white, the intelligence of the husband, and the hyacinth the beginning of conjugial love in the husband's perception from the wife. And as the crimson was brightened from the white, and the white made living from the crimson, so the wife's love is elevated by the husband, and the husband's enlivened by the wife. Such living representations abound in heaven. (C. L. 76.)

     The beauty of the angels is a perpetual and noble representation of this conjunction between husbands and wives, for in heaven, the husband derives from his wife the lovely bloom of her love, and the wife from her husband the shining lustre of his wisdom. (C. L. 192.)

     This is the lesson of the passage with which we commenced,--the lesson to the husbands of the Church who look upon their wives with love, who prize that love and will that it be with them eternally. None others will heed the lesson.
      ALFRED ACTON.

     THE WIFE.

     WHILE Adam slept, the Lord took one of his ribs and made out of it a woman, and brought her unto the man. While the husband is unaware of any change, the wife is constantly drawing away from him his amour propre, by becoming, outside of him, that love of his wisdom, which, as long as it remains within himself alone, is only self-conceit.

     In the beginning of the married life the young husband fondly imagines that his wife is the one great admirer of his special form of mind; that she is the one in all the world who truly appreciates his superior intellectuality, and he loves her for her love of that in him which is nearest to his heart.

     Thus his "rib" begins to be taken out of his side. His self-conceit is no longer purely subjective, but becomes more and more objective. He is able to love his own intelligence outside of himself, and therefore does not hug it so closely to his heart as before.

178


The bone becomes a woman, his own lovely and beautiful woman, but she is not yet a wife to him.

     But if there is with both of them the desire for a spiritual life, he begins to find out, little by little, that it is not, after all, his mere intellectual abilities that his woman loves. He begins to discover that she really does not love him, such as he is so much as the ideal which she hopes to find in him. For she becomes less and less the love of her man's proprium, but more and more the love of his wisdom; and thus the woman becomes a wife.

     The true wife is the love of her husband's wisdom.--this is the very essence of spiritual wifehood and of love truly conjugial. She is not to love merely the knowledge, intelligence, or ability of her husband, any more than he is to love merely the beauty of his wife. But she is to love those sterling principles of spiritual-moral truth by which her husband is guided in the uses and pleasures of his life. These principles of life form the essence of genuine manhood, the wisdom which is worthy the love of a true wife.

     Much of the natural sympathy, which in the world counterfeits conjugial love, is based on the common love of a similar evil and falsity, the love of insanity instead of wisdom. For instance, the husband comes home inflated with the pride of success and the praises of men, and the natural wife, for her own ends, flatters and adores him, instead of quietly taking down his conceit by reminding him of the fact that there are others as good as himself. Or he comes home filled with bitterness and envy of his fellow-men, and the natural wife at once enters into his angry passions, conjoins herself with his evils and falsities, and thus confirms him in his insanity.

     But the spiritual wife, the woman who is truly a "help meet" for her husband, instead of excusing his evils and encouraging his conceit, gently, almost imperceptibly, calls his attention to his own faults and endeavors to call forth the things of reason and wisdom within him. The man may, of course, be vexed for a while, and he may, at the time, accuse her of a lack of wifely sympathy, but you may be sure that his internal respect and love does not grow less,--that is, ii he is a spiritual man.

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     These things, of course, are not meant as an encouragement for scolding wives, for scolding is of the natural woman: it comes from hell and leads to hell. But they are meant to show that the first duty of a spiritual wife, is to love the Lord first, and her husband afterwards, in so far as there is with him spiritual wisdom from the Lord. For unless the love of the Lord is present inmostly in the marriage, there is no genuine conjugial love, is what is meant in the words of the poet: "I would not love you, dear, so well, loved I not honor better," and these words apply to women as well as to men. This, then, opens up a field for endless growth in the conjugial life, a growth that depends as much upon the earnest devotion of the women as of the man of the Church. The wife will love the husband in proportion to his growth in true wisdom, and the husband will love the wife in proportion to the growth of her love of the wisdom in him.

     And it is clear that a New Church wife can become such a love, only in so far as she has a perception of what is meant by true wisdom. Such a perception is as foreign to the natural woman, as true wisdom is foreign to the natural man. In order, therefore, to get away from sensual and worldly conceptions of wisdom, she must learn what is spiritually good and true. It is her duty and privilege equally with her husband, to sit at the feet of the Lord, to learn from His mouth the genuine truths of His Word. The more she does this, the more she studies, and listens, and thinks of Divine things,--the more interiorly she enters into the temple of wisdom which is open for women as well as for men,--the more will she become a spiritual woman and a spiritual wife. and the higher will she then raise the standard of spiritual wisdom and of conjugial love in the New Church.

     It is not meant, however, that the women of the Church must become scientific theologians, for, as a matter of fact, they do not and cannot enter into the science of good and truth as the men do. Knowledge is, indeed, the only gate of entrance for women as well as for men, but the women pass more swiftly through that gate; they do not dwell so much upon the mere facts of knowledge and their systematic arrangement, as upon goods and truths themselves, as embodied or to be embodied in the lives of men. They are hopelessly and gloriously personal and practical, and cannot long fix their minds upon pure abstractions, for they are or should be the love of,-not faith,--but wisdom, practical wisdom.

180




     Thus, by the study and pursuit of ever higher and more internal goods and truths, the spiritual wife purifies and exalts her ideals and perceptions of true wisdom, and is able to require from her husband, in an ever increasing measure, more wise and noble views of life, more pure, unselfish and spiritual conceptions of his duty to the Lord, to the Church, to his fellow-men, to his children, and to the conjugial relation.

     Blessed, therefore, is the man whose wife is not in love with his proprium, but with his wisdom; a wife who is not his unthinking follower, but a free woman owing her supreme allegiance to the Lord alone; a wife who spurns all that is mean, sordid, worldly and selfish both in herself and in her husband; a wife who knows what spiritual wisdom requires of a man, and who therefore can encourage him and spur him on to a truer, higher and better life. Only such a woman is worthy the most honorable and sacred title of wife. C. TH. ODHNER.

     THE CHILDREN.

     THERE are two aspects of this subject, 1st, our need of the children for the development of the conjugial, and, 2d, their need of us, and their right to a share of the time and attention of their fathers. First, as to our need of them. It is stated in Conjugial Love 174, "That there are duties proper to the man, and duties proper to the wife; and that the wife cannot enter into the duties proper to the man, nor the man into the duties proper to the wife, and discharge them aright....     The duties, by means of which above all others wives conjoin themselves with their husbands, are the education of infants of each sex, and of the girls even to the age in which they are given in marriage." See also the teaching of no. 176, "that these duties also, according to mutual aid, conjoin two into one, and together make one house." Especially emphatic is this statement there: "But the primary duties which confederate, consociate and gather into one the souls and lives of two consorts, are the common care of educating the children."

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     It is significant that those duties whereby the wife "chiefly conjoins the husband to herself" are those which belong to her own function--the care of the boys, after childhood, not being included. This, no doubt, is connected with the other teaching, that storge is received first by the women, and from them or through them by the men. Experience confirms this. Men have normally no such love for children as women have. The zeal of wives for the preservation of the conjugial with their husbands seems to take on this form of endeavoring to arouse their interest in her work with the children, for thus the husband is brought right into the sphere of her storge, and thence into the conjugial itself. Happy the man who is wise enough to apply himself, and to react with this heaven-given zeal, which is ever reaching toward him the things which, received, will make him truly human, and not a dry stick. The woman is the center and the fountain of both these loves, and the one, as we are told, is inseparable from the other.

     Now as to the second point, I want to make an appeal on behalf of the children of every man, no matter how busy he is, to set aside some time when he is at home as the Children's Hour, when he gives himself up to them, in the sphere of his wife. Not only is this important to himself, that his life may be opened and filled with love, but think what it means for the children! They live longer in the first seven years of their life than in any other period. They live ages from one Christmas to the next. Even as more than half their stature is attained in this time, so a great many of the most important impressions upon which their future life is to feed are then being gathered. In order that this may be so, they are kept nearer to heaven than we are. Everything with them is wide open, and imbibing eagerly impressions of every sort. Their little sensories are far more sensitive than ours, for with us the cares of the world necessarily obstruct the communication with heaven. It is only occasionally that we open our upper windows, as it were, for a breath of the heavenly air and sunshine. So let us get into the sphere of the children once in a while, and get nearer to the angels. In spite of all our worldliness and hardness we still represent the Lord to them! The little good and truth which is with us is confirmed and supplies their little happy world with its sense of security and strength. The word "Father" becomes to the child the image and foundation of all that it should be to the man when applied to the Lord Himself, the Father who never neglects His children. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT

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     THE HOME.

     IT may seem strange to the New Churchman to contemplate that a word surrounded with so many tender associations as home, does not occur in the Writings of the New Church, yet such is the fact. The nearest equivalent to the Teutonic home in the Latin language is the word domicilium, which signifies dwelling-place or abode. To be sure the word domus is used in a sense very similar to our word home, and the expression domi means at home, or more exactly, in, or in the vicinity of the house,-not abroad. In the Writings of the Church the word familia comes nearer in sentiment to our word home than any other; for in the Latin tongue familia means parents, children, servants and house together,--all that goes with the dwelling-place. The word familia or family holds a Very prominent place in the Doctrines of the Church. It is recognized as the unit of the human race on earth. In the heavens the married pair are the unit, for in the heavens there are no ultimate offspring, but the offspring are goods and truths. In the earths the family is the unit for here are children born,--here is the seminary, the seeding around of the human race. We are told that ill the Most Ancient Church the people lived in houses, families and tribes, not in the mixed state of these days; those lived together who were related, and the unit of this state of dwelling was the family or home. Even today governments in the civilized world recognize the family, not the individual, as the unit of the community, and laws are passed to protect it.

     Do we of the Church make enough of the home, and home hospitality? We have no lack of forensic hospitality, nor should this be diminished. But do we not allow forensic duties and forensic hospitality to make us forget the hospitality that is the basis of all true hospitality,--that which grows out of a true home life where there is a married pair in love truly conjugial surrounded by their offspring and all that makes life worth living? Do we visit one another in our homes as much as we ought to do? True our duties and uses of life necessarily take us away from home; but if our virtues are really to grow, they must grow in the home.

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Here is where conjugial love blossoms and fructifies, and conjugial love is the marriage of good and truth, and this is what makes a man to be of the Church, and is the Church in him.

     Let us cultivate forensic hospitality not less, but domestic hospitality more.

     At the family board, husband and wife,--who are also father and mother,-and their children,--the fruits of their love, are more likely to meet all at one time, than at any other place, and to enjoy one another and the material blessings the Lord has provided them; therefore let me close by quoting the following little poem from the Chicago Record-Herald:

     THE TABLE.

The years have sped since first I led
     You to the table, dear,
And you sat over there alone
     And I sat smiling here.

A year or two flew past and you
     No longer sat alone;
A little one was in your arms,
     Your darling and my own.

And then another year or so,
     And some one else was there,
And "Willie" sat near me, you know,
     While "Tottie" claimed your care.

The years have sped since first I led
     You to the table, dear,
And you looked queenly at the foot
     And I felt kingly here.
Today as I look down at you,
     On either side I see
A row of hungry little ones
     All gazing up at me.

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We've added leaves, one after one,
     And you are far away--
Aye, thrice as far, my dear, as on
     That happy, happy day.

But though we sit so far apart-
     You there and I up here--
Two rows of hearts from my fond heart
     Stretch down to you, my dear.

Thank God for every extra leaf
     The table holds today,
And may we never know the grief
     Of putting one away.
ENOCH S. PRICE.

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DESCENT OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1903

DESCENT OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       Rev. W. E. BRICKMAN       1903

     And he showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God: Having the glory of God. Revelation xxi:10, 11.

     The last book in the Holy Word, the Apocalypse, was written especially for the New Church. It is written by pure correspondence, every single word containing a spiritual sense, or a divine and heavenly meaning. For this reason it remained a secret book, sealed within and without, from the time when it was written, until the Lord in His Second Advent revealed it for those who will constitute His beloved New Church. This pearl of Divine Truth lay like a priceless gem, within its sealed casket, until the Lord foresaw that it would be of use, when He presented it, beset with royal truth, in the doctrine for true Christianity, entitled "The Apocalypse Revealed." Now we are permitted to enter with the understanding into a knowledge of the mysteries of the Word of the Lord, to see deeply into the clear depths of "the river of the water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God," but only for the sake of being kept in this knowledge for our eternal good. If we love, believe, and live from the knowledge which the Lord has revealed for us, we shall be worthy to receive what He has mercifully given, and to hold fast to it through all eternity as a divine blessing, the means of redemption, salvation and regeneration. And it is because those who will actually be of the genuine New Church on earth and in heaven, will love the revelation, study and learn of it, and practice its teaching by living according to it, that the Lord has revealed the internal sense of the Word, as a revelation of Himself in it, for the sake of those who will be of His true and everlasting church on earth and in the heavens.

     Very beautiful and true the doctrines for the New Church become to those who study them as the internal sense of the letter of the Word. In the natural sense we read that the Apocalypse is "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." The doctrine which contains the internal sense of the Word, is the Lord Who is Truth; only the Lord can therefore reveal Himself, and consequently His Truth which He is and which preceded from Him.

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But the Lord "sent and signified it unto His servant John." This does not mean that John signifies Swedenborg, although what John did as the servant of the Lord in His first advent, Swedenborg did in like manner as the "servant of the Lord Jesus Christ," in His second advent; but by John are signified those who are in a good life from genuine love for the Lord's Doctrine. (A. R. 5 and 45.) To the soul that experiences this love, comes the emphatic declaration of our text: "And he showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God: having the glory of God."

     It was a celestial angel who showed John the great city. The celestial angels, we are told, dwell upon mountains, and by the angel carrying John away in the spirit upon a great and high mountain, is signified that John was translated into the third heaven, where those are who are in love from the Lord, and in the doctrine of genuine truth from Him." (A. R. 896.) But such an angel represented the Lord, for He afterwards declares Himself to be "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." (Rev. xxii:13.) The great city, Jerusalem, signifies the Lord's New Church, and it is called great, because the Lord's love is in the midst of her, and the life which follows is full of good from that love. To be shown the great city, means to be instructed "vividly" about the spiritual sense of the Word. (A. E. 264.) Hence we read that "truths from a spiritual origin in the church, are truths that are received by man when he is enlightened by the Lord, while he is reading the Word." (A. E. 275, b.) The enlightenment which the man of the New Church receives, is from the doctrines which contain the spiritual sense of the Word. To those who love truth for the sake of a good life, the Lord will lovingly reveal the doctrines of the New Church, so that with John they may exclaim, "And he showed me the great city."

     It is a common error of opinion, with those who study the doctrines but little, that one must be very well educated in order to understand the truths of the New Church. Let me recall to your mind that the Lord instructed humble fisherman, in His first advent, made them His apostles, and through them established His first Christian Church. Likewise at the present day, at the beginning of His New Christian Church, the Lord is calling those who really love and believe in His truth, to forsake the nets of their own selfish and worldly opinions, and to humbly follow the teaching of the Master Truth of Divine Doctrine.

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The conditions governing the true reception of the beloved doctrines of the New Church, are humility, faithfulness and zeal. We are humble when we realize that the doctrines speak with the authority of the Lord's wisdom, when we surrender our own conclusions to the teachings of that authority. We are faithful when we are willing to undergo apparent and real hardships b, a life of uncompromising loyalty to what we are taught as our rules and regulations for a New Christian and not an Old Christian life; in other words, when our lives are an expression of the distinctive truths of revealed doctrine. We are zealous when we use every opportunity to learn and live newer and more intelligent teachings of the divine truth, and to communicate our intelligence to all who are likewise humble, faithful and zealous to know and to live the better life. But though we speak of humility, faith, zeal, the true and abiding condition for the knowledge and life of doctrine, which is divine teaching, is genuine unselfish love of truth for the sake of truth, that is, for the good life which truth reveals. The doctrines do not require worldly intelligence or learning to a proper understanding of them; they require, instead, real, devoted love for the Lord's truth not as an end, but as a means to an end, which is a life that is good from the truth, The doctrines do not require natural learning, for they Give man both this and the greater gift of spiritual truth. "To those who are in the good of love,--that is in the love of genuine good life,--there is given by the Lord, the faculty of understanding and knowing what the quality of the Lord's New Church is as to doctrine and its introductory truths, and as to the Word from which they are." (A. R. 904.) "The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it returns understanding unto the simple." (Psalm 119:130.)

     The faculty of knowing and understanding truth, which the Lord bestows upon those who love it for good, is established and enlightened by instruction and study. However loving was John, he did not see the great city of himself, he had to be shown it by the angel of the Lord. When we remember that the mind of human form we can readily understand how, like the body, it must needs have thirst and hunger of its own kind.

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He who has no appetite for spiritual instruction, nor thirst for spiritual knowledge, is not entitled to the name of man. Having faculties superior to the animal, he disgraces and abuses them, by neglect and contempt, until in his carnival of body delights he rubs off the borrowed image of His Maker, and puts on a more hideous image than the animal of the lowest type. But not so with him, who "hungers and thirsts after righteousness." Him the Lord blesses by filling him with the bread and water of life, to all eternity. And this food is not man's own, but what the Lord in His mercy provides for his existence and life as a man and an angel. Love in itself is blind, but gets its sight through truth; and truth in itself is dead, but is raised to life through love. It is from love for us that the Lord has builded Jerusalem, a church or quiet habitation for the host High; it is from wisdom that He endows us with the power to know and worship Him there. But unless we reciprocate His love and truth by appreciative knowledge and life, by instruction and practice, by study and communication, we shall have no part in Him and His Church, and He cannot show us the great city; we will not know nor care to know, nor live, nor want to live the doctrine of the New Church. We cannot screen ourselves behind the delusive argument of influx and permeation. The truths of the New Church are not in the air, and were they there for our daily life, we need food far more substantial than that permeating the air. The insect may live upon air, but man is more than insect. The balloon needs influx to soar aloft, but man needs more than wind. Love and truth are spiritual substance and form, and if man would subsist and exist, he must receive and perceive in heart and mind, the doctrines of good and truth out of the Lord's open Word; to be shown the great city, "Incline thine ear unto wisdom, apply thine heart to understanding; seek her as silver, and search for her as hid treasure, understanding. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in her." (Proverbs ii:2, 4, 6, 21.)

     To him who loves and understands the Word, the doctrines of the New Church appear good and true; for Jerusalem is great and holy. Great doctrine is such as inspires man to love good and to do it. The doctrine of the New Church is great and good because the Lord's love is in it (Zeph. iii:17); and because His love is in it, and love is life, it follows that the doctrine is the life of the Lord's love, and also the very love of His life.

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The doctrine of the New Church is therefore divine doctrine. It is the doctrine of the Lord's love and life in Himself, and in all that He has created from Himself. He who really loves the doctrines, feels the life of the Lord's love inspiring, warming, cheering, comforting, moving him. From the Lord's love within His doctrine we may truly say, "we live, move and have our being." Yes, the doctrines of the New Church are great and good because the Lord with His love is in them, for they are He. Yet we must not look with the eyes of love for the Doctrines, as the Lord apart from His Word. Since Be is within His Word, as mind is within speech, and as He is likewise within the Doctrines of His Word, the Word of the Lord and His Doctrine are the one same interior divine truth. To love the Lord in His Doctrine is therefore the same as loving Him in the interiors of His Word. "Let them be accounted of double honour, who labor in the Word and Doctrine." (I. Timothy v:17.)

     Jerusalem is holy because its doctrine is the Divine Truth. "The New Jerusalem is called holy from the Lord, Who alone is holy; and from the Divine truths which are in it from the Lord out of the Word." (A. R. 879.) "Holy is often mentioned in the Word, and everywhere concerning truth; hence, too, it is that the Word is called holy, because it is Divine truth." (Ibid. 173.) He who is led by the Spirit of Truth, when he learns of the doctrines, trusts and believes that the Lord is teaching him. The truth which he learns is holy truth; knowledge from the Divine Humanity of the Lord. (A. C. 532.) He does not regard the revelation of Jesus Christ, otherwise than as a revelation of Divine good and truth. And because it is the Lord's, he regards His revelation as full and complete, just as the Word of the Lord is filled with the love and wisdom of Him Who gave it. The doctrines were revealed for a church which is to be the crown of all churches, in that it shall dwell on the earth and in heaven to all eternity and govern all men and angels. (Coronis iii.) How can this be possible except its teachings be complete, all extensive, such as may be known by all peoples, nations and tongues? And, again, how can this be unless the Lord with the fullness of His wisdom, the infinity of His truth, the immensity of His knowledge, be in them?

190


Doctrine is the systematized form of knowledge and belief, compressed into a condensed law. (A. C. 2234.) A single affection of the heart requires many thoughts to form it, and a single thought requires innumerable words to express it; yet the affection and thought follow from a simple law controlling the nature of the mind. So, too, the actions of a single impulse are countless, though the ruling affection of that impulse is distinctly one. The Word is the life of the Lord, "but there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one,-the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." (John xxi:25; see A. C. 64) Moreover, "the angels can recite in a few words the contents of any book" (H. and H. 269), and also "know all things of another's life from some ideas of his thought, because they know his reigning love, in which are all things in their order." (Ibid. 236.) The ruling love of man is the law of all his thought, speech and action, and the Doctrines contain the law of the Divine Mind in relation to all created things. It is because the Word is written according to the law of correspondence between the Lord and His creation, that it is "a book written within and on the back," which signifies that it contains divine truth, "in every particular and every general." (A. R. 256.) And since the Doctrines are the internal of the Word, they also are written according to the Divine law of correspondence. The truth that is in them is full and complete, infinite and eternal, and "shall endure unto all generations." "The interiors are more perfect because nearer to the Divine. In the internal there are thousands and thousands of things which appear in the external as one thing." (H. and H. 34) "The arcana are so many that volumes would not suffice for the explication of them." (A. C. 64) Those who study and ponder over the truths of the New Jerusalem, who love them and introduce them into all forms of affection, thought and practice, are those who behold the holiness, fulness, immensity, sacredness of the Divine truth of the New Church, and are written for life in Jerusalem. "For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah ii 3); and "I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; whence Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, and the Mountain of Jehovah of Hosts, the Mountain of holiness." (Zachariah viii:3, 20-23.)

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      The doctrines of the New Church are heavenly doctrines. They not only form and establish the New Church on earth, but also the church in the heavens, wherefore John declares "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away" (Revelation xxi: 1), and Isaiah, "Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into the world." (lxv:17.) It is very significant, that--apart from the Arcana Coelestia the first continuous work on the internal sense of the Word,--among the first distinctive works of discrete divine truth, after the Last Judgment was The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine. The heavenly doctrine is for angels as well as for men, for by it the New Church in the heavens was established. The Brief Exposition of the Doctrines of the New Church was written as a forerunner of The True Christian Religion to prepare the way for its reception. (Documents, Vol. II, p. 308.) In one of his letters to Dr. fever, Swedenborg speaks thus of the True Christian Religion--"I am certain of this, that after the appearance of the book referred to, the Lord our Savior will operate both mediately and immediately towards the establishment, throughout the whole of Christendom, of a New Church based upon this 'Theology.' The New Heaven, out of which the New Jerusalem will descend, will very soon be completed!" (Ibid., p. 383) To this same gentleman, in answer to the query: How soon may a New Church be expected? he gave the following answer: "The Lord is preparing at this time a New Heaven of those who believe in Him, acknowledge Him, as the true God of heaven and earth, and look to Him in their lives, which means to shun evil and do good; for from that heaven the New Jerusalem is to come down. I daily see spirits and angels, from ten to twenty thousand, descending and ascending, and being set in order. By degrees, as that heaven is being formed, the New Church likewise begins and increases." (Ibid., p. 261.) He also thus declares, "that this church will undoubtedly come, because the Lord Himself has predicted it. I Jesus have sent mine angel, to testify these things, in the churches. And let him that is willing, receive the water of life freely.--Rev. xxii, 17 and 18." (Documents, p. 300) What more certain proof, from the doctrine itself, need we receive, than the declaration that those in the world of spirits, who are prepared for heaven, are instructed regarding its nature, uses and delights, from the doctrines of the New Heavens and the New Church, from the internal sense of the Word, and according to the very same truths as are contained in the Writings on earth?

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But let the doctrine which is "wisdom from above" (James iii: 17), declare in its own language the truth of our assertion. "All instruction is given from doctrine derived from the Word, and not from the Word without doctrine, which is in entire agreement with the internal sense of the Word." (H. and H. 516, S. S. 25) "Whoever have lived a life of charity, and still more they who have loved truth because it is truth, in the spiritual world suffer themselves to be instructed, and accept the doctrinals of the New Church." (T. C. R. 799) "Christians are instructed from the Heavenly Doctrines." (H. and H. 516.) Let us remember that "a church in the Heavens is first provided by the Lord, and, from that, or through that, a church on earth." (A. R. 486; T. C. R. 784) Hence we see that the Doctrines of the Lord's New Church are heavenly doctrines, useful from the Word in the heavens for the angels there, useful for the men of the church on earth from the Word here. (A. R. 361) "The New Church as to doctrine, was seen coming down from God out of Heaven; for the doctrine of genuine truth comes from no other source than through Heaven from the Lord." (L. 63.) "Those who will be in the New Heaven and in the New Church of the Lord, will be in a life of truth from good according to doctrine." (A. R. 361) "As to the doctrine, it is from Heaven, because it is from the spiritual sense of the Word; and the spiritual sense of the Word is the same thing as the doctrine which is in Heaven;--for in Heaven, equally as on earth, there is doctrine from the Word. The doctrine which is for the New Church, because it has been revealed to me out of Heaven, is called the Heavenly Doctrine." (N. 7.)

     The doctrine of the New Church is the Lord's doctrine. Questioned as to the origin of the doctrines, Swedenborg, on his death bed, thus declares: "As true as you see me here, and as true as I live, I have not written anything from myself, but the truth from God." (Doc. ii., p. 563) And in the Writings this truth is thus emphatically stated, "Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, and nevertheless has foretold that He will come and found a new church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who can not only receive the doctrines of this church with the understanding, but can also publish them by the press.

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That the Lord manifested Himself before me, His servant, and sent me to this office, and that He afterward opened the sight of my spirit,--I testify in truth; likewise, that from the first day of that call I have not received anything which pertains to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word." (T. C. R., 779.) "I have had discourse with spirits and angels now for several years; nor has any spirit dared, nor any angel wished, to tell me anything, still less to instruct me, concerning any doctrine from the Word; but the Lord alone has taught me, Who has been revealed to me, and has since appeared constantly and does now appear before my eyes as a Sun in which He is, as He appears to the angels, and has enlightened me." (D. P. 135.) How clear is this to the honest mind, that the doctrine of the New Church is not the product of human intelligence unaided by divine light; that no species of philosophical or metaphysical reasoning has constructed or elaborated the internal sense of the Word! Since the internal sense is the essence of doctrine, and doctrine the form of the internal sense of the Lord's Word, the one is seen in the light of the other. (A. C. 67.) Both continuous and discrete doctrine are according to correspondence, which is also the mean between the internal sense and the letter of the Word. The Divine truth is one, and indivisibly one, but it is adapted to differing planes of its reception, according to functions of use. Hence while the angels receive divine truth according to the functions and uses of angels, men must receive it according to their kind. The truth is the same, but its form and reception are of an appearance necessarily different. The light which illuminated the mind of Swedenborg, was not the light of his own intelligence, though his mind was his own. He was filled with the spirit of the Lord, containing divine love and truth, such as it exists in His Divine Human. The doctrine thus born, came while the knowledge of correspondences was in Swedenborg's mind, making a mean between the letter and the spirit of the Lord's Humanity and Word. From the Lord it passed through the heavens, as His very advent upon earth. Swedenborg, therefore, may well exclaim, 'He showed me the great city, holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.'"

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     Give God the praise. To Him be glory and honour ages without end. The glory of the heavenly doctrines is the glory of the Lord. "The glory of heaven surpasses all the magnificence of the world,--yet this is not the glory of heaven; but the glory of heaven is the Divine which shines forth from each thing there, and the perception of Divine things, and thence wisdom." (A. C. 5428.) The advent of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, signifies His presence in the Word, and revelation. The glory in the Word, signifies Divine truth such as it is in heaven, and such as it is in the internal sense." (H. and H. 1.) It is for the reason that the doctrines contain the love and wisdom of the Divine Human, that they are a revelation of the Lord; and for this reason they contain His peculiar glory, which is in the internal sense of His Word. The glory of the Lord descends with His advent, for the very manner in which the revelation was made is a signal confirmation of it. The Lord appeared as the Divine Sun, the proceeding heat and light of which are from His Divine Humanity, thence also as the internal light and heat of His truth, which He bodied forth from the letter of the Word, received by sight into the mind of Swedenborg, thus revealing Himself as the Spirit of truth, Whom, if any would worship Him, they must do so In spirit and in truth." "As the Lord cannot be received by any one as He is in Himself, He appears as He is in Himself as a Sun above the angelic heavens, the proceeding from which as light is Himself as to Wisdom, and as heat, is Himself as to Love. He Himself is not a Sun; but the Divine love and Divine wisdom proximately going forth from Him, and round about Him, appear before the angels as a Sun. He Himself in the Sun is a man." (A. R. 961.) "There He is in His Divine from eternity and at the same time in His Divine Human, which are one, as soul and body." (Ibid. 465) So then we see that the doctrine of the New Church contains the glory of the Lord in which He is in His Divine Human. Neither the glory of the angels nor of Swedenborg are in them, but the love and wisdom which proceed from the Lord. Those who are not beguiled by the love of human reason and the world's acclaim, who are humble enough to subject these to the revealed laws of the Lord, will realize whether the doctrine is of the Lord, or whether it be the merely human product of a man.

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For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest happily ye be found even to fight against God." (Acts v:38, 39.)

     In conclusion, let us note that the descent of the New Jerusalem in the doctrine of the New Church, owes its glory to the fact that by it, the Lord has come again to mankind. The angels testify that it is also angelic truth brought to man, for "when the Brief Exposition was published, the angelic heaven, from the east to the west, and from the south to the north, appeared purple, with most beautiful flowers. At another time it appeared flamy, beautifully." (Ecclesiastical History, 7.) "All who were present with me in the world of spirits, were astonished at it; this was a sign of the assent and joy of the New Heaven." (Dec. ii., p. 281. See p. 145.) But even more than this, is the inscription upon the original wrapper of the Brief Exposition, which reads, "This Book is the Advent of the Lord: written by command." "The Lord derives and produces the New Church on earth through the new heaven, by means of a revelation of truths from His mouth, or from His Word. With those who adapt themselves, and suffer themselves to be led by the Lord, the doctrine of the new heaven, which is the doctrine of truth and good, is afterwards conveyed down and introduced, like the morning dew falling from heaven to the earth. (Coronis 20.) "Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew. Because I will publish the name of the Lord; ascribe ye greatness unto our God." (Deut. xxxii:1, 2, 3.) And he showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.-Amen.

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LIMBUS 1903

LIMBUS              1903

     The only place where the "Limbus" is mentioned by that name in the Writings is in the well-known passage in the True Christian Religion:

     Every man after death lays aside the natural which he derived from the mother, and retains the spiritual which was from the father, together with a certain Limbus from the purest things of nature around it. This Limbus, with those who after death come into heaven, is below, and the spiritual above; but with those who come into hell, this Limbus is above, and the spiritual is below. (n. 103.)

     "A certain Limbus from the purest things of nature," which man retains after death! This at once starts a train of surprised questions. What is meant by the word "Limbus?" The Dictionary answers that it means simply "a border," and it is evident that the passage in question uses it only in that general meaning, and not in any special, technical sense, since it is not used anywhere else in the Writings. After death, therefore, every man retains "a certain border from the purest things of nature." What does this mean? Does not man, after death, leave this world for good and all? Does he still carry about him "things" derived from nature?" And, if so, what are these "purest things of nature," and where are they, after man has cast off the mortal body?

     The one rational answer to all these eager questions is--Patience! Let us not confirm ourselves in any doubts or in preconceived opinions, until we have further evidence from the Writings on the case in question. There is plenty of such evidence which will give further light, but in the meantime we hold fast to this one certain teaching, that "every man after death retains the spiritual which was from the father, together with a certain border from the purest things of nature around it."

     The Writings tell a great deal more about these purest things of nature, as in the following explicit teaching:

     The reason spirits and angels are able to subsist and live to eternity is because they have first been born as men in the world; for a spirit or angel carries with him from the inmost things of Nature a medium between the spiritual and the natural by which he is bounded, so that he may subsist and be permanent. By this he has that which is related to those things which are in Nature and also is corresponding to them.

     By this medium, also, spirits and angels can be adjoined and conjoined to the human race; for there is a conjunction, and where there is conjunction, there must also be a medium.

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The angels are aware of the fact that there is such a medium; but since it is from the inmost things of nature, it cannot be described except by abstract things." D. Wis. viii: 5.

     In this passage we learn, further, that this "Limbus" or border of the purest and inmost things of nature is not only the border or boundary of the natural, but also of the spiritual; consequently, that it is intermediate between the spiritual and the natural world, and as such acts as the medium between both, and as the permanent basis for eternal subsistence. We learn, also, the fact that this border, on account of the limitations of human language, cannot be described except by abstract things,--a fact which might seem to discourage further inquiry, were it not for the collateral evidence that by "abstract things" are here meant philosophical, intellectual and universal ideas. (See A. C. 8985, 9407; D. L. W. 228.)

     In the following passages our knowledge of the subject is still further amplified:

     The natural mind of man consists of spiritual substances, and at the same time of natural substances. From its spiritual substances there arises thought, but not from its natural substances; these latter substances recede when a man dies, but the spiritual substances do not; on which account this same mind, after death when man becomes a spirit or angel, remains in the same form in which it was in the world. D. L. W. 257:5.

     The natural substances of his mind, which, as was said, recede after death, make the cutaneous envelop of the spiritual body, in which spirits and angels are. By means of such an envelop, which is taken from the natural world, their spiritual bodies subsist; for the natural is the ultimate containent. Hence it is that there is not any spirit and angel that has not been born a man. D. L. W. 257:6.

     That the natural mind reacts against the spiritual mind, is because the natural mind consists not only of the substances of the spiritual world, but also of substances of the natural world. D. L. W. 260.

     The natural mind derives its form partly from substances of the natural world, but the spiritual mind only from the substances of the spiritual world. D. L. W. 270.

     The material form which is added and superinduced in the world is not a human form from itself; but it is from these things which are added and superinduced that man can perform uses in the natural world, and also in order that he may take with him from the purer substances of the world a certain fixed containent of spiritual things, and thus to continue and perpetuate life. It is a matter of Angelic Wisdom that the mind of man, not only in general, but also in every particular, is in a perpetual conatus towards the human form, because God is man. D. L. W. 388.

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     These teachings are most important. We learn (1) that by the "purest things of nature" are actually meant substances of the natural world; (2) that these substances are identical with the substances which make up the lower degree of the natural mind; (3) that these remain with man as the fixed containent, the cutaneous envelop of the spiritual body, and as such are preserved in the actual human form; (4) that they do not originate thought, and (5) that though remaining with man, they recede after death.

     The same teachings are repeated in the following passage from the work on The Divine Providence:

     No angel or spirit was created immediately; but they were all first born as men; hence they have the outermosts and ultimates which in themselves are fixed and established, within which and by which interiors can be held together in connection. But man first puts on the grosser things of nature; his body is from them; but by death he puts these off, and retains the purer things of nature which are nearest to spiritual things, and thee are then his containents.

     But as the outermosts and ultimates of nature cannot receive the spiritual and eternal things to which the human mind has been formed, as these are in themselves,--and yet man was born to become spiritual and live forever,--therefore man puts them off, and retains only the interior naturals which meet and accord with spiritual and celestial things, and subserve them as containents. This is done by the rejection of temporal and natural ultimates, which is the death of the body. D. P. 220.

     The passages quoted thus far constitute the leading and general teachings on the subject, and I gather from them the following summary.

     THE NATURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE "LIMBUS."

     1. It is something which cannot be described except by abstract terms, but it is in one place termed the "limbus" or "border," being that substance of the human organism which is next to the spiritual substance.

     2. It is constituted of natural substances, taken or derived from the substances of the natural world, but is distinct from the gross and temporal matters which make up the outer body. It is from the purest and inmost things of nature, and constitutes the interior natural of man.

     3. It constitutes the lower or external substance of the natural mind of man, and as such is fixed, established, and unchangeable after death, but at the same time it is that which is nearest to the substances of his spirit, which it meets, and with which it most intimately accords.

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     4. These inmost and purest substances of nature man retains and takes or carries with him after death, but at the same time they "recede" or are withdrawn from his consciousness.

     5. It remains in the fixed and actual form of the human body, and makes the skin, the epidermis, the cutaneous envelop, the extreme ultimate of the spiritual body of spirits and angels.

     6. It constitutes the fixed boundary or terminating limen of spiritual beings and of the spiritual world, which holds their interior contents in connection, enabling these to subsist and continue permanent in perpetual life.

     7. Being next to the spiritual, it is intermediate between the spiritual and the natural, and is therefore the medium between the two worlds, the medium of influx and of conjunction.

     All these teachings, however, are more or less well-known to the students of the Writings, and the mind which does not rest contented with generalities still inquires, What is meant by the "Limbus?" Something more definite is wanted, something which may connect the whole subject with previous conceptions, derived either from Theology or from Science. In short, something tangible.

     It is at this point that the opinions of the learned in the Church have become divided. Some, in common with Dr. Burnham in his Discrete Degrees, regard these "purest substances of nature" as actual, but most pure, material substance. Dr. Burnham is content with this statement, and does not seek to further identify them. At the same time, he becomes involved in contradictions by claiming that the Limbus, with men, remains material, but that in the case of the Resurrection-body of the Lord it was not material, but natural, and this without explaining the difference in the terms.

     Others have held that these "finest substances of nature" are in no actual sense material, but only in a derivative sense, that is, they are ideal substances; the thing that material ideas are made of; the things which, through the medium of the senses, are graphically, phonographically, and, in short, sensugraphically, stored up in the natural or external memory of man.

     There are, on this subject as on all others, two forms of mind, or two classes of thinkers, to both of whom Swedenborg addresses himself in a striking statement in the Economy of the Animal Kingdom (Vol. II, n. 210).

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To those who will not seek the truth beyond the range of visible phenomena, he asserts that the Truth is to be sought for far beg-end the range of the eye; while to those who drown their ideas in the occult at the outset, he boldly declares that there is no such thing in nature as an occult quality.

     I believe that the differences of opinion as to what is meant by the "Limbus" have arisen from the fact that this inmost natural substance, being intermediate between the natural and the spiritual, partakes of the qualities of both, and consequently can be regarded from two very distinct points of view: the scientific and the theological.

     Regarded from the point of view of natural science, the "Limbus" appears as the inmost part or substance of the human anatomy, and the attempt has been made to identify it with the "animal spirit" or "spirituous fluid," which is described at length in Swedenborg's scientific works.

     Regarded from the point of view of the spiritual doctrine of the New Church, the "Limbus" has been identified with the mental substances which compose the exterior or natural memory of man.

     It is my purpose to show that both of these propositions are correct; that the substances of the lower memory are identical with the spirituous fluid, and that both are identical with the "Limbus."

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"SEEING THE FACE OF THE FATHER." 1903

"SEEING THE FACE OF THE FATHER."       Rev. RICHARD DE CHARMS       1903

     THE face of the Father or the Lord may be seen in finite conception by viewing thoughtfully the teaching concerning the meaning of the face of a man. A man's face is the effigy of his interiors, thus of his affection and thought. His love and thought shine forth from his face, and are expressed in varying forms of evil or good affection and thought, as his interiors are excited and moved to some generous, unselfish, sincere and noble end, purpose, motive or resolve, or are moved by the baleful fires of selfish, lustful and gainful ends and purposes. It is true, indeed, that a man may hide the face of his spirit, veiling it over with the bodily mask of dissimulation, hypocrisy and feigned goodness, but it is nevertheless true that his face does express his interiors so far as his spirit is concerned, which after all is his real self, and the part of himself about which he should be most concerned, and most solicitous to have what it ought to be. In the other life, he will have such a face, and only such a face as is an exact image of his interiors of love and thought, beautiful and comely if his interiors are innocent and good, and ugly, deformed and monstrous if his interiors are evil and false. No amount of insincerity, deceit and hypocrisy will avail him there, no hereditary beauty of face or form will stay those inexorable changes by which, slowly, perhaps, but surely and certainly, his externals will be changed to conform in the minutest details of face and form with his interiors, until he becomes the exact picture of his ruling love.

     If we could but believe, acknowledge and realize in our hearts the truth of this lesson of the face, and so perceive clearly how every evil passion born of hatred, revenge, jealousy, envy, contempt of others, sordid gain and avarice, dishonesty, untruthfulness, insincerity and deceitfulness must mar and scar and deform and render ugly our spiritual faces and forms, how anxious we would be to avoid and shun these evils as sins, and cultivate those inward graces of innocent affection and thought whereby our spirits might put on the enduring semblances of grace and beauty. Do not, indeed, these and other evils mar and scar, and deform the bodily faces and forms of men?

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How much more then their spirits! Do not the virtues of mercy, kindness, unselfish love, sincerity and truthfulness, whenever they truly move the interiors, beam from the face, and give beauty to homely features, and serve to mitigate what is of bodily awkwardness and deformity, so that we forget the latter because so affected by the former,--the grace and beauty of the spirit?

     As the face of man is the index of his interiors, so the face of the Father, or the Lord, is the divine index, effigy and image of the divine interiors. In the Divine Human of the Lord they are displayed in a conception more or less elevated and glorious according to the state of each one, and are seen as the divine love and wisdom in a divine human form. Infinite and divine love, innocence, mercy, goodness, compassion, and all that our highest, purest and holiest conceptions can give to these divine attributes, shine within the ineffable and divine glory of the divine truth out of the face of the Lord. As we ascend in spirit with Peter, James and John into the mountain of our holiest thought and affection, we may behold something of that transfigured face of our Lord and Master, and see it in the radiant heat and light of the sun of infinite love, and His raiment white and glistening with the light of infinite and divine truths.

     But while it is permitted at times for angels and men to behold the face of the Lord, with the eyes of the spirit, there are other ways of seeing His face, which concern us more nearly, because they point out that necessary state of spirit, and hence that absolutely necessary state of our love and thought, which alone make possible our beholding the Face of the Father which is in Heaven. In the teachings of the Church those who are good, and have received in heart and life something of the divine truth in which is the divine good, turn their faces to the Lord, and are enabled to see His face; while those who are evil, and have confirmed themselves in evils and falsities of the will and life, turn from the Lord, turn their backs upon Him, and are unable to see the Lord's face as it really is, but only through the perverted media of their own evils and falsities, which reveal Him in the false light of their reflected evils as an evil God, hard and stern, with a face flaming with anger and ever ready to punish and cast into Hell those who do not obey Him and His laws. If, then, our ability to see the face of the Father in Heaven depends upon the presence and activity in us of states of innocence and good and truth from the Lord, and our evils and falsities prevent us from seeing His face, how plain it is that if we wish to see the face of the Father in Heaven we must dispel this dark and perverted veil of evil with us by shunning our evils and falsities, and receive in heart and life the divine truth and come into the states of innocent thought, in affection and life which the truth will reveal to us.

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So will we learn not to despise one of these little ones, which is the same as learning to shun our evils and falsities as sins against the Lord, which alone cause us to despise the little ones of innocence; and as the clouds of evil and falsity are thus parted, we will see shining through their rifts in all the splendor of infinite love and wisdom the face of the Father which is in Heaven. Can this be doubted? It is said in the teaching of the Church, that the divine truth is the face of the Father or the Lord, and truly and manifestly this is so. For the divine truth is but the manifested form of the divine love, and brings it forth to view; and the face of the Father is the divine love with its mercy, innocence and goodness. Here again it must be noted that since the face of the Father is the divine truth, and consequently shines only in the light of the divine truth, we cannot see that face, except as we are in the truth and see it in the light of truth. If, therefore, we would see the face of the Father we must admit the divine truth into our minds.

     We are also taught that the face of the Lord is the Word. This, too, is a manifest truth to those who can see the Word aright. The Word is the divine love and wisdom in lowest correspondential form. Seen in the light of its spiritual sense, the very letter glows with a light which reveals the face of the Lord; and written across its every page in letters of gold, we read: Love the Lord above all things and thy neighbor as thyself, that your eyes may be opened to see its hidden glories of wisdom and love, that you may regard it as the Lord Himself revealing to you the things of eternal life, that you may hear out of its bosom the Lord's voice, teaching you the things you must shun and do; so may men see the face of the Father which is in Heaven in the Word, and, seeing, turn to Him and accept His gracious offer to lead them by the things of His Word into states of innocence from Him, into obedience to His commandments, and so out of the toils, enslavements and miseries of their evils and falsities into the innocence and peace and joy and useful activities which will enable them to always behold the face of the Father which is in Heaven.

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UNITY OF THE CHURCH 1903

UNITY OF THE CHURCH       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1903

     THE above title will doubtless suggest to the reader, an address by Bishop Pendleton, delivered before the last General Assembly and afterwards published in the New Church Life. We do not propose, however, to add anything new to the things contained in that address, our object being to recall some of its teachings. These are prominently suggested by the following passage in the True Christian Religion treating of the nature and delightfulness of a genuine brotherhood of the Church:

     Dinners and suppers of charity are among those only who are in mutual love from similar faith. With the Christians of the primitive Church, the dinners and suppers were for no other end, and they were called Feasts, being instituted that they might be glad from the heart together and be conjoined with one another. Suppers with them signified consociations and conjunctions in the first state of the establishment of the Church: for evening, when they took place, signified this state; but dinners, the same in the second state, when the Church was established; for morning and day signified this state. . . . . The spiritual sphere which reigned in those feasts was a sphere of love to the Lord and of love towards the neighbor, which cheered the mind of every one, softened the tone of every one's words, and carried festivity from the heart to all the senses. As to Social Gatherings in the primitive Church, they were among such as called themselves Brethren in Christ; they were therefore assemblies of charity, because there was spiritual brotherhood. . . . . There are at this day assemblies of friendship, which regard as their end the enjoyments of sociability, the exhilaration of the mind by conversation, and which are therefore for the expansion of the mind, and the liberation of imprisoned thoughts, and thus for warming anew the sensuals of the body and perfecting their state. But there are as yet no gatherings of charity; for the Lord says, In the consummation of the age, that is, in the end of the Church, iniquity will be multiplied, and charity will grow cold (Matt. xxiv, 12). This is because the Church had not yet acknowledged the Lord God the Savior as the God of heaven and earth, and gone immediately to Him from Whom alone genuine charity proceeds and flows in. (T. C. R. 433, 434)

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     From this teaching it is evident that the Feasts of Charity in the primitive Church were instituted for the sake of consociation and conjunction, thus for the sake of the unity of the Church.

     We are taught, first, that the unity which is of charity can exist only with those who are in mutual love; and further that this mutual love must be from similar faith.

     Faith is the acknowledgment of truth. Therefore those are in similar faith who acknowledge the same truths, thus those who are a one in fundamentals. A oneness in the acknowledgment of fundamentals is therefore the first essential of unity in the Church.

     This first essential does not exist, in the measure in which it should, in the New Church today. Consequently there is lack of unity. This is true, not only of the Church as a whole, but also of its various organizations, greater and smaller in most of them, there is the lack of a common acknowledgment of fundamentals. There is, however, a notable exception, which the General Church of the New Jerusalem presents. In this body, as is no other, there is similarity of faith.

     Similarity of faith will beget mutual love, provided the faith be of the heart; that is, provided it have its origin in the spiritual affection of truth, which is the affection for truth because it is truth. He who is in this affection loves the Truth above all else, above the things of self and the world, yea, above his own life. He is willing and ready to make any sacrifice for its sake. When two or more persons, who thus love the truth, meet, and find that there is with them a common acknowledgment of fundamentals, it cannot be otherwise than that a strong mutual love will arise. There could be related from the history of the Church many a touching incident concerning the meeting of New Churchmen in a community where each thought himself to be alone, and concerning the joy of each in finding a brother. He who acknowledges the truth from the heart will love the truth wherever he finds it, and therefore cannot otherwise than love another who likewise acknowledges it. He believes that the Truth which he acknowledges is the Lord's and loves it because it is the Lord's; and he will love it in another as something which is from the Lord with him; and to love what is from the Lord with the neighbor is to truly love the neighbor.

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Mutual love which is from this source is the only genuine mutual love, because it is spiritual and heavenly.

     Since mutual love can flow from similarity of faith only when there is the spiritual affection of truth, it follows that there can be no mutual love with those in similar faith when that affection of truth is lacking. He who is not in the spiritual, but only in a natural affection of truth, loves truth not because it is the Lord's, but because it is something which pertains to his own intelligence, because it is the truth which he has espoused, which he is zealous for; and since the love of truth and the love of self thus make a one in him, he does not love the truth which is with the neighbor, thus does not love the neighbor because of what is with him from the Lord. When he thinks of one of his brethren in the Church, his primary thought is not that he is a receiver of the truth, but it is concerning his external qualities. He does not say within himself: Here is a man who loves the Truth, who is willing to place implicit confidence in Divine Revelation, who is zealous for the Faith, and who, although he has his faults, is, I believe, earnestly seeking to live according to the truth; I cannot otherwise than love him. No, instead of so thinking, his mind dwells only on those qualities in him which men regard in forming external friendships. If those qualities are to his liking, he seeks to enter into a bond of love with him, which may seem like mutual love; but if they are not to his liking, he enters into no bond of love, but sees only his neighbor's faults and shortcomings, condemning him because of them. Thus we see that the spiritual affection of truth not only causes the man of the Church to love him who is in similar faith, but also causes him to exercise toleration in regard to his failings; while the lack of that affection makes a true love for a brother in the Church an impossibility, and leads to intolerance. The spiritual affection of truth brings unity; but the lack of it can bring only disruption.

     With those of the primitive Christian Church, feasts were instituted in order that they might be glad from the heart together and be conjoined with one another. There was great cause why they should wish to be glad from the heart together. To them, a small band in the great wicked world, it was granted to know and worship Him who is the one only true God, to love the Redeemer and Savior of the world, to understand the Scriptures which He had given, to see the way of life and to walk therein, and to look forward to the blessedness of an eternal heavenly home.

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Each rejoiced in the possession of these wondrous privileges, and still more did he rejoice because his brethren also possessed them. Hence was their strong desire to be glad from the heart together and to be conjoined; or, what is the same, their strong desire for unity of affection and thought. Is there with us of the New Church, who possess spiritual privileges in an immeasurably higher degree than did those of the primitive Church, the same earnest desire to rejoice together and to be conjoined? We can hardly say that there is. And why is this? Is it not because of the lack of the spiritual affection of truth, because we do not love as we should the truth which is from the Lord with the neighbor, because we are not drawn to our brethren by a love and admiration for his zeal and earnestness in the Church, because we are inclined to think only of his external dualities, and this without toleration for his failings? These hindrances to unity must be removed, must be shunned as sins against God. The doing of this is the essential of the prayer for the peace of Jerusalem.
THEOLOGY OF ORIGEN 1903

THEOLOGY OF ORIGEN              1903

     HIS APPLICATIONS OF THE SPIRITUAL SENSE.

     In illustrating Origen's method of applying his doctrine of the spiritual sense to the mysteries of the Letter, we have space to quote only a few things out of the bewildering mass of the material at hand.

     Thus, in respect to the creation of the world in six days, he shows that it cannot be meant to be taken according to the Letter, since it speaks of the sun as being created on the fourth day, but that "it comprehends matters of profounder significance than the mere historical narrative appears to indicate, and contains very many things that are to be spiritually understood." (xi: 253)

     He shows, further, that Adam and Eve are not to be regarded as mere individuals, but as the prototypes of the whole human race; that the tree of life was not merely "a visible and palpable tree of wood," but that it, and the whole story of Eden, "is related figuratively in Scripture, in order that some mystical meaning may be indicated by it" (x:316; xi 206), and that the fall of man, and the expulsion from Eden, describes how "the soul lost its wings, being home downwards to earth," and how "the eyes of sense were then opened, which they would have done well to keep shut, in order that they might not be distracted and hindered from seeing with the eyes of the mind, with which they had up to that time enjoyed the delight of beholding God and His paradise." (xi:206, 461.)

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     He sees clearly that the story of the Deluge, and the Tower of Babel, signify something spiritual, but does not profess to know the precise significance. But in the account of Jacob's wrestling with an angel, he arrives at the real truth, as explained in the Arcana, viz., that "although Jacob wrestled, it was unquestionably against someone of those powers, which, as Paul declares, resist and contend with the human race, and especially with the saints," i. e., an evil spirit. (x:234; comp. A. C. 4294.)

     Thus also, in Origen's interpretation of "the spoiling of the Egyptians," he shows that this involves a lesson for the Christians that they should "extract from the philosophy of the Greeks what may serve as a course of study or a preparation for Christianity, and from Geometry and Astronomy what will serve to explain the Sacred Scriptures," in order to prepare from these vessels of silver and gold "the things which pertain to the service of God." (x: 388.)

     And thus he proceeds throughout the explanation of the Scriptures, by his faithful study of the Word, added to a perception which was certainly illumined from heaven, arriving very near to the actual truth, which was finally given through the Divine Revelation of the Lord in His Second Coming.

     A few remarkable instances may serve to stimulate the study of Origen by the members of the New Church. Thus in explaining the apparently inhuman statement in the Psalms: "happy shall he be that dasheth thy little ones against the stones," he shows that "the little ones of Babylon (which signifies 'confusion') are those troublesome, sinful thoughts which arise in the soul; and he who subdues them by striking their heads against the firm and solid strength of reason and truth is the man that 'dasheth the little ones against the stones,' and he is therefore truly blessed. God may therefore have commanded men to destroy their vices utterly, even at their birth, without having enjoined anything contrary to the teaching of Christ." (xi:445.)

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     Again, speaking of the vinegar which was offered to the Lord on the cross, he says that "those who resist the word of Truth do ever offer to Christ the gall of their own wickedness and the vinegar of their evil affections; but though He tastes of it, yet He will not drink it." (xi: 436) Compare with this the teaching to the New Church in the Apocalypse Explained, 519, that the "vinegar mingled with gall" signifies "that the Divine Truth from the Word with the Jewish nation was mingled with the falsity of evil, and was thus wholly falsified and adulterated, and therefore He would not drink it."

     HIS OTHER TEACHINGS.

     The light thus shed from the spiritual sense of the Word, as perceived more or less obscurely in Origen's mind, illuminates the whole of his theology.

     He thus recognizes that God is Divine Man, but that His Human form is to be understood spiritually. The eye of God, for instance, signifies Divine Omniscience, for "'sight,' in the Scriptures, means to see with the eyes of the heart, that is, to perform an intellectual act by means of the power of intelligence." (x:17.) Similarly also in respect to the fingers, hands, arms, etc., of God. (x:125.) And as to such human passions as anger and fury, ascribed to God in the Letter, he says that "we do not take such expressions literally, but seek in them a spiritual meaning, in order that we may think of God as He deserves to be thought of." (x: 97)

     On the same basis, he strenuously denies the resurrection of the material body, but affirms the existence of a spiritual body, within that which is "sown in corruption." (x: 137, 266.) He believes that man, after death, is placed "in some place of instruction, and, so to speak, class-room or school of souls, in which they are to be instructed" regarding all the things of earth and of heaven. Some will make more rapid progress than others, and will finally "reach the kingdom of heaven." (x:151, 152.)

     As to the eternal fire of hell, he believes "that every sinner kindles for himself the flame of his own fire, and is not plunged into some fire which has been already kindled by another, or was in existence before himself," and that "the tortures are produced by the hurtful affections of sins themselves." (x:140, 141.)

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     On the subject of the dependence of man upon the spiritual world, his teachings are equally correct. Quoting from the ancient allegorical work called The Shepherd of Hermans (the anonymous work of some Apostolic Father), the saying that "each individual is attended by two angels, and that whenever good thoughts arise in our hearts, they are suggested by the good angel, but when of a contrary nature, they are the suggestion of the evil angel," he explains that this influence does not in any way remove human freedom and responsibility. "For it is quite within our reach, when a malignant power has begun to incite us to evil, to cast away from us the wicked suggestions, and to resist the vile inducements. And, on the other hand, it is possible, when a Divine power calls us to better things, not to obey the call: our freedom of will being preserved to us in either case." (x: 230, 231.)

     Nevertheless, salvation is not of man, but of the Lord, for so great is the power of Hell that no single man "could sustain, without destruction to himself, the whole simultaneous assault of these opposing powers, unless indeed the might of Him alone were to work in him who said 'Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."' (x:233.)

     The doctrine of the free will of man in spiritual things is a favorite theme with Origen, and his utterances on this subject are such that it is no wonder that he was declared a heretic by the Church of the Post-Nicaean period, while in the New Church he may justly be regarded as a saint. He everywhere teaches the Principle of acting from God, but as of oneself. When interpreting the teaching of Paul, that lithe potter hath power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor" (Rom. ix: 18-21), he foresees that "some one,"-some future Calvin,--"will perhaps say that God has created some men for perdition, and others for salvation, and that therefore we are not possessed of free will." But he shows clearly, from the Epistles themselves, that there is no such thing as Predestination, and that "every individual vessel has furnished to its Creator out of itself the causes and occasions of its being formed by Him to be either a vessel unto honor or one unto dishonor," and he ends his discourse on this subject by teaching "that we are not to suppose either that those things which are in our own power can be done without the help of God, or that those which are in God's hands can be brought to completion without the intervention of our own acts and desires and intentions." (x: 211-221.)

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     The lack of space forbids further quotations at the present time, but I think enough has been presented to show that the New Church may, indeed, claim Origen as one of its prophets,--as the greatest of those teachers in the Christian Church, who more or less dimly foresaw those spiritual truths which, in the fulness of time, burst forth in Divine glory in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
WE TWO. 1903

WE TWO.              1903

"We two make home of any place we go;
We two find joy in any kind of weather;
What if the earth is clothed in bloom or snow,
If summer days invite, or bleak winds blow,
What matters it, if we two are together.

"We two make banquets of the plainest fare;
In every cup we find a thrill of pleasure;
We hide with wreathes the furrowed brow of care--
And win to smiles the set lips of despair.
For us life always moves with lilting measure.

"We two find youth renewed with every dawn,
Each day holds something of an unknown glory,
With life and hope,--time leads us on and on
To the Conjugial,--oft repeated story,--
Our Souls, we pray, saved from the path infernal,
We two,--we two,--shall live in love eternal."
--Selected.

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LAST JUDGMENT 1903

LAST JUDGMENT              1903

[MINOR WORKS BY SWEDENBORG.]

     CONCERNING THE DUTCH.

     19. I was in the spirit, and it was then granted me to wander through a rather notable city inhabited by the Dutch. In this city, all the streets were seen to be roofed over, and provided with wooden gates which were closed, on which account there was no wandering about the city without the permission of one of the Governors. But, afterwards, it was granted me to speak with the magistrates, who dwelt in the middle of the city. By these I was explored as to whence I came and what I wanted; and when they understood that I had come merely for the purpose of seeing, in order that I might publish to their brethren who were still in the world what their lot was and what kind of dwellings they had, then they related many things to me, and especially these: That they who dwelt in that city were among the prudent and intelligent of that nation; that there were many of such cities, distinct from each other, according to the affections and perceptions of truth from good; that they were in the world of spirits, and that, after some time passed there, they are elevated thence into heaven, introduced into societies there, and become angels; also, that the city was double and triple, or city under city, and when one descends by a flight of steps, he comes into a new city, one in which they dwell who differ as to affections. They said that their streets are everywhere roofed over, because, sometimes, from the rocks round about, which are somewhat higher than the city, they are looked at by evil spirits who are skilled in the perversion of souls by means of ideas, and in the induction, on them, of lusts which are not congruous; and that these spirits, if they penetrate to the city, know how to bind ideas, whereby the soul is held in anxiety, and, as it were, bound, and this even to despair; this was also shown me to the life. If anyone comes to them who is of another genius, and is discordant as to affections and thence thoughts, they order him to go out, and, as he is going out, he everywhere finds the gates closed; he is, therefore, led to other gates that he may go out, but still he finds them closed.

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In the meantime, they inspire into him a longing to get away. This goes on until the intruder becomes so exasperated that he can no longer bear it, and not until then is he let out; and, once let out, then, because of the annoyance to which he has been subjected, he does not return. The Dutch, more than all others in the Christian world, know what phantasy is and what reality, so that they cannot be deluded like others.

     20. It is not permitted to have any conversation with them about religion, wherefore, when anyone of a different religion comes to them, he is not explored by living voice and oral answer, but, unknown to him, they explore his thoughts, whence they draw out whatever is in him. It has also been granted me to speak with their priests. I spoke, from the Heavenly Doctrine, about the Lord, and they acknowledged the truths and were affected by them; they were then in illustration from the Lord. From these things it was granted me to know, that the Dutch, more than all others, have a perception of truth, both spiritual and civil; that they look out for themselves with prudence; and that this is implanted in them.

     21. In their cities, the men dwell at one side and the women at the other, and when the men desire their women, they send for them and they come. The women are indignant at this, that thus they are obliged to go at the command of a man; and those who, in the world, had ruled over their husbands, and, finding that they cannot do the like then, are fired up with indignation, wish to depart from the city. They are also let out, but when they get outside, there appears to them in every place some obstruction which closes their path; either a marsh or water or something else. So they go wandering, seeking for a long: time a place of departure, and this until they are so utterly wearied that they are forced to return to the city: and they enter into their own house, and are thus emended. The reason of this is, because the desire of ruling in marriage takes away conjugial love, which love dwells with consorts in the degree that the love of ruling decreases. Then, in its place, comes love, and with love, the delight of life; and then neither the husband nor the wife rules, but the Lord; hence is the happiness in marriages.

     22. The Dutch appear clothed with coats and breeches exactly as in the world, and they are distinguished from others by the fact that their human partakes more of the world than the human of others, for with them the spiritual does not shine through so clearly as it does with others.

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This comes from their love of business in the world, and hence their continual thought and speculation about it. Even when they come into the world of spirits they revolve the same things in their minds, and they look around in every direction to see where there is trading, and what kind of trading it is; for there is trading in the spiritual world just as much as in the natural world, and yet there is a difference between the two such as can hardly be described. And, what I have wondered at, when they meet business men who wish clandestinely to search into their thoughts and intentions by means of inspections, as is done in the spiritual world, they immediately become invisible. This comes from their having been unwilling, while in the world, to divulge their business affairs to others.

     23. All men, as many as come among spirits after death, are prepared for heaven or for hell, each one in accordance with a life conformable to his doctrine. With most men, this preparation is effected by means of instruction by angels; but the Dutch cannot be prepared for heaven, and for the reception of the spiritual of heaven, which is the spiritual of the angels, by means of information given them, for they do not receive it, for more than all others do they remain constantly steadfast in their own faith; even while information is being given them, still, from themselves, they think against it. Therefore they are prepared in another way. Heaven is described to them as to its quality; it is then granted them to ascend into heaven and see it, and then, whatever agrees with their genius is insinuated in them in order that they may go back with a full desire of coming into heaven. But when they are sent back, they are reduced to misery, and their business is taken away from them, until they find themselves reduced to extremities. They are then brought to those who have abundance of everything and are rich, when the thought is injected as to what the character of these men is and as to how it comes about that they are in such abundance, and in the delight of life; thus they reflect upon the life of these rich men, that it is the life of mutual love, and upon their doctrine, that it is the doctrine of that love, and that all their good and pleasant things are from the Lord.

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They are not then given information, but they make inquiry and inform themselves, and thus, from themselves, they think that, in order to escape from their misery, they must believe in like manner and act in like manner. And as they receive this faith, but receive it from themselves by means of life, abundance is given them; and so successively. Thus are they prepared for heaven, not by others but by themselves, not knowing at the time that, nevertheless, they are not prepared in this way by themselves but by the Lord, for they are of such a character that they afterwards acknowledge this. Afterwards, also, they are more constant than others, so that they may be called Constancies; nor do they suffer themselves to be drawn away by any deceit, or any art or ratiocination, or from any obscurity arising from the injection of doubts and sophistries, or by any fallacy, appearance and phantasy. Especially is this the case with those whose life's love was business and not money, and whose end was not luxury.

     CONCERNING CALVIN.

     24. It was said of Calvin that he had led a Christian life, and had not, like Melancthon and Luther, placed religion in faith alone, and that, therefore, he is in heaven.

     25. Calvin was seen in a society of heaven, in front above the head, but not in the middle of the society; and he said that he was in the same ecclesiastical doctrine in which he had been in the world. He spoke to me, to the effect that he had not agreed with Luther nor with Melancthon, in regard to faith alone, because in the Word such frequent mention is made of works, and men are commanded to do them, and that therefore faith and works should be conjoined; but that Luther had felt that if works were admitted they would not get very far away from the papists; but he believed that faith produces works as a tree its fruit. Calvin is accepted in his society because he is upright and makes no disturbance; this I heard from one of the governors of the society.

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Editorial Department 1903

Editorial Department       Editor       1903

     IN response to our appeal for information concerning the present whereabouts of the "Photolithographs," the Rev. L. H. Tafel writes that a set was presented to him by Mr. Mittnacht, probably from the sets ordered by Mr. Mullensiefen. Mr. Tafel, in 1880, imported two other sets from Mr. Mittnacht, one of these being sold to Dr. Felix Boericke, and the other to Mr. Adolph J. Tafel, both of Philadelphia. Mr. Charles Higham, of London, writes that he has been able, thus far, to locate eighty-four sets (including those enumerated in our February issue), and that he intends to publish the results of his inquiries before long.



     In our February issue, under the heading "Important News from Sweden," we published an account of the recent movement of the Royal Academy of Sciences, looking towards the publication of Swedenborg's remaining scientific manuscripts. This movement, we stated, was caused by "an official inquiry from Vienna," received by Dr. Retzius, of Stockholm. We now learn that this official inquiry was the result of an appeal, by Dr. Max Neuburger, to the Swedish minister in Vienna, who, in turn, communicated with the Austrian minister in Stockholm, and this gentleman, finally, suggested to Professor Retzius the idea of forming a committee, in the Academy of Sciences, for the purpose of publishing Swedenborg's manuscripts. We publish these facts in justice to Dr. Neuburger, and also on account of their own historical interest: this being as far as we are aware, the first time that Swedenborg's Manuscripts have been the subject of an exchange of notes between diplomatists. There is no fear of international complications, however.



     The past month has been a very eventful one for the societies of the General Church of the New Jerusalem in this country, nearly all of which are directly interested in the ministerial changes which have been inaugurated. The general movement began by the resignation of the Rev. Reginald Brown from the Pittsburg Society, it being his intention to devote himself exclusively to the educational work of the Church. With this in view, he will immediately enter upon a course in Pedagogy at the Chicago University.

     The Pittsburg pastorate being thus vacated, an invitation was extended to the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, who has accepted the call, and will begin his work in Pittsburg on April 1st. This left the Immanuel Church without a pastor, but the members of that progressive center, nothing daunted by the scarcity of ministers, decided to call, not one, but two men, to fill the place which Mr. Pendleton has occupied for fourteen years. The members residing in the city of Chicago, "swarmed" from the old hive, and formed themselves into a distinct society; leaving the friends in Glenview in possession of the name "the Immanuel Church," the city folks chose the name "the Sharon Church," and elected the Rev. William B Caldwell as their pastor, while the society in Glenview elected the Rev. David H. Klein.

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Both of these gentlemen have accepted the calls, but this leaves Middleport without a pastor, and Bryn Athyn without a regular preacher. An important change is also about to take place at Parkdale, owing to the very serious ill-health of the faithful and beloved pastor of that Society, the Rev. E. S. Hyatt. Truly, "the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few." Let us pray, therefore, that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers into His harvest.
HUMAN UNDERSTANDING AND DIVINE REVELATION 1903

HUMAN UNDERSTANDING AND DIVINE REVELATION              1903

     A correspondent in Mauritius writes:"....On one point I should like to speak at length, but this letter is already too long. Still I will say a few words about it. I mean, the Authority to be attached to the theological Writings of Swedenborg I fully accept them as of Divine authority; but as they are addressed to man's rational faculties, one can only accept them so far as one understands them. And I do not think Swedenborg himself contemplated any other acceptation, as he constantly appeals to our rational faculties, while he makes it clear at the same time that only those disposed towards good will ever really accept the truth in their hearts, whatever outward professions they may make with their lips But I do not think that every sentence he wrote was dictated to him in the, same way as the Word was dictated to the writers of it; but I understand that his rational faculties were so enlightened that he could receive the truth rationally and transmit to us. In holding this view, do I take a position differing from that of the Academy? I should be sorry if it were so, and I am quite open to conviction."

     In respect to Swedenborg's "dictation" our correspondent does not differ from the position held by the Academy, or,--what is of far greater importance,--from the teaching of the Writings. These Writings were not written by verbal and sensual dictation through intermediate spirits, as were the books of the Old and New Testaments. The Writings of the New Church are an immediate Revelation, given by the rational and conscious elevation of Swedenborg's understanding into the light of the highest heaven, where his mind, by the personal manifestation of the Lord, was filled with the Holy Spirit of Divine Truth. Thus it was the rational mind of Swedenborg that was inspired. It was his rational mind that received Divine dictation, "from the mouth of the Lord alone," not viva voce in the form of words externally heard, but by an internal dictation in the form of inmost rational perceptions. And then, "what came from the Lord was written, but what came from the angels was not written." (A. E. 1183.)

     While, therefore, Swedenborg differs from the prophets and evangelists in this respect that his language was not verbally dictated, but of his own choice, he differs equally from all other writers, sacred or profane, in that his thoughts were inspired immediately from the Lord alone, and not by mediate influx through the spiritual world.

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     In his statement that inasmuch as the Writings "are addressed to man's rational faculties, one can only accept them so far as one understands them," our correspondent does not discriminate between the position natural to an investigator, and the attitude to be expected from a confirmed New Churchman.

     The teachings of the Lord in the New Testament are also "addressed to man's rational faculties," but a devout Christian does not on that account say to himself. "I will accept the New Testament only so far as I understand it." That is the attitude taken by an agnostic or by a heathen investigator of the Christian Religion, but a Christian accepts the New Testament as the very Word of God, of Divine Authority in all matters of faith and life, even though he understands only an infinitesimal portion of the Divine mysteries contained within it.

     It is thus also in regard to the Writings of the New Church, the third and last Testament or Testimony of Divine Truth. It is perfectly natural and proper for an outside investigator of these Writings to say to himself. "I will accept them only so far as I understand them to be in harmony with the Word of God." Nothing else can be expected of him while he is standing without, measuring the walls, examining the bulwarks, and numbering the towers of the distant city on the mountain.

     But when his investigations are completed, and he has finally satisfied himself that the golden vision is not an empty mirage, but actually the promised City of God, he hesitates no longer, but enters in through the gate of full acknowledgment. What if he has not yet explored every street and mansion of the New Jerusalem, every interior doctrine and doctrinal of the Writings! Does he not know that the city as a whole has "descended from God out of Heaven?"

     The trouble with the majority of nominal New Churchmen of this generation is that they persist in remaining outside the city, admiring but hesitating. The Heavenly Doctrines have not yet gained their full and hearty consent. There still remain so many things not yet fully "understood." But if they confirm themselves in this attitude, they will never enter in,--not to all eternity,--for what is infinite can never be fully comprehended by what is finite.

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Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     The Sacred Key, our lively little contemporary in Denver, in its February number, announces that it will appear no more. In making its exit it warmly recommends to its readers The Swedenborg Monthly, and all the other New Church Journals, including the Life.



     The New Church Book Association, of Philadelphia (2129 Chestnut street), has issued a new Catalogue, with brief, but intelligent, descriptions of the books offered for sale. We are pleased at the initial announcement in the Catalogue that "The Lord has made His Second Coming by means of the man Emanuel Swedenborg, to whom He revealed Himself; whom He prepared to teach the Doctrines of the New Church from Him." This is a straightforward statement, drawn directly from the Writings, though many, no doubt, will deem it "injudicious." But what will such say about the further statement that "Side by side with the Word stand the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg." This comes very near to an acknowledgment that the Writings are the Word of God, for it is clear that nothing can "stand side by side with the Word" except that which is itself, the Word of God.



     According to Morning Light, the little society at Plaistow (London) enjoys quite a remarkable distinction. We are informed that "at Plaistow a larger attendance can always he obtained for a sermon or a lecture on a religious subject than for a meeting of a social or lighter character, while a long sermon makes them perfectly happy; indeed, dissatisfaction has more than once been expressed when the sermon has taken much less than an hour to deliver." The tables are turned with a vengeance, and soon we may expect to hear of a ministerial revolt against long sermons.

     Plaistow is situated in the east end of London, and the society, which was started some ten years ago, consists mostly of working men.



     The January issue of The New Philosophy is of more than the usual interest and importance. Besides the customary instalment of Prof. Price's translation of De Sensibus, there is the beginning of a translation, by Mr. Alfred Stroh, of Swedenborg's Epitome or Summary of the Principia (Chapters i, iv), and also, by the same translator, a first English version of Swedenborg's little tract, De Causis Rerum ("On the Causes of Things"), which, though the title is Latin, was written in Swedish, in the year 1717. This tract is of special interest, as presenting the first germ of the great cosmological system which was afterwards set forth in the Principia.

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     Thus, little by little, one after another of these earliest treatises by Swedenborg is being brought to the light of publicity after two centuries of oblivion, and the student is enabled thereby to trade the beginnings and the growth of those universal principles of genuine natural Truth, by which Swedenborg's mind was prepared to serve as the matrix for the crystallization of the spiritual Truth of the New Jerusalem. The New Philosophy cannot perform a use greater than the publication of Swedenborg's own works. Every issue is of permanent value, and we only wish that it would come out monthly instead of quarterly.



     The Monatblatter for January, in reply to our comments in the December number of the Life, confirms itself in the position that "the Writings are not the Word of God." Our contemporary quotes the teaching that "the Word cannot be understood without Doctrine" (T. C. R. 226), and remarks that "on this account it has pleased the Lord at His Second Advent to give,--not a new Word, which again would stand in need of Doctrine,-but the true Doctrine from the present Word." Our contemporary does not seem to realize the fundamental law that what is from the Word is the Word, and that the Word itself is nothing but Doctrine. The Ancient Word, beginning with the book of Enoch, was Doctrine drawn from the Most Ancient Revelation. The Old Testament is Doctrine drawn from the Ancient Word, and the New Testament is Doctrine drawn by the Lord Himself from the Law and the Prophets. Yet each of these revelations of Doctrine is the Word of the Lord. The present controversy on this subject is not, as our contemporary thinks, merely "a war of words," but it is a recurrence of the everlasting conflict between the affirmative and the negative, between the acknowledgment of the Lord and the denial of Him. This conflict has been fought in every preceding Church, and it will have to be fought out also in the New. To each Church there was given a new Divine Revelation, and in each Church the fall began when the Divine authority of that Revelation was doubted and denied.



     The Rev. F. L. Higgins, in a paper on "The Pastor and Politics" in the Messenger for February 25, illustrates the state of the Christian world by the experience of two respectable women, one in Boston and the other in Toronto, when applying for positions as saleswomen The one, "on hearing what wages mere paid, and seeing they would not be sufficient to cover the expense of room, board and such clothes as she would be expected to wear, asked: 'But how can I live and dress on this amount?' The merchant's only reply was: 'Have you not a friend in the place?' Wondering at first at his words, she soon perceived their significance, and with an emphatic 'No, sir!' on her lips she turned away quickly and walked away." The other woman, "when she asked how she could live on the very low wages offered, was told to 'Do as the other women do.'" Mr. Higgins remarks "The great majority of these saleswomen do manage, it is sincerely to be hoped, by dint of a lingering starvation to live on the pittance paid them.

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But the remarks of the merchants, 'Have you not a friend?' and 'Do as other women do,' would seem to indicate that to have 'a friend' is not a rare or uncommon thing." There is scarcely any one that has had some experience of the world, who has not come into contact with this universal evil, this white slavery, this degradation and prostitution of respectable womanhood. Well may the New church father hesitate, before exposing his daughter to this contaminating sphere. If she must earn her living, why not rather train her for the higher uses of domestic service? This not only yields a better income, but is actually more respected, and, above all, affords a greater protection against the sphere of the world, and is an excellent school of preparation for the duties of a wife and mother.
Title Unspecified 1903

Title Unspecified       EUGENE E. STEVENS       1903

EDITORS New Church Life:

     My attention has been drawn to a paragraph in the March issue of the Life, relative to the New Church Mission in Washington. It is regretted that you treat the subject in a somewhat sarcastic vein, evidencing disapproval rather than approval of the manner and method of our work. We are trying to perform our use in a manner not conflicting with the form of use of any other New Church body, local or otherwise. By advertising in the "amusement columns" we believe we reach people ripe for the truths of the New Church, but who never read the church notices appearing under appropriate heading. Your comment does our advertising also an injustice, in that the number of strangers attracted to the two meetings referred to was nearer fifty than "twenty-four" as you state. This will be evident if you will carefully examine the Messenger article. Truly yours,
     EUGENE E. STEVENS,
Vice-President and Acting President New-Church Mission, Washington, D. C. Washington, D, C., March 14, 1903.

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Church News 1903

Church News       Various       1903

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     Bryn Athyn. Seldom has the anniversary of Washington's birthday been as heartily and brilliantly celebrated among us as this year. On the evening of the 21st of February we did honor to the "Father of Our Country" with music, toasts, dancing and frolic, not in 20th Century attire, either, but in the gorgeous costuming of the colonial period; indeed, we were bold enough to style the event a "colonial ball." An informal reception In the upper rooms of the Academy building, converted for the occasion into a home, gave opportunity to exchange greetings and congratulations, and the strains of music, vocal, instrumental and orchestral, filled the air for a time as some of the guests favored us. The singing of Mrs. Heath and Miss Esther Boggess was much enjoyed, as also a piano solo by Mr. Walter Van Horn and a recitation of "The Supposed Speech of John Adams," by Mr. Emil Stroh. Punch, toasts and songs, a grand march and the unfurling of the flag, followed by the dancing of the minuet and the polacca, served to manifest and release the pent-up patriotism.

     On Friday evening, February 27th, the "older folks" were invited to Bryn Elus, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hicks, who gave a reception in celebration of their Silver-Wedding anniversary. The warm hospitality of our genial host and hostess is proverbial amongst us, but was never more felt than on this occasion, when we all gladly came to commemorate their happy union of twenty-five years.

     The beaming "silver-groom," after extending to all "the freedom of his castle." referred to his married life as "a twenty-five years long honey-moon." and described his family as "unique in one respect,-it is its own ancestor." He explained this as meaning that "there is no New Church inheritance back of us, except the remains implanted by the Lord. But we had a good start. It was through Mr. John Pitcairn that I first learned of the New Church and through him we became acquainted with Mr. Benade, Dr. Burnham, Walter Childs and other 'stalwarts.' I was baptized by Bishop Benade in 1873, and my wife by Bishop Pendleton in 1883."

     Mr. Hicks now read the beautiful little poem, "We Two," which is printed on p. 211 of this issue of the Life. He had first seen it in a New York paper, and had appropriated it for this occasion with a few words of revision. Concluding, he said, "And now, having passed the meridian, we enter upon our journey toward the golden eventide, holding, we hope, the high ideals of our younger days, and praying for that mutual forbearance which comes only tot hose who have entered upon the life of regeneration."

     Mr. Synnestvedt, on behalf of the assembled guests, presented a silver gift, as a substantial, though inadequate token, of the spiritual affection in which Mr. and Mrs. Hicks are held by their fellow-members in the Church. The n followed toasts to "The Husband," "The Wife," "The Children" and "The Home," with their responses from the Rev. Messrs. Acton, Odhner, Synnestvedt and Price, which are published in another part of our magazine.

     On the following evening, Mr. and Mrs. Hicks gave a dance for the "younger folks," who utilized this as an opportunity to add their own silver token to those presented the night before, and to offer their hearty congratulations and good wishes.

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     The Sunday afternoon following Rev. Homer Synnestvedt administered the rites of "Confession of Faith" to Mr. Curtis Hicks, now of Pittsburgh. The same evening a number of the friends, were invited by Mr. and Mrs. George Heath to witness the Baptism of their baby. Later on, we were privileged to sample Mr. Heath's far-famed and inimitable Punch, and to listen to several recitations by him.

     The Academy Schools also were favored by Mr. Heath next morning, who delighted them with a lecture on Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."

     Philadelphia. On Christmas day special services were held in the Advent Church of Philadelphia. In spite of bad weather and sickness the services were well attended. The sermon treated of the Incarnation, and brought out the spiritual signification of the circumstances connected with the Lord's coming, and also showed the reasons why the Lord was born of a betrothed virgin; why He was not born in splendor; why He was born in Bethlehem; why He was laid in a manger, and why the announcement of His birth was first made to the shepherds.

     The offering was devoted to the orphanage fund, according to the recommendation of the Bishop.

     A children's Christmas festival was also held this year on the Sunday after Christmas, which proved to be very successful.

     Our faithful young pastor, the Rev. Emil Cronlund, has been seriously ill with typhoid fever for several weeks, and is still in a rather low condition. In the meanwhile, the services have been conducted by the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt, of Bryn Athyn.

     Pittsburgh, Pa. The meeting for the election of a pastor on Sunday evening, February 22, brought out some fifty-five members, and was fairly representative of those who take an active interest in our Church affairs. Bishop Pendleton presided, and after a short opening service made a brief statement the situation, viz., Mr. Brown's decision to pursue educational work and his desire to be relieved of his position here as soon as his successor could be installed. The Bishop spoke of four pastors, whose names had been presented as well qualified, from their experience in pastoral work, to administer to the particular needs of this society as they appeared to him.

     The meeting, being thus placed open to a full and free discussion, resulted in a unanimous call to Rev. N. D. Pendleton. The Bishop then announced that he would proceed to Glenview the following day and personally tender the call to Mr. Pendleton, at the same time consulting for the welfare of the Chicago Society. Since this meeting Mr. Pendleton has accepted, and we are looking forward to his arrival next month.

     During the course of the evening's remarks, many tributes were paid to Mr. Brown's excellent work for the society, coming here, as he did, directly from the Theological School, and in a short time assuming the duties of both the pastoral and school work of our society.

     A large placard, covertly placed in the vestibule of our Church several weeks ago, conveyed in old English an invitation to "ye Smoke-town Saints" to take part in a costume party to be held at said Church on Monday evening, February 23d, the invitation being extended by "The Mysterious Three." Previous to the affair a dozen or more people were reputed to be of the "Three." On the evening announced, people of many lands and periods assembled to frolic or be dignified, as their characters required. After the affair got started it was hard to find any strictly sedate people present. The opening march presented a fair picture of many hues. Over all in the march were thrown paper ribbons and many-colored confetti, which "helped some." A gouty, feeble old colonial gentleman tried his best to lead the march, but was forced to retire because of overexertion.

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A country lad with a permanent expression of shyness got in somehow. "Topsy," who couldn't use her voice, made up for it in her gestures. A Scotchman who resembled a "wee hit," the famous donor of libraries, but wouldn't stand for the comparison, fell into line, too. A really gentlemanly gentleman was there, who would invariably back into you while making a profuse bow to someone else. A cowboy with the regulation stentorian voice endeavored to "hold-up" a few people, but was compelled to apologize because he had left his "gun" out on the ranch. A musketeer of several centuries ago seated himself at a nineteenth century piano and played a "rag time" two-step, while another musketeer, who must have rented his outfit from the same costumer, danced an extravagant cake-walk with a belie of George Washington's time.

     Mr. J. J. Kintner took the gentlemen s prize for "make-up," he being the "gouty" colonial gentleman. Miss Helena Schoenberger appeared in a charming "Kate Greenaway" costume, and because she looked so very well in it she was given the ladies' prize. There were lots of others who added to the occasion in their gay costumes.

     "The Mysterious Three" finally disclosed their identity, as no one seemed able to guess them. They were Miss Elsa Lechner and Miss Venita and Miss Amena Pendleton, who were dressed all alike in quaint colonial style, and to them is extended thanks for the jolliest time we have had this season.     E. H.

     Glenview and Chicago. It would be presumptuous in the writer to give an extended report of all that has taken place here since our last communication, as it would be burdening the readers of this column with news more than three months old, and therefore only a brief review will be attempted.

     Christmas and New Year's were celebrated as usual very successfully; a most enjoyable banquet was held on Swedenborg's birthday, and on February 22d due honor was paid to the memory of George Washington by a happy gathering of school children in "fancy dress." During the winter, both Friday and Wednesday classes have been exceptionally well attended, doubtless because of the excellent food they supply for both body and soul. The school is in a very prosperous condition, the scholars enjoying, besides their usual instruction, a very successful class in dancing, under Miss Benson, of Chicago. In the city Miss Olive Bostock is conducting a very useful Sunday School, which rejoices in about a dozen scholars.

     On February 27th Bishop Pendleton called a meeting of the Immanuel Church, in which he announced that its pastor, Rev. N. D. Pendleton, had resigned to accept a call to Pittsburg, and that it was therefore necessary for the society to call another pastor. This meeting adjourned without selecting a pastor to succeed Mr. Pendleton. Two days later the members of the Immanuel Church residing in Chicago came together and decided to withdraw from the Immanuel Church and to form a separate society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem.

     On the following day at a meeting in Glenview the members there heartily congratulated their brethren in Chicago on the movement which they were about to make, for, though it meant the loss of the support of about half the members of the Immanuel Church, they saw that it would he better for the Church as a whole, and were willing to hear the loss. At this meeting the Rev. D. H. Klein was called to become pastor of the Immanuel Church, whose members are now all resident at Glenview. Mr. Klein has accepted the call.

     And now it is my privilege to announce to the readers of the Life the birth of a new society of the General Church: i. e., "the Sharon Church," of Chicago, Ill., organized on March 4th, 1903, the Rev. William B. Caldwell, minister.

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But to assure the readers that this "birth notice" is not likely to be followed by a notice of the death of the mother Church, I must add, that in spite of the desertion of nearly fifty members, the Immanuel Church has great hopes for the future, for there are with it about fifty children, who, before long, will make up for the recent losses.     L. G.

     Denver, Col. The Denver Society has now had an opportunity for some weeks to become acquainted with its new pastor, the Rev. Geo. G. Starkey who with his family arrived on December 23rd. Services have not yet begun, however, owing to the fact that for the first five weeks alterations of the chapel-parsonage building were in progress, and since then the moving in has taken up all of both Mr. and Mrs. Starkey's time and strength. It is hoped, however, that services will be begun the latter part of February,--or perhaps the 1st of March. The trip to Denver was pleasantly and usefully broken by a week's stop-over at Cincinnati, with Mrs. Starkey's family, and another of five days at Glenview, with Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Nelson. Mr. Starker preached both in Glenview and Chicago on December 21st, and in the evening he and Mrs. Starkey met the society in a reception given by Mr. and Mrs. Nelson. This was their first visit to Glenview, and their experiences bore out all that had been told them of Glenview hospitality and cordiality.

     Since Mr. Starkey's arrival in Denver several informal meetings have been held, social and doctrinal in character, of which special mention may be made of the watch-meeting, held at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Lindrooth. It may be added that the newcomers' impression of Denver has been very pleasant, despite the drawback of starting in a rather worn-out it physical condition. The Rev. Joseph Collom, and members of his society, have shown them marked courtesies and kindness, and on January 11th and 25th Mr. Starkey by invitation assisted Mr. Collom in the services, and preached the sermon.

     Berlin, Ont. On Swedenborg's birthday a supper and social was held in the school-rooms. In the course of the evening the pastor read a number of extracts from the first volume of the Adversaria, bearing on Swedenborg's first experiences after the opening of his spiritual eyes. Toasts then followed, and several friends responded to the subject of "Swedenborg."

     On January 16th a memorial service was held in commemoration of the death of our beloved friend, Mr. Adam Doering, who was suddenly taken away from our midst on January 13th. Mr. Doering was the son of the late Henry Doering, of Milverton, Ont., and brother of Ferdinand, Albert, Henry and Charles E. Doering. He was one of our most active young men in the Carmel Church, warm-hearted, hospitable, energetic and deeply interested in all the affairs of the Church. He leaves behind him a young widow and two little boys.

     Another memorial meeting was held on February 15th, occasioned by the death of our valued friend. Mr. Asplundh. The rather numerous and sudden deaths which have occurred of late among the members of the General Church,--many of them active men in the prime of life--furnish abundant food for reflection on the natural and spiritual causes of death. It would be very useful to have these causes explained in the Life.

     Socially, things have been moving on here in the usual quiet, but genial, way. All our folks seem to be socially inclined, and our regular monthly social functions,--the ladies' meeting, the men's meeting and the general socials, are all well attended.

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     Colchester. On Sunday, November 28, in place of the Doctrinal class, a social was held to welcome our old friend, Mr. G. A. McQueen, and to hear an account of his recent visit to America. After proposing "The Church," Mr. Czerny called upon Mr. McQueen, who spoke for about an hour, giving us, in his characteristic style, a very full account of his experiences and impressions. He was also the bearer to us of greetings from Bryn Athyn and from the Men's Meeting of the Pittsburg District Assembly, which were most heartily received. It is upon such occasions as these that we realize more fully the strength of the bond that unites us in Church fellowship. Toasts were honored to "The Saints in America," and to "Our new Bishop." Rev. E. C. Bostock.

     On Wednesday, December 31, at the invitation of Mr. and Mrs. Gill twenty-five of our members assembled at the now historic "studio." After conversation and music in the reception room, we all adjourned to the studio above, where supper was provided, to which we did leisurely and ample justice. By invitation of the toastmaster, Mr. Gill, Mr. Czerny proposed "The Church," and, later, he spoke on the subject of Unity in the Church. "Charity" was next proposed and responded to by Mr. Appleton, followed by "Hope," responded to by Mr. Gill. Mr. Czerny proposed "Our Bishop," and later "Bishop Benade." Other toasts were "Our host and hostess," "Our Pastor" and "Our London Friends."

     After the toasts, we listened to some more musical selections until nearly 12 o'clock. Then, as the old year passed away, joining hands, we all sang "Auld Lang Syne," following it with "Our Glorious Church." The occasion will be long remembered from the sphere of mutual love which prevailed. On the evening of New Year's day, the children's Annual Social was held. This had been looked forward to with unusual interest from the fact that the girls had a surprise in store; and the boys, not to be outdone, had also been at work in a similar direction. After the usual games, tea followed, to which fifty, including adults, sat down. Then came songs by the Tonic Solfa class under Mr. Potter, followed by an original two-act comedy, entitled "Coshingham's Academy," which was a decided success. The girls then came out with their surprise. This consisted of three Action-Songs: "A Lullaby," by seven girls with dolls; the "Months and Seasons." by twelve girls with appropriate emblems, and a "Good Night" song. The renditions were quite charming, and evinced the careful training given by Mrs. and Miss Gill. A pretty and appropriate feature of the evening was the distribution of light refreshments by two little boys in fancy dress.

     Our fortnightly classes have proved very interesting and profitable. Mr. Czerny provides us with a list of subjects from which we make selections. Thus far we have had the subjects of "Moses," "David" and "The Ancient Word." F. R. C.

FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     THE UNITED STATES. The Rev. Clarence Lathbury has resigned from the pastorate of the Elmwood, Mass., Society, where he has labored for eight years, and has accepted an invitation to become Associate Manager of the Swedenborg Publishing Company, of Germantown. Pa.

     The Rev. Chas. H. Mann will take charge of the Brooklyn Society during the absence of the Rev. J. C. Ager, who, on February 28, sailed for Naples, on an extended journey to Palestine and the East.

     The Rev. J. Stephenson has been elected pastor of the Allegheny Society, as successor of the Rev. Walter F. Brickman. The society celebrated Swedenborg's birthday by a "charade social." After an address on Swedenborg, by Mr. Stephenson, a series of toasts were proposed, and an enjoyable evening was spent.

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     The Rev. John Whitehead, on February 5th, conducted the funeral services for Mrs. Cornelia Ann Stanley, at Harrietta, Wexford county, Mich., and on the evening of the same day he baptized two adults and seven children. There are now, in this neighborhood, as a result of the work of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, about twenty-five adult baptized members of the New Church, who, with their children, form a strong nucleus for a society.

     The new temple for the North Side Parish of the Chicago Society is being rapidly constructed, and is expected to be ready for dedication sometime in May. The parish is looking for a pastor of its own, and the early resumption of morning services.

     Mrs. Mary Kinmont died at Glendale, O., on January 11th, in the ninety-fourth year of her age. She was the granddaughter of Mr. Francis Bailey, the Philadelphia publisher, who was the very first receiver of the Heavenly Doctrines in the United States, and she was the widow of the late Alexander Kinmont, who was the teacher of the Cincinnati Second Society in the thirties.

     The Society in Indianapolis celebrated Swedenborg's birthday with a supper, during which each one present was asked to tell something about Swedenborg and his life and work. Almost all had made some preparation, and the result was a very interesting review of his life, of his preparation to be the Lord's servant, and of the work he did as an inspired revelator. The Messenger was passed around that all might see its pictures of Swedenborg and his home; songs were sung, the conversation grew general as questions were asked and comments were made at the conclusion of interesting recitals; making altogether a very pleasant social evening.

     CANADA. The Toronto Society celebrated the 215th anniversary of the birth of Emanuel Swedenborg by a symposium on this inspiring subject. Mr. William Beales delivered an address on "Swedenborg's Early Life:" Mr. J. B. McLachlan described Swedenborg's travels in foreign countries. His labors as an author and mission as a theologian were described by the Rev. F. L. Higgins. Mr. W. A. Beales read a sketch by Rev. T. F. Wright of a recent visit to Stockholm, and an original poem, entitled "The Second Advent." The entertainment was concluded with music and light refreshments.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The societies at Derby, Leicester, Nettingham and Longton have united together in issuing a combined manual and missionary journal. It is a six-page monthly and is called "New Church Tidings."

     The Hillhead (Glasgow) Society, which was established some twelve months ago, is temporarily without the services of its pastor. Rev. J. F. Buss, who is suffering from a nervous breaking down and has been obliged to take a complete rest. Mr. Russ bade farewell to his society at the close of the services of February 8th, and soon after that date sailed for Durban, South Africa, where he will visit friends. Although the present is a somewhat critical time for the Hillhead Society, the whole congregation was united in urging Mr. Buss to this course. He is likely to be in South Africa for a year, and may do some ministerial work there, but the primary object of his visit is the restoration of his health.

     MAURITIUS. At the conclusion of the Christmas services of the Port Louis Society, a meeting of the members was held, at which it was decided to enter into correspondence with the English Conference, with a view to affiliation with that body. At the same meeting, announcement was made of some very liberal donations to the fond for supporting a resident minister.

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     AUSTRALIA. Very little having been heard of late concerning the state of the New Church in Australia, we quote the following from an Australian correspondent: "There is quite a large number of (so-called) Swedenborgians in Australia, but they do not take kindly to the New Church,--I do not know why. In Victoria there is a small body of Swedenborgians who call themselves "The Church of the Firstborn." They number about 190 or so, but the leader of this movement claims to be inspired, and I fancy he believes he is a successor of Swedenborg. I have never attended any of their meetings, but I have met the leader and some of his people. He is a most respectable old gentleman, possessing very considerable real estate. I imagine his knowledge of Swedenborg is very superficial.

     In Melbourne there is a very handsome New Church building, but the members hold service only once on the Sunday, and I understand there are only 12 to 18 regular attendants. When Mr. Thornton was pastor here, the services were well attended.

     I hear that the Rev. Percy Billings is doing good work in Adelaide, in the State of South Australia, but I have never met him. Some years ago I sometimes attended the Church there, when Mr. Day was the minister.

     In Sydney, I am informed, the interest is well sustained. The people there have lately erected a new building, and they used to publish a monthly magazine, but I have not met with it for a number of years. In Brisbane there is also a good minister and an attached people."
SINCERITY 1903

SINCERITY       W. F. PENDLETON       1903


Announcements.



     
MAY, 1903.           No. 5
     THE internal and the external of thought act together or unanimously when man speaks and acts that which he wills and thinks. This is the case with all who are sincere, and all are sincere who so do.

     The angels are sincere, there is nothing with them concealed, and they have nothing they wish to conceal; they are willing that every one should know their inmost thought.

     It is a law of the Divine Providence that the evil after death should also come into a state which resembles the angelic state in this that the internal and the external must agree; they must speak and act that which they will and think. But this is not sincerity with them; they are driven to it by the force and rage of their own evil loves. It may look like sincerity, and it is sometimes called sincerity, for a man to speak and do the evil that he thinks and wills, but it comes about because he has lost the power and ability to control and conceal. All lose this power in the other world, and it is of the Divine Providence that it should he so, in order that the judgment may take place, that the good may be separated from the evil, and that the mind of every evil man may become whole and entire, one mind. The evil man or evil spirit would continue to control and conceal his evils if he could; and when they burst forth through the overpowering force of hatred and anger, there is still the will but not the power to conceal. Hence sincerity cannot be predicated of the evil. The good are sincere, because their constant desire, will, and purpose is that their internal will and thought should come forth and manifest itself in word and deed, in a life of activity and use, and their constant prayer is, that the external things which impede and obstruct the free operation of their loves may be removed, in order that their whole life, internal and external, may be in harmonious agreement, may be one before the Lord.

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But it is contrary with the evil; they are always insincere, because they are always in the desire, will and purpose of concealing that which makes their inward life, for the sake of power and dominion over others, in order that they may obtain by cunning that which they cannot obtain in an open and direct manner. This is especially true of the worst of the evil.

     Remember, it is not sincerity to speak and do the evil which a man thinks and wills, but to speak and do the good. It is sincerity to shun evils as sins against the Lord.

     Now the internal and external of the mind are distinct from each other, so distinct that they can act separately, and they must act separately with the man who is being reformed and regenerated, because with him the internal is in good and truth, and the external is in evil and falsity; and, as we have shown, it is no part of sincerity that the evil of his external should come forth into speech and act, but it is of sincerity, that the evil of the external should not come forth, but be removed, in order that the internal which makes the man himself may come forth in the ultimate activities of life. Since therefore the internal and external are so distinct from each other, it follows that the internal can wage war with the external, and by war, or combat, reduce the external to consent and obedience, that the natural or external may cease to hinder and obstruct. but may co-operate with the internal, in speaking and doing the truth and good which the internal thinks and wills.

     Man is man from the internal of his thought, for this is the thought of his spirit, commonly called the thought of the heart, for the heart is the love or the will itself. and this is the man himself,-the man himself as a spirit,--and in this thought he is one with the spirits who are associated with him in the spiritual world.

     With the regenerating man there are good spirits; more interiorly he is consociated with the angels, and inmostly he is conjoined with the Lord. We see, then, the powerful force that is operating with him from within, and with which he is co-operating, in his combats with the evils of his external man.

     This force inmostly is Omnipotence itself, but successively veiled and accommodated. From these spiritual forces, from these angelic forces, from this Omnipotent force, the internal acts and proceeds to the conquest of the external man, in order that the whole man may be made one and entire, a man of the Church, an angel of Heaven. W. F. PENDLETON.

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WEDDING GARMENT 1903

WEDDING GARMENT       Rev. E. J. STEBBING       1903

     And when the King came in to see the guests he saw there a man not clothed in a wedding garment. And he said to him, Friend, how camest thou hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the King to the servants, Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matt. xxii, 11-14.)

     The words of our text are part of that parable of the Lord in which He likened Heaven to a marriage which was made by a King for his son. The Lord, when on earth, spoke nearly everything in parables adapted to the nature of those who are in the world. We read, And with many such parables spake He the word unto them, as they were able to hear. But without a parable spake He not unto them. (Mark iv, 33-34) The Lord likened Heaven to feasts, because they placed heavenly joy in feasts; also, to paradises and vineyards. This is one manner in which the Divine is accommodated to the states of man. "In the Word all things are representatives of Spiritual and Celestial things and are real correspondences, for the Word descended from Heaven, and because it descended thence, in its origin it is Divine, Celestial and Spiritual, to which those things which are of the sense of the letter, correspond. Hence it is that those things which are of the heavenly marriage, which is the conjunction of good and truth, fall into corresponding things and thus into those things which are of marriages on earth. This is the reason that the Lord likened the Kingdom of the Heavens, that is. His Kingdom in the Heavens and His Kingdom on the earth, which is the Church, to "a man, a king, who made a marriage for his son and invited many to it." (A. C. 4434.) It is evident then that if we will but pierce the cloud of the letter with the Divine light which the Lord has given us at His Second Coming, we shall get a glimpse of His Kingdom as the Heavenly Marriage, and, at the same time, receive instruction for the preparation needed that we may be found worthy to enter in.

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Most of those hearing the parable, no doubt consider it merely a fable or story, having a moral indeed, but nothing spiritual in it. Yet, even so, it doubtless had considerable force with them, telling as it does of the violation of a custom, which to a Jew would seem unpardonable. This custom was the wearing of a wedding garment at every festivity of the kind referred to in the parable. Unless we know of this custom, the punishment meted out to him who had not on a wedding garment must necessarily appear to us severe. To the Jew, however, who placed everything in the punctilious observance of custom and law, the offence was grave, and the punishment just. A noted commentator tells us that "the person who invited the guests prepared such a garment for each for the time being; and with which he was furnished, on his application to the ruler of the feast. It was this which made the conduct of the guest inexcusable; he might have had a wedding garment had he applied for it." This custom had no doubt been handed down from ancient times, the ancients receiving it from Heaven. We read in Conjugial Love concerning the ten men who were invited to dine with the Prince of a Heavenly Society, that "two attendants of the Court brought garments of fine linen, and said: 'Put these on, for no one is admitted to the Prince's table unless he be clothed in the garments of Heaven' " (14).

     He who knows nothing of the internal sense must needs rest content with the knowledge of the custom, but the New Churchman is privileged to go further. It is his privilege and duty to seek for the spiritual principles which find their ultimate expression in the incident recorded in our text. Why is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a Marriage? This is, perhaps, the first question which occurs to our minds. The Lord is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself. These two are One in Him and proceed from Him as One. There is a perfect marriage between them, and it is from them that true marriage derives its origin. The Lord created the universe from His Divine Love, by His Divine Wisdom, therefore in all created things there is an image of the marriage of Love and Wisdom, or, what is the same thing, of good and truth.

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This is true both in the natural world and in the spiritual world. We may now see why Heaven is likened to a marriage. What is it that makes Heaven? Is it the dwelling together of innumerable angels? Not primarily. "The angels, taken together, are called Heaven, because they constitute or compose it, but still it is the Divine proceeding from the Lord which inflows with the angels and which is received by them which makes Heaven in general and in particular. The Divine proceeding from the Lord is the good of love and the truth of faith; so far therefore as good and truth are received from the Lord, so far they are angels and so far they are Heaven. (H. H. 7.) We see then that Love and Wisdom make Heaven, and these two are a marriage, consequently Heaven is a marriage, and none call enter into this marriage, in whom there is not the marriage of Love and Wisdom or good and truth. This marriage in man is the Kingdom of Heaven which is within Him. The Lord says, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say Lo, here! Or lo, there! For behold the Kingdom of God is within you. (Luke xvii, 20-21.) It will now be evident that the Lord is the King who invites, and that Heaven is the marriage to which they are invited. Accepting the call to the wedding signifies being received into Heaven. Such being the case the King's invitation was universal. "Go ye to the highways, and as many as ye shall find, call ye to the wedding." The Lord's love is universal. He wills the salvation of all; "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." Yet tho many are called, few are chosen. Among the guests who respond to the call there are sometimes found those who are not clothed in the garments of Heaven--who lack the wedding garment. And when the King came in to see the guests, he saw there a man not clothed in a wedding garment; and he said to him, Friend, how camest thou, hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. He was afterwards bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness. This incident suggests a difficulty. If all are invited why should objection be taken to any? This difficulty exists in the natural world only. It vanishes when examined in spiritual light. Who then is the strange guest? What is the wedding garment that the omission to procure and wear it is punished so severely, aye, with spiritual death; for this is what it is, to be bound hand and foot and to be cast into outer darkness.

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It most intimately concerns us to know this, for the truth which is veiled in the words of our text contains a warning, which, if heeded, will save us from like punishment, that is, will save us from spiritual death. Who then is the strange guest? We will answer this question from the Writings. In Arcana Coelestia we read: "It is said in the Word that there came in one who was not clothed with a wedding garment and that he was cast out. There are those, who, in the life of the body have been imbued with deceit, insomuch that they could feign themselves angels of light, and then, when they are in such a hypocritical state in the other life, they can even insinuate themselves into the nearest heavenly societies; but they cannot long remain there; for immediately they perceive the sphere of mutual love there, they are seized with fear and horror: and cast themselves headforemost down; and then in the world of spirits it appears as if they had been cast out." (2132.) The strange guest, then,-he who had not on a wedding garment,--was a hypocrite. Is it not becoming clearer, why he could not remain at the wedding--that is, remain in Heaven? Let us examine further that we may see why it is, that it is impossible a hypocrite should be saved. The word "hypocrite" meant, originally, an actor, but with us it has come to mean, one who for purposes of deceit assumes to be what he is not. Deceit in spiritual things is therefore called "hypocrisy." Evils are done with deceit and without deceit, but those from deceit are the worst, "because deceit is as poison which infects and destroys with infernal venom, for it goes through the whole mind, even to its interiors; the reason is, because he who is in deceit, meditates evil." He calmly makes his plans and sets his snare. The practice of deceit is most direful in its effects, for it destroys the remains with man and without these he cannot be saved. "They who in the world have ensnared the neighbor by deceit as to worldly and terrestrial things, in the other life ensnare him by deceit as to spiritual and celestial things." He who acts the hypocrite in this world will do so, as long as he is able, in the other world also--that is until "he is bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness"--into hell.

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"Deceit is called hypocrisy, when there is piety in the mouth and impiety in the heart, or when there is charity in the mouth and hatred in the heart, or when there is innocence in the face and gesture, but cruelty in the soul and breast, consequently when they deceive by innocence, charity and piety." Some idea of the direful nature of hypocrisy may be gathered from this, that they are hypocrites who commit the unpardonable sin, the sin against the Holy Spirit. They who are interiorly affected with spiritual deceit, that is, hypocrisy, do this, and there is no remission for them. We read in Matthew, I say unto you, every sin and blasphemy shall be remitted to men, but the blasphemy of the spirit shall not be remitted to men. Yea, if any shall say a word against the Son of man it shall be remitted to him, but he who says against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be remitted to him, but he who says against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be remitted to him, neither in this age nor in the future.... O offspring of vipers, how can ye speak good when ye are evil." (xii: 31-32.) "To speak a word against the Holy Spirit--which is never forgiven man--is to speak well and to think ill; and to do well and will evil concerning those things which are of the Lord, of His Kingdom, of the Church, and also of the Word." With such the false lies inwardly concealed in the truths they speak, and evil lies inwardly concealed in the goods they do, which is hidden poison; this is why they are called the offspring of vipers. The will and understanding of hypocrites are divided. They understand well, but they do not will well. It is this ability to understand which enables them to act the hypocrite. Nevertheless, for man to be saved, his understanding and will must make one-must be in a heavenly marriage--and this is the case when he understands the truth and wills it. With the hypocrite there is no such marriage. His understanding is divorced from his will, and as we have said, in order to be in Heaven, in the Heavenly Marriage, a state of marriage must exist in the mind.

     In order to understand why the strange guest had not on a wedding garment, let us examine the law of the spiritual world in regard to the wearing of garments. We read (H. H. 178): "The garments with which the angels are clothed, like other things connected with them, correspond, and because they correspond, they also really exist. Their garments correspond to their intelligence, wherefore all in Heaven appear clothed according to intelligence, and because one is intelligent above another, one has better garments than another; the most intelligent have garments that slow as if from flame, and some, garments that shine as if from light; the less intelligent have garments of clear or opaque white, not shining, and those still less intelligent have garments of different colors."

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We see from this that their clothing is in perfect correspondence with their internal state, and how clear it is then that the strange guest--a hypocrite--could not receive a wedding garment, a garment indicating that good was conjoined with its truth and truth with its good in the soul of the wearer, or what is the same, that what he understood, he willed to do. There is revealed to us an actual experience in Heaven, very similar to that mentioned in our text. A spirit having a great desire to enter Heaven was permitted by the Lord to do so. In relating his experience he says: "I saw angels in white garments, and they came about me and examined me and muttered, 'Behold a new guest, who is not clothed with a garment of Heaven,' and I heard this and thought, This seems to me to be a similar case to his of whom the Lord says that he came in unto the wedding without a wedding garment: and I said: 'Give me such garments,' and they laughed; and then one came running from the Government House with this command: 'Strip him naked, cast him out, and cast his garments after him,' and so I was cast out." (C. L. 10.) Knowing that the Lord gives garments, freely, to all according to their internal state in regard to love and wisdom, can we wonder that the angels laughed when --asked for the garments of heaven?

     A person who is not in truths is said not to be clothed with a wedding garment (H. H. 180.) There is a distinction here which must be clearly observed. To be in truths, and to know truths, are two widely different states. To be in truths is to be saved. To know truths and not be in them is to be lost. A hypocrite knows truths, otherwise he could not appear to be what he is not. Man is said to be in truths when he does them from affection. In such a case the truth in his understanding is conjoined with its good in his new will. It is affection which conjoins. Thus a marriage takes place in his mind.

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The more the will and understanding become conjoined, that is, the more man wills to do what he knows to be true, the more perfectly does he become a form of the heavenly marriage; and then when he comes into Heaven he is clothed in the wedding garment, the garment of Heaven. As we have said, it is affection alone which conjoins, therefore with the hypocrite truths are not conjoined with his will, but in their place falsities; or with him there is the infernal marriage of evil and falsity. This has also its correspondent clothing. Since everyone in the Spiritual world has clothes in accordance with his intelligence, thus in accordance with the truths from which his intelligence is derived, it follows that the inhabitants of the hells, being destitute of truths, do indeed appear in some sort of clothes, but such as are ragged, filthy and disgusting according to every one's insanity, nor can they wear any others. That they should have some sort of clothing, is granted them by the Lord, that they may not appear naked." (H. H. 182.) Hypocrites array themselves in truths as an actor puts on the robes of a king "Spiritual hypocrites who are such as 'walk in sheep's clothing, when inwardly they are ravening wolves' (Matt. vii, 15) appear before the angels like soothsayers, walking on the palms of their hands and praying, with their lips following the dictates of their heart, addressing themselves tea devils and embracing them, while with their shoes they make a clapping in the air and thus direct a sort of noisy worship to God; but when they stand on their feet they appear as to their eyes like leopards, as to their gait like wolves, as to their mouths like foxes, as to their teeth like crocodiles and as to faith like vultures." (T. C. R. 381.) This uninviting picture is correspondential in every particular.

     When the King saw the unbidden guest, he said: "Friend, how camest thou hither, not having a wedding garment?" No answer was given. "And he was speechless." It was useless further to act the hypocrite before the King. He was powerless. His deceit and cunning failed him. Light is thrown on this in the teaching that "In the Spiritual world man's speech is not two-fold, but single. A man there speaks as he thinks; if he does otherwise the sound is harsh and offends the ear; but yet he may be silent and so not publish the thoughts of his mind.

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A hypocrite, therefore, when he comes into the company of the wise, either goes away, or retires to a corner of the room and withdraws himself from observation and sits silent." (A. R. 294) The power to act the hypocrite is, however, taken away from him after a time and this is taught in the words: "Then said the King to the servants: 'Bind him hand and foot and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." To bind hand and foot is to deprive of all power, and since the power of the hypocrite is his knowledge of truth from the Word, we are taught that these knowledges were taken away from him. This is ever the case in the other world. All that truth which man has not made part of his life by living it from affection is taken away from him. This is the vastation of the evil. With the good, any evil and falsity which still adheres to them, not being part of their life, is removed from them. This is the vastation the good undergo. When the vastation is complete the good are prepared for Heaven and the evil are panting to rush into hell. To deprive hypocrites of their knowledges of truth and good is therefore to prepare them for hell, and this is what is meant by being cast into outer darkness, for this is hell. "In hell there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Concerning this it has been revealed that the gnashing of teeth is the continual disputing and combating of different falsities and consequently of those who are in them, with each other, combined with contempt of others, enmity, derision, mockery and reviling; which also break out into assaults of various kinds; for every one fights for his own false and calls it truth. These disputes and combats are heard outside those hells as gnashing of teeth, and they are also turned into actual gnashings of teeth when truths flow into them from heaven." (H. H. 575.)

     We have now before us in a most general way the teaching involved in our text. In a summary it is this: The King is the Lord who invites all; the marriage, is Heaven. "By a wedding garment is signified the intelligence of the Spiritual man, which is derived from the knowledge of truth and good; but by him who had not on a wedding garment is signified a hypocrite, who by a moral life feigns the spiritual, when yet it is merely natural. To bind him hand and foot, signifies to deprive him of the knowledge which he has derived from the Word and by which he has counterfeited the spiritual man; to cast him into outer darkness, signifies to cast him among those who are in falsities from evil, for outer darkness signifies falsities from evil." (A. E. 195.)

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     We see from this that it is the evil of hypocrisy against which we are warned in our text and it is a warning each one of us must needs take to heart if we would enter into the heavenly marriage. For the evil of hypocrisy is universal; how universal, we may know from this, that every man who is not interiorly led by the Lord is a dissembler, a sycophant, a hypocrite. To be interiorly led by the Lord is to think His truth, and no one can think the truth who does not will it. Thus he alone in whom truth and good are conjoined, is interiorly led by the Lord. Man is taught from his earliest infancy to hide his real self, thus it is often an unconscious habit with him; it therefore requires the most unflagging diligence in order that he may not be taken off his guard. The strength to fight this great evil is given by the Lord, if only man be willing. We shall have taken a great step if our thinking is one with our speaking. We must always think what we speak, but it is not always necessary or useful to speak what we think. An undivided mind is what we should strive after. In other words, we should ever strive to live the truths we know, for in this way, and this way only, are good and truth conjoined in our minds, and, when these are conjoined, our will and understanding make one and are in the heavenly marriage.

     No one can have Conjugial Love with whom there is not this marriage, for this love derives its origin from the marriage of good and truth. Let every one know that only so far as he wills to do the truth which he knows, is Conjugial Love--that jewel of human life--being implanted in him. Hypocrisy destroys this love, for it divides the mind. Yet without this love man has no life. "It is called the jewel of human life, because the quality of a man's life is according to the quality of that love with him, for that love constitutes the inmost of his life; for it is the life of wisdom dwelling with its love, and of love dwelling with its wisdom, and hence it is the life of the delights of both; in a word, a man is a living soul by means of that love." (C. L. 457)

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Is any sacrifice too great in order to receive this love? We shall assuredly receive it, if we strive to will well and do well, to think the truth and speak it. May the Lord help us to overcome this great evil of hypocrisy, so that when we pass from death unto life, we may be found worthy to enter into the Heavenly Marriage and receive at His hands the garment of Heaven--the Wedding Garment.

     And to Him be all the honor and the glory--Amen.
WHY THE LORD WAS BAPTIZED 1903

WHY THE LORD WAS BAPTIZED              1903

     THE reason why the Lord was baptized is given, directly, in only one place in the Writings, so far as we are aware, namely, in the True Christian Religion, n. 684, where we read:

     The Lord Himself was baptized by John, not only that He might institute baptism for the future, and go before by example, but also because He glorified His Human, and made it Divine, as He regenerates man and makes him spiritual.

     In this teaching there are presented two reasons why the Lord was baptized. The first is, that He might thereby establish baptism as a rite of the Christian Church; the second is, that He glorified His Human as He regenerates man and makes him spiritual.

     In this teaching we are presented two reasons why the Lord was baptized. The first is, that He might thereby establish baptism as a rite of the Christian Church; the second is, that He glorified His Human as He regenerates man. The first reason is one which is so evident that it does not seem necessary to dwell upon it; but the second needs the light of other teachings upon it, in order that it may be understood.

     Since the Lord was baptized because He glorified His Human as He regenerates man, it follows that baptism performed uses for the glorification similar to those which it performs for man's regeneration. It was for the sake of these uses that the Lord was baptized.

     The first use of baptism with man is introduction into the Christian Church, and at the same time insertion among Christians in the spiritual world. But it cannot be said of the Lord that He was introduced into the Church, for He Himself is the Church and the Church is from Him; nor can it be said that, for the sake of His glorification, He was inserted among the angels, for the Lord did not glorify the Human by any angelic aid, but solely by His own power.

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With the Lord, therefore, baptism was not a sign that He was of the Church, but it was a sign that He was the Church itself, that is, that all which constitutes the Church is His and is from Him. As the Lord is the Church, so also He is Heaven; and by His baptism, the Church in Him came into conjunction with Heaven in Him, just as in man's case there is effected by baptism the communication of the Church with Heaven.

     The second use of baptism with man, is, that he may know and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ the Redeemer and Savior, and may follow Him. With the Lord, the second use of baptism was that in His Human He might fully realize and acknowledge, and hence teach, that He Himself was the only one God, the Redeemer and Savior, Whom all must follow if they would be saved; in other words, the second use of baptism was, that there might be that "trust of the Lord in Himself," which is treated of in the internal sense of the sixteenth Psalm. (See P. P. in loco.)

     With man, the third and 6nal use of baptism is that he may be regenerated. With the Lord, this use was, that the Human might be glorified; as He teaches in Matthew, speaking of His baptism: "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all justice" (iii, 15); by fulfilling all justice is signified the glorification of the Human.

     The Lord's baptism by John made these uses possible with the Lord, just as man's baptism makes them possible for him on his plane.

     But these things cannot be clearly understood, unless the doctrine concerning the progression of the glorification of the Human be known. The glorification was a gradual process, beginning with things internal and descending to things external; first, the celestial degree with the Lord was made Divine, then the spiritual, and finally the natural even to the lowest things of it. In each degree of the glorification, the Lord acquired to Himself states of good and truth, and made Himself Good Itself and Truth Itself in that degree. These Divine states of good and truth were also remains, which served for use in the glorification of the next succeeding, or next lower, degree. When the Lord reached the age of thirty years, at which time He entered upon His ministry among men, there was with Him a fullness of remains, that is, a fullness of preparation for the completion of the work of salvation.

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On this subject we read as follows in the Arcana:

     Thirty years signifies a full state of remains. . . . Man cannot be regenerated, that is, be admitted into spiritual combat whereby regeneration is effected, until he has received remains to the full.... This is involved in what is said of David, that "when he was of thirty years, he began to reign." From these things it is evident why the Lord "did not manifest Himself until He was of thirty years" (Luke iii, 23); for He was then in the fullness of remains; but the remains which the Lord had, He Himself had procured to Himself, and they were from the Divine, whereby He united the Human Essence to the Divine, and made it Divine. It is from Him that thirty years signify a full state as to remains. (5335)

     And in another place we read:

     Remains are everywhere treated of throughout the Word, and by them are signified those states by which man becomes man; and this he does from the Lord alone. But the remains which were with the Lord, which were all the Divine states that He procured to Himself, and by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine, will admit of no comparison with those in man; for the latter are not Divine, but human. A. C. 1996.

     The remains, or the Divine states, which the Lord acquired to Himself before He was thirty years of age, He acquired by means of victories gained over the hells in His temptation-combats. By the victories gained during that time, the higher degrees with Him were glorified or made Divine. At the same time there was progression in the judgment which was taking place in the world of spirits, and restoration of order in heaven. All these things were a preparation for the final word, which was the glorification of the natural, and thus the complete glorification, and at the same time the establishment of a new Church with the remnant of the former Church, which should be in association with Heaven, now restored to order.

     When all this preparation had been completed, the Lord came to John to be baptized of him. That baptism was, as has already been shown, the sign that in His Human He was the Church, and that by glorification He would become the Church in all fullness. By that rite performed upon His body,-performed on His body of the substance of this world,--there was established the plane for the conjunction of His external with His internal, that is, the conjunction of Himself as the Church with Himself as Heaven.

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This was the first use of His baptism; and with it there were also the second and third uses: the second use, that He should be sustained by full confidence in Himself as the one only God, the Redeemer and Savior, and proclaim Himself as such to men; and the third use, following upon the two former, that He should now complete the glorification by means of temptations admitted and overcome. As baptism is a sign and memorial to man that he is to be regenerated, so it was to the Lord a sign and memorial of his glorification; or, as man by baptism is set apart, devoted and consecrated to become spiritual and thus of the elect, so was the Human of the Lord, by baptism, consecrated to become Divine, and thus the only God.

     That these three uses were performed by the Lord's baptism, is evident from what followed immediately upon it, as related in Matthew; for the first use is described by "the Spirit of God, descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him;" the second use, by a voice from Heaven saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" and the third use, by His being then "led up of the spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil."

     As with man the water of baptism signifies not only regeneration, but also the temptations by which regeneration is effected, so also with the Lord the water of baptism signified the temptations which He must needs endure in order that the glorification of the Human might be effected.

     To the two reasons why the Lord was baptized, given in the True Christian Religion, n. 648, and quoted at the beginning of this article, there can he added a third, namely, that by baptism the Lord introduced Himself among those in the spiritual world, whose liberation and salvation He effected during His life on earth. Such introduction was effected, because the baptism He received was the Baptism of John, concerning the use of which we are taught as follows:

     By the Baptism of John, a way was prepared, that Jehovah the Lord might descend into the world, and accomplish redemption. T. C. R. 688.

     The reason why a way was prepared by the Baptism of John, was, because by that baptism those who were baptized were introduced into the future Church of the Lord, and in Heaven were inserted among those there, who expected and desired the Messiah, and were guarded by the angels, lest the devils of hell should break forth, and destroy them. T. C. R. 689.

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     The preparation [of those baptized by John] took place by this, that in heaven they were enrolled and numbered with those, who in heart expected nod desired the Messiah, in consequence of which angels were then sent and made their guardians. T. C. R. 691.

     In these passages it is said that those who received John's Baptism were thereby inserted among those in heaven who expected and desired the Messiah; but that it was at the same time an insertion among all those in the spiritual world, who were in this expectation and desire, thus also among those in the world of spirits who were in this state, and who were being guarded there by the angels until liberated by the power of the Divine Human of the Lord, can be evident to every one who will carefully read and meditate upon what is said in the True Christian Religion, nos. 677 to 680, where we are taught that by Christian baptism there is an insertion among Christians in the spiritual world.

     Every man as to his spirit dwells in a society of the world of spirits, and by it is associated either with heaven or with hell. They who were baptized by John, were, by virtue of that baptism, inserted into the societies of the world of spirits which expected and desired the Messiah, and in common with those societies they came under angelic protection; or, what is the same, in common with the spirits of those societies, "they were in heaven enrolled and numbered with those, who in heart expected and desired the Messiah," so that angels could be sent to them and become their guardians. When the Lord received baptism at John's hands, He, too, was inserted, or rather, introduced Himself, into those societies of the world of spirits, and in consequence entered into the power of saving them. This took place with the Lord when Be had reached the age of thirty years, thus when there was with Him that fullness of remains by virtue of which there could be the completion of the work for which He came into the world, namely, the salvation of those who were to be of His Church, then and to all eternity, both in this world and in the other. F. E. WAELCHLI.

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RICHARD DE CHARMS 1903

RICHARD DE CHARMS              1903

     IV. HIS LIFE IN PHILADELPHIA.

     1840-1845.

     WE come now to a third chapter in the life-history of Mr. De Charms, a period which may be looked upon as the zenith of his intellectual power, activity and usefulness, i. e., his sojourn in Philadelphia, as pastor of the First New Jerusalem Society in that city.

     The original Society in Philadelphia, which had been organized in the year 1815, had virtually ceased to exist about the year 1829, owing to the death of some of its leading members, the financial ruin of the chief supporters, the removal of other members, and the continued ill-health of its pastor, the Rev. M. M. Carll. The Temple on 12th and Sampson streets had been sold, and most of the remaining members had associated themselves with the Southwark, or Second Philadelphia Society, a congregation which had followed its pastor, the Rev. Manning B. Roche, out of the Episcopal into the New Church.

     Some of the members of the original Society continued, however, to meet together for worship under the leadership of Mr. Carll, until the latter, in 1839, removed to Cincinnati to become the successor of Mr. De Charms in the pulpit of the First Cincinnati Society. About this time a number of the members of the Second Society had become thoroughly dissatisfied with Mr. Roche's devotion to the "conjugial" heresy, with his habitual drunkenness, and with the intolerant, domineering spirit then prevailing in the General Convention. These persons now united with the remnant of the original Society, and, on May 26th, 1840, there was organized, out of these elements, the "First New Jerusalem Society of Philadelphia." Public worship was opened in "Simmon's Lecture Room," on Locust street, near Eighth street, and Mr. De Charms was invited to become the Pastor, as representing not only the spirit that animated the early Church in Philadelphia, but also as leader of the opposition to the dangerous principles and policies of the New England element in the General Convention.

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     A general division was now impending in the Church in America. For years there had been unrest in various parts of the Church on account of the manner in which the New England brethren had sought to enforce their peculiar notions as to doctrine and government in the Church, and the climax was reached when the Convention, in the year 1838, passed the celebrated "squeezing rule," which has been described above. (See New Church Life, 1903, p. 79.)

     This resolution, so foreign to the free and tolerant genius of the New Jerusalem, was virtually an act of excommunication of all those who should refuse to allow themselves to be whipped into line and conform to the external regulations of the Convention. But though this act was arbitrary, the spirit underlying it was even more so, for conformity to the Rules of the Convention meant, in fact, the absolute adherence to the theological notions of the Bostonians, i. e., the "conjugial" heresy, the rejection of the authority of the Writings, close communion, the "spiritual motherhood" of the Convention, and the New England idea of episcopacy, viz., that the third degree in the Priesthood should be vested in a single high-priest for the whole country.

     Great indignation was expressed in various parts of the country at this attempt to enforce external unity, and at the law enacted for this purpose. The Society in New York was rent in twain, and a second society was established under the Rev. Charles I. Doughty, who now freed himself from the New England influences. Divisions occurred also in Baltimore, Md., in Providence, R. I., and even so near Boston as Bridgewater, Mass. Of these disaffected elements, Mr. De Charms now became the recognized theological and ecclesiastical leader, the Bishop de facto, though not in name.

     No sooner had he settled in Philadelphia, than he, in conjunction with Mr. Doughty and some prominent laymen, issued a pamphlet entitled "Reasons and Principles for forming a middle Convention," which, after two preparatory meetings, held in Philadelphia in May and October, 1840, resulted in the organization known as "the Central Convention." At these meetings a Constitution was adopted, from which we may quote the following, as expressing the character and tendencies of this body:

     I. The body of receivers in the United States,--associated together under this instrument, shall be known by the name of "The Central Convention."

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     IV. This Convention most explicitly and expressly disclaims any right whatever to exercise control or dominion over the members of the New Church in their individual or collective capacity. It is perfectly aware that it neither has, nor could have, nor should have any right to coerce them in any way whatever. And it hereby solemnly resolves that no such power will be either covertly or impliedly exercised by it. But all its measures, that have a bearing upon individual or other members of the Church, shall be recommendatory only, and shall have no other authority than their own intrinsic truth and rationality, as determined by each one, looking to the Lord alone, and judging for himself in the light of His Word and the Writings of His Church.

     VII. These individual receivers, while they may form particular Societies for more circumscribed and local purposes, are deemed to associate themselves by this instrument in the form and order of a general Society, for the performance of general uses; and are to be regarded as a General Church, existing at all times, arranged by the bonds of a common faith, united by a common end, and constantly reacting on its central organs in sympathy and co-operation with their functions.

     IX. One chief use of these general meetings shall be to form a common plane, and a common sphere of holy, Divine worship.

     XVII. As it is well known, that, in order to give perfection to anything, there must be a trine in just order, therefore this Convention recognizes the principle of a trine in the Ministry.

     XX. The ministers belonging to this Convention shall together constitute an ecclesiastical council. They shall have power to determine the trine in the Ministry as taught in the Word, and from thence in the Writings of Swedenborg, and to make such rules and regulations with regard to their own government,...as they may think necessary.... Provided, nevertheless, that nothing which the ministers of this Convention, in their official capacity, may determine, shall be a law binding on this body, until it is adopted by this body in general meeting assembled.

     The Constitution was signed by many men of prominence in the Church, among whom we may mention the following: The Rev. C. I. Doughty and Messrs. Chesterman, Solyman Brown, John Allen and E. C Riley of New York; the Rev. David Powell, of Danby, N. Y.; the Rev. L. C. Belding, of Leroysville, Pa.; the Rev. Richard De Charms and Messrs. Cheesborough, Condy Raguet, William Chauvene, Benjamin F. Glenn, and Dr. Constantine Hering, of Philadelphia; Mr. Monsarat, of Baltimore; A. Thos. Smith, of Washington; Louis C. Jungerich and F. I. Kramph, of Lancaster, Pa., and Daniel Lammot, of Delaware Co., Pa.

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     This, then, was the first attempt to organize a "General Church" of the New Jerusalem in this country, and it is easily seen that some of the leading principles of this Constitution are similar to certain fundamental features of our own "General Church of the New Jerusalem." Still, it was but a tentative effort, born only to perish as premature, owing to the general obscurity as to other, no less important principles, which were to become clear only by the growth and conflicts of another half century. The Central Convention was not, internally, a homogeneous Church. It was a union of extremes, a temporary covenant of some who had a perception of a genuine orderly Church, with others who were in reality utter democrats, but were willing to join for a time with any movement that should oppose the arbitrary rule of the General Convention. These different elements soon came into conflict with one another, and the true kernel of sound New Churchmen was soon found to be very small, indeed. It is to be noted that Mr. De Charms, though actually the founder, and, at first, the leader, never occupied any other office than that of "Corresponding Secretary" of this Convention. Mr. Doughty, and, after him, successively Condy Raguet and Daniel Lammot, were its presidents.

     We cannot, now, enter upon a detailed history of the Central Convention, which, under varying fortunes, lasted from the year 1840 to 1852. It never became what Mr. De Charms had hoped, that is, a well ordered, harmonious, efficient church, firmly based upon the interior principles which he vainly sought to inculcate. Nevertheless, it performed, in its day, a number of important uses, not least among which was the publication of the various works which flowed from the skillful and busy pen of Mr. De Charms. Of these, however, we will have to treat separately, and will now, briefly, follow up the personal fortunes (and misfortunes) of the subject of our sketch.

     Beside his arduous duties in connection with the Central Convention as its Corresponding Secretary, as the Pastor of the Philadelphia Society, as Printer, Editor and chief contributor of The Newchurchman, Mr. De Charms accepted, also, the work of a general missionary, visiting, periodically, the centers connected with the Central Convention in New York, in Providence and Bridgewater, in Lancaster and Pittsburg, and in Washington, Baltimore and Charlestown, thus exercising wide episcopal functions.

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It may be of interest to follow him on some of these episcopal journeys.

     The first of these was undertaken in April, 1841, when, after a visit to Lancaster, he travelled to Washington, where he succeeded in restoring harmony among the former members of the then disrupted Society. He thence went to Charlestown, S. C., where he delivered a course of lectures, and, on May 9th, instituted a small society. On June 20th, we find him again in Washington, where he now organized the society which exists to this day in the Capital. In October, of the same year, he visited the members of the Central Convention in Providence, R. I., and Bridgewater, Mass., where, to the horror of the "conjugialists," he committed the heinous offense of administering the Holy Supper in public worship.

     On November 17th, we find Mr. De Charms in Pittsburg, Pa., where, on this date, he organized the society, from which descend the present congregations in that city; a week later he was again in Baltimore, where he made arrangements to pay quarterly visits to the Society there, as its "missionary pastor."

     Still acting as the general missionary of the Central Convention, Mr. De Charms, in April, 1842, paid visits to Abington, Lynchburg and Warminster, in Virginia. On May 25th, he was present at the meeting of the Central Convention in Philadelphia, and assisted at the ordination of the Rev. David Powell. In the autumn, he paid a visit to Cincinnati, in order to officiate at the nuptials of the Rev. N. C. Burnham and his wife. On June 1st, 1843, he dissolved his connection as "missionary-pastor" with the Baltimore Society, in order to make room for Mr. Burnham, who now took charge of that Society, and, about the same time, he resigned from the pastoral charge of the Philadelphia Society, in order to devote himself exclusively to his duties to the Church at large, as general pastor and as editor. He still continued, none the less, to preach more or less regularly for the Philadelphia Society.

     It was while on a visit to Lancaster, in October, 1844, that Mr. De Charms became acquainted with an ardent young neophyte of the New Jerusalem, the Rev. William H. Benade, then a minister in the Moravian Church. An intimate friendship soon was formed between these two men, who, in their theological tendencies and thoroughness, were, indeed, "birds of a feather."

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Mr. Benade now entered upon a course of theological study under Mr. De Charms's direction, and it was Mr. De Charms that introduced him into the external Church by Baptism, caused him to unite with the Central Convention, ordained him into the priesthood, and led him by the hand in his first, uncertain steps in his priestly career, guarding him from many pitfalls, and instilling in his mind those ideals and distinctive principles upon which, thirty years later, the Academy of the New Church was founded. Finally, in January, 1845, he had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Benade installed as his successor in the pastorate of the Philadelphia First Society, when Mr. De Charms himself removed to Baltimore.

     (To be Continued.)
LIMBUS 1903

LIMBUS              1903

     II.

     THE LIMBUS IDENTICAL WITH THE SUBSTANCES OF THE EXTERIOR OR NATURAL MEMORY.

     It is comparatively easy to establish this identity. The evidence is unmistakable, but so abundant that I can present here only the most trenchant passages:

     1. That the exterior or natural memory, like the Limbus, is an actual substance, fully organized with and into natural vessels.

     I have been instructed, that the Exterior Memory, in itself regarded, is nothing but an organic something, formed from the objects of the senses, especially of sight and hearing, in the substances which are the beginnings of the fibres. . . . And also that the Interior Memory is similarly an organism, but purer and more perfect, formed from the objects of the interior sight, which objects are disposed in fixed series in an incomprehensible order. A. C. 2987.

     "The substances which are the beginnings of the fibres,"--these are something purely natural and anatomical. They are the inmost and purest things of nature in the human anatomy,--in other words, "the Limbus,"-and it is in these that the exterior memory is formed.

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     What is meant by the "beginnings of the fibres" is evident from the following teaching:

     The will and the understanding are not a kind of spiritual abstract something, but substantial subjects, formed for the reception of love and wisdom from the Lord. For they do actually exist, although hidden from view, being interiorly within the substances which constitute the cortex of the brain, and also in a general way in the medullary substance of the brain, especially in the corpora striata, also within the medullary substance of the cerebellum, and in the spinal marrow of which they form the nucleus. There are, therefore, not two, but innumerable receptacles, each of which is two-fold, and also of three degrees.

     That these are receptacles, and that they are so placed, is very clear from the fact that they are the beginnings and heads of all the fibres out of which the entire body is built up. . . . The changes of their state are affections; the variations of their form are thoughts; the existence and permanence of both is memory, and their reproduction is reminiscence. These, taken together, are the human mind. D. Wis. v.

     The form and motions of these organic substances of the memory are described at length in the Divine Providence, 319.

     2. That the organic substance of the exterior memory, like the Limbus, is natural or material substance, derived from nature and consisting solely of worldly, corporeal and earthly things, in themselves inanimate.

     The first ideas, which are taken up from the objects of sight, are material, as they are also called. A. C. 1953, 2657.

     As man is the ultimate of order; his ideas are terminated in the material ideas of his memory. S. D. 3022, 2751.

     Doctrinal things are first apprehended by the external senses, from which the material ideas of the memory and the derivative ideas of thought are formed. A. C. 608.

     The objects of the world, which all derive something from the light of the sun, enter in by the eye, and store themselves up in the memory, and this evidently under a like visual appearance, for the things which are thence reproduced, are seen within: hence the imagination of man, the ideas of which are called by philosophers material ideas. When these objects appear still more interiorly, they present thought, and this also under some visual appearance, but more pure; and the ideas of this latter are called immaterial and intellectual. A. C. 4408

     The imagination of man is nothing except the forms and shapes of such things as he has taken up with the sight of the body, wonderfully varied and, so to speak, modified. But his interior imagination, or thought, is nothing except the forms and shapes of such things as he has drawn in with the sight of his mind, still more wonderfully varied and modified.

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The things which come forth thence are in themselves inanimate, but they become animate by influx from the Lord. A. C. 3337.

     That all the thoughts of man, with each of their ideas, derive something from what is material. De Verbo 3; A. C. 1072; A. E. 543:3; 781, 1131:2.

     This teaching is further amplified, as follows:

     By the sensuous which is the ultimate of the natural, is meant that which is properly called flesh, which perishes when man dies. But this sensuous, man has in common with brute animals. But the sensuous which animals do not have in common with man, and which yet is an external sensuous, is that which man has in his memory from the world, and which is constituted solely of worldly, corporeal, and earthly things there. This sensuous remains with man after death, but is quiescent. A. C. 10236.

     They who die adult, have and carry with them a plane acquired from the earthly and material world. This is their memory and its bodily, natural affection. This remains fixed, and is then quiescent. But still it serves their thought after death as an ultimate plane, for the thought flows into it. Hence, such as that plane is, and such as is the correspondence of the rational with the contents of that plane, such is man after death. H. H. 345.

     3. That though in a sense material, the memory, like the Limbus, does not consist of gross matter, but of interior natural substance.

     For a man, when he dies, has with him the memory of all things which he has done, spoken, or thought; and he has with him all the natural affections and cupidities, thus all the interior things of the natural. Its exteriors he has no need of. A. C. 5079.

     After death, the thought with a merely natural man is, indeed, spiritual but it is gross and devoid of intelligence; for it consists of corresponding ideas, which indeed appear as if material, but still are not material. A. E. 653.

     That there is a certain difference between the terms "material" and "natural" is evident from the following teachings:

     In the world, neither the heat nor the light is material, but natural, and they inflow into matters. L. J. Post 267; A. E. 1131:4.

     The human mind is organized interiorly of spiritual substances; exteriorly of natural substances, and finally of material ones. T. C. R. 38.

     All the celestial inflows into the spiritual, and the spiritual into the natural, and into the ultimate of this, which is corporeal and material, it ceases, and there subsists. De Verbo 3.

     That the term "material" is applied especially to what is corporeal, see S. D. 2762, 2763.

     4. That the exterior memory, like the Limbus, remains with man after death.

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     Spirits have with them all the particulars of the memory, and lose not a whit, except the bones and flesh. S. D. 4430.

     From much and daily experience it has been given to know that man after death does not lose a whit of those things which have been in his memories, either the exterior or the interior; insomuch that nothing so small or minute can be thought of, which man does not have with him; so that after death he leaves nothing whatever behind him, except the bones and flesh. A. C. 2775.

     Man, when he dies, has with him all the natural, and such as it was formed with him in the world, such it remains. In so far as it has been imbued from the rational, in so far it also is rational; and in so far as it has been imbued from the sensual, in so far it also is sensual. A. C. 5091.

     Man cannot he made new or regenerated as to his internal man, unless also as to his external; for although man after death is a spirit, he nevertheless has still with him in the other life those things which are of his external man, viz., natural affections, and also doctrinal things, and likewise scientifics; in a word, all the things of the external or natural memory; for these things are the planes in which his interior things are terminated. A. C. 3539.

     There are interiors and exteriors belonging to the natural. The interiors are the scientifics and the affection thereof, but the exteriors are the sensuals of each kind. These latter a man leaves when he dies, but the former (the interiors), he carries along with him into the other life, where they serve as a plane for things spiritual and celestial; for a man, when he dies? loses nothing but his bones and flesh. A. C. 5079

     5. That the exterior memory, like the Limbus, becomes quiescent after death.

     Man, in each idea of his thought, has something adjoined from time and space. Hence his memory and reminiscence; hence also his lower thought, the ideas of which are called material. But this memory, from which are such ideas, is quiescent in the other life. A. C. 4901.

     The external sensuous, which man has in his memory from the world, remains with man after death, but is quiescent. A. C. 10236.

     It remains fixed and is then quiescent. H. H. 345.

     The thought of spirits and angels is, indeed, also terminated in the natural, for they have with them all the natural memory and its affection, but they are not allowed to use that memory. Still, though they are not allowed to use it, it serves them as a plane, or as a foundation, so that the ideas of their thought are therein terminated. A. C. 3679.

     6. That the exterior memory, like the Limbus, serves man as the fixed containent, by which his interior things are bounded or terminated.

     In the world of spirits they have their ideas founded in material and corporeal things, and the ideas which are not material, they still bound and make them material. S. D. 4211.

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     The ideas of spirits are terminated in material things, the ultimates of order; and when these are taken away, they do not know where they are. S. D. 3610.

     The vessels of the memory are the planes into which ideas are determined, which, if they he not adapted, cannot receive; and as they are adapted, so they receive. S. D. 4032.

     See also, above, S. D. 3022, 2751; H. H. 345; A. C. 3539, 5079, 3679.

     7. That the exterior memory, like the Limbus, is intermediate and thus the medium of communication between the natural and the spiritual.

     There are, in general, three [degrees] with man, viz., the corporeal, the natural, and the rational. The corporeal is the outermost; the natural is the middle, and the rational is the interior. The corporeal, by means of the things of sense, communicates with the natural of man, which is the middle, as was said. For those things which enter by the sensuals, repose themselves in the natural as in a kind of receptacle: this receptacle is the memory. The delight, pleasure and desire there, are called natural goods, and the scientific therein are called natural truths. The natural of man, by these things which were just spoken of, communicates with his Rational, which is the interior part, as was said. The things which elevate themselves thence towards the rational, repose themselves in the rational also as in a certain receptacle; this receptacle is the interior Memory. A. C. 4038.

     There are two things with man Which are most distinct from one another: the Rational and the Natural. 'The Rational constitutes the Internal man, and the Natural the External. But the Natural, like the Rational, has also its external and internal: the external of the natural is from the sensuals of the body and from those things which inflow immediately from the world through the sensuals; by these man has communication with mundane and corporeal things: those who are only in this natural, are called sensual men, for they scarcely go beyond in their thought. But the internal Of the natural is constituted of those things which are thence analytically and analogically concluded, but still it draws and derives its things from sensual things, and thus the natural communicates by sensuals with worldly and corporeal things, and by analogical and analytical things with the Rational, thus with the things which are of the spiritual world. A. C. 4570.

     From all of which it is manifest that the substances composing the exterior or natural memory are identical with "the Limbus."

     (To be Continued.)

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LAST JUDGMENT 1903

LAST JUDGMENT              1903

[MINOR WORKS BY SWEDENBORG.]

     CONCERNING MELANCTHON.

     26. I have spoken with Melancthon and also with others concerning him. After he had come into the spiritual world, Melancthon confirmed himself in faith alone more than before, so that he was hardly willing to hear of charity and its good; and because he could not persuade any others but those who had led little of a Christian life, therefore he acquired to himself a persuasive power, which is such that the speech flows into the thought of another and so binds it that the man is incapable of thinking anything but what is said, even though it be false; it fascinates minds, wherefore it is forbidden in the spiritual world, for it extinguishes all the light of the understanding. As regards those whom he could not convince by reasonings, he looked into their eyes and poured such a persuasive power into their minds, that they could not see his false sophistries, and thus could make no answer; on which account they made great complaint about him. He also tried to do the same thing with me, but his effort was vain. To this persuasive power, corresponds garlic and the smell of garlic* which by its pungency hurts the left eye. I spoke with him about the persuasive power, and about the Nephilim who were in it, who could almost kill a man by their persuasive power; on which matter see in the Arcana Coelestia.
     * The Latin here is Porrum et ejus nidor seu hvitlok correspondet, etc., which, translated literally would read The leek (or, scullion) and its smell, of garlic, corresponds, etc. But the words seu hvitlok (or garlic), were added by Swedenborg, after the sentence was completed, and it would therefore seem that they were intended as an explanation of just what was meant by porrum; cf. Nidor porri (hvitlok) in S. D. 5931. The Latin word for garlic is allium.--TR.

     27. There came to me afterwards, from the northern quarter towards the west, certain spirits who were among the more cunning and malicious; and among them one who was distinguished from the others by his heavy gait; it was a gait sounding like that of a bear.

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He did many things maliciously; nor did I know who he was. Afterwards it was found that he was Melancthon; and that I might know that it was he, he asked where Luther was; and when it was told him he entered in to him and spoke with him and was recognized. It was said by Luther that he spoke much with him about faith alone, or faith separate from Luther asked him what his lot now was, and he disclosed the fact that he was alternately in a chamber full of crevices above,* and in a hell under a judge; that when he was in the chamber he was clothed in a skin like a bear-skin by which he protected himself from the cold, and that he wrote much about faith alone; that when he was in hell under the judge, he was held vile like the rest; and I have heard the judge speaking about him to the effect that he was there a wicked man, and that he is sometimes punished on account of his malicious deeds.
     * Camera supra lacunata. Lacunata, from lacuno, means, (1) pitted, hollowed out; (2) panelled. The phrase supra lacunata may therefore be also translated "panelled above," but the translation give in the text seems to be more in keeping with the context.-TR.

     28. It was further said, that in that chamber the walls are of bare stone without any adornments, as in other places, and thus that it is rude and sad there. On which account, when any, because of Melancthon's fame in the world, desire to meet him and speak with him, he does not admit them because of the rude surroundings there, for he is ashamed. Sometimes he recognizes that he has been in falses, and that thence he is of such a character, wherefore he sometimes prays that in his chamber he may write about charity and its goods, which are called good works; and then some things are dictated to him out of heaven by angels, and when he writes them, his chamber begins to be furnished with various adornments. But, after he has written them and left them on the table, when he reads them over, he does not see them, and what he sees, he does not understand; and then the adornments of his chamber vanish away. Such is his lot.

     29. I have heard him speaking with Englishmen outside his chamber.* He spoke about faith alone; and when the English men said that they did not know what faith alone was, he said that it was to believe that God the Father sent His Son who suffered for our sins.

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They said that this is a matter of history; what more is there? He said that by that faith men have eternal life. They said, Did he have eternal life? To this he could give no answer. They said, moreover, that they hear preachers on faith alone and on justification thereby; and, while they are listening, the preaching sounds as though full of wisdom, because it is a connected and ingenious composition, but that when they get home they know nothing of what the preachers have said, not comprehending their mysteries.
     * Lacunar. The ordinary meaning of this word is, A room with a flat wainscoted or panelled ceiling. See preceding note.-TR.

     30. I afterwards saw Melancthon, among many who were in faith alone, in a place where they are separated, each one going finally to the place of his life. And I then heard a speech addressed to them out of heaven, to the effect that such faith saves no one because there is no life in it, nor is there truth in it. They therefore inquired what truth is, and what life. The answer was given, that truth and life is to live according to the precepts of the Decalogue; as, not to steal, that is, not to act insincerely and unjustly; not to commit adultery; not to kill, thus not to burn with deadly hatred and revenge against anyone; not to bear false witness, thus not to lie and defame; and that he who does not do these things because they are sins, has life, and afterwards many more truths are given him, as to what evil is, and what good; and that no others can be led by the Lord, and be saved; and that it may thence be known, that life and truth are one, like love and faith, for life is of love and truth is of faith.

     CONCERNING LUTHER.

     31. There are places in the other world where spirits wrangle about religious matters. Outside these places this wrangling sounds like the gnashing of teeth, and when one looks within them, it appears as if the wranglers were tearing off each other's clothes; and their sphere causes pain in the flesh of the teeth and in the gums. One came to me therefrom, habited like a monk, and it was said that it was Luther, and he spoke with me, saying, that it was his desire to be among spirits who wrangle about matters of belief, because he has brought with him, from the world, a persuasive speech, and an authority arising from the consent of many in his time.

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I noticed that he had communication with those who believe they know all things, and that nothing whatever is hidden from them, and who do not wish to learn, but to teach; he often saying, that so and so is the real truth, and that it cannot be contradicted. Such spirits take away from others all freedom of speech, by inducing on them their own opinions as though they were from God, and by infesting all who contradict them, unless they contradict for the sake of information. Luther said that he loves to reason about faith and also about the good of charity, but that he rarely finds those with whom he can be in this delight, for the reason that he had hatched out that doctrine from his own thought, and is therefore in the connection of things, whereas it is different with those who only learn it and afterwards confirm it; these cannot be in such delight because they are not in such connection of things. He said that they do not long endure the ardor of his speech, but soon withdraw.

     32. It was granted to speak with him about faith and love, about truth and good, and about their marriage,--to the effect that there is nothing of the one except so far as it is of the other, and, therefore, that there is nothing of faith except so far as it is of life. I spoke with him for two hours with ideas from spiritual light, which are complete ideas; and angelic spirits were then associated with him, for the sake of interior perception. And, being at last convinced, he said that he wished to receive this doctrine, but that he doubted whether he could, until his principles respecting faith alone had been first cast out, which was a matter of labor. Wherefore, also, when he went away he returned to his former companions, and reasoned with them as before.

     33. But the angels said that there was some hope in his case, because, in the world, whenever he had thought from his spirit,--that is when left to himself in tranquillity,-he had thought about good works, and had made them a matter of religion; and that thence it is, that he had spoken and written so much about the good of life, although he had not made it a part of his doctrine, nor to be clone for the sake of eternal life, since man cannot do good from himself, and if he does, it is for the sake of heaven, and meritorious.

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And yet, when he came out of the thought of his spirit into discourse with others, then, as if turned right round, he spoke of faith alone. He does the like at this day. This was the reason why he had rejected from the Word the Epistle of James and also the Apocalypse.

     34. With some there are two states: one when the man is in speech from doctrinal belief, the other when he thinks with himself. In the former state, he is in the body and its wakefulness, because he is in the inferior thought which is the thought of the speech; and hence he is in the pleasure of speaking, and for the most part, from the pride of learning. But in the latter state he is in his spirit, and then in obscurity, because he thinks within the body, and above the thought which is next to the natural sensual. This was the case with Luther. He was in the pleasure of his life, because in the pleasure of glory, when he was speaking; and this his speech was about faith alone from his doctrine. But when he was deliberating with himself, he was in favor of good works. Such thought by himself had remained with him, in obscurity, from childhood, because he was born in that religion and became a monk; but because he hatched out a new religion, he undertook to withdraw from the former, by a separation of faith from good works.

     35. Luther related the circumstances that when he was in the world it had been told him by an angel from the Lord, that he should beware of faith alone because there was nothing in it; and that on that account he did beware of it for some time, and had recommended works; but that still he had afterwards continued to separate faith from works and to make the former alone essential and saving.

     36. After Luther had been informed by angels that no one has any faith unless he has the good of life, and that he has just so much of faith as he has the good of life, and does not have the one more than the other; and because he had been many times convinced; he repented, and labored with all his might to get out of his falsities, because he cannot come into heaven until he has done this. I sometimes perceived that he had repented, and that he was laboring against his principles, but, up to the present time, in vain. He also prayed to the Lord that he might be able to recede from his falsities, and he received the answer that it would society into another, where there were those with whom life had been conjoined with faith; but still he could not stay there long, because it was contrary to the delight of his life.

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It was told him that the truths of doctrine cannot be received in the life until falsities have been rejected because truths cannot enter where falses of the understanding fill the thoughts, and that these cannot be easily removed. The reason is, that, while he lives in the world, he conjoins himself to societies according to the principles of his religion which he has made a matter of his affection; he also remains in the same principles after death: and in those societies is the life of everyone; therefore it is not possible to remove and extricate oneself from them and to introduce oneself into new societies. It is, indeed, possible as to the thoughts, but not as to the affections; and, nevertheless, these two must act together; wherefore a man enters into new societies, and yet he recedes when he feels the undelightful things in those societies. In a word, Luther sometimes curses faith alone, and sometimes defends it. He curses it when he is in fear; he defends it when he is in his love.

     (To be Continued.)
NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR 1903

NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR              1903

     NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR. Further and later particulars concerning Luther, Calvin and Melanchton are given in T. C. R. 796-799.

     There it is related that a year after the Last Judgment, in 1758, LUTHER, for the first time, met Swedenborg in the spiritual world, and learned from him about the institution of the New Church. Although, at first, very indignant at this, yet, as he saw the New Heaven being increased, and the number of his own followers decreased, he grew calmer, and gradually became more and more intimate with Swedenborg. He then suffered himself to be instructed from the Word, and becoming more and more confirmed in the truth, was, without doubt, finally elevated to the New Heaven. The last we hear of him is that he laughed at his former dogmas as diametrically opposed to the Word. (T. C. R. 796)

     The institution of the New Heaven also had a marked and good effect on MELANCTHON.

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After that event, he began to think from the light of heaven, that, perhaps, he was in falsity. His eyes were then opened to see the truths of the Word, and he was then taken to another house. He told Swedenborg, that in that house, the words he wrote about charity, no longer disappeared as before, though they became dim on the day following that on which they were written. Even at this time, he is still described as walking with the gait of a bear; yet, there is scarcely room for doubt, that he was finally saved. (T. C. R. 797.)

     With respect to CALVIN, We learn that the "society of heaven," referred to in No. 25 above, in which "he was accepted because he is upright and makes no disturbance," was, in reality, a society in the world of spirits, consisting of extremely simple minded spirits. When Calvin saw that they knew nothing, and especially, that they could not understand his doctrine of predestination, he betook himself to the border of the society, where he dwelt for a long time, never once opening his mouth on the subject of doctrine. Shortly before the Last Judgment, being sought out by his co-religionists, he was taken to the house of one of them, where he lived until the New Heaven began to be established, when his companions were condemned to hell. After wandering about, he finally put himself under the protection of Luther, with whom he also stayed. (See Conv: with Calvin in N. C. Life for 1903, p. 31.) Soon after this he met Swedenborg, and, on at least two occasions, had long talks with him. By these talks, and also by the examinations made by examining angels, he was found to be an atheist and a hypocrite, and was condemned to hell. (T. C. R. 798.)

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Editorial Department 1903

Editorial Department       Editor       1903

     LETTERS have been received by us from ministers connected with the General Convention, calling attention to the wrong teachings of their brother ministers in that body, with the request that these be criticized in the Life, "but you will not mention my name, of course." Is the Messenger no longer a free forum for public discussion? The pages of the Life shall remain open, but only to those who have the courage of their convictions.



     Mr. Charles Higham publishes in Morning Light for Mar. 7 the results of his investigations up to date, respecting the whereabouts of the Photo-Lithographed Manuscripts. He has thus far succeeded in locating 80 sets, as follows: 3 in Sweden; 2 in Vienna; 3 in Germany; 1 in St. Petersburg, Paris, Cape Town, and Melbourne, respectively; 31 in England; and 37 in the United States; of these latter two have been destroyed by fire, as noted in the Life for February, p. 95. In addition to these 80 sets, there is also a set belonging to the Canada Association, which, we understand, lies in the home of Mrs. W. F. Tuerk, of Berlin, Ontario.

     Mr. Higham renews his appeal for information "concerning any of the copies--probably upwards of twenty--which have until now eluded my search."



     Much is being said, nowadays, about the wonderful improvement of the Old Church through "the benign influence of the warmer rays of the new Sun." But is there any New Churchman who has felt this influence upon that Old Church which exists in him? Is he one whit more celestial, or even more spiritual, on account of the new "influx?" Have any of his evils disappeared by influx, or does he still have to shun evil? Is there a single truth that has been implanted in his mind by influx, or does he still have to learn the Truth from the Word and the Writings? The natural man in each of us could wish for nothing better than that "influx" was the royal road to learning. and that we could become regenerated by influx! How much more easy and agreeable this could be than the narrow, thorny road of old! If the Old Church can become regenerated by "influx," how is it that the members of the New Church cannot?
HEROIC DREAMS 1903

HEROIC DREAMS              1903

     In his enthusiastic call for a "new apologetic" (in the Messenger for April 1st) the president of the General Convention observes that "the old falsity of blood atonement and vicarious sacrifice has lost its hold upon the Churches," that "the last stronghold of the faith that is passing away seems about to be abandoned."

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In this state of things he hears, like Paul, "a Macedonian cry" from the Old Church to the New, and adds, "I am sanguine enough to believe that it is a sign that the complete vastation of the old falsities, which is a necessary preparation for the new, is at hand." On this account he calls upon the New Church to "be up and doing" and "to go forward in the Lord's name and take possession of the ground thus left open for us to occupy."

     This war-cry is all very well, but how is the conquest to be accomplished? How are we going to make men listen to the Gospel of the New Church? Force is not to be thought of, and Mr. Seward recognizes that "we cannot answer the call by a mere publication or proclamation of the truth." But he believes that the world will become convinced by the power of example, by "truth illustrated and exemplified" in the lives of New Churchmen, and for this we need greater "consecration," etc. This will be a rather slow process and of doubtful efficacy. A New Churchman should be a regenerating man, but not for missionary purposes. One who poses as an example of the power of truth is apt to disgust people, rather than attract. On the whole, we know of no other way of converting the world than by the good old way of presenting--not ourselves--but the Lord's Truth, to such as have eyes to see, and ears to hear.

     In the meantime, let us not be too sure that "the last stronghold of faith that is passing away"--is really passing away, either in the Old Church or in the New.
EMPEROR'S THEOLOGY 1903

EMPEROR'S THEOLOGY              1903

     Many members of the New Church have been much pleased with Emperor William's recent confession of faith, because of his strong expression as to the Divinity of the Lord: "Christ is God.--God in human form," and some behold in this another evidence of the permeating effect of the "new influx." But, after all, this statement is nothing more than what has been maintained by all "orthodox" theologians,-from Athanasius to the present day. And the Kaiser continues in regular orthodox fashion: "His [Christ's] sympathy strengthens us. His discontent destroys us. But, also, his intercession saves us," etc., all of which betrays the ancient leaven of tritheism.

     Thus far the "summus episcopus" of the Evangelical Church of Prussia. But his real orthodoxy, or, as some imagine, approach towards New Church conceptions, seems somewhat doubtful in view of his further confession: "It is to me self-evident that the Old Testament contains many sections which are of a purely human and historical nature, and are not God's revealed Word. These are merely historical descriptions of incidents of all minds which happened in the political, religious, moral and intellectual life of this people. The legislative act on Sinai, for example, can only be regarded as symbolically inspired of God."

     The Emperor's confession of faith may be taken as typical of the present condition of faith among the more conservative elements in the Christian world. They feel the foundations of the ancient temple quaking under them, but they are afraid to leave the building.

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They hold on to the ancient idea of the Divinity of Christ, but can no longer maintain the Divinity of the Word. But it is evident that the latter is the foundation of the former. If the Old Testament is no longer to be trusted, then Christ appeals vainly to it in proof of His Divinity. The two are inseparable. The New Testament is inseparable from the Old. If the one falls, the other falls. And both are bound to fall in the old Jerusalem, until not one stone shall remain upon the other.
INCONSISTENCIES OF MR. KING-AND OTHERS 1903

INCONSISTENCIES OF MR. KING-AND OTHERS              1903

     In our news columns we have published the sad story of the defection of the Rev. Thomas A. King from the New Church, a defection which, as to glaring inconsistency, thus far stands unparalleled in the history of the New Church.

     Think of the inconsistency of the man who now, "con amore, has accepted the doctrinal position" of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the man who, as a messenger from the General Convention to the General Assembly in 1898, spoke as follows in regard to the Old Church:

     "Nothing is more apparent to the thoughtful New Churchman than the fact of the utter devastation of that Church which has become Christian in name only. That great changes have taken place in the Old Church is too manifest to need comment, but those changes are not, as some are wont to believe, approaches towards the Lord's New Church.... Not one single truth of the Christian Religion is left among them. God, revelation, faith, charity, regeneration, providence, heaven, all these have been perverted. It is no longer a Church," etc., etc. (See the Journal of the second General Assembly, pp. 15-18.)

     Think of this same man, three years later, "expressing his disapproval of his present faith as untenable." and "pleading for admission" into the Protestant Episcopal Church, and, while yet serving in a New Church pulpit, entering into covenants and engagements with a bishop of the Old Church, "covering his resignation, confirmation, and future financial support," and expressing his delight at the thought that "he would soon be within the fold of the Church."

     And then think of the inconsistency of that same man suddenly going back on his bargain, for the sake of a surplice, and continuing for another year to preach the faith which he had renounced! As for him, we can only hope that his actions were caused by a state of physical and mental disease, rendering him irresponsible in the eyes of Heaven. But think of the inconsistency of the congregation of New Churchmen who knew of his having renounced the Heavenly Doctrines, knew of his having betrayed both the New and the Old Church, and yet imploring him to remain as their teacher and leader, all on account of his "eloquence" and personal "popularity."

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     And, again, think of the Inconsistency of the Church Committee of that congregation, in their final words of parting assuring this man that they accept his resignation with "reluctance," and that the Lord would use his instrumentality "to the great advantage of the Church, wherever you may go," all the while knowing that Mr. King, in going, had turned his back, not only upon the external organization, but upon the very Doctrine of the New Church.

     And the General Convention of the New Jerusalem, which is supposed to "consist of all those who acknowledge the doctrines of the New Jerusalem as revealed by the Lord from His Word in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg,"--was this Convention, at its meeting in Philadelphia, in 1902, aware of the facts in Mr. King's case? The facts were public property, and had created a public scandal against the New Church in Chicago, and Mr. King had made no attempt to refute the serious allegations of Bishop White. But the Council of Ministers, and the Convention itself, could find no time for the investigation of this case, in order to protect the Church against a shepherd confessedly false to his charge, for they themselves were too busy in expressing their enthusiasm over a Report which belittled the Writings of the New Church to the vanishing point.

     When members of the New Church can indulge in such inconsistencies, we need not wonder at the inconsistency of the Protestant Episcopal bishop of Cincinnati in receiving for ordination a man whose "insincerity," "irresponsibility," and "topsy-turvy trifling with honorable engagements and ordinary fair dealing" were publicly exposed only a year ago by the Protestant Episcopal bishop of Michigan City. "Consistency, thou are a jewel!"
HAS THE WORLD BECOME CELESTIAL 1903

HAS THE WORLD BECOME CELESTIAL              1903

     The sermon on the text "And there was no more sea" (Rev. 21:1), by the Rev. S. S. Seward in the Messenger for March 18, is a typical illustration of the radical misunderstanding which at this day prevails in the New Church in respect to the condition of the human heart and the state of the Christian world. Quoting the Arcana, n. 9755, that this text signifies "that there shall not be ratiocination from scientifics concerning the truths of faith, but that truths will be impressed on the hearts," Mr. Seward draws the conclusion "that in the New Church men are not to get at the truth by a process of reasoning and intellectual conviction, but from love and affection." And later on he adds: "The wonderful truths contained in the Writings of the New Church, marvelous as they are, and constituting as they do the grandest system of philosophy ever made known among men, are not to be reasoned about, but to be at once committed to heart and life."

     This might be possible if men at this day were of a celestial genius, but for men of a spiritual genius there is no way of receiving the Truth except by means of rational conviction. And while "ratiocinations" against the truth are to be shunned, the Lord Himself invites us.

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"Come now, and let us reason together." For the Lord has not come to call saints, but sinners to repentance, sinners, men who are in evils, men whose sole hope of salvation lies in the fact that they are able to receive the truth by the understanding. There must be an affection of truth, of course, but even this affection, at first, is not a regenerated affection, but largely defiled by the love of self.

     But the writer of the sermon seems to labor under the impression that mankind has suddenly become changed into a race of celestial men, and this because of an unrecognized influence of the Sun of the Spiritual world. Misinterpreting all the lessons of History as well as the present signs of the times, he claims that "The history of the First Christian Church is a history not so much of achievement as of controversy. Its principal characteristic has been its polemics. But today, under the benign influence of the warmer rays of the new Sun that is rising, without being recognized, above the eastern horizon, we find all mere doctrinal lines fading into oblivion." And instead men are everywhere asking, "What can your teachings do? What results will they bring about! What actual good will they accomplish," etc.

     And thus, by the mere fact of the Second Advent, without recognizing or receiving the Lord in His Divine Truth, the whole world has nolens volens come into a celestial state, when men are looking only for the good of the truth. In fact. Mr. Seward fancies that, "if the truth could be known, it would be found that today there is less disposition to criticize and condemn the [New] Church on account of its peculiar teachings than on account of its lack of fruitfulness and growth. The truth is as much sought after and as highly valued today as it ever was in the past; but it is regarded for the sake of the good to which it lends, and not merely became it is true."

     This is news, indeed! Faith-alone, for thousands of years deeply rooted in the human heart, has now vanished as if by magic, and, presto, behold a celestial race, looking immediately for the good of truth! There is much to be learned from the Messenger that cannot be learned from the Word or the Writing. We learn that "truth is as much sought after and as highly valued today as ever it was in the past." But how much was it valued in the past? How much was it valued in the days when "the true light came into the world?" At that lime it was valued at "thirty pieces of silver!"

     All mere doctrinal lines are, indeed, "fading into oblivion," but this obliteration of all difference between truth and falsity ought not to be charged to "the benign influence of the warmer rays of the new Sun." For unless the whole science of optics is utterly wrong, the advent of the Sun emphasizes rather than obliterates the lines of demarcation between light and shadow.

     But most surprising is the superior attitude which, according to Mr. Seward, the great, celestial world is assuming towards the poor, small, backward congregation of Swedenborgians, who still are dragging behind in a merely spiritual state, still interested in truths, doctrines, and such abstract thing.

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Frowning upon our "lack of fruitfulness and growth," the Celestial World asks us "What can your teachings do? What results will they bring about? What actual good will they accomplish?"

     Alas! What great results can we point to in evidence of the truth of the Heavenly Doctrines? What "slums" have been regenerated, what great "practical reforms" have been instituted, what economic, political or social problems have been solved by the New Church in such a way as to force the recognition of the world? If it be answered that the Doctrines of the New Church will bring about the salvation of mankind, who will believe this claim?

     While rejecting the Word of God, and incidentally throwing overboard the ancient dogmas of Christianity, the great religious world is asking "What is Truth?" But so did Pilate, while condemning the Truth itself who stood silently before him. Pilate, with his skeptical, world-weary question, is not an encouraging specimen of a quickening civilization, and modern indifference to all things of Theology is no evidence of a new celestial state of mankind.
OLD CHURCH AND "PERMEATION." 1903

OLD CHURCH AND "PERMEATION."              1903

     It may be recalled by our readers that the Rev. R. R. Rodgers, of Birmingham, some time ago entered into a controversy in the public press of that city on the subject of Conjugial Love and Swedenborg's Inspiration. In that the Mr. Rodgers had much to say about the ignorance of at least one of his opponents, who had the temerity to assert that Swedenborg claimed to be "inspired,"--a statement which Mr. Rodgers at once and indignantly denied.

     And now the same gentleman has again entered the lists. This time it is on the subject, not of the New Church, but of the Old. Mr. Rodgers feels himself called upon to bitterly complain about the lack of Christian "breadth" displayed by a large and influential body of the Old Church who have the hardihood to believe that the fact of their believing in salvation by faith alone while the New Church does not, is a sufficient reason for their maintaining a distinction between the two bodies.

     The correspondence, of which that part which concerns Mr. Rodgers is published in Morning Light for March 14, was carried on in the Birmingham Daily Post under the heading "The Birmingham Y. M. C. A.," and concerned the "breadth or narrowness" of the Y. M. C. A. in general.

     Mr. Rodgers enters the lists with the presentation of a few facts. After giving a somewhat liberal translation of the last paragraph of the Faith of the New Church, as his creed, he continues, that thinking he was a "Christian" he, and others of his congregation, applied for admission as a "member," not an "associate," in the Y. M. C. A.; and all, without exception, were refused, on the ground that they were not Christians in the Y. M. C. A. sense of the word.

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The enormity of this refusal was afterwards still further increased, when the Y. M. C. A., soliciting subscriptions, refused the offer of a business firm of $2,500 to be given on condition that the Institution would admit Swedenborgians to its membership. "The time has gone past," concludes Mr. Rodgers, "for this 'narrowness;' and if the Birmingham Y. M. C. A. is not broad enough to stand on the broadest of 'Broad Church' principles, it is nothing but a sectarian institution."

     The Secretary of the Institution, answering this letter, writes in support of the liberality of the Body, which, while opening its doors to all, still desires to retain the management in its own hands, i. e., in the hands of "Evangelical Bodies." In common with these bodies, the secretary adds with unusual frankness, "we accept Martin Luther's great doctrine of justification by faith, and we do not admit that man can be saved by good works, though they naturally follow." This doctrine, the secretary further states with truth, "has been a tremendous force in the world for the last 2,000 years." In the light of this dogma, the Y. M. C. A. made an examination of the Swedenborgian teaching with the result that it found that teaching to be nothing less than "salvation by works" and as such essentially different from the Evangelical position, and the clinching fact is added, that, horrible dictu, "the Swedenborgian churches are not eligible for membership in the union of Evangelical Free Churches."

     In his statement as to the nature of the difference between the New Church and the Old, the secretary is entirely at one with the Writings, which teach "That the faith of the New Church can never be together with the faith of the former Church." One might, therefore, expect that every New Church man would at once acquiesce in the position of the Y. M. C. A., which seems to have some perception of that "conflict and collision" spoken of in the Writings. But not so Mr. Rodgers. In his concluding letter he finds that the Y. M. C. A. is confessedly "not a simple Christian, but an exceedingly exclusive sectarian Institution," and this, not for the reason that it believes in Faith Alone, but because, so believing, it will not admit the New Church. In opposition to historical facts and the teachings of the Writings (B. E. 19). Mr. Rodgers goes on to claim that Faith Alone originated with Luther. But most astonishing is his assertion respecting good works. "In point of fact 'salvation by good works' . . . is not a doctrine of the New Church at all, and it is hardly fair of the Y. M. C. A. Committee to compel us to teach what we utterly repudiate. Swedenborg's doctrine is, that 'Man cannot be saved without good works, but that good works do not save him." In the words of the Apostle names: As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also! This is our doctrine, both of faith and good works." Fortunately for the right presentation of the New Church doctrines this portion of Mr. Rodgers's letter was not published in The Post.

     Two years ago Mr. Rodgers, in his anxiety to stand on common ground with the Old Church, utterly denied the inspiration of Swedenborg as against Old Churchmen who, with better perception, stated that Swedenborg claimed to be inspired.

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And now, from the same anxiety, he is combating those of the Old Church who see in the doctrine of Salvation an essential difference between the Old Church and the New, and by concealing the truth respecting Faith Alone, he is creating the impression that the New Church does not repudiate that dogma. Our "permeationists" in England have received a severe setback. Filled with the desire to mix with the Old Church and leaven it, they seem willing to do or say almost anything that will tend to obscure or do away with the essential difference between the New and the Old. And now the Old,--or at least an important part of it,--refuses to be "permeated," refuses to see that there is a "broad Christian basis" on which all can join together; and with unaccountable obstinacy it claims that there is an essential difference which cannot be reconciled except by surrender.

     There is no common basis on which the Old Church can stand with the New. The only relation that can possibly exist between them is the relation of the dragon to the man-child,--a relation of bitter hatred on the one part and of flight on the other. Even where there is fraternization, this hatred is still present,--or else there is entire indifference to all truth. There is sometimes toleration of New Church men, but never of their doctrines. Some Old Churches will fraternize with the New (?) but only as with a small, insignificant body not for a moment to be compared to the great religious denominations. And yet there are New Churchmen who prefer to seek for and accept such supercilious patronage from the enemies of the Church, rather than to assert that bold independence and superiority which comes from the possession of the Truth.
CHURCH ATTENDANCE 1903

CHURCH ATTENDANCE              1903

     In a number of the larger cities of Great Britain, a "religious census" recently taken, indicates a steady decline,--affecting all sects,--in the number of church-going people. The results of the census merely emphasize a fact that has long been well known. For many years past the most strenuous efforts have been made to attract worshipers. From the oratorios of the masters to the drum beat of the Salvationist, not a known device has been left untried to effect this end. But the results have been only temporary. The army of "stay-at-homes" still increases.

     To a New Churchman, accepting the teaching respecting the Old Church, this will come as no surprise. It is but an indication of the breaking up of the vastate Church, and a sign of the Divine Providence which permits men to sink into materialism and infidelity rather than to profane the Word by false and hypocritical worship.

     But it is not only the Old Church that is suffering from a decrease in the number of its worshippers. It appears that the New Church,--at least, in England,--is in the same case. The cause of this has been made the subject of a symposium carried on in the February and March issues of the New Church Magazine, and interesting, if not always instructive, are the suggestions offered.

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The title under which they are made is "How to make our Churches more attractive." Rev. W. A. Presland thinks this end will be attained by having more attractive and comfortable buildings, a more active laity--he would let no one fill two offices until all filled one--and a ministry inspired with reverence and charity. Rev. W. T. Stonestreet lays his whole argument on a change in the methods of worship, so that the people shall have a more active part in it. Especially does he advocate devotionalism and the preaching of "what is good, reserving for the lecture room and the class room those differences which ought to be made known" to the members of the New Church. He also advises magic lantern exhibitions, the Hoffman pictures, etc.

     More spiritual are the suggestions of Mr. Jon. Robinson and Rev. Joseph Deans. Mr. Robinson sees the real cause of the trouble to be an internal one, and to lie within the members of the Church, and he addresses himself wholly to these.

     Mr. Deans commences by suggesting some ways for not making the Church attractive. These are so rich in humor, though of the tragic sort, that we cannot refrain from quoting from them.

     "Whenever you get an opportunity to exchange a few words with a 'visitor' to our services, be sure to criticise the minister, and apologize profusely for the dogmatic and unresponsive manner in which the service is conducted."

     "Agitate for the exclusion of definite teaching from our praise and prayer."

     "Let the pew demand twenty minutes as the full time that should be devoted to the sermon--and let the pulpit signify that it is master of the situation by insisting upon forty."

     "Oppose all things that have grown into custom,--because they are antiquated. And, to show your unpartiality, object to all fresh proposals, because they are new-fangled (unless they are your own proposals)."

     "When invited to do so, attend some other place of worship (as an act of courtesy to friends), but scrupulously abstain from inviting friends to accompany you."

     If these suggestions of "how not to do it" are to be taken as any indication of the state of the Church in England, that state is certainly neither a happy nor a promising one.

     But Mr. Deans does not stop at the negative side of the question. He approaches nearer to the pith of the matter when dismissing all questions of forms and ceremonies, the shining of lanterns, etc., as "merest trivialities," he says: "The vital question is not, How to get people into a building? but, How to get people to love the truth and do it?" "The Church must not depend upon 'side shows,' for unless she can attract by the beauty of her truth she will not attract at all." And he justly concludes that our duty lies, not in seeking "attractiveness," but in being faithful workers in proclaiming the Divine Humanity of the Lord, whose Church must triumph.

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     All this is very true as a reason why the New Church attracts but very few new-comers; but it fails to assign the reason why so many of the members of the Church itself become apathetic. For, surely, no one would say that the cause in every case is a lack of love for the truth! Is the truth preached to them! or, rather, Are they being advanced in the truth?

     Taking up the English New Church journals, we find little more taught, than the same general truths year after year with which most New Churchmen are thoroughly familiar,--the falsity of Trinitarianism, the absurdity of faith alone, the fact of the other life, and so forth. There is scarcely anything new, scarcely anything to stimulate thought, to interest and feed the rational mind. And we are impelled to the conclusion that the same characterless teaching, the same generalities of spiritual truth, constitute almost the sole food of most of the English New Church Societies. In many of them it is even worse than this; for while the preacher is eloquently decrying the falsities of the old dogmas, almost in the same breath, he assures his hearer that the Old Church is fast rejecting these dogmas, that few believe them, and that they are all but obsolete.

     Is it a wonder that the interest of the member wanes? A man cannot live forever on a few crusts. His mind cannot be maintained in a continued state of interest merely at the sight of the walls of Jerusalem. If he is to be fed, if his affections are to be more deeply aroused and his interest excited, he must be led within the city, be shown its interior treasures and its inexhaustible stores of spiritual food. As Mr. Deans says, it is the truth that must attract, but, as he fails to add, it must not be a monotonous and unfruitful truth. There must be growth in the truth, if there is to be growth in the attraction and interest.

     The Church in England has made itself, for the most part, a missionary Church, and, so doing, it has all but stopped at a few fundamental truths. Its main energies are devoted to attracting "outsiders," and, in the meantime, those within are more or less neglected. Naturally, many of them get tired of listening to the same things repeated over and over again, and the result is a decreased Church attendance and Church membership. The only way, then, in which to "attract" the members of the Church, is for her ministers to devote themselves to studying her theology, and to entering into and teaching the interior truths of that theology. Let them cease continually gnawing at the shell, but taste of the rich fruit within. No doubt, such a course will result in some members dropping off, but those who remain will be real and not nominal members, they will be attracted by the Lord's truth, not by any mere organization, and they will be members who attend church. Such has been and always will be the results of advance in the teaching of the truths of the New Jerusalem. For the truth is attractive to those worth attracting, and it is the more attractive as it is the more interior.

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Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     Nya Kyrkans Tidnig, for March, publishes an able and timely editorial on "the new Confusion of Rabel," as Mr. Manby fitly terms the recent quarrel between Delitsch, Hilprecht, and other archeological and theological authorities.



     From the Brooklyn New Church Library we have received the first number of "an occasional publication," entitled Memorabilia. In appearance it resembles a very handsome Railroad Guide, but the appearance is deceptive. It is, in fact, a collection of "best thoughts" from the pens to Mr. Ager, Mr. Eby, Mrs. Dickinson, Mr. Roeder, Theodore Roosevelt and other prominent New Church writers!



     A recent editorial in the Messenger brings forth these 'gems of thought:" "In so far as there can be a Word Of God at all, it is of this nature, the nature of a lamp...." "The peculiar characteristic of our age is the evident outburst of the rational faculty in man."... "It is necessary for the sake of impartial study for one to put into intellectual abeyance his private predilection for Divine things."

     Are these statements to be taken as further evidences of the "outburst of the rational faculty?"



     A second edition of The Mystery of Sleep, by John Bigelow, has just been issued by Harper and Brothers. It is a deeply interesting work, dealing with its subject, not only from an historical and philosophical point of view, but also bringing out the distinctive doctrine of the New Church in a clear and manly way. And, not the least of its merits, it is written in the very best of classical English, in sharp contrast to the degenerated, careless diction which, we have noticed for some years, characterized the modern literature of the Church, at least in America. It was not thus in the earlier history of the Church.



     The editor of our Swiss contemporary, the Monatblatter, in the March issue, makes this concession: "If any one (as, for instance, the editor of the Life and his party, toward whom we entertain the most brotherly feelings), desires to extend the conception of the Word of God so as to include all Divine Truth and thus also the Writings of Swedenborg, he must be allowed to do so" ("so muss ihm dies unbenommen bleiben"). We are sincerely pleased at this admission. It includes all that we have been contending for.



     The Monatblatter for March calls attention to the spiritistic origin of a series of articles by Adelbert Jantschowitsch, of Budapest, recently published in the Bote der Neuen Kirche, of St. Louis.

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Mr. Gorwitz justly deplores the lack of conscience in the German Synod and its organ, in putting before its unsuspecting readers such spiritual poison, without adding even a word of warning. It now appears that the articles in question were plagiarized from the work of a German theosophist and "revelator," Herr Lorber, whose followers are up in arms on account of the theft.



     The brochure on The Education of Children in the Spiritual World, by J. Stuart Bogg, just published by Mr. Speirs, of London, is a real little gem, both as to internal contents and as to external form. The latter is a work of art, and should grace the parlor table of every New Church family, and the contents are drawn directly from the Writings, being a compilation and digest of leading teachings on this important and interesting subject. The pamphlet, which can be obtained through the Academy Book Room, would be a useful and delightful present to the children in the Church on earth.



     The Rev. Adolph Roeder, in an article on "Swedenborg's Memorabilia Rationalized" (in The New Christianity for March), assures his readers that "the spiritual world into which you and I enter at death will be as little like the spiritual world into which Swedenborg was permitted to see, as France today is like France a century ago, or Chicago today is like Chicago a century ago,"-a somewhat radical assertion, particularly in regard to Chicago! And on this basis he comes to the conclusion "that no reliance can be placed upon that portion of the work of the Seer, which is actually subject to the element of vision, except in so far as it may prove certain psychologic conditions of the seer and of the Race at the time."



     The Open Court for April contains an article by Mr. Albert J. Edmunds on "Buddha's Last Meal, and the Christian Eucharist," in which the writer, who is more or less affiliated with the New Church, labors to prove that the Christian Sacrament of the Holy Supper was an institution invented by Paul in imitation of the mysteries of Eleusis and of Mithra. He asserts that Gospel authority for the perpetuation of the Sacrament was wanting until Paul's words in I Cor. xi: 23-27 "were inserted into the text of Luke." And the editor, Dr. Paul Carus, adds this comment: "The theory (now commonly accepted by theological scholars), that Paul is the inaugurator of the Christian Eucharist, is further supported by the fact that no mention of its institution by Christ, when he took his last meal, is made in the Fourth Gospel, while the passage in Luke [xxii: 14-23], is an apparent interpolation." Ipse dixit!



     THE fifteenth volume of the Rotch edition of the Arcana Coelestia has been received from the Mass. New Church Union.

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As has been pointed out before in the pages of the Life, this edition possesses many merits which would make it the very best version of the Arcana ever issued, were it not marred by the effort of the translators to do away with the technique of New Church terminology, making this edition useless to a student of the Doctrines,--and only a student is apt to enter into this voluminous work. It is with deep regrets that on this account we cannot recommend this edition, for its general diction is in other respects unsurpassed. It is "so near and yet so far" from being just what the New Church student needs. Moreover, beside being very expensive, this edition is unhandy for one who, in preparing a sermon, for instance, has to look up some fifty passages. For this purpose the larger volumes will involve less labor.

     "JEHOVAH" OR "YAHVEH."

     Professor Delitsch, in his celebrated lecture on Babel and Bible, reproduces a photograph of three Assyrian clay-tablets, containing in cuneiform characters the legend "Ja-ah-ve-ilu, Ja-hu-um-ilu," that is, "Yahveh is God." This discovery is of great interest, as archeologists have hitherto searched in vain, both in Egypt and Chaldea, for any direct reference to the God of the Hebrews. The absence of such reference is the more surprising, as we know from the Writings, that the Lord at one time was universally worshiped throughout the Ancient Church under His most ancient name, Jehovah.

     But this discovery does not, as Delitsch maintains, prove that the correct pronunciation of the sacred name is "Yahveh" instead of "Jehovah." For this name was a foreign name to the Assyrians of the time of Hammurabi, and the Assyrians were like the English in their lofty disregard of the native pronunciation of foreign names. (Vide "Leghorn" for "Livorno").

     But "Yahveh" is nowadays the only pronunciation allowed by scientific fashion ("made in Germany"), and we are calmly assured that "the pronunciation 'Jehovah' dates only from about the year 1520, and is due to the mistake of an ignorant monk [Luther'], who was unaware of the Jews' practice of substituting 'Adonai.'" (See the Notes to Exodus in the Temple Bible.)

     For cool disregard of historical facts, this surpasses anything we have ever seen. And yet, such assurances are received bone fide by the whole Christian world, if only they be fathered by men of "learning."

     It is claimed that the tetragrammaton IHVH was furnished with the vowels e, o, and a, by the Masorites (making the name read "Jehovah"), in order to remind the Jews to read "Adonai," Lord, instead of the ineffable name, and that these vowels were borrowed from "Adonai" for this purpose. This, however, is mere guess-work.

     As for the fashionable name "Yahveh," it is a pure assumption, based on the merest quibbles, and it is completely disproved by the name IESUS.

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For this name is nothing but the transliterated Greek form of the Hebrew name "Jehoshua," meaning "Jehovah is salvation." If the "correct" pronunciation of Jehovah was "Yahveh," then the name "Jehoshua" should have been written "Jahveshua,"--which never occurs,--and the name "Jesus" would have been--something else! And there are twenty other Hebrew proper nouns, beginning with "Jeho," admittedly taken from the name Jehovah,--not "Yahveh."

     To the members of the New Church it is of importance to retain intact the name JEHOVAH, the most ancient and most sacred name of the Lord, because the affections involved in this name rest upon the correspondence of the vowels, and the vowels E, O, and A represent all affections, spiritual, celestial, and intermediate. To destroy or disturb the correct vowels in the name, is to destroy the ultimate expression and acknowledgment of the truth that Jehovah is all grace, all mercy, all love.

     A PROPHECY.

     The New-Church League Journal, in the unusually interesting March number, contains a symposium on "The Future New-Church Ministry," in which a number of ladies and gentlemen give their answers to these questions: "Why should a young man consider entering the profession of the ministry? What is the chief factor which draws young men into other professions in preference to the ministry? What can the young people of the New-Church do to make the office of the ministry a more attractive one, so as always to draw to that profession the best talent of the Church?" These questions are not answered categorically, but the fact of the lack of ministers is strongly emphasized, and the blame is laid to the lack of devotion, to the habit of criticising the ministers, to the demand for superior culture and holiness, etc. One, himself the son of a New Church minister, points to the remarkable fact that "in recent years, with one exception, the sons of New-Church ministers have all chosen other professions," and he ascribes this fact to a general lack of respect for the office. "The minister is often regarded as an object of charity. He is the butt of criticism, is poorly paid, yet expected to entertain socially any one who claims connection with the Church. All this has a tendency to a loss of self-respect, which is emphasized by bad business methods in organized Church work." All these, however, are merely external obstacles, things which would have been counted for nothing by the Lord's apostles. The complaints are as old as the Church, and there is nothing to be gained by "kicking against the pricks."

     In the symposium, however, there is a letter from a recent receiver, Mr. Vincent Van Marter Reede, a student at Harvard, which is quite notable.

     Speaking out frankly, he confesses that his "knowledge of the New Church is inadequate. I am questioning whether to take orders in the New Church or in the Protestant Episcopal Church. So far as I have read and been instructed in the doctrine;. I believe in the spirit and philosophy of Swedenborg.

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It is the New Church as an organization that perplexes me. Swedenborg did not set out to form a sect. He desired that his doctrine should permeate the historical churches. Today the New Church, small as it is, contains two factions. The broader wing appears to be more a club, a 'school of thought,' than a practical organization, carrying on parish work and missions. The Young People's Leagues are forever getting up delightful sociables and dances, but seldom, as far as I call discover, do they set out, in an organized fashion, to benefit the community. Moreover, I cannot see that the Writing of the Church are suitable to the comprehension or liking of the rank and file."

     With this view of the Writings, he cannot, of course, consider the New Church as a practicable institution. But he continues: "A prominent liberal clergyman in the New Church has told me, among other things, that he does not see the value of parishional work, and that it is his opinion that the Academy will soon be all that remains in the New Church as an organization, the broader wing being absorbed, with it doctrines, into the larger denominations."

     There may be more of truth than of poetic fancy in this prophecy, though the day of its fulfillment may yet be many years in the future. That the "broader wing" will ultimately he "absorbed" by the Old Church, is each year becoming more and more evident,--absorbed by "benevolent assimilation," as the lamb is absorbed by the wolf. And as to the larger denominations absorbing at the same time "the doctrines" of the "broader wing,"-well, perhaps that also will happen, for it begins to appear that there is not enough New Church Doctrine left with the broader wing to interfere seriously with the digestive process of the Old Church.

     A REMARKABLE REVIEW.

     It is not often that we meet in the journals of the New Church a review of a New Church book, that is really a review, that is, that submits the teachings of the books to the test of comparison with revealed truth. Many of the reviews published by our contemporaries,--especially in England,--deal with Old Church books of Theology, books in which the New Churchman can have, as a rule. but little interest. And, curiously enough, the reviewer is concerned for the most part, not in emphasizing the fundamental falsities entering into the composition of such books, but in showing how much New Church truth (!) there is in them, and how if the authors could only advance one little step further in the light of the Writings, he would come to the whole truth, etc., etc.

     The same optimistic and indiscriminating spirit enters into the reviews of New Church books. Whatever the book may teach, criticism is for the most part confined to mere external literary matters. Where it contains false teachings,--even though these should predominate in the work,--they are either ignored or mildly hinted at, while other points which the reviewer thinks he can praise, are dwelt on and praised at length; and rarely is a comparison instituted with the teaching of the Writings.

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All this may be very charitable on the part of the reviewer,--in the Old Church sense of charity,--but it does not tend to the production of a review "as is a review."

     A notable exception to such characterless productions is the review by Rev. James F. Buss of Rev. John Worcester's The Jewish Sacrifices and their Christian meaning, which appeared in Morning Light for Feb. 14. Mr. Buss's sole aim has been to examine the work not in the glamour of the author's name but in the light of the Writings, and the result is its condemnation. And this condemnation is the more severe in that it comes from the pen of one predisposed to praise. "We may admit," says Mr. Buss, "that we took up this book with great expectations, based upon our knowledge of the high esteem in which the author is held by our brethren in America. We lay it down with a large measure of disappointment."

     The disappointment arises from finding that the work is almost destitute of argument or exposition, or of "confirmation either from the Word or from reason, of the correspondences involved," correspondences which the reviewer points out, are "in most instances, entirely wrong." In justification of this bold characterization of the book, the reviewer continues, "We are told for example that 'stones signify. . . .truths of fact; and metals, laws:' a statement destitute . . . of any warrant in the Writings, and for which not the slightest proof of any sort is offered. Again, 'the cattle for the burnt offering' are said to signify 'the patient affections for usefulness which they really are,'--another entirely unauthorized assertion." After adducing several other instances of the same kind, Mr. Buss sums up: "It is safe to say that the Lord has not revealed these significations; and we cannot understand how an ordained teacher of the internal sense of the Word can feel himself justified in assigning significations which the Lord has not assigned in His Revelation and especially where the Lord has assigned other, and very definite significations."

     The author's "sentimentalism," also comes in for its share of condemnation. But the reviewer is most severe in his notice of Mr. Worcester's teachings respecting the Lord, teachings which, as the Life has previously pointed out, are nothing but Unitarian in their tendencies. On this subject he says, "On p. 138, we encounter the amazing statement, 'The Divine forgiveness is the sense of the Lord's love in us.' In the utterances of orthodox revivalists, we should be prepared for such an assertion; but we had, until now thought it utterly impossible in any New Church writer. According to the revealed Doctrines. . .Divine forgiveness consists in being withheld from evil and kept in good by the Lord, by means of actual repentance." Mr. Buss is evidently quite unacquainted with Mr. Worcester's other writings.

     One would naturally expect that a reviewer who has pointed out falsities in the book, of so fundamental a nature as those noted above, could not in any way recommend the work to the New Church reader.

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But in this expectation he will be strangely disappointed. Mr. Buss seems to be suddenly seized with the spirit of the average New Church reviewer, when, turning from his valuable criticisms, he adds that serious as these defects are, they "affect only a very small portion of the book itself" and that therefore "the book will be found spiritually edifying in a very high degree, by those who are able to read it affirmatively and uncritically; and even the critical reader, if in search of edification, cannot fail to find in it much to profit him." But the instances of the "spiritually edifying" things of the book, which he quotes, suggest little if anything more than many a minister of the Old Church might preach. There is much of vague generality, but little ii anything of distinctly "spiritual" teaching. By the "uncritical reader" Mr. Buss must mean one who is unacquainted with the Writings, and to such a one his review is presumably not addressed; though how even an "uncritical reader" can receive spiritual edification from statements either colorless or else in direct opposition to the Writings, is not explained. And how the reviewer can think the work to be of benefit to the "critical reader" is past understanding. Mr. Buss has truly made a lamentably weak ending to a vigorous, bold and critical review, and we must confess to some doubt as to whether he really means his words of praise to be taken seriously, or whether, temporarily inspired by the spirit of charitable optimism, he has intended them to be taken in a "purely Pickwickian sense."
MOVEMENT OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 1903

MOVEMENT OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE       ALFRED H. STROH       1903

EDITORS New Church Life.

     In the February number of the Life, page 100, I notice that there is an account of the recent action of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences. The following historical sketch may be of interest to the readers of the Life in connection with the development of interest in Swedenborg's scientific works in past and present times:

     As long ago as 1545 Professor Anders Retzius, the great anatomist and founder of modern anthropology, wrote most appreciatively of Swedenborg's scientific genius and compared him to Aristotle. His son, Professor Gustaf Retzius, among others, supplied the historian, Fryzell, with statements respecting Swedenborg. Then came Dr. R. L. Tafel's great work in calling attention to Swedenborg's valuable contributions respecting the brain and nervous system, by the publication of a translation of some of the manuscripts, together with masterly comparisons of Swedenborg's results with those of modern scientists, showing that very important anticipations regarding function and structure had been made by Swedenborg.

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In 1883 Professor C. Loven described the first volume of Dr. Tafel's edition of the Brain at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences. After this, among other European notices of Swedenborg's scientific works, may be mentioned a long contribution to the Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences for 1889 on Swedenborg as a Mathematician, by Gustaf Enestrom. In 1892 the geologist, A. G. Nathorst, in his work on the Geology of Sweden, called attention to the notable work Swedenborg did in the field of geology. In 1900 the meteorologist, N. Ekholm, referred most favorably to Swedenborg's Principia, particularly to the comparison of the forces obtaining in the primeval "chaos" to those of the magnet. Within the last few months a great text-book on Cosmology and Physics has been published by Dr. Svante Arrhenius, in which Swedenborg's position in the history of Cosmogony is recognized. In recent times Dr. Max Neuburger, of Vienna, has again drawn the attention of scientists to Swedenborg's remarkable anticipations of later results in the physiology of the brain. In the early months of 1902 Dr. Neuburger, through the Swedish legation at Vienna, inspired a document of inquiry respecting the unpublished manuscripts of Swedenborg preserved in Stockholm. The document was received by Professor Gustaf Retzius and the manuscripts examined. However, the handwriting was found to be very difficult and nothing further was done. Sometime after my arrival in Sweden I met Professor Retzius and he asked me to help in an investigation of the manuscripts. Interest in Swedenborg's scientific works increased and the idea came to Professor Retzius that a committee of investigation be appointed, and on December 11th he laid a motion to that effect before a meeting of the Academy of Sciences. The motion was passed and the committee appointed. I had the great pleasure of being present on this memorable occasion, so interesting to the student of Swedenborg's science and philosophy. Since then the committee has met and organized. ALFRED H. STROH. Stockholm, March 12th, 1903.

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Church News 1903

Church News       Various       1903

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS

     Philadelphia. The Rev. Richard de Charms has been engaged by the Church of the Advent to preach and conduct the services on every Sunday until the closing of the Church for the summer, and to perform such other pastoral work as may be compatible with the performance of his duties at the College at Bryn Athyn and his absence from the city. He entered upon this work Sunday, March 22d. He conducted the Easter service and preached a sermon appropriate to the day on April 12th, and the following Sunday administered the Sacrament of the Holy Supper.

     Pittsburg, Pa. The Wednesday evening supper on March 25 was turned into a farewell banquet to Mr. Brown, and proved to be a highly enjoyable affair. The speeches centered on the past, present and future of Mr. Brown's work, and in that connection dealt with the educational work of the Academy and its gradual development, until now it is assuming all the functions of a university. We had with us two guests, Mr. Junge, of Chicago, and Mr. Pitcairn, of Bryn Athyn, each of whom favored us with a few remarks. Mr. Pitcairn expressed his gratification at having Mr. Brown make special preparation for educational work in the church, especially in taking advantage of the natural science already developed in the world. Mr. Junge congratulated us on our new pastor whom we were about to take from the Glenview people, and told us of the great love and esteem in which he is held by them.

     This latter we can fully appreciate now that we have Mr. Pendleton with us. He arrived with his family about the 1st, and on the 3d of April we had a reception to him at the church.

     One of the social events of the past month was the "linen shower" given at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Schoenberger to Mr. Price Coffin and Miss Seaford, whose engagement was announced some time ago. C. H. E.

     Denver, Col. We are beginning to get down to something like regularity in the uses of the church. The Sunday services and the doctrinal classes on Thursday evenings have been the principal features thus far.

     Our members are becoming more closely knit together as time goes on, and the love of the things of the church comes to the front. The good work of the past will finally bear its just fruit and will be the only thing to keep in mind.

     The services of worship have been well attended; the new service prepared by the Bishop is being used with success, a sphere of humble devotion prevailing throughout.

     On April 5th Miss Zella Snow was received into the faith of the New Church; the rite of baptism was administered by our Pastor, Mr. Starkey, as a part of the morning service. Easter was celebrated by the administration of the Holy Supper, preceded by a very instructive sermon on Order as presented by the doctrine concerning the Divine Work of Redemption. Ten communicants partook of the Holy Supper. A very pleasant sphere prevailed throughout the service, the singing and responsive service being entered into with life and vigor.

     Our social life has been on the spontaneous order up to date. The last social was held at the house of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Lindrooth, the event being a celebration of their advent into their own new home. A most pleasant evening was enjoyed by all. In response to the toast "To our Host and Hostess" our Pastor responded most affectionately, bringing out in a brief way the teaching concerning the blessedness of the man who lives with his wife, children and his few goods, content in the Lord. G. W. T.

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FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The members of the New Church Society in Elmwood, Mass., on March 2d, tendered a farewell reception to the Rev. Clarence Lathbury. A number of members from the Unitarian Church took part in the proceedings, Mr. Lathbury having often preached for them. Mr. Lathbury goes to Philadelphia to take a position as assistant manager of the Swedenborg Publishing Association, and will also be the editor of the new monthly periodical which is about to be issued by them.

     The Messenger for March 18th presents a portrait and biography of the late Gilbert Hawkes, of Lynn, Mass., who died on Sept. 9th, at the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. Hawkes was one of the most profound students of the Writings in this or any country, and labored for more than fifty years upon the compilation of an analytic and synthetic Concordance to the Writings, and left it entirely complete, with the exception of a verbal index to the work itself. It will make five volumes of about 470 pages each. Mr. Hawkes was a firm believer in the Divine authority of the Writings, and was a frequent contributor of advanced theological articles to the pages of the New Jerusalem Magazine and the New Church Review. Only a short time before his death, on receiving the fifth volume of the Spiritual Diary, recently published for the first time in English, he joyfully exclaimed: "Here is a new book that I haven't had. What a feast I have before me!" About a year ago Mr. Hawkes donated a number of exceedingly rare New Church publications to the library of the Academy of the New Church.

     The New York Association met in Brooklyn on February 23d. The Orange Society reported a year of considerable progress, with an increase of thirteen members. Nothing of special interest was transacted at the meeting.

     The "Woman's Council" of the New York Association, at its meeting on March 21st, considered "Our Relations to the New-Thought Movement," and also discussed the subject of forming a national organization of the women during the present year.

     Mr. John Ruby, who died at Houston, Texas, on February 16th, 1903, was the son of one of the earliest members of the New Church in Berlin, Ont. He built up a very successful business in Houston, but took only a nominal interest in the work of the New Church, until some four years ago, when, after a visit to Bryn Athyn and Pittsburg, he became deeply interested in the principles and uses of the Academy and the General Church.

     Mr. Lucien Putnam, who died at Oakland, Cal., on March 16th, 1903, was for many years the leader of the society in Oakland. which at one time was connected with the General Church. Mr. Putnam was an active, efficient and much-respected member of the Church.

     From Chicago comes the not surprising news that the Rev. Thomas A. King has resigned from the pastorate of the Englewood parish, and has severed his connection with the New Church, for the sake of "entering into orders in the Protestant Episcopal communion." He was "confirmed" in the faith of that Church on Palm Sunday by the Bishop of Cincinnati, and was immediately assigned to duty at St. Luke's Church in the city of Cincinnati. We quote, from the Messenger of April 1st, the letter of the Englewood Parish Committee, accepting Mr. King's resignation:
"Rev. Thomas A. King.

     "Dear Sir-We have your letter of resignation and a letter explanatory thereof.

     "We note your request that this committee accept your resignation at once, and do so with reluctance, and only because you state that your plans for the future require your leaving us on March the 29th.

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     "In accepting your resignation the committee express their appreciation of the work which you have done among us in the past ten years, during which time the Parish has experienced a growth unprecedented in the history of the Church.

     "We realize our loss in your departure, but recognize in the Providence of the Lord, who guides your removal, and will use your instrumentality to the great advantage of the Church wherever you may go."

     And so the curtain goes down upon Mr. King in the final act of a tragedy which began more than a year ago. It will be remembered that Mr. King offered his resignation to the Englewood Parish in February, 1902, but was induced to withdraw it on being permitted to wear a surplice at the services. There was something behind these movements, however, something which was well-known to the public in Chicago, but which did not appear in the journals of the New Church. For the sake of history we now reproduce the documents in this scandalous affair, such as they appeared in the daily papers of Chicago:

     "When the Rev. Thomas A. King decided to remain pastor of the New Jerusalem Swedenborg Church of Englewood he gave up fully matured plans to ally himself with the Episcopal faith. Unprepared for the spontaneous wealth of loyalty from his congregation, which resulted in his being allowed to wear a surplice, Mr. King, it is said, had given his promise to accept a vacant pulpit in St. Thomas Parish, Plymouth, Mich., pending his ordination to the priesthood.

     "This phase of Mr. King's relations to the Englewood Church became public yesterday through the arrangements of Bishop John Hazen White, of the Michigan City diocese, for a reception to Mr. King by the members of his prospective flock.

     "It appears that Bishop White was at Plymouth last Sunday and announced he had arranged for the filling of the pulpit by a lay leader. He named the Rev. Thomas A. King, of Chicago, who, he said, had promised to take up the work. A reception was planned to take place at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Snyder, which should extend a hospitable welcome to the new recruit.

     "When Bishop White returned home he found a letter from Mr. King, stating his change of purpose and his determinatiors to remain with the Englewood congregation. Bishop White, it is said, was disappointed, but not particularly surprised at the action. On several occasions he had entertained Mr. King in Michigan and was familiar with his views.

     "When seen at his residence last evening Mr. King said:

     "I reconsidered the matter after overwhelming pressure had been brought to bear upon me by both my Episcopal friends and the members of my congregation. I have a thorough understanding with Bishop White as to my reasons for reconsidering the matter."--(Chicago Tribune, Feb. 4, 1902.)

     This was quickly followed by the following repudiation from Mr. King's prospective bishop:

     "Michigan City, Ind., Feb. 7--Editor of The Tribune.--In your issue of this morning I see that the Rev. Thomas A. King hides himself from public censure under my name and the statement: 'Bishop White, it is said, was disappointed, but not particularly surprised, at the action,' and 'I reconsidered the matter after overwhelming pressure by both my Episcopal friends and the members of my congregation. I have a thorough understanding with Bishop White as to my reasons for reconsidering the matter.'

     "I cannot permit myself to be publicly quoted in this way without remonstrance. Who the Episcopal friends are who have given Mr. King advice I cannot say. As for myself I have never been treated to such an astounding and stunning surprise and such an exhibition of irresponsibility and insincerity as Mr. King has given me.

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He sought me out of his own accord, unburdened himself fully to me, had a number of conferences with me, in the most emphatic manner possible, and in writing, expressed his disapproval of his present faith as untenable, and accepted con amore the doctrinal position of the Church of which I have the honor to be a Bishop. [Italics ours.]

     "He pleaded for admission to holy orders, entered into covenants and engagements with me, covering his resignation, confirmation and future financial support while preparing for ordination, wrote me that had fulfilled his part, and was most delighted to think he would soon be within the fold of the Church. Then, when I had in good faith carried out my covenants with him, in twenty-four hours he repudiates all his engagements with me without any sufficient word of explanation except that his congregation wept over him and would permit him to wear a surplice.

     "I cannot permit my name to shield that sort of topsy-turvy trifling with honorable engagements and ordinary fair dealing. "JOHN HAZEN WHITE, "Bishop of Michigan City." (Chicago Tribune, Feb. 9, 1902.)

     GREAT BRITAIN. The advent of Mr. W. R. Horner, a graduate of the Conference Theological School as minister of the Blackburn Society, was signalized by a reception-meeting, at which the speakers included four New Church ministers, and three ministers of the Old Church. Mr. Horner himself, replying to the speeches, expressed himself as not caring "for the policy sometimes adopted by New Church congregations, in regard to exclusiveness forced on the other hand, did he like the exclusiveness forced upon them by other ministers and congregations."

     The Rev. S. Y. C. Goldsack, pastor of the Bradford Society, has accepted a call to the pastorate of the Society of Bath.

     Apropos of the note in our last issue, respecting the Plaistow Society and long sermons, there comes to us news of another society which has decided views, of an unusual kind, on this subject. On March 8. Rev. J. Deans preached to the society at Ynysmeudwy, Wales. "The preacher was taken somewhat to task for the brevity of his discourses,--it being explained to him that the people do not care to travel long distances to listen to sermons of only 30 minutes' duration,--they prefer from 45 to 75 minutes for a sermon." This is the society that sometimes listens, and with eagerness, to two sermons at a single service.

     THE SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION.

     The Sixth Annual Meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association will he held at the Parish House of the Kenwood Church of the New Jerusalem on 46th street, near Woodland avenue, Chicago, Ill., on Wednesday and Thursday, July 1 and 2, 1903. The opening session will be held on Wednesday at 2 P. M. The President's Address will be delivered at 3 P. M. of the same day. All who propose to attend the meeting or to contribute papers are invited to notify the Secretary, no later than June 17th.

     By order of the President, E. J. E. SCHRECK, Secretary. 159 East 46th Street, Chicago, Ill.

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COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1903

COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       C. TH. ODHNER       1903


Announcements.




     Special Notice.

     The Annual Meeting of the Council of the Clergy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Tuesday, June 23d, 1903, and on the three succeeding days.

     The Executive Committee of the General Church will meet on June 23, and a joint meeting of the two Councils will be held on June 24th. C. TH. ODHNER, Secretary of the Gen. Church.

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EDWARD CRARY BOSTOCK 1903

EDWARD CRARY BOSTOCK       Rev. A. ACTON       1903

     
JUNE, 1903. No. 6.
     A LIFE-SKETCH

     EDWARD CRARY BOSTOCK was born in Chicago in 1854, of a good English family well connected in the old country. His mother died when he was six years old, and his father marrying a second time, the charge of the young boy devolved upon his grandparents, by whom he was brought up in the Presbyterian faith. He received his early education in the Chicago Public Schools, where he graduated the highest in his class,--a fact which he often jocularly ascribed to his teacher's so persistent indulgence in the bad habit of "keeping him in after school hours."

     After two or three years in the High School, young Edward, now about 18, took a complete course in civil engineering, receiving his diploma at the age of 20. But not finding an opening in this field of work, for the next two years he took a complete course in a business college, where he also served for a few months (until the summer of '76), as a teacher.

     Up to this period of his life he had been a regular attendant at the Presbyterian Church and Sunday-School, and had shown a religious disposition, though not in a remarkable degree. At one time, he used to attend three Sunday-Schools each Sabbath, but it must be confessed that this exemplary piety was due more to an attraction for Sunday-School libraries than to any precocious yearnings after religion. Yet he did try very hard to "get religion," but according to his own confession, his efforts were attended with very little success. It was probably in connection with these same efforts, that, when only a lad of 14, he was induced to conduct prayer-meetings. In spite, however, of his failure in "getting religion" he ultimately came into full communion with the Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member at the time of his majority in 1875.

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     In this year he was led by one of his friends to attend the New Church services conducted by the Rev. J. R. Hibbard. Here he came in contact with a set of young people--many of them his future parishioners of the Immanuel Church, by whom he was much attracted. To this attraction his first interest was largely due, but it was not long before he began to read for himself.

     The first work that came into his hands was Conjugial Love. Mr. Bostock referred to his first reading of this book, in a public speech in Pittsburg last November, when the question came up for discussion as to whether Conjugial Love was a suitable book to put in the hands of enquirers; and it was with considerable affection that he spoke of it as one of the very best books for this purpose.

     By the reading of Conjugial Love he became thoroughly convinced of the Divine origin of the Doctrines of the New Church. He then entirely severed his connection with the Presbyterian Church, and, in the same year in which he had first attended New Church services, (1875), he was baptized by the Rev. I. R. Hibbard. Immediately afterwards, he was appointed to teach in the Sunday-School of Mr. Hibbard's Society.

     Before this, however, and while he was still reading Conjugial Love, he was seized with a severe attack of typhoid fever and was brought almost to death's door, being saved only by giving up
Allopathic treatment and letting nature take its course.

     After his baptism, he became an assiduous reader of the Writings, often sitting up till the early hours of the morning engaged in this way. This earnest reception of the doctrines brought him into close communication with Mr. Hibbard, and his thought was, undoubtedly, much stimulated by the many conversations they had together. Under these circumstances, it was not long before his love for the Church, inspired by Mr. Hibbard's earnestness, led him to desire to study for the ministry. But where to study? Should he go to Waltham, or to Urbana, or to one of those ministers who afterwards were known as Academicians' He asked Mr. Hibbard's advice, and that gentleman, not wishing to influence his choice, left him to decide for himself. Not feeling certain what to do, Mr. Bostock then elected, in the fall of 1875, to take a year's preliminary course of reading with Mr. Hibbard. To these early studies he has, ever since, looked back with pleasure, and, to the day of his death, he cherished the memory of his first teacher in the Church with feelings of great gratitude for the spiritual benefits he had received at his hands.

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While he was reading with Mr. Hibbard, he also took a year's course in anatomy and physiology at one of the medical colleges, being led to do this partly by the advice of Mr. Hibbard, who convinced him that the study would be of great use to him in his ministerial work, as indeed it proved to be.

     In June, 1876, on his way to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, he stopped over at Pittsburg, and there met the Rev. W. H. Benade, then pastor of the Pittsburg Society,--the man who was destined to exercise so great an influence on his future thought and work. The inspiration which he received from this meeting was the final factor in determining him to study for the ministry under the auspices of the Academy.

     Accordingly in the Spring of 1877, Mr. Bostock commenced his theological studies in Philadelphia. In the preceding fall two of the ministers of the Academy, the Rev. L. H. Tafel and the Rev. W. F. Pendleton, were giving private lessons in theology, the former to Mr. Roeder and Mr. Bonshure, and the latter to Mr. John Whitehead. But when Mr. Bostock came, these two classes were combined into a single class which met in the study of the Rev. L. H. Tafel. A little later the Academy decided to make this union class a beginning of its Divinity School. The plan contemplated was, that when the students had finished their course with Messrs. Tafel and Pendleton, they should take lessons with Dr. Burnham in Lancaster, Pa., and afterwards with Mr. Benade in Pittsburg.

     By the Fall, however, this plan had been abandoned; and on September 3d the "Divinity School of the Academy of the New Church" was formally opened in the building of the old Cherry St. Society, then owned by the Advent Society which had just been organized by Mr. Tafel.

     The school opened with four students. But of these first Academy Students, the year 1892 saw only one left who was still in sympathy with the Academy. One died, another never completed his course, and a third, Mr. Whitehead, after working for many years as a minister in the sphere of the Academy, departed from that sphere in the beginning of 1892, and soon afterwards joined the General Convention.

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So that from 1892 to the time of his death, Mr. Bostock was the sole representative, amongst us, of the first theological class ever taught by the Academy.

     Although the number of students was small, they were possessed of active minds, and Mr. Bostock's was not the least active among them. They had not been long in the school, before they organized the first Gymnasium, patterned after the gymnasia of the other world, in which they met for the discussion of knotty and intricate questions of doctrines. The Body thus started, in the very beginning of the school, had a more or less continuous existence for twenty years, and its meetings will be remembered with pleasure by most of the Academy alumni.

     Mr. Bostock received the degree of Bachelor of Arts on May 15, 1879. On June of the same year, he was married by the Rev. W. F. Pendleton, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Junge, with whom he had become acquainted when attending Mr. Hibbard's services, though he had met her before. Miss Junge's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carl F. W. Junge, had been closely identified with the New Church in Boston, and after removing from that city to Chicago in 1854, they became prominent members of Mr. Hibbard's Society and, later, of the Immanuel Church.

     Mr. Bostock continued his studies in the Academy for a year after his marriage, graduating as Bachelor of Theology on June 3d, 1880. Three days afterwards, on June 26th, he and his fellow student, Mr. Whitehead, were ordained by Bishop Benade into the first degree of the priesthood,--being the first priests sent out by the Academy, and the first fruits of its theological school.

     After his ordination, he became a candidate for the pastorate of the, Toronto Society to which he preached for two or three months. He then returned to Chicago, where for two years he acted as assistant to the Rev. W. F. Pendleton, then pastor of the West Side Congregation of the Chicago Society, but who also administered to the Congregation on the North Side. Here Mr. Bostock preached every Sunday to each congregation alternately, taught an adult class in the Sunday-School, and conducted a Friday class in anatomy and physiology. In order to support himself, he also taught in the Chicago Public Night Schools.

     But his principal daily work was in the day-school established by Mr. Pendleton on the West Side, which he assisted in conducting.

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It was the carrying on of this work that first excited in the young minister that love for the development of New Church Education which afterwards so largely influenced his career. In his later years he devoted much study to the wider aspect of this work--the development of the human mind; but we find the beginnings of this study in his early work in Chicago. He was not content to be merely a New Church teacher, he aimed at being an educator; and with this in view he commenced his first independent study of the Writings on this subject. Some fruits of this study he gave in a paper before the Illinois Association at its meeting in 1881, in which he quoted the teachings of the Writings on the deposit of remains, the different ages of the young, etc., and urged the necessity of giving the subject thorough consideration and study.

     He proved himself in Chicago, as afterwards in other places, to be an eminently successful teacher, in both his ability to impart knowledge and to awaken the affections of his pupils. His work was appreciated by the Society, which was not slow to see the natural gifts of the young teacher. At a farewell reception tendered him when he was about to leave the scenes of his first labors, this appreciation was voiced by one of the members, when he referred to Mr. Bostock's "peculiar fitness for the work of education."

     This fitness did not pass unnoticed by the central authorities of the Academy at Philadelphia; and when, in 1882, that Body established a Boys' School, Mr. Bostock was chosen as the first Headmaster. On August 20th he preached his last sermon to Mr. Pendleton's Society, a sermon, it may be noted, which was published the next day in some of the Chicago dailies.

     Arrived in Philadelphia, on the opening of the Boys' School in the Fall, he at once took charge. He was also called on to teach English and Mathematics in the College, and at the time of the organization of the General Church of Pennsylvania, he was appointed Corresponding Secretary of that Body, and also Secretary of its Council of the Clergy, posts which he filled for one year.

     The early years of the Boys' School were a time that required a good organizer, a good teacher, and a good ruler at the head of affairs.

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The Academy was making its beginning in this work, and it was necessary to give much thought to its establishment and development. In addition to this, the first pupils of the school,--coming from the public Schools, and feeling that, in a school conducted by their friends, self restraint and order might be more or less cast aside,--needed a firm hand to govern and guide them. In both these directions Mr. Bostock fully justified the confidence placed in him by his superiors. He succeeded in establishing the use, and also in gaining the respect of his pupils.

     He administered the affairs of the Boys School with marked success, for three years, when in 1885, he accepted a call to become the Pastor of the North and West-Side Congregations of the Chicago Society, in succession to the Rev. G. N. Smith, who had taken Mr. Pendleton's place the year before. It was under Mr. Bostock's pastorate, that these two Congregations became the Immanuel Church of Chicago. Before leaving Philadelphia to enter upon his new work, on September 6th he was ordained by Bishop Benade into the second degree of the priesthood.

     He remained in Chicago for five years of useful and prosperous work; during the last of which he was assisted by the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, who finally succeeded him. But this useful work was but the preparation for the greater responsibilities which he was to be called on to undertake; and these happy and peaceful years but the prelude to the bitter trials through which he was destined to pass in another and far distant field.

     About this time, the "Academy movement" had made considerable progress in England. Mr. Tilson's Society in London, a small Society in Colchester, and circles in Liverpool and Glasgow were composed of members of the General Church who were fully in sympathy with the Principles and work of the Academy. But as yet there was no Academy School in England, though it was seen that, for the real growth of the Church, it would be necessary to establish such a school there to which the supporters of the Academy could look as center of its thought and work. In the year 1900, the Council of the Academy decided that the time was ripe for the extension of its educational work to England; and it was resolved to open a school in London.

     In the selection of a man to take charge of this work several qualifications had to be taken into consideration.

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The man must be, not only a good teacher, well instructed in the doctrines, thoroughly familiar with the thought and methods of the Academy, and loyal to its principles, but he must also be of such a character as to assume the leadership in England of the whole work of education. Far removed as he would be from all direct consultation with his fellow workers at the centre, it was necessary that he be able to take full charge of and responsibility for the inception and development of the work, and to act in all emergencies with tact and judgment. For this responsible and honorable work the Council unanimously choose the Rev. E. C. Bostock,--the man who, as the first headmaster of the Boys' School, had already proved his ability as a teacher and as an organizer of new work.

     Subsequent events have proved the wisdom of the council's choice; for the fruits of Mr. Bostock's work in England have not belied the promise of his earlier years. Throughout his seven years' stay, he displayed patience, moderation, tact, and sound judgment,-qualities which were all the more necessary, in that, after the appointment by the Council, Bishop Benade gave into Mr. Bostock's hands full charge of the General Church work in England; so that he was the representative there of both the bodies which, together, constituted what was known as the "Academy movement."

     The members of the Immanuel Church parted from their faithful pastor with reluctance; and at the farewell reception they testified their appreciation of his "unswerving faithfulness" by presenting him with a silver loving-cup.

     Before sailing for England, Mr. Bostock, while in Philadelphia, was introduced as a member of the Council,--the highest body in the Academy. It may also be noted here, that three years later, on June 6th, 1893, he was honored by his Alma Mater in being one of the first three men to receive from her the degree of Master of Arts.

     He arrived in England on September 25th, and soon afterwards established "the first distinctively New Church School in England." At first, the school held its sessions in the Masonic Hall, but later it moved to the "Academy School building" on Burton Road, Camberwell. The headmaster received the efficient assistance of the Rev. R. J. Tilson, the Rev. (then, Mr.) G. C. Ottler, and Miss Florence Warland.

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     The work was remarkably successful from the very beginning, receiving the hearty and unstinted support and loyalty of both parents and pupils, and flourishing in every way. Mr. Bostock gave abundant evidence of his ability as a teacher, especially of his ability to arouse and direct in his pupils affections for heaven and the Church. It is no small tribute to the good work done by him and his corps of able assistants, to find that, of the children educated in the school, not a single one has left the Church, and, despite all the troubles through which the Burton Road Society has since passed, the great majority of them are now worshiping in the sphere of the General Church.

     Mr. Bostock also conducted a class on education, which was largely attended by the members of the Society. In addition to these duties he also paid regular pastoral visits to the circles in

     Liverpool and Glasgow, and took charge of the Society in Colchester, to which, for several years, he preached regularly once a month.

     In the Summer of '91, he visited America in order to attend the memorable meeting in Huntingdon Valley at which the General Church of the Advent was organized. And here were sown the first seeds of the discordance between Bishop Benade and himself which brought him so much suffering. The question underlying the discussion at the meeting was on the formation of two churches each with its own external worship. Mr. Bostock found himself unable to agree with the Bishop; still the difference was as yet a friendly one, and Mr. Bostock was in entire sympathy with the actual results of the meeting.

     This visit was also memorable as being the occasion on which the musical abilities of Mr. C. J. Whittingdon were first introduced to our particular notice. Mr. Bostock brought over with him two or three of Mr. Whittington's shorter compositions, including that beautiful unison chorus, "The Voice of One." All were so delighted with this music, that the idea was suggested,-I believe by Mr. Schreck,--of asking Mr. Whittington to compose music for the Psalms, which were then being newly translated. The result is well known.

     Mr. Bostock paid a second visit to America in the Summer of '93; and on this occasion he was invited to become Bishop of the General Church of the Advent. This invitation he declined, partly because he was not in sympathy with the idea of having two churches,--indeed one of the objects of his visit had been to present a long paper in opposition to such a movement,-and partly because, in any case, his whole love being in the Academy, he wished his work also to be there.

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     This refusal was strangely displeasing to the Bishop, and this displeasure was the cause of a final and lasting estrangement between these two men, who had been teacher and pupil, and who had worked for so many years in mutual respect and love. The estrangement did not bear any actual results, until the Fall. Mr. Benade then went to England, and soon afterwards the Church in America was amazed to hear that Mr. Bostock had been removed from the office of Superintendent of the General Church in England, and Mr. Tilson put in his place. This news was so much the more a surprise and a shock, in that Mr. Bostock, who was high in the Councils both of the Academy and of the General Church had the complete confidence of his brothers, both ministers and laymen; and his discretion and wisdom in the conduct of the work in England had earned from them well merited praise.

     He was still kept in charge of the school work in London. But even here be was not left in peace. Constant criticism was directed against him by the Bishop, which, though not made public, was yet known to almost all; his motives were questioned, and his loyalty more than doubted; even his work as a teacher in the school was not left unnoticed, and this notwithstanding the signal success which had distinguished that work.

     All this would naturally have the effect of undermining him in the estimation of his fellow members in the Church; but it is a remarkable tribute to his character and his work, that, throughout this time of trouble, he retained the confidence and respect, not only of his fellows in America, but also of the great majority of the members of the General Church in England.

     His first impulse had been to take open issue with the bishop, but, acting on the advice of friends, and influenced by a fear of disturbing and perhaps disrupting the Church, he restrained himself and decided to quietly continue in his work.

     It was a trying time this working with a hostile superior above him, but not for a moment did he flinch or fail in his duty. His conduct at this time still further increased the confidence of his brethren by which he was strengthened; and it marks him as a noble man who loved the good of the Church more than his own vindication.

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     Now is not the time when the full history of this sad affair can be written, but when that time does come, not only will our brother be completely vindicated, but, what will shine forth above all else will be his calm and patient behaviour under circumstances which would have caused many a weaker man to break forth in bitter complaint and accusation.

     He continued to administer the affairs of the school for four years, until 1897, when that great convulsion arose which resulted in the formation of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. He then withdrew from Mr. Benade's government, and joined the new Body, of which he remained a prominent member to the day of his death.

     He attended the first assembly of the General Church held in Huntingdon Valley in the Summer of '97, and, while there, accepted a call to become pastor of the Pittsburg Society. Returning to England at the end of Summer, he was given a farewell reception by the friends in London,--including those opposed to the General Church,--who presented him with a silver tea service as a mark of their appreciation of his labors in their midst, and a token of their continued confidence in him. A similar reception was given him in Colchester, where he was presented with a gold pencil-case as a mark of "the love and esteem in which the Colchester friends have always held him." He and his family sailed far America on September 25th, 1897,--the very same date on which, seven years before, he had first landed in England. When he was leaving London for Southampton, there was a very remarkable manifestation of the affection in which he was held by the Burton Road Society. Although he left early in the morning, about 40 people came to the station to give him their final greetings.

     His work in Pittsburg, where he remained nearly four years, was much disturbed by irregular but severe attacks of that illness to which he finally succumbed. Nevertheless it was a successful work and productive of much good to the Society, which for several years past, had been in a troubled and disturbed condition. He restored it to that state of peace and rest which has made the basis for its present prosperity.

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He also re-established the day-school, which had been dropped for several years.

     In the meantime, the members of the General Church in London had gathered together, and in 1901, they were able to extend a call to a Pastor. There was but one name suggested,--and that was suggested by all,--the name of their old friend and teacher, Mr. Restock. He accepted the call, conditionally on his health permitting him to undertake the work. But this was not to be, and he was obliged to give up all thought of going to England. Indeed, his attacks of illness became at this time so serious that he felt he could no longer retain the position he held as pastor of the

     Pittsburg Society; and, therefore, in the Fall of 1902, he handed in his resignation.

     Soon afterwards he and his wife were invited to take charge of the Dormitory about to be opened by the Academy in Bryn Athyn, where they arrived in October. It was hoped that life in the country would do much to restore Mr. Bostock to health, and to some extent it did, for, with occasional lapses into his old sickness, he was able to teach a number of classes in the Academy and the Local School.

     He had by no means given up his love of the educational use,--a love which was always paramount with him, and in the exercise of which he did his best work for the New Church. His experience as a teacher and his eminent fitness, led to his being unanimously elected in 1899, while still pastor of the Pittsburg Society, as president of the Teachers' Institute of the General Church, an office which he held until his death. It had been his constant effort to develop the teaching use, and when, in the last year of his life, he was appointed to instruct the Normal Class of the Academy in the principles of education, he entered into the work with zeal and pleasure. The ideal to which he looked forward, and for which his life had prepared him,--to teach teachers and thus direct and develop the work of education from within,--was now attained, and he hoped to prow in the work, and, by study, to bring forth many new principles bearing upon it. But he was cut off ere he had well begun.

     His work in the schools was interrupted, for a short time in the Spring of 1902, by an official visit to England. He had never slackened his interest in the Church there, and his good judgment and intimate knowledge of its affairs proved to be of inestimable value to the General Council when such affairs were discussed.

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When he moved to the centre at Bryn Athyn, Bishop Pendleton delegated to him supervision of the General Church in England; and it was in carrying out this work that he made his fifth and last voyage across the Atlantic, sailing on April 10th, 1902, and returning at the end of the following month. On May 27th, he organized and presided over the first Assembly of the General Church in Great Britain, which was held in London; and on the following day he organized the Colchester Society with Mr. Czerny as non-resident pastor. Needless to say, he was received with open arms by his English friends, who delighted to dwell on the work he had done in their midst. Mr. Bostock leaves many friends behind him, but it is safe to say that he leaves none who cherish a dearer affection for him than his friends in England.

     Shortly after his return from England, he received from the hands 6f his brother ministers the highest honor which it is in their power to give. On June 24th, 1902, he was unanimously chosen by them to be introduced into the third degree of the priesthood. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Pendleton on October 19th following. It was a fitting ceremony to precede the close of a useful career in that Church which he had served so well. And though he was not permitted to enter into the active performance of episcopal duties on earth, may we not think, as was suggested by Bishop Pendleton at the funeral service, that the ordination has, as it were, prepared the way for its recipient to perform some larger work in that world of higher uses to which he has now gone!

     He died on Easter Sunday, April 12th, leaving behind him a widow and six children. His last days were days of great pain and suffering, but to the end he manifested that calm and patient disposition which has characterized his life and has endeared him to his friends.

     Mr. Bostock's most conspicuous work has been in the educational use of the Church, but he was also a successful pastor, and an able theologian, having made a number of interesting theological contributions to the periodical literature of the Church. He had an intense love for the Academy, in loyalty to which he never swerved for a single moment; he was a man of clear sight and good judgment, the offspring of a well balanced mind; and he was remarkable for his modesty, his sincerity, and his love of the truth.

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His modesty led him to make little of the great work he had done; his sincerity made him unusually trustful and patient in his dealings with other men; and his love of the truth caused one to feel that he sought to establish, not his own opinions, but solely the teachings of the Writings. And with all this, he was a good friend and delightful companion. In truth, we have, for a time, lost a brother, and the Church a faithful servant.
REUBEN, OR FAITH 1903

REUBEN, OR FAITH       Rev. C. TH. ODHNER       1903

     "Reuben, my first born, thou my might, and the beginning of my strength, excellent in eminence, and excellent in valor. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou didst ascend thy father's couch; then didst thou profane; he ascended my bed." Genesis 49:3, 4.

     "Let Reuben live, and not die; yet let his men be a number." Deuteronomy 33:6.

     THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL.

     The twelve tribes of Israel represent and signify all the goods and truths of the Church in one universal complex, because the number Twelve signifies what is complete and full, both of good and truth, and this in a specially all-inclusive sense. For this number is the multiple of three and four, and three signifies the all of truth, and four, the all of good. Three signifies the all of truth, because it signifies the conjunction of one--or truth,--with two--or good,--and the beginning of new truth resulting from this marriage. And four signifies the all of good, because it is the multiple of two.

     This signification of the number Twelve is impressed upon the very ultimates of Nature, the moon circling around the earth twelve times in the course of a year, and the sun completing its daily journey across the sky in twelve hours,--the months and the hours signifying all the general and particular states of good and truth in the life of man.

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     As in the book of Nature, so in the written Word, the number Twelve is constantly employed in the same all-embracing sense. Twelve were the sons of Israel, the ancestors of the twelve tribes which composed the Israelitish nation, and their names were inscribed on the twelve stones of the Urim and Thummim, one name on each precious stone of the breast-plate.

     This representative number was transferred by the Lord to the Christian Church, when He chose His twelve apostles to represent all the goods and truths of that Church, each apostle assuming the signification of one of the twelve tribes. And this number is especially prominent in the book of the Apocalypse, where it is transferred to the New Church, the crown and the fulfillment of all the previous Churches.

     Thus we read that there would be one hundred and forty-four sealed of each of the twelve tribes of Israel; that the Woman clothed with the Sun had upon her head a crown of twelve stars; that the Holy City, New Jerusalem, had a wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the City lieth foursquare, the measure thereof twelve thousand furlongs. The wall measures a hundred and forty-four cubits, "the measure of a man, that is, of an angel." And the foundations of the wall are twelve precious stones, and the twelve gates are twelve pearls. And, finally, in the midst of the street of the City, and on each side of the river of water of life, is the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, and yielding her fruit every month.

     All these things represent, with an infinite variety of applications, the same fundamental principles of Heaven and the Church, which the twelve tribes represent in the Old Testament, that is, all the essential and universal things of Religion, or of the Lord's Kingdom in heaven and on earth. That the twelve tribes refer to the Kingdom of the Lord is evident from the very word, Tribe, which in the Hebrew (Matteh), signifies a rod, staff, or sceptre, thus the rules of faith and life that govern in the kingdom of God.

     The twelve sons of Israel and their tribes are enumerated in very many places in the Word, but scarcely twice in the same order, for the order or arrangement of the societies of Heaven, and of the states of the Church varies according to different aspects, or from different points of view.

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But in each series, the first name mentioned is the index which determines the general signification of all the rest. Thus, when Reuben is mentioned first, the whole series represents the successive states of the spiritual Church, which begins from a state of faith in the understanding; but when Judah is placed at the head, the series represents the states of the celestial Church, which begins from the love of the Lord.

     As a whole, the twelve tribes may be divided into four classes, with a trine in each, representing the trine of love, wisdom and use. And each class of three tribes then represents one of the three heavens, the first of the four classes representing the three heavens taken together.

     If, now, we consider the twelve sons of Israel in the order of their birth, we find that the first four,--Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,--represent the four general and successive states of the regenerate life, and that the rest represent these states regarded more particularly.

     1. Reuban, so named from "seeing." is the first general state of faith in the understanding, resulting from the sight of spiritual light.

     2. Simeon, named from "hearing," is the next general state, when man, through obedience to the truth, receives it also in his will.

     3. Levi, named from "adhering," is the subsequent state of conjunction of will and understanding, when good and truth, joined together, produce the spiritual love of the neighbor, which is called charity.

     4. And Judah, so named from "confession," is the final and crowning state of worship from love of the Lord, the love of the celestial man.

     Then follows a more detailed recapitulation:

     5. Dan, named from "judging," is the first state of the regenerating man, a state of judging and discriminating between truth and falsity, resulting from the acknowledgment of the Divine
Truth.

     6. Napthali, named from "struggling," represents the state of which inevitably follows the acknowledgment of the Truths, a state of combat against evil, in spiritual temptations.

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The number six always represents combat.

     7. Gad, so named from "a troop," represents the multitude of good works and uses in the natural man, resulting from successful struggles against the love of self, in temptation-combats.

     8. Asher, named from "blessedness," is the state of internal delight, and of hope for eternal life, which crowns a life of uses performed for the sake of the neighbor.

     9. Issachar, whose name means "hire," is that state of interior charity, or mutual love, which is the reward of the spiritual man, the state of the angels of the second heaven.

     10. Zebulon, named from "cohabitation," is the heavenly marriage itself, the perfect conjunction of will and understanding, whence man is blessed with love truly conjugial.

     Thus far there has been an ascent from the first acknowledgment of truth,--Dan,--to the complete marriage of good and truth,--Zebulon, a process which may he compared to the growth of a plant, from the first budding of the green leaf to the ripening of the sweet fruit. Now follows the descent of the internal into the external man, which may be compared to the formation of new seed within the ripened fruit:

     11. Joseph, named from "adding," is the state of will and understanding with the internal or regenerate man, a state, when, from the heavenly marriage within him, there comes from within a multiplication of truths and a prolification of good works. This is further represented by the two sons of Joseph: Ephraim, named from "fruitfulness," represents the state of the new intellectual with the regenerate man, and Manasseh, named from "forgetfulness," represents the state of the new voluntary, the state when there is a forgetfulness, that is, a removal of evils, both actual and hereditary, in the external man.

     12. And Benjamin, finally, "the son of the right hand," is the truth of good, the spiritual of the celestial, the interior perception of new truth from the newborn will, the light of heavenly wisdom, by which all things of the external man,--all the rest of the brethren,--are at last brought into harmony with the internal man.

     Each of the twelve brethren would furnish a subject of endless study, and of endless lessons of thought and life, but at present we will consider only the firstborn of the twelve sons of Israel.

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     REUBEN.

     Reuben represents the firstborn of the natural man,--Jacob,--when entering upon the life of regeneration, that is, when the seed of Divine Truth is first conceived by the external affection of truth, which is called Leah.

     This state is ever "the beginning of the working of God, whether it be in the Divine work of Creation, when God first said "Let there be Light," or in the Divine work of Redemption, when "the Word which was in the beginning with God," became Flesh and dwelt amongst us," or in the Divine work of Regeneration, when Leah said, "Behold, a son,"--behold, the Truth,--"for she said, Jehovah hath seen my affliction, inasmuch as now my man will love me." For the affection of truth, hitherto barren and weak-eyed, now becomes fruitful. The earth, the external man, hitherto empty and void, becomes filled with Divine light, and the Lord, the Savior, makes His advent to man when the Truth of the Word assumes flesh and form in his mind.

     Reuben, the son of sight, is always the firstborn, for the rational reception of truth by the understanding must necessarily precede the more interior states. There is no approach to the Father, except through the Son. There is no way of gaining what is good, except through the knowledge of what is True. For "faith in the understanding, or the understanding of truth, precedes faith in the will; for when anything is unknown,--as heavenly good is,--man must first learn to know that it exists, and understand its nature, before he can will it." (A. C. 3863.)

     As Cain was born before Abel, as Jacob had to receive the primogeniture before Esau, as Reuben was the firstborn of Jacob, and as Peter was the one first called to the apostleship by the Lord, so must truth be first received in the understanding, before genuine good can be established in the will of man. While Judah really received the primogeniture, while John was really the chief of the apostles, while charity is really chief above faith and hope, yet this primogeniture is the primogeniture of the end involved, which is that of salvation.

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     But in respect to time, faith always precedes charity, and this was the case even in the Most Ancient, or Celestial Church, when the will was one with the understanding. By this statement, however, is not meant that the two faculties were absolutely one, for what is absolute can be predicated only of the Divine. The celestial man, like the spiritual, had to learn what is true, and therefore Light was manifested on the first day. But with the celestial man the will did not oppose the truth, as with us, but at once assented. That even in the Golden Age the understanding was distinct from the will,--even as in the Lord Himself, the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom are distinctly one,--is evident from the fact that Faith could be and was separated from charity, and became faith alone.

     The origin of faith alone is clearly illustrated by the crime of Reuben in ascending his father's couch. His "father" represented a former state; his "father's couch" is the doctrine of a former state, and Bilhah is the affection of that state, which was the introductory affection of acknowledging the truth. If a man who has gained a spiritual understanding of the truth, conjoins himself with that inferior affection, confirms himself in the mere acknowledgment, instead of going forward into a life according to the truth, he then looks backward and becomes a pillar of salt, his faith becomes faith alone. Such a conjunction is spiritual adultery.

     This two-fold character of Reuben is like the two-fold character of Peter as displayed in the Gospel history. Like Reuben, Peter represents faith in the understanding. He represents genuine faith, when in the strong, outspoken confession "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God," a confession of which the Lord said, "Upon this Rock I will build my Church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." But he represents faith-alone when he rebuked the Lord, on which account he was told, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: Thou art an offence unto me." (Matth. 16:6-23.)

     Reuben stands forth in his good character, as genuine faith and true wisdom, when pleading with his brethren to spare the life of Joseph, wisdom here recognizing that all things of the Church would perish, unless this fundamental truth remain in it, that the Lord's Human is Divine, for Joseph represents this truth in his dream of the twelve sheaves.

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But Reuben represents faith alone, when in a spirit of compromise he permitted Joseph to be thrown into a pit, that is, allowed the supreme truth of the Church to be cast into the darkness of falsities.

     What a picture we have here of the Christian Church at the time of the Council of Nicaea. Athanasius and the orthodox party, anxious to save the idea of the Divinity of Christ, opposed the destructive heresy of Arius. Nevertheless, they compromised with the Semi-Arians by casting the Doctrine of the Lord into the pit of Tritheism, the dark doctrine of three persons in the Godhead.

     This two-fold character of Reuben is further illustrated in the last blessing of Israel upon his twelve sons.

     "Reuben, my firstborn, thou my might, and the beginning of my strength, excellent in eminence, and excellent in valor." Such is the blessing of the Lord upon that genuine faith from the Word, which forms the beginning of the regenerate life, the solid rock upon which the Church is founded, the basis containent, and firmament of all goods and truths of Heaven and the Church with man, the ultimate in which all spiritual and celestial things are in their fullness, their holiness, and their power.

     But Israel added: "Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou didst ascend thy father's couch; then thou didst profane: he ascended my bed." For faith, when looking backward upon the mere acknowledgment of truth, and imagining that this acknowledgment is all-sufficient for salvation, is nothing but faith alone, unstable as water, unstable as Peter when separate from his Master, unsettled by every gust of falsity, impelled by every driving lust, having neither ability to see truth in its light, nor power to save man from damnation.

     Nevertheless, faith, even though alone and therefore dead, has this remaining use, that by it the letter of Divine Revelation may still be preserved for the use of the remnant of simple good, out of whom a New Church can be built up. And therefore the Lord set a mark upon Cain, after he had been cursed, "lest any finding him should kill him;" and Moses in his blessings upon the twelve tribes said, "Let Reuben live and not die; yet let his men be a number," involving the prayer that Faith may be preserved in the Church, that the understanding of the Word may be enlightened from heaven, and that there may always be a fete, who shall receive illustration. (A. E. 434:14.)

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     To each of the tribes there was given an inheritance in the land of Canaan, in exact correspondence with the spiritual signification of that tribe. To the tribe of Reuben, which was the first to claim their portion, there was given a tract on the other side of Jordan, towards the South, between the land of Ammon on the one hand, and the land of Moab on the other.

     The South represents a state of light and wisdom, the North representing the darkness of ignorance. The trans-Jordan district is the external Church. Here, then, dwells Reuben, or faith in the understanding, in a state of spiritual light, and therefore in the South, but in an introductory state, and therefore on the outer side of Jordan. The district of Reuben was a rich and beautiful country, well-watered, abounding in pasture-land, and in the myrrh and balsam of Gilead, for the first state of man when receiving the Divine Truth is a blessed, a delightful state, full of gratefulness and enthusiasm, the honey-moon state of the bride with her newly-found bridegroom.

     But while a man is in this state, he is at the same time threatened by two great dangers, by two great hells which continually infest him. On the one side lurk the Ammonites, a fierce, cruel nation of marauders, who represent natural truth falsified, spirits who are bitterly opposed to spiritual truth, and who seek to lead faith astray by inspiring conceit of knowledge, contempt of others, thus faith devoid of charity. On the other side of Reuben live the Moabites, a wealthy but morally corrupt nation, which represents natural good profaned, that is, mere natural good, opposed to spiritual good, spirits who seek to lead faith astray by seductive representations of sentimental goodness, notions of a "brotherhood of men" irrespective of truth or falsity, the doing of good without the shunning of evil. It is by these spiritual enemies the New Church is especially surrounded, in this its present state of infancy, or of faith in the understanding,--enemies who at the present day have well-nigh overwhelmed the Reuben in the New Church, filling its borders with scepticism on the one hand, and sentimentalism on the other.

     But genuine faith, discriminating yet loving, is not to perish in the Lord's New Church, for in the New Heaven there are twelve thousand of the tribe of Reuben who carry the seal of the Lamb in their foreheads, who are blessed with genuine wisdom from true faith in the Lord as He has revealed Himself in His Divine Human at His Second Advent.

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Here he represents heavenly wisdom, because joined in a trine with Judah and Gad, that is, the love of the Lord, wisdom from that love, and good works from the conjunction of that love with its own wisdom. Let Faith, therefore, join itself to Judah! Let the Church cease from covenanting with Ammon and Moab, and instead look steadfastly upward, to the mountains of Judah, to the Lord who has revealed Himself in His Divine Truth, and then Reuben shall live, and not die, and his men shall yet be a number in the Lord's New Church.

     THE PHILOSOPHY OF SIGHT.

     Reuben means "sight," and signifies the understanding of truth which is called faith. Let us now consider what is meant by these terms.

     Sight, as all know, is the reception of light by the eye. In order, therefore, that there may be sight, three things are absolutely essential: first, the light that is to be seen; second, the eye to receive the light, and, third, the reception of the light by the eye. And, similarly, in order that there may be faith, which is spiritual sight, there must be, first, the Truth that is to be understood; second, the understanding that is to receive the Truth, and, third, the reception of the Truth by the understanding.

     1. That there can be no sight without the existence of light is a self-evident proposition, but the question remains, what light is it that causes men to see? Is it only the external light of the sun, which is reflected upon the retina of the eye, and conveyed to the brain by the optic nerve? If so, how is it that we can see in our dreams, see as clearly as in day-light, when yet our eye is closed and all around is darkness? The eye is but a camera, and the brain a bundle of nerves, in itself as blind as a mole, unless there be life within. The light that causes sight is therefore a higher light than that of the sun. It is the light of life, which, flowing from the fountain of life within the soul and spirit and mind, produces sight when it meets the solar light, flowing from without.

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How truly, therefore, ma!: we confess, even in regard to our physical sight, that "in Thy Light we shall see light!"

     Thus, also, in spiritual things, it is the meeting of Light with light that causes the spiritual sight which is called faith, or the understanding of truth. Here, also, we have two fountains of light: the light of the world, or the knowledge of worldly things, and the light of Divine Revelation, from which we have knowledge of heavenly things. As it is the knowledges of science that open the external eye to the sight of hidden things in nature, so it is the knowledge of Divine Truth that opens the internal eye to the understanding of the mysteries of the Lord's Kingdom. And there must be a union of the two lights in order that there may be the light of faith: the light of Revelation to make us understand correctly, and the light of science to confirm by presenting images and illustrative objects.

     But both of these lights are death, unless there be also the light of living perception, flowing down from the Sun of Life within and above the soul. We may possess the highest degree of learning in science, in the Word, and in the Doctrines, but what is this without the gift of illustration, of perception of the true meaning of all these things. Such perception is not a manufactured article, cannot be gained by any amount of labor or study, but is a free gift from the Lord. How, then, can we gain it? Only by humility! Only by a humble willingness to subordinate our own notions, our self-derived intelligence, our prejudices and conceits, to whatever may be the Lord's own teaching. In other words, by facing the Light, and following it, wherever it may lead, knowing that it will never lead us in the wrong direction. Then, in the Lord's light, we shall see light within light, but ii we turn our backs upon it, and face the light of the world, we shall never see anything but our own shadow.

     2. That there can be no sight without an eye to see, is another axiom which is recognized by common sense without further argument. But in spiritual things men do not possess this common sense, for spiritual things are supposed to be above the human understanding, and hence there is the insane dog-ma that "the understanding must be kept in obedience to faith,"--the faith once established by human councils, centuries ago.

     For a thousand years and more the human understanding was chained in this cruel dogma which checked all progress, all development of the understanding of truth in the Christian Church.

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And it was from this slavery under the dominion of imaginary heavens, that the Lord in His Second Coming redeemed us, by the revelation of the simple truth, that there can be no such thing as blind faith, any more than there can be such a thing as blind sight.

     For truth is not mystery, any more than light is darkness. Truth is given in order that it may be understood, even as light is given in order that it may be seen. And as the Creator has furnished us with eyes to see, so He has gifted us with the faculty of reason to understand His Truth. And there is no arcanum of faith so sublime, so recondite and Divine, that it cannot be understood by man in some degree, in the world rationally, and in Heaven spiritually. "For the human understanding is sight itself, and it can see truths as clearly as the eye can see objects in the world. It can see truths, if it wants to see, and as it wants to see, so it is illustrated." (A. E. 1100.)

     "In the New Church, therefore, the dogma is rejected that 'the understanding is to be kept under obedience to faith;' and in Place of it there is received the dogma that the truth of the Church must be seen in order to be believed, and truth cannot be seen, unless it be seen rationally." (A. R. 564.)

     Angelic wisdom consists primarily in this that the angels see and comprehend what they think and believe. And if any one demands blind faith to any human dictum, an angel replies, "Do you suppose that you are God whom I must believe, or that I am insane, that I must believe a dictum in which I do not see truth. It may be falsity from hell, for the evil, from evil, see falsities, and the good from good, see truths. Make me to see it, therefore." (D. Faith, 4; A. E. 242, 1100.)

     This does not mean that an angel questions the truth of Divine Revelation, when he knows it to be Divine Revelation, for above all things he is affirmative to every teaching of his Heavenly Father, whether, at first hearing, he understands it, or not. But affirmation, the acknowledgment of the Divine authority of the Lord's Revelation, is not so much a feature of Reuben as of Simeon. It is of the ear, rather than of the eye, of obedience rather than of faith. He receives the teaching, even if he does not understand it as yet, but he does not stop at this, for then it would become merely persuasive faith and not his own rational faith.

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The very fact of his not understanding it at first, makes him all the more eager to seek the truth and pursue it, until the Lord grants the light of understanding.

     The insistence upon the necessity of acknowledging the authority of the Divine Revelation which the Lord has given to the New Church, does not mean that the human understanding is again to become subjected in obedience to a man-made faith. It means the very opposite. It is the watch-word of freedom in spiritual things for the men of the New Church! For the Writings of the New Church are the Word of the Lord, and not the word of the man, Swedenborg. And when this truth is seen, then, where is the authority of priest or council, unless their teachings are shown to be the teachings of the Lord Himself in the Writings?

     The Academy of the New Church does not preach any esoteric religion. It does not, like Rome, forbid access to the Word and Writings, but insists, most persistently, upon the study of both. It insists upon the authority of Divine Truth, in order to set men free from the authority of human notions, but those who most oppose the Divine authority of the Writings, are the very ones who most strenuously insist upon human authority in matters of faith. They say, for instance, that it is not allowable to regard the Writings of the New Church as the Word of God, because "the vast majority of Newchurchmen do not so regard them." What is this, but setting up anew the dogma that the understanding is to be kept in obedience to man-made creeds?

     We must, indeed, understand, in order to have a rational faith, but the one sure way of preventing a genuine understanding is to place ourselves in a negative attitude towards the Divine Truth, by elevating our own reason above Divine Revelation. By so doing we deliberately shut our internal eye to the reception of truth from the written Word, and also to the sight or perception of truth from within.

     Man proudly imagines that it is he himself who sees the truth, that his own internal eye is the origin of his understanding. But as there is one only Light that causes sight, even so there is one only Eye that sees. For the external eye does not see without a brain within, nor the brain without a living intelligence, nor the intelligence without wisdom, nor the lowest degree of wisdom without the highest wisdom, which is the Divine Wisdom, the Omniscient Eye of the Lord Himself.

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And He is omniscient, not only because He alone knows and understands all things, but also because no creature in the universe knows and understands anything, except from Him. If, therefore, we are able to understand, it is because we permit His sight to inflow into our sight, and His light into our light. He alone can open our eyes and our understanding, but He cannot do this unless we ourselves freely submit our blind eyes to His healing hands. And this, again, means an attitude of humility, of trust and affirmation, and not a spirit of pride, scepticism, and denial.

     3. That there can be no sight without the reception of the light by the eye, is evident from the power of man to shut his eye to the light. Inmostly considered, sight is a voluntary act, depending upon the will, and this is recognized by the common saying that a man sees only that which he is looking for.

     For instance, we may be in a great crowd of people, but while in a general way we notice many, still we do not really see any but such as in some way or other interest us, that is, appeal to our affections. Or if we are arguing with some one, he may present hundreds of reasons, but we do not "see his point," until suddenly he strikes some keynote that arrests our attention because it appeals to some hidden affection.

     We see the same thing illustrated in our study of the Writings. We may read the same passage a hundred times, without seeing what is really meant, until unexpectedly we see the meaning when studying for some particular purpose, with some definite end in view. And then we wonder at our former blindness.

     All this exemplifies the teachings that "the internal sight is determined to the things which delight the most, and which are at heart; and at these it fixes its direct view, as does the external sight at the like things in the field of its objects." (A. C. 6068.) Or, as stated again, "the internal sight, which is the understanding, sees nothing in the fields of its memory, except what agrees with the love." (A. C. 8394)

     Sight, spiritual as well as natural, depends, therefore, upon the affection. We see what we want to see. We may at one time have acknowledged a certain truth or principle.

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But we take a dislike to some person or persons who represent that principle, and very soon our eye is closed, not only to the good and truth which may be in that man, but after a while also to the principles themselves which that man represents.

     Thus we may see that the reception of truth depends upon the affection of truth, and that faith depends upon charity. And not only does it depend on charity, but genuine faith actually is charity. For sight is not the same as the light, nor is it the same as the eye, but it is the reception of the light by the eye, and it is therefore a living act, an act of love, the love of the eye for the light. And faith consists not merely in truth, nor merely in understanding, but it is the reception of the truth, by the love of it. And to love the truth, for the sake of the truth, is to love the Lord, for He is the Truth. And to love the Lord is to love all those who have received the Lord.

     To have faith in the Lord and to have faith in our neighbors is, therefore, the same as to receive Him and them in our trust and confidence, to open our hearts to them, and invite them to come in, that they may dwell with us, and we with them.-Amen.

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GIVING TO THE CHURCH 1903

GIVING TO THE CHURCH       ROBET B. CALDWELL       1903

     WE are taught that the natural mind reacts against all things of heaven, giving them no admission except so far as they may be serviceable to it as means for acquiring and possessing the things of the world. But we are also taught that the spiritual must be lord and master and the natural a menial and servant.

     The Church with its great possibilities and uses, but with limited means for carrying on these uses, is given us in the Providence of the Lord, and offers us the opportunity to rise above this state of the natural mind to the spiritual state, in order that instead of reacting against the things of heaven we may acquire the disposition to act in harmony with them; and thus the needs of the Church bear an important part in that work which must be accomplished in the Newchurchman, that is, the eventual dominion of the spiritual over the natural. For the natural man looks upon these needs as a misfortune, not seeing that the opportunity presented by them is a blessing. Blessings often come disguised. That which we are inclined to view as a misfortune may be one of the means by which we are to attain that dominion over the natural which will bring spiritual happiness. By taking a right attitude toward the needs of the Church we may be taking a step toward mastering that natural tendency within us which reacts against all things of heaven.

     From birth man loves nothing but self and the world. Those who are in the doctrines of the Christian world do not care whether the doctrine is false or true, for they learn and confirm it merely for the sake of prosperity in the world. If the Church were rich in worldly possessions and could bestow worldly favors upon man, then he could give it his support with the worldly hope of getting as much in return, and of the same kind as he gave. But the Church and its uses are in need of support, and we give to it in no hope of any return in kind; and in cultivating a disposition to give in this manner, may we not be doing a great deal toward overcoming that natural state which does all things merely for the sake of prosperity in the world?

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"It is more blessed to give than receive."

     We are taught in the Writings (see A. C. 4096) that they who have worldly things for an end, find it very irksome to make the mental effort necessary to comprehend a spiritual truth; for they say, "such things are of no profit;" but that, when something relating to one's business in the world, however hidden and deep it may be, presents itself for solution, they enter into the mental effort necessary for this with alacrity and delight, because by it they can make gain. A needy Church offers no inducements of a worldly character. Whatever interest we take in it, must have some other spring and motive, and seeing that we are so prone to look to personal gain in everything we do, and realizing the wretchedness and misery of a selfish life, ought we not rather to rejoice that the Church with its temporal needs presents an opportunity to cultivate unselfishness?

     The Church is the neighbor above one's country, for he who provides for the Church from love, loves the neighbor in a higher degree, for he desires and wishes for others heavenly happiness of life to eternity. It is a common saying that man's nearest neighbor is himself, and that charity begins at home, but the truth is that a man is born not for himself, but for others, that is, not to live for himself alone, but for others. When we read that man's first duty of charity is to himself, that he must provide food, raiment and home for himself, and that this must be the first object of his care, we must also be careful to hear in mind that this is to be done by him to the end that he may serve his fellow citizens, his country, the Church, and thus the Lord. Without this latter qualification, it could be said that until man had fulfilled his duty of charity to himself and provided food, clothing and home for himself he would have nothing to give to the Church. But the doctrine is that he must provide food, clothing and home to the end that the Church may be served. It must follow that his offerings to the Church must, at least, go hand in hand with his offerings to these wants of the body. Putting off giving to the Church until after all bodily wants have been supplied usually means putting off giving to the Church altogether, for man's bodily wants are capable of endless extension; and one can easily see that this would not be keeping the end in view, which is, that the Church, the fellow citizen and the country may be served.

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Giving to the Church after all other wants are provided for may be illustrated by the story of the boy who had been given two five-cent pieces, one for the Church, the other for himself. On his way to Church one of the five-cent pieces fell out of his hand and rolled into a crack in the walk and was lost, whereupon the boy exclaimed, "There goes the Church's five cents."

     The Children of Israel were commanded to give to Jehovah the first fruits of harvest, of shearing and of the vintage. They were called upon to bring gold, silver, brass, oil, spices, onyx stones, diamonds, emeralds, amethysts, and many other things, in order that a sanctuary might he built where Jehovah could dwell with them. When this call was made upon them they were in the wilderness, forlorn and homeless outcasts, with many personal necessities pressing them, and their little ones appealing to them. Hesitancy on their part in responding, or doubts as to the probable wisdom of giving up their valuable possessions for such a purpose, might have reasonably been expected. They might have acted on the precept that "man's nearest neighbor is himself," but we are taught that notwithstanding the difficulties under which they were, their response was such as to call forth the approbation of their Leader.

     The fact that the Children of Israel accomplished the great work of providing a sanctuary where Jehovah was to dwell among them, in gratification of their ruling passion, avarice, or from the love of worldly pre-eminence, does not deprive the circumstance of the lesson it may teach. For we are always free to do a thing from a good motive as well as a bad one. It teaches that the Church's needs may be all fully supplied if the members are so minded. Greater difficulties than those under which the Children of Israel provided a sanctuary in the wilderness can hardly be imagined. They might indeed have been expected to withhold their offerings from a project so likely to be a failure. Yet they gave, and a place where Jehovah might dwell with them was provided.

     Love wills that its own should be another's. The Lord wills to give Himself and what is His to everyone, and the angels of heaven, inspired with His spirit, are willing to give everything of their own to others and retain nothing. And the more they give to another from an affection of charity, the more flows in with them from the common good.

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We have the Church before us with its abundance of temporal needs, in order that there may be always at hand an opportunity of doing something without hope of recompense in kind, and that thereby we may come into the happy state of the angels.

     The essence of spiritual love is to do good to others, not for the sake of self, but for the sake of others. It is so with the spiritual love of parents for their children, in that they do good to their children from love, and not for their own sakes, but for the children's sakes.

     As an example of unselfish love, take a mother's love for her babe. The babe is always wanting, always needing something, and this endears it to the mother, and she is willing to give up all her comforts for its sake. Her love goes out to it in a constant stream, and the more she gives the more she receives in the delight of doing for it. This intense love, which every mother has for her babe, is from the Lord and His infinite love for the children of His Church, which He gives to all who approach Him in spiritual love, and its unselfishness. Our spiritual love for the Church is at first like a tender and weak infant, but by nourishing and cherishing care it will grow into a strong man.

     We cannot regulate our relations towards the needs of the Church according to strict business principles. These require that we have first regard to getting our own back with usury and in kind. This is the way with the natural man in his dealings with the world. The Church gives to every man infinitely more than he can ever repay in worldly goods, and ii he can bring himself to realize this in his giving to its temporal needs, he will have made a step in the right direction of spiritual and heavenly ways of acting, and this will be his exceeding great reward.

     The Lord never leads man away from seeking honors and from acquiring wealth, but He does lead him away from the desire to seek them for the sake of eminence alone, in like manner from acquiring wealth for the sake of opulence alone. We really love that most for which we voluntarily expend most, and toward that will we exercise the virtues, generosity, munificence, benevolence and liberality. These virtues will be genuine with us if we cultivate a spiritual love for the Church.

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LIMBUS 1903

LIMBUS       Rev. C. TH. ODHNER       1903

     III.

     THAT THE LIMBUS IS IDENTICAL WITH THAT INMOST FLUID SUBSTANCE OF THE BODY WHICH IS CALLED THE "SPIRITUOUS FLUID" OR "ANIMAL SPIRIT."

     It has been shown, we think conclusively, that those "finest substances of nature" which are termed "the Limbus," are identical with the substances which constitute or contain the natural or external memory. But the question remains: What are those substances? The memory, after all, is not a substance, but the state and activity of a substance. We are able to understand and describe the memory rationally, from a theological point of view. But since the natural memory is impressed upon natural substances, it follows that this substance is part of nature, and consequently falls within the domain of natural science. There is nothing improper, therefore, in the effort to identify this substance or "the Limbus," with whatever may be known to Science as the inmost substance of the natural body of man. And this inmost anatomical substance is known, both in the theological Writings of the New Church and in the scientific works of Swedenborg, as "the spirituous fluid" or "the animal spirit."

     It is not within the scope of our purpose or, indeed, of our ability, to treat systematically and exhaustively of the vast subject of the animal spirit. This must be left to some specialist who is thoroughly acquainted, not only with Swedenborg's whole physiological system, but also with his cosmology. In the meantime, and in the absence of any thoroughgoing treatise on this subject, we can give only a few general outlines of Swedenborg's doctrine concerning the animal spirit, as bearing especially on the subject of the Limbus.

     1. The existence of "the animal spirit," (or "spirituous fluid," as it is termed in the Economy of the Animal Kingdom), cannot be called in question by any member of the New Church, for it is rationally demonstrated in the theological works, and is an integral part of the doctrine concerning the connection and intercourse between the soul and the body.

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     In the modern scientific world, the animal spirit is, indeed, considered as one of the superstitions of the Dark Ages. It is to be found only in a glass bottle on the shelves of the historical museum of Physiology, and is there labeled "the fluid which at one time was supposed to circulate through the nerves, and was regarded as the agent of sensation and motion."

     The existence of the animal spirit, though taught by Malpighi and most of the great founders of Physiology of the seventeenth century, was generally doubted and denied by Swedenborg's own contemporaries. But to these, and to the savants of our present day, Swedenborg, the revelator, has this to say:

     Very few of the learned of the world suppose that any animal spirit exists, but they suppose that the fibres are empty, like dry threads; when yet it may be evident to every one that no such fibre could operate without its fluid within, as a passive could not operate without an active. It was perceived that this was impossible, for the fibres would then be destitute of all vital operation, like a vessel without blood. . . . So long as they dispute whether there exists an animal spirit in the fibres, as they may still do for a thousand years, they can never come ever to the courtyard of knowledge. S. D. 3459.

     On the basis of this unqualified teaching we may dispense with further arguments as to the existence of the animal spirit. And on the same basis, also, we may well turn, in an affirmative state of mind, to Swedenborg's scientific works, where, alone, the nature and functions of the animal spirit are completely described.

     2. What, then, does Swedenborg mean by "the animal spirit?"

     The earliest work in which Swedenborg deals at length with this subject is a tract of twenty-four pages, written about 1735, and entitled De Spiritu Animali, (to which we refer below under the initials A. S.). This was translated by Dr. Wilkinson in 1847, and published in the volume of "Posthumous Tracts."

     In this little tract Swedenborg states that "the animal spirit is identical with the purer, middle, and white blood," and he says that it can be seen by the eye. But in the MS. he afterwards added this note to the passage: "this requires alteration, for the spirit is distinct from the purer blood."

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     And at the end of the MS. he adds this Nota Bene: "the purer blood is a different thing from the animal spirit. The former is the fluid that arises out of the resolution or disintegration of the red blood: but the latter consists of the spirits, with volatile particles, comprising the first saline and sulphurous elements, inserted between them." (A. S., p. 57)

     That the animal spirit is not the same as the middle, purer, or white blood, but is the inmost, purest, and invisible blood, lymph, or spirituous fluid, is further evident from the following passages:

     The Cerebrum acts as an intermediate cause between the animal spirit and the blood; for it supplies a most refined lymph, with which the volatile spirit is mixed; and it thus enables the animal spirit to enter the organic parts of the blood or its globules.... This lymph is then conveyed into the pituitary gland. The Brain, i, p. 59.

     This lymph must be called the purer blood; for the animal spirit is attached to it as the blood- globule to its serum. Ibid. p. 60.

     The Cerebrum works up the animal spirit,--which is conceived, elaborated, and produced in the cortical substance,--into a kind of lymph or purer blood, which, together with the chyle, produces the red blood of the body. Ibid. i, p. 5.

     The animal spirit cannot be poured into the blood-vessels, because it is most volatile, unless it is conveyed thither coupled with lymph. This lymph, therefore, is the purer blood itself. Ibid i, p. 74.

     As to the general nature of the animal spirit, the following references will have to suffice:

     It is the principal substance and vital essence of the red blood. E. A. K. i:36, 611; 11: 49.

     It is that most pure humor which flows through the medullary fibres of the brain, and the nervous fibres of the body. A. S. p. 41.

     It is the most universal essence of corporeal life. A. K i:250; ii:425.

     It is the simple and only substance of the animal kingdom. E. A. K. ii:35.

     There is nothing really substantial and alive in the animal kingdom, but the spirituous fluid in its fibre and in the blood. E. A. K. ii:351, 452.

     How completely these teachings of Swedenborg, the physiologist, are in agreement with the Heavenly Doctrines, is evident from the following extracts:

     Because the Lord alone is Life. He vivifies and actuates the organic things of the body; thus He also is represented by the animal spirits or bloods, in the ultimate of the natural body: for His life is in ultimates as well as in primes. S. D. 3419.

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     Thus these spirits, being loosed from the globules of the blood, and conjoined in the cortical beginnings with new spiritual essences, are conveyed through their fibres into the ventricles, and so through the infundibulum into the blood, that they may vivify the dry and lifeless blood in the end of the sinuses, and then be born to meet the chyle that is newly from the body, and with which they are conjoined in the heart, and thus they vivify the mass of the blood in the heart. S. D. 914.

     These are they to whom the subtle chyle corresponds, which is drawn up towards the brain, and is there commingled with new animal spirit, in order to be committed to the heart. A. C. 5180. Comp. S. D. 1130.

     See also A. C. 4050, 9227, 8530; S. D. 2250; D. Wis. x:26; D. L. W. 423.

     3. The origin and birth-place of the animal spirit is in the cortical glands, each of which is a complete minute brain within the general cortical substance or grey matter. Here it is first conceived, produced, and prepared, by the marriage of the inflowing soul with the first, most highly sublimated sulphureosaline elements conveyed to the brain from without or from nature. (A. K. ii 425; A. S., p. 42, 47; S. D. 1059.) Compare with this the teaching, that the external or natural memory is formed in the substances which are the beginnings of the fibres. (A. C. 2487.)

     As to the internal origin or source of the generation and sustentation of the animal spirit or spirituous fluid, Swedenborg teaches that

     It derives its being from a still higher substance, and proximately from those things on which the principia of natural things are impressed by the Deity, and in which the most perfect forces of nature are involved. E. A. K. ii:217-219.

     By this, we understand, he means the primal or universal aura, the highest of all natural atmospheres, for he states that

     The human spirituous fluid is not generated from either the inert corpuscles of the earth, or from the essential juices of vegetables, or from the elements of the flesh of animals which we eat, but only from the first aura of the world, which has no inertia, no materiality, so far as materiality involves inertia and gravity. E. A. K. ii:166; A. K. ii:426.

     Being the purest, inmost, and highest substance of the body, it follows:

     4. That the animal spirit, like the Limbus, and like the substances of the natural memory, constitutes the medium between the natural mind the spiritual in man.

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     This may be considered a self-evident proposition, but the following references may be of interest:

     As the animal spirit is conceived and prepared in the cortical glands, it follows that the spiritual and the material meet in it. A. S. p. 46.

     The animal spirit makes us both spiritual and corporeal. Ibid. p. 54.

     In the human microcosm, all that is above the animal spirit constitutes the inner man; and all that is below it, constitutes the outer. Ibid. p. 55.

     The animal spirit is the uniting medium between the soul and the body. A. K. i:215; ii:425.

     The animal spirit is the intermediate essence between the soul and the body; hence it is the mediatorial substance which provides for the communication between the two. A. S. p. 43.

     The animal spirit is the means of union, between the soul and the body; or, it is the middle substance, essence, form, power, and force, between the soul and the body; consequently, it is the sharer of both, and must draw its property from the soul on the one hand, and from the purest elements or elementary substances which belong peculiarly to the purer nature, or the world, on the other hand. The Generative Organs, p. 130.

     These teachings are easily seen to be in complete harmony with the doctrine concerning the Limbus, which, though purely natural, constitutes "the cutaneous envelop" of the spiritual body, and Swedenborg, in his scientific works, teaches most distinctly,

     5. That the animal spirit, like the Limbus, and like the substances of the natural memory, is retained by man after death, and remains in a completely human form.

     This doctrine Swedenborg introduces by the following general proposition:

     On these premises it may be demonstrated to intellectual belief, that the human spirituous fluid is absolutely safe from harm by aught that befalls in the sublunary region: and that it is indestructible, and remains immortal, although not immortal per se, after the death of the body. And that, when emancipated from the bonds and trammels of earthly things, it will still assume the exact form of the human body, and live a life pure beyond imagination. E. A. K. 348.

     And he demonstrates this startling theorem as follows:

     It is evident from an a posteriari examination of the human spirituous fluid or soul, that that substance cannot be destroyed by any created things; and this is confirmed by the doctrine of order and series, which empowers us to enter thoroughly into the subject, and teaches that prior things can exist and subsist without posterior, but not vice versa. Thus the first aura may exist without the second; the second aura without the ether, and the ether without the air.

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The highly volatile sulphurous and saline substance may exist without the fixed salt, and the latter without the compound crystallized salt. The higher sensation may exist without the lower, and in the same way the purest fluid without the middle blood, and this without the red blood. In a word, the simple may exist without the compound, the part without the general, the prior without the posterior, the cause without the effect, but not vice versa; for the compound, the general, the universal, the effect, consists of its simples, parts, singulars, and causes. Moreover, the higher entities of nature are intrinsically more perfect than the lower, and enjoy a more persistent constancy as to their essence and form. E. A. K. 350.

     Having laid down this incontrovertible axiom as the major premise of his argument, Swedenborg next presents the following summary of his doctrines concerning the animal spirit, or, what is the same, the spirituous fluid:

     Now, as the spirituous fluid is the first, simplest, highest, inmost, remotest, and most perfect substance of its body, and in the third degree above the red blood. (E. A. K. ii:222); as it is determined in the most perfect manner, and without a medium, by the aura of the universe, or the primal aura, (ibid. 227. 228); as it partakes in no respect of terrestrial matter, (ibid. 311); as it is entirely above the world and the nature of posterior things, and above the soul of brutes as the unassignable is above the assignable, (ibid. 290, 344); as it is the one only substance in the body that lives; and as all the posterior and compound substances live its life according to their degree of composition and according to their form, which makes them such as we find them to be, (ibid. 243, 244); "as surely as these positions are true, so surely does it follow, that a fluid with such endowments is absolutely safe from harm by aught that can befall in the sublunary region."

     And he continues:

     No part of the air can affect or touch the vast volume of its individualities, save in the most general manner: nor any part of the ether; nor any part of the aura of the third degree, with all its forces. But if the auras of the world are powerless to harm it, much more so are the material entities of the earth, which, compared with the atmospheric fluids, are gross, heavy, and inert. . . . Nothing can cause in it any essential mutation, except a deliberate act of descent on its own part, or a consent to things repugnant to natural truth, and especially to Divine truth, (ibid. 314, 315); and even in this case it can only undergo the superior essential mutation, which has reference to its reception of wisdom, (ibid. 315).

     If it cannot suffer dissolution from any external cause, evidently it cannot from its internal cause, which is ever operating to conserve it, and which gives life, not takes it away.

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Hence we have no more right to doubt its conservation than to doubt the omnipresence of this Life, nor the omnipresence more than the omnipotence, omniscience, and universal Providence. These, in fact, are so conjoined that the one is the other, and God is His own attribute; for whatever is in God, is God. (Ibid. 253)

     The plain consequence is, that when the hour of death arrives and the body falls, only the lower forms die, and this in order that all substances borrowed from the three kingdoms of the earth may drop away. The fact, then, that this fluid remains indestructible after the body dies, or that no created thing can deprive it of its form, or therefore of its life; and that still less can it be destroyed by its internal cause, which in truth is the most essential means of its conservation;--this fact, we say, comes home to intellectual perception as the ground of an intellectually philosophical belief. E. A. K. 350.

     Having established the fact of the indestructibility and immortality of the spirituous fluid, our author proceeds to prove that it will remain forever in the human form:

     That, when emancipated from the bonds and trammels of earthly things, it will still assume the exact form of the human body. The soul can return into none other than its very own, that is to say, the human form; this being its proper form, or that into which it is necessarily determined when it is left to itself: as for instance, in the egg and in the womb. . . . The moment it is freed from its bonds, it again asserts its rights, and obeys its own laws of action. . . . Whenever this happens, it must return into its own veriest or common form: yet in such a wise, that it is then no longer the body, but the soul under the form of the body: the spirit without the red blood or the flesh and hard bone produced from the blood: the soul transmuted from a lower to a higher life.

     And it can never again attract elements from the three kingdoms of the world, or enter anew into a fleshy covering such as it had hitherto carried about it. For the natural passages constructed of terrestrial materials for the purpose of successively insinuating and adapting elements of the kind, and which might serve these elements as vehicles, now exist no longer. The necessity and the appetite to open them have died together. Nor can the soul again migrate back into life by means of an ovum, according to the dreams of the old philosophers; for the volume of the animal fluid is great and cannot possibly begin minimis. Therefore the soul is under the permanent necessity of living in its own state, and in no other. E. A. K. 351.

     Anticipating the natural question, how the animal spirit, or spirituous fluid, can remain in a human form apart from containing fibres, or these apart from blood-vessels and the whole gross body, Swedenborg now brings in his great doctrine concerning the primal or universal aura, which explains every remaining difficulty.

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     But the mind which is ardently desirous of finding in death the deepest tranquillity, oblivion of miseries, and everlasting sleep,... will inevitably suggest the idea, that the spirituous fluid,--being not in itself continuous, but consisting of myriads of distinct individual parts, would seem rather to go to wreck and dissipation in the universe, than again to tend to reunion. For it may be asked, What force is there to drive one individual part to seek and find another, however intimately the two were once united in the body? Yet the truth is that such a surmise or presumption can arise only from mere ignorance of the perfection of nature's substances in her prior and highest sphere. And I think it will be seen that the contrary is the fact, if we compare the properties of the universal aura with those of the fluid now under consideration.

     With respect to this aura, according to the account we have given of it, (E. A. K., Part II, 272, 312, and in my Principia, Part I, Chap. vi), it is formed on the model of the forces of nature in her most perfect state, and comprises all possibility of applying itself to every conceivable minutia of variety, and of concurring with every assignable determination; and it thereby merits the name of essential force, essential elasticity, and primitive nature, which involves neither impetus, gravity nor levity, nor resistance, but only agent and patient, hence nothing but agreement among its parts. If there be nothing resistant in it, of course this fluid can be determined wherever the soul attracts it. E. A. K. 352 (See also The Brain, Vol. I, p. 60.)

     We cannot, at present, pursue this fascinating subject any further, but hope that some competent scholar will, before long, take up the whole subject of the first aura, and explain it in a popular manner. In the meantime, we believe that enough has been brought out from the Theological Writings and from the scientific works of Swedenborg, to establish in general the identity of the animal spirit with the substances in which the natural memory is seated, and which, in the True Christian Religion, are termed "the Limbus."

     And we believe that a number of important corollaries may be drawn from this identification.

     It will add materially to our understanding of the connection and intercourse between the soul and the body, and between the two worlds, the spiritual and the natural.

     It will establish a scientific basis for the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and of the permanence and unchangeableness of heaven and of hell.

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     It will increase our realization of the nearness of the spiritual world, and of the actual though unconscious presence with us, in the highest atmosphere of this world, of those who have gone before us into conscious life in the other world.

     And it promises to shed much new light upon the subject of the resurrection-body of the Lord, concerning which there have been so many conflicting opinions among the learned of the Church.

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Editorial Department 1903

Editorial Department       Editor       1903

     FRANKLIN BALLOU.

     The death of Mr. Franklin Ballou, announced in our last issue, will recall to old "Academicians," some dear memories of the "early days." Mr. Ballou was one of the four founders of the Academy, and he is the first of the four to pass into the spiritual world. It may not be so well known but that it will bear repetition, that the Academy has two natal days,-one on which it was     inaugurated as a body of men associated for formerly organized as "The Academy of the New Church." The latter day was June 19th, 1876, the former, January 14th, 1874.

     It was in Pittsburg. Four men were gathered together engaged in discussion,-Mr. Benade, Mr. Pitcairn, Mr. W. C. Childs and Mr. Ballou. The particular point of discussion was as to why the Convention, of which they were all members, did not acknowledge the teachings of the Writings respecting the state of the Christian world. They concluded that Convention must be ignorant of those teachings; the teachings themselves were so clear and explicit that there was no other way to account for it. "Bring out the doctrine," said one of the four, "and every New Church man is bound to see it; bound to see that the Writings teach the utter and absolute vastation of the Christian world. He can't help himself, even as a matter of mere logic." And so, as they were all four convinced of the essential importance of the acknowledgment of these teachings to the establishment and growth of the New Church, they forthwith concluded to publish a pamphlet dealing with the subject, which should so convincingly set forth the teachings of the Writings that it would receive general acceptance in the New Church. Mr. Benade was appointed as the writer for this little band of early "Academicians," and Mr. Ballou the treasurer. Immediately after these appointments, one of the men present wrote out a check for $500 which he handed over to the new treasurer,--the first check ever written, and the first contribution ever given for the support of the uses of the Academy; though the name was not adopted at that time. This check is still preserved in the archives of the Academy.

     The particular object for which it was given was not realized until four years later, when an exhaustive article on the state of the Christian World appeared in the second issue of the Academy's publication, Words for the New Church. The article was convincing, yet,--many remained unconvinced.

     But this early meeting did far more than secure the presentation to the Church of an important teaching; for it crystallized that line of thought, and it started that association of men which finally resulted in the formal Academy, of the corporators of which, the four founders were prominent members.

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     Mr. Ballou, who was thus instrumental in the establishment of the Academy, was born in Pittsburg on June 29th, 1845. He was of a remarkably logical form of mind, especially keen in the detection of fallacies and contradictions in argument, and uncompromising in his opposition to all forms of "cant," "sentiment" or humbug. By 1869, his investigations of the various "Christian" religions, had led him to the rejection of all religious doctrines; and his life-long friend, Mr. Childs, had been led to a position not very different. In the Fall of 1869 they heard something about the New Church, and Mr. Childs proposed that they find out what it teaches. At first his friend remonstrated against this "waste of time." If it were based on the Bible he knew it would be as illogical as all the other religions. Mr. Childs, however, persevered, and they bought a copy of True Christian Religion. It was in two volumes and the friends tossed up as to which should take volume one. It fell to Mr. Childs. He and Mr. Ballou then traveled in different directions, on business, each taking his volume with him. Both had the same experience: they were convinced of the truths in the book they read, before they had turned the last page.

     Mr. Childs, who returned to Pittsburg first, hearing that there was a New Church minister in the city, decided to invite him to his room for a talk. And so came about the first meeting between Mr. Childs and Mr. Benade. The former was so pleased with the minister, that he gave a glowing account of the meeting to his friend on his return. Then the three met, and the final result was that on February 20th, 1870, Mr. Childs and Mr. Ballou were baptized into the New Church by Mr. Benade.

     They met very often after that, and were sometimes joined by Mr. Pitcairn. At these meetings the doctrines, and later on, the state of the New Church, were the subject of discussion; and, at last, the meetings and discussions culminated in the meetings which the Academy now celebrates as its Founders' Day.

     From the Fall of '76, after the Academy was organized, up to May, '77, Mr. Ballou resided in Philadelphia, and he was present at the early Academy meetings during that period. He then left for Colorado, where he remained until two or three years ago, when he moved to New York. He was for several years engaged in the business of buying and selling ores, and was regarded as one of the best metallurgists in Colorado. Later, he became vice president of a large smelting company. But though he was far removed from Philadelphia, he was an extremely active member of the Council of the Academy, keeping in constant touch with its work, and giving useful counsel and suggestion. This went on until 1893, when the Council was suddenly disbanded by the Chancellor, an action which Mr. Ballou strongly disapproved. From that time, owing primarily to a growing deafness which now came upon him, and which, in time, made it impossible for him to hear anyone except through an ear trumpet, he never connected himself with any New Church organization, though to the end there was no diminution in his belief in the Academy doctrines, and he was always delighted to meet a New Churchman, whoever he was, provided he accepted the Divine authority of the Writings.

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     Mr. Ballou married just before coming into the Church, but his wife subsequently became a receiver of the doctrines, He had seven children, but only three survived him; they have all attended the schools of the Academy.

     At the memorial meeting held two days after Mr. Ballou's death, many reminiscences of his past activity in the New Church were related, and the thought was expressed that in the other world he would be again delighted with that communion in the Church from which he has so long been cut off on earth.
"IS THE NEW CHURCH CONFRONTING A CRISIS?" 1903

"IS THE NEW CHURCH CONFRONTING A CRISIS?"              1903

     This question is discussed in the Messenger for April 22d, by the Rev. E. D. Daniels, who claims to have "given many years of careful, often painful, study to the question of the permanency of the New Church organization," and he has finally come to the conclusion that the Church is, indeed, "confronting a crisis."

     His reason for coming to this conclusion is that "no church can prosper which, [like the New Church], persistently sets itself against the highest trend and most distinguishing feature of the age." "Emerson is right when he advises a man to cast himself abroad upon the spirit of his times, and confide himself childlike to the genius of his age." This is what Mr. Daniel earnestly advises the New Church to do. "Let the New Church, instead of resisting the spirit of the age, put herself in touch with what is highest and best in it, seek to understand it, and not only to explain it but to experience it, and she will do better."

     But what is this "highest trend" of the age, this "new gospel" or new thought which is in the air," upon which the New Church is to cast itself abroad, with Emerson for guide,--this most distinguishing feature of the present time, which "has come down upon the world like a mantle of sunshine?" Why, it is nothing less that? the old, old doctrine of salvation by faith alone, dressed up in that new form and movement of which "the followers of Mrs. Eddy are one comparatively small sect."

     Christian Science, and kindred abominations,--this is the "New gospel" in which Mr. Daniel sees the only salvation for the New Church, and he does not give this advice in ignorance of the real inwardness of the movement, but actually because it teaches faith alone. For he clearly recognizes "the psychological similarity between this new movement and the Lutheran and Wesleyan movement. To the believer in mere moralism and works, with his anxious query, 'What shall I do to be saved?' Luther and Wesley replied, 'You are saved now if you would but believe it.' And experimentally, [i. e. actually], though not in their theological terms, this was true. And to-day the preachers of the new thought come with precisely similar words of emancipation. Men are laboring with the same human difficulty, though in a different form. Things are wrong with them, and 'what shall I do to be clear, right, sound, whole, well?' is the form of their question.

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And the answer is 'You are well, sound, and clear already, if you did but know it.' "

     This, of course, is the same as to say that the ills of the body can be cured by faith alone, even as the ills of the spirit are supposed to be cured by faith alone, and Mr. Daniels defends the adequacy, the sufficiency, of this doctrine in its twofold application. For he says that "the adequacy of their message was what gave force to the Lutheran and Wesleyan gospels. Exactly the same adequacy holds with the new movement to-day."

     Thus the doctrine of faith alone is openly, unblushingly taught in the New Church Messenger, without a word of protest or warning from the editor. Thus are the poisonous waters of the Dragon spewed out upon the New Church by teachers within her own borders, and this while the president of the General Convention is dreaming that "the last strong-hold of the faith that is passing away seems about to be abandoned." Truly, "missionary work" is needed nowhere else as desperately as in the nominal New Church itself, if it is to be saved from spiritual death as well as natural destruction in the terrible "crisis" which now confronts it.
AUTHORITY OF COUNCILS 1903

AUTHORITY OF COUNCILS              1903

     The question has been asked, Why do the Writings speak so disparagingly of Councils as arbiters in matters of faith, as for instance, in the earnest advice: "But, my friend, trust not in any Council, but in the Lord's Word which is above Councils," (T. C. R. 489) The Council of Nicaea, of course, established a false doctrine, but they might also have established the true doctrine, if they had gone immediately to the Word of the Lord. Is there, after all, any inherent wrong in settling obscure or disputed points of doctrine by the decisions of Councils, by the combined wisdom of the most learned and enlightened minds in the Church. Does not a Council, as a composite man, possess the same right as the individual man, to declare what it believes to be true? A question of interpretation of doctrine is brought before a public meeting of the Church, and it is referred for answer to a committee, which, after proper study and consultation, draws up a report expressing the views of its members. And this report, again, is accepted or adopted by the general body, as expressing the view generally prevailing within it. The body simply declares what it believes on the subject in question, it places itself on record, but does not dream of enforcing its conclusions upon anybody else. Is there anything unfair or unreasonable in this procedure?

     To the superficial observer all this seems eminently proper, but look at the result of the decisions of Councils in matters of faith throughout all ecclesiastical history! Look at the Council of Nicaea and the six subsequent Ecumenical Councils, where the Godhead was divided into three, and the Lord into two, and open idolatry finally established in the Christian Church! Look at all the Lateran and Vatican Councils, the last two of which established Mary as a goddess and the pope as the infallible god upon earth!

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Look at the Protestant Council of Augsburg, which established the doctrine of salvation by Faith alone, "or that of Dort, whence was drawn forth that terrible viper, Predestination." (T. C. R. 489). And look, finally, upon the New Church Council of Philadelphia, A. D. 1902, where the Revelation of the Second Coming was solemnly declared to be the word of Swedenborg, and not the Word of the Lord! Truly, there must be intrinsic reasons for the warning expressed in the Writings: "What confidence can be placed in Councils, even when passing their decrees by unanimous vote!" (T. C. R. 176, 634).

     For consider what such decrees and reports actually are, and what effect they must have upon the freedom of conscience in the Church.

     To begin with, any man-made creed, decree, dogma, or report, is in reality always drawn up by some one man in the committee to which it must necessarily be referred. The other members of the committee may accept or acquiesce in his report, or they may modify it more or less, but as surely as no one mind is absolutely similar to any other mind, so surely will it be found that the report finally agreed upon is not quite such as any other member of the committee would have stated it. Essentially, it must remain the report of the one man who has given special consideration to the subject.

     When, afterwards, this report is presented to the general body of the Church, it comes before a Council where there is still greater diversity of minds and opinions and where the attainment of genuine, rational unanimity is practically impossible. For the majority in such a meeting is generally unprepared, having given little or no thought to the subject, but these are the very ones who by their affections for the man who has drawn up the report, sway the meeting, and either intimidate or sphere those who may have rational objections.

     But even if the meeting should be entirely and rationally unanimous, what is the effect of its decisions upon those members of the Church who are not present! Among these there must be still greater diversity of mind, and consequently many objections which they have not had an opportunity to express or to have answered by rational arguments.

     The effect must be to bind to a human conclusion about Divine things, those who are unthinking or who fear to go against the general opinion of their brethren, or else to repel and exclude those who refuse to be thus bound by any man or men. In either case the sacredness of human freedom is violated, and to violate this is to violate charity for the sake of man-made faith.

     It is evident, therefore, that matters of faith,--(we do not speak of external matters of organization and uses,)--are not to be settled by majority votes, or even unanimous votes, of councils and assemblies. For matters of faith are matters of conscience, and conscience can grow only when in freedom from external interference. Spiritual things are above considerations of time and space, and there is no spiritual question so pressing, that it cannot afford to await the growth of light which results from free study and free discussion in the Church.

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"MESSENGER" AND THE ISSUE 1903

"MESSENGER" AND THE ISSUE              1903

     Having successfully kept all controversial matters out of the Messenger for nearly a year, the editor treats his readers to a surprise In the issue for April 29th, where the burning question of the relations between the Word and the Writings is discussed at length, first by the editor, then by the Rev. W. L. Gladish, and finally by the Rev. Philip B. Cabell.

     The editor opens the discussion by an article on "the Psychology of Revelation," and manages to place himself squarely at issue not only with the Academy, but also with the General Convention, and most especially with himself. His premises are entirely sound: "When we use the term 'Word' we are in the habit of forgetting the inherent significance of the expression. In the common sense, a word of God would be the carrying over from the Divine mind into the mind of man something that belonged to the Divine life and the Divine light." In the light of "common sense," therefore, we would expect the Messenger to admit that the Writings of the New Church are a "word of God," since they certainly are such "a carrying over."

     And again he says, "What was true of revelation in most ancient times is true of the spiritual revelation of the present time,"--an admission which should have led the writer to the inevitable acknowledgment that the Writings of the New Church, like the Ancient revelations, are the Word of God. But quite to the contrary, he immediately adds that "the revelation that we have in his [Swedenborg's] writings is not a revelation of absolute Divine truth," and thus he stultifies his former statement, since the ancient revelations certainly were revelations of "absolute Divine Truth."

     But what can possibly be meant by a Divine revelation which "is not a revelation of absolute Divine Truth?" Does it mean that the Truth revealed is not absolutely true, or that the revelation is not absolutely Divine? If the former be meant, then the Messenger denies the truthfulness of the Heavenly Doctrines themselves, for a doctrine which it not absolutely true, is not a true doctrine. But if the latter is meant, then the Messenger has yet to learn the first principle of true theology and of true logic, which is that the Divine is absolute. What is Divine is one and indivisible. What is Divine is as Divine in lasts as in firsts. What is Divine is infinite, and "more or less" cannot be predicated of it. What is limited, what is relative, what is not absolute, is not Divine at all! If, therefore, the Writings of the New Church are a Divine Revelation, they are absolutely Divine.

     The Messenger, however, believes that the Divine Truth, as revealed by the Lord to Swedenborg, was absolutely Divine, but when received by Swedenborg's finite mind, and especially when expressed in the human clothing of Swedenborg's thoughts and words, this Divine Truth was no longer absolutely Divine,--that is, not Divine at all, but simply human.

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     It is here that the editor stumbles in his analysis of the "Psychology" of Divine Revelation, for his argument proves too much, and therefore proves nothing. For there is no Divine Revelation which is not clothed in human thoughts and human words, and therefore, according to the argument of the Messenger, there has not been, nor can there ever be, any revelation of truth absolutely Divine. In denying the absolute Divinity of the Writings, the editor denies the absolute Divinity of the Letter of the Word, for "what was true of revelation in most ancient times is true of the spiritual revelation at the present time.

     Within the Messenger's conception of Divine Revelation there is evidently hidden the ancient doubt as to the Possibility of a revelation of "absolute" Divine Truth, and within this, again, there is lurking the further doubt as to the existence of God. Quite in keeping with such a doubt, the editor concludes his argument with the very remarkable statement that "neither the Word in the Letter, nor the Word in its spiritual sense, is intended to be set up as an idol, before which we shall bow down." The Word of the Lord, "an idol!" The Word is the Lord, and by it alone is He present in His Church. To bow down before the Divine Truth cannot be termed idolatry, except by one who doubts the existence of "absolute" Divine Truth.

     The versatility of the Messenger, its ability to turn from one position to the very opposite, is truly bewildering. In one breath the editor claims that "it is as true to say that the thoughts are Swedenborg's, as it is to say that the words are Swedenborg's," and in the next he admits that "neither the thoughts nor the words were Swedenborg's, but the Lord's" a statement in which we would rejoice, were it not for the unfortunate qualification that the revelation given in the Writings "is not a revelation of absolute Divine Truth."

     Exactly what position the Messenger occupies on the question at issue, is difficult to determine, but from present indications it would seem that our contemporary intends to remain in a lofty but uncomfortable position on the fence. While making certain statements negative enough to satisfy the most radical agnostics in the Church, our contemporary, in addition, goes quite against the findings of the "Report" of the General Convention; but on the whole it deprecates the discussion of the question, claiming that "the Writings of the New Church are able to take care of themselves." Of course, they are, but how about the Church! Can it take care of itself, without an acknowledgment of the absolute Divinity of the revelation upon which it is founded?

     Continuing in the same strain, the editor exclaims, "Let us cease to make definitions for others," and he believes that "it is quite absurd for one man to define the authority of the Writings for any other man, let alone for the entire Church, or for the human race." But he cannot possibly prevent the Church from studying and discussing this subject, which has occupied its attention for a hundred years and probably will continue to do so for some time to come. The wrong is not in the discussion or in the individual expression of convictions and reasons, but in the effort to take away the freedom of the individual conscience, by imposing upon it the outside weight and influence of human authorities, such as the findings and votes of Councils and Conventions on articles of faith, which must, perforce, be received by all "sincere New Churchmen." (Vide the Report of the Committee of the General Convention.)

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No such infringement of spiritual freedom should he tolerated in the New Church, and therefore it is to be hoped that the Convention, at its coming meeting, will undo the great evil which was committed a year ago, for unless this be done, the inscription "Nunc licet" will not be seen again above its portals.

     The paper by Mr. Gladish, in the Messenger for April 29gth, answers affirmatively the question: "Are the Writings the Spiritual Sense of the Word?" We consider this paper one of the most valuable contributions to the literature on the authority of the Writings, being not only thoroughly correct, theologically, but also so plain, so direct and reasonable, that it must surely bring conviction to those who have ears to hear.

     We would he happy to reproduce the entire paper, but a few trenchant quotations will have to suffice.

     "Are the theological writings of Swedenborg then the spiritual or internal sense of the Word? It would seem so, for here [Inv. 44] he says: "The spiritual sense of the Word has been disclosed by the Lord through me.' Where has it been disclosed? Surely in the books he published, expounding the Lord and giving the doctrines of the New Church."

     "Was not everything which the Lord said and did, the Word? Did not each thing contain infinite Divine wisdom and love? It is not necessary that they should be written in a particular book to become the Word, nor does the fact of their not being recorded make those that are recorded less the Word. Every sentence He spoke was freighted with the fullness of all Divine Truth, because it went forth from Him and He was in it."

     "If the Writings of Swedenborg are Divine Writings, if they are the Lord's own revelation of Himself, if He himself here presents himself in his glorified Human to his New Church, then He has come; and those who have heard His voice and followed Him, constitute a genuine Church. If these Writings are human, if they are not the very Word of the Lord, then me have heard and followed the voice of a stranger and an hireling, and we are not the Lord's Church."

     This statement is particularly important, inasmuch as this is the first time that the unequivocal confession has been made by any one in the Messenger, that the Writings are the very Word of the Lord."

     "We cannot exalt the Word by debasing the Writings. We cannot logically say that the Writings are a Divine revelation, and then say that 'they are chief among the writings which acknowledge the infinite glory of the Scriptures and humble themselves before it' (New Church Review, Oct., p. 491). This is to have one Divine Revelation humbling itself before another Divine Revelation. Have we then two kinds of Divinity,--one superior, the other inferior' Is not this like having an infinite son praying to a more infinite Father?"

     "But even though we accept and obey all that is taught in the Writings, but obey it as the word of Swedenborg, and not as the Word of the Lord, it does not add one whit to spiritual character. Only what is done in obedience to the Lord effects anything in regeneration.

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All the world shuns evils, but only the spiritual man shuns evils as sins against God. Shunned for any other reason, evils still remain in man, and break out in the other life."

     The paper on "The Word and the Writings" by the Rev. P. B. Cabell, starts out with some rather wild charges against "the rival body to the General Convention, calling itself the 'General Church or the New Jerusalem,'" or "the 'Academy,' as they were first familiarly known." These, he insists, "claim for the Writings of the Church an importance equal, if not superior, to the Bible itself, which latter they sometimes designate as the 'old Word.'" a piece of information which will be new, indeed, to the members of the General Church. And, adding further to the list of our offences, Mr. Cabell relates that "with this branch of the New Church, 'the Divinity of the Writings' is a common expression. They even go further and say, that the Writings of the New Church are the Second Coming of the Lord, and, by virtue of the truths in them revealed, are the Lord (!)." As to this, however, we are in good company, for Mr. Cabell himself, in this same paper, admits that "the theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are a revelation from the Lord, and that this Revelation is His Second Coming." Having admitted this, he might easily go as far as the Academy itself, and acknowledge that the Writings are the Lord, for, surely, the Second Coming of the Lord is the same as the Lord in His Second Coming, even as the First Coming of the Lord was the Lord Himself in His First Coming.

     Mr. Cabell's main argument against the Writings is the contention that "the Word" is a source of instruction for angels as well as for men, whereas the Heavenly Doctrines contain nothing whatever that is new to any angel of even the lowest heaven," and hence cannot be the Word of God. And, yet, he himself stoutly maintains that the Writings are a Divine revelation, but closes his eyes to the primary truth that what is Divine is infinite, whereas the angels are infinite. If the Truth revealed in the Writings is the Lord's own infinite truth, then finite beings, in Heaven as well as on earth, have infinite things to learn from it.

     The writer knows the General Church but little when he expresses the hope that it will unite with the Convention on such a negative, irrational platform as he has outlined. Anxious for external peace, where there is no internal harmony either in doctrine or in life, he asks "Is it not on some such middle [!] ground as this, that all believers in the New Church Doctrine must finally meet and reconcile their differences? Is there here anything that the most ardent disciple of the Academy can deny, [Well, well!], or that the most conservative members of the Convention may not accept?" [Perhaps not!] "Where, then, is there room for further difference? Where the need for external division?" Why, in the world-wide difference and division which exists between those who believe and those who deity! How can there be any talk of compromise between these?

     Mr. Cabell, having rebuked the General Church on the one hand, gently chides the Convention on the other, by suggesting that "in ascribing to Swedenborg's human personality both the composition of his works and the language in which the heavenly Doctrines are expressed, it would have been well to qualify the statement, [in the Convention's Report], by claiming for the revelation made through him the perfection which must belong to it, if it be a Divine Revelation at all."

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"Surely this kind of perfection may safely be attributed to the New Church doctrines, without running to the disastrous extreme of calling them a new Word, or placing them at all on a level with the Holy Scriptures!" But how can "perfection" be ascribed to the work of a mere man? And how can that which must not be placed "at all" on a level with the Holy Scriptures, be called a Divine Revelation?

     There is some hope, however, in the writer's evidently mixed state of mind on this subject, for he does not, like the editor of the Messenger, deprecate the present discussion, but considers it "fortunate that this question has arisen now while the Church is small and young, that it may be freely discussed and if possible settled, ere, owing to larger growth, the discussion should create wide disturbance."

     And behind the reasonings and compromises in his exterior thought, there seems to exist a dim perception as to the final outcome, as would appear from his concluding remarks: "If settled in the right way, it will not only help to establish on firmer ground our faith in those doctrines which we love so well, but will serve to protect the Church from future attacks against the integrity of her teachings, whether these shall come from the criticisms of enemies without, or from the honest doubts of friends within." (Italics ours).
Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     The Rotch trustees have lately issued, as a separate publication for missionary uses, the last chapter in the True Christian Religion, treating of the consummation of the Age, the Second Coming of the Lord, and the New Heaven and the New Church. Price, 10 cents.



     We have just received a second English version of the little work, De Verbo, published by the Massachusetts New Church Union, as one of the Rotch editions. It is very attractive in appearance, but we have not yet found time to compare it with the edition lately issued by the Academy Book Room.



     The Scottish N. C. Evidence Society has recently published a pamphlet of twenty-two pages by Rev. James F. Buss, entitled Swedenborg's Solution of the Problems underlying Modern Biblical Criticism. Mr. Buss takes up some of the more general points advanced by modern critics of the Bible, and answers them in his usual clear and forcible style.

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     The British Medical Journal, in its issue of March 21st, contains an abstract of the paper by Dr. Max Neuberger, a translation of which was published in N. C. Life for June, 1902, entitled "Swedenborg's References to the Physiology of the Brain." The editor adds a paragraph respecting the publication of Swedenborg's work on The Brain.



     Neukirchlicher Religions unterricht fur die reifere Jugend (New Church religious instruction for young people). By the Rev. Fedor Gorwitz. Zurich. 1903, pp. 163. A very valuable little text-book, presenting a systematic summary of the general Doctrines of the New Church, with references to those places in the Writings where the subjects indicated are treated of more comprehensively. The work is clear, thorough, interesting, sound in Doctrine, and free from sentimental baby-talk, and we would heartily welcome an English version of it, for use not only in the Day Schools and Sunday Schools of the Church, but also for the young people out of School.



     The Rev. Joseph Ashby, commenting on the action of the Birmingham Y. M. C. A. in refusing Rev. R. R. Rogers the privilege of membership, writes in Morning Light: "Why, it almost 'takes ones breath away!' Does a life of Christian service, philanthropic use, and social effort for the good of man, go for nothing! Should not these qualities, for which our highly esteemed brother is rightly held in honor, have decided the point as to whether he were a Christian, and therefore worthy of association with those who claim that sacred name! Evidently the members of the New Church have much to do." They certainly have, if anything like the above thoughts are common in the Church.

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Church News 1903

Church News       Various       1903

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     Bryn Athyn, Pa. A farewell social to the Rev. W. B. Caldwell was given by the Bryn Athyn Social Club on March 24th. Great appreciation of Mr. Caldwell's work was expressed, and many were the good wishes and predictions of success in his new field in the Sharon Church of Chicago.

     Bryn Athyn now having so regular preacher to take the place of Mr. Caldwell, the pulpit has been filled by various of the resident ministers and professors, and thus far we have had the pleasure of listening to sermons from Bishop Pendleton, Mr. Odhner, Mr. Synnestvedt, Mr. Price, and Mr. Acton.

     Mr. Synnestvedt this year prepared a special Easter service for the children, and also a representation of the sepulchre, with the stone rolled away, and the angel standing by the open door, addressing the women. The Easter services for the grown folks were celebrated by the Holy Supper, administered by the Bishop, assisted by Mr. Synnestvedt.

     During the Easter holidays, Mr. Synnestvedt, accompanied by six of the college students, took a trip to Washington, where they remained nearly a week. On their way home they stopped over at Baltimore, where they were entertained at a men's meeting by the members of the General Church in that city.

     The children's "German," on Saturday afternoon, April 4th, was a very pretty affair. The parents and friends of the children in the Local School were invited by the dancing teacher, Miss Nellie Smith, who is to be congratulated for her faithful and patient work. The children did very well, indeed, and it was a delight to behold them, so many and so graceful. A beautiful fall was presented to Miss Smith by the children in appreciation of the work she had done for them.

     The dancing lessons, given by Miss Smith to the College and Girls' Seminary, were terminated by a German, on the evening of May 2nd. The occasion was voted a decided success, and all went home with lots of favors and happy hearts.

     A Sacred Concert was given in the chapel on Sunday evening. May 3rd, Bishop Pendleton conducting brief religious services which presented an element of novelty in that the lessons were taken from the book of Job and from the Epistles. The musical program Included organ recitals by Mr. Walter Van Horn, pieces on the violin by Mr. Raymond Pitcairn, and singing by Mr. George Heath, our New Church actor, who also read a number of poems of a religious character.

     Mr. Heath having spent a brief vacation at his home in Bryn Athyn, we have been greatly favored during this time, by recitals from him, both in the School and on social occasions of the society, and on May 11th he gave us the whole play of Ingomar. Tickets were sold for the occasion, and the proceeds were generously donated to the Academy Athletic Club.

     The building of the Civic and Social Club, where the Sunday services and the Local School were formerly conducted, is now being torn down, and the adjacent stone-house is being refitted as a home for the new owner, Mr. Alex. Moir and his family.

     The base ball season has been an exciting one, and we are pleased to announce that on April 24th, our School inflicted a crushing defeat of the team of the Brown Preparatory School, by the overwhelming score of 28-6.

     We have been favored, lately, by many visitors from other parts of the Church, among whom we may mention the Rev. Reginald Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Lechner, Mrs. Jacob Schoenberger, and Mr. Robert B. Caldwell, all of Pittsburg; Dr. Richardson, of Parkdale; Miss Tucker, of Brooklyn; Mr. Paul Carpenter, of Chicago; Mr. William H. Junge, Mr. and Mrs. Seymour G. Nelson, and Mr. Hugh L. Burnham, all of Glenview, Ill.

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Mr. Burnham, during his brief visit gave an interesting lecture to the School on the subject of Law and the History of Jurisprudence. F. E. G.

     The death of our beloved friend, Bishop Bostock, having occurred on April 11th, the funeral took place in the afternoon of April 13th, and the memorial services in the evening of the same day. After the services, the large congregation adjourned to the assembly room above the chapel, where, after introductory remarks by the Bishop, Mr. Odhner gave a brief account: of Mr. Bostock's life and work. In concluding, the speaker dwelt on the significance of the numerous deaths which had recently occurred in the General Church and the removal in rapid succession of men such as Mr. Glenn, Mr. Asplundh, and Mr. Bostock, to the spiritual world. It suggested the thought that there was some great conflict going on in the world of spirits, a conflict for which there was a need of strong, loyal, intelligent men, able to discriminate between genuine and apparent truths. This thought was further confirmed by the evident crisis in the religious world, where the Word is being denied in the Old Church, and the Writings in the New Church, and this in a degree never before experienced. If true patriots are willing to give up their best be loved to die for their country, how much more willingly should the men and women of the Church submit to the Lord's will when friends, fathers, and husbands are taken from our midst to fight in the battles of the Lord for His heavenly Kingdom.

     Mr. Pitcairn expressed his appreciation of Mr. Bostock's sterling character, his unusually good judgment in the business affairs of the Church, his spirit of humility and loyalty in the most trying situations, and the ardent love burning beneath a reserved exterior. Similar tributes were brought by Mr. Price, Mr. Synnestvedt: Mr. Brickman, Mr. Doering, and others, Bishop Pendleton dwelling especially upon the sincerity and the love of justice, which were, perhaps, Mr. Bostock's most marked characteristics. Mr. Pitcairn called attention to the fact that Mr. Bostock was the twelfth member of the "Council" of the Academy to enter the spiritual world; the speaker also referred to the death of Mr. Edward McCandless, of Pittsburg, on April 11th. Loving cups, filled with the choicest wine, were circulated during the speeches, which were interspersed by toasts and songs; the warm affections and the spiritual teachings that were expressed, combined to make us feel the nearness of the other world and of our departed friends who now are with us there

     Parkdale. After upwards of fourteen years of constant and unremitting labor in the work of building up the New Church in Parkdale, the Rev. E. S. Hyatt has, through ill health, become incapacitated to longer fulfill his duties as Pastor of this Society, and in the Lord's Providence, the work, which he has heretofore so faithfully performed, has now to be carried on by other hands. Mr. Haytt continued to preach until Sunday, March 1st. On March 4th Bishop Pendleton came here on his way back from Chicago and remained with us a whole week. During that time he held a number of informal meetings, in order to discuss the situation with the members, and on March 10th he called a meeting of the Society, at which certain changes in the manner of government were recommended, having in view the end of conforming with the mode of government adopted by the General Church. Resolutions were passed to carry this into effect, and a provisional Pastor for the Society was appointed.

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The Bishop was kept busy all the time he was here, as, in addition to the meetings for business, he conducted a doctrinal class, Sunday services, and also a funeral service and memorial meeting for our friend and brother Christopher Nahrgang, who passed away into the Spiritual world on Sunday, March the 7th.

     The Sunday following the Bishop's departure no service was held, but the pulpit has since been filled, once by Rev. W. B. Caldwell, and twice each by Revs. E. J. Stebbing, F. E. Waelchli and A. Acton. On Easter Sunday the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered to 34 communicants, the Rev. A. Acton officiating.

     Mr. Acton during his week's stay with us conducted a memorial meting for Mr. Bostock, also a doctrinal class. We need hardly say that he was quite "at home" in our midst and we parted with him with regret. The Rev. E. R. Cronlund, who has been appointed by the Bishop as provisional pastor to the Society, on his arrival received a very hearty reception at the usual weekly supper, on May 7th.

     Our Young People have been especially active all winter and have provided several very pleasing entertainments, including a play "Our Boys," in the preparation of which they worked hard for many weeks, rehearsing and preparing scenery; the scenery will, we hope, be useful ii connection with future efforts. C. B.

     Pittsburg. Mr. Edward V. McCandless, a prominent member of the Pittsburg Society of the General Church, passed into the spiritual world on April 11th, 1903, at the age of sixty-one years. Our friend was the son of Mr. David McCandless, one of the twelve men, who, in 1876, organized the Academy of the New Church. As a boy he attended the New Church School conducted hp the Rev. W. H. Benade, on Cherry Street, Philadelphia and afterwards attended

     Harvard College, during which time he also associated with the New Church in Boston. On the completion of his studies he was employed in his father's business, the same which, some years later, became famous as "the Carnegie Steel Works." During all the vicissitudes of the New Church in Pittsburg, Mr. McCandless has been a steadfast and active member, and his interest had been especially growing during the last few years. His wife preceded him into the spiritual world on April 11th, 1902. He leaves two children, both of whom are now attending the New Church School in Pittsburg.

FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     THE UNITED STATES. The Pennsylvania Association of the General Convention held its fifteenth annual meeting in Philadelphia on May 2nd. Eight ministers were present, but the attendance of the laity was disappointing, especially in the morning when business was being transacted. A slight increase in the membership of the several societies of the Association was reported. Services have been resumed occasionally in Vineland, N. J., after an interruption of several months. Rev. John Stephenson reported a membership of 60 and a congregation of 96, in the two societies in Pittsburg which united in calling him to the pastorate. Allentown, under the ministrations of Rev. J. E. Smith, was reported as being "in about the same state as for years past. It did not grow, but on the other hand it did not grow less."

     At the Easter services in Urbana, O., the rites of confirmation and baptism were administered to eight young people, and also to Mr. Ernest Green Dodge, the new professor of Latin and Greek in the Urbana University.

     The Rev. Willis L. Gladish, of Indianapolis, Ind., has resigned from the office of chairman of the Reading Circle Committee of the Young People's League having filled this position seven years.

     The Rev. Eugene J. E. Schreck on April 5th began a course of informal addresses to the Englewood parish in Chicago, on the History of the New Church, the importance and necessity of its distinctive organization, and the laws underlying its internal and external life.

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     The Council of Ministers of the General Convention will meet at the Englewood Church, on June 23-25, and the General Convention itself will meet on June 27th, in the new temple of the Kenwood parish.

     CANADA. The Rev A. B. Francisco, after a pastorate of two years, has resigned the charge of the Convention's society in Berlin, Ont., and has removed to St. Louis, Mo., to engage in publication work there.

     GREAT BRITAIN. At the meeting of the N. of England Evidence Society, held last April, in Manchester, the reports contained, besides the usual news about writing controversial letters to newspapers, sending letters to authors, and other missionary efforts of a similar kind, some information of a new and interesting nature. A minister in Africa, who is interested in the Doctrines, is reported as writing "that there are Africans in Sierra Leone who are reading
Swedenborg's writings" and also that he "is instilling the doctrine of the New Church into the minds of his congregation" who speak only "the Jebu dialect, in the language of the Yoruba."

     The Society has been doing considerable work for the blind, the Secretary of its Philanthropic Section, having himself written several tracts in Braille.

     The Section on Books, reports the amusing fact, that in "Dr. Brewer's Readers' Handbook" published by Chatto and Windus, (p. 1118) Occurs the truly remarkable piece of information, "that Swedenborg predicted the end of the world and the millennium to occur in 1757." The publishers have been written to, and their reply is awaited "with lively expectation that the mistake will be I set aright in future editions of the work."

     Professor G. W. Baynham, of the N. C. College has resigned as "leader" of the Islington, London, Society, a position he has occupied for the past eight years.

     Rev. A. J. Wright has resigned the pastorate of the Wigan Society, having completed his term of engagement, but he has been invited to remain "until he accept another charge."

     BRAZIL. We extract the following from a letter recently received from Senor L. Castro de la Fayette, the New Church Missionary in Brazil, acknowledging the receipt of the tract entitled "Swedenborg's Testimony concerning his Writings:

     "Having sorrowfully followed the persistent controversy in the New Church in regard to the real nature of the Theological Writings of Swedenborg and their relation to the Word, I think the New Church Academy had not any other way but that these Writings should be allowed to testify in their own behalf, and thus bear witness of themselves." "We must stand firm against the powers of darkness which by all means endeavor to throw down the celestial and spiritual truths of the New Church."

     Senor de La Fayette sends us a pamphlet containing the "Statutes of the General Association of the New Jerusalem in Brazil," adopted by the General Assembly, held on August 27th, 1902.

     MAURITIUS. At the close of the usual monthly services of the Port Louis Society, the President, Mr. August de Chazal, who conducted the service, suggested to the friends present to consider as to whether "a minister could not be secured among the members of the colony itself, as it was so difficult to obtain one from abroad." A better way, we would suggest, would be for the Society to send a young man to study for the New Church ministry, and, while he is preparing, to continue maintaining the services as they have been for many years past.

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     NEW ZEALAND. From a letter to the Messenger we learn that a New Church has existed at Auckland for the last fifteen years The members have a small church building of their only and services are conducted every Sunday morning, led by the various members in turn. The services of a New Church minister are desired, especially for the benefit of the many young people connected with the society, but any minister settling there is expected to earn his living by secular work. A "golden opportunity!"
COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY 1903

COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY              1903


Announcements.




Notices.

     The annual meeting of the Council of the Clergy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Tuesday, June 23d, 1903, at 10 A. M., and on the three succeeding days.

     The Executive Committee of the General Church will meet on June 23d, and a joint meeting of the two Councils will he held on June 27th.
Teachers' Institute 1903

Teachers' Institute       C. TH. ODHNER       1903

     The annual meeting of the Teachers Institute of the General Church will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Monday, June 22d, at 10 A. M. The election of a president, in succession to the late Rt. Rev. E. C. Bostock, will be before the meeting.

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     Members of the Councils and of the Teachers' Institute, intending to be present at these meetings, are requested to communicate with the undersigned, in order that arrangements may be made for their entertainment. C. TH. ODHNER, Secretary of the Gen. Church.
Title Unspecified 1903

Title Unspecified              1903

     Special Notice.

     Any one desiring to dispose of the first volume, (1881), of New Church Life, or parts thereof; also copies of the February, 1897, issue, will please communicate with the ACADEMY BOOK ROOM, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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THOUGHT CONCERNING THE DIVINE FROM ETERNITY 1903

THOUGHT CONCERNING THE DIVINE FROM ETERNITY       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1903

     
JULY, 1903.           No. 7.
     CAN man think of the Divine from eternity? There are passages in the Writings which seem to teach that he can not, and others which teach that he can.

     In the Apocalypse Explained we read:

     All times, in the Word, do not signify times, but states of life; and because all times signify states of life, therefore, when the Lord is treated of, they signify infinite state, and infinite state, as to time, is eternity. Many things might be said concerning eternity, that it pertains to the Lord alone; but they would not be understood by the natural man, whose thoughts are chiefly founded on time, space, and matter, when yet eternity does not include such things in itself; wherefore, if man could think of eternity as the angels of heaven think, he might come into some idea of it, and thus also comprehend what from eternity is. (23.)

     Here we learn that if man could think of eternity as the angels of heaven think, he might be able to comprehend what from eternity is. But is it possible for man to think of eternity as the angels do? From the following in the Arcana it would seem that it is not:

     It is altogether impossible for man to have any idea of what is eternal except from time, and this being the case, he cannot comprehend what from eternity is, consequently what the Divine was before time, or before the world was created; and so long as there is in his thought anything of an idea derived from time, he must needs, in thinking on this subject, fall into inextricable errors; but to the angels, who are not in the idea of time, but in the idea of state, it is given to perceive this well, for eternity with them is not the eternity of time, but the eternity of state, without the idea of time. . . . . Man cannot have a single thing of thought even in the smallest degree, but what derives something from time and space, whereas the angels derive nothing thence, but instead thereof they derive their thoughts from the states of things as to esse and existere. (3404.)

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     Should we confine ourselves to this teaching, and not view it in the light which other passages throw upon it, we would needs have to conclude that it is impossible for man to think apart from the limitations of time, and, consequently, to think of eternity, and of eternal state with the Lord, as the angels do. But in the light of other teachings we can see what is here meant, namely, that it is impossible for the natural man, who does not admit spiritual light into his thought, to think as the angels do concerning eternity. That this is what is meant is evident from another passage which we shall now quote, in which similar teaching is given as in that just presented, but in which it is clearly said that it is the natural man who cannot comprehend these angelic ideas:

     The natural man can hardly apprehend spiritual things, consequently those things which are of heaven. Who of this character can comprehend that spaces and times are not given in heaven, but instead thereof states? Would not the merely natural man believe that there must be mere emptiness and nothingness where there is not time and space? Hence it is evident, if the natural man concludes with himself that nothing is to be believed but what he apprehends, that in such case he casts himself into enormous errors. As it is with spaces and times, so also it is in many other things; as, for example, the natural man must needs fall into fantastic thought concerning the Divine, when he thinks from time, what the Divine had done before the creation of the world, that is, what He had done from eternity till then; nor can he be extricated from this labyrinth, until the ideas of time and space are removed; the angels, when they think of this eternity, never think of it from time, but from state. In the other life there appear two statues, partly of flesh and partly of stone, placed in the boundary of the created universe in front towards the left, and it is said of them, that they swallow up those who think of the Divine what He had done from eternity before He created the world; the swallowing up represents, that man, inasmuch as he cannot think but from space and time, cannot extricate himself thence of himself, but from the Divine, which is effected either by the dissipation of that thought, or by the removal of the ideas of time. (A. C. 8325.)

     Here we are clearly taught that it is the natural man who, because he thinks from time, comes into a dangerous state when he thinks of eternity, especially when he thinks as to what was from eternity; but that man can be extricated from this state by the removal of ideas of time, thus by thinking of state instead of time.

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     Man can remove ideas of time from his thought, and think of state instead of time, if he elevates his thought into angelic light and thinks in the sphere of that light. It was so with Swedenborg, and it can be so with us. That it was so with Swedenborg is evident from the following Relation:

     I was once thinking about eternity, and by the idea of time I could perceive what to eternity was, namely, without end, but not what from eternity was, thus neither what God had done from eternity before creation. When from this cause anxiety arose in me, I was elevated into the sphere of heaven, and thus into the perception in which the angels are concerning eternity; and then I was illustrated that eternity must not be thought of from time but state, and that then it is perceived what from eternity is; which also was the case with me. (H. H. 167.)

     As was the case with Swedenborg, so can it be with the man of the New Church. We also can elevate our thoughts into the sphere of heaven, and thus come into that perception of eternity in which the angels are. We of the New Church can do this because heaven, with its life and thought, has been revealed to us in the Doctrines of the Church. When we read in those Doctrines concerning heaven, we can, as it were, by means of what we read, look into heaven. And not only can we look into heaven, but also think with heaven; for the thoughts of the angels are revealed to us in those doctrines. That such is the case is evident from the very titles of some of the Writings. Thus we have the "Arcana Caelestia," or the "Heavenly Secrets,"--Secrets which are unknown on earth, but which are known in heaven, and which we also can know if we will admit spiritual light into our thoughts. Then also there is revealed to us the "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom" and the "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence." By the reading and study of these Writings, and especially by meditation upon them, we shall be able to think as the angels do, and be in such ideas as they are, though indeed not in the same clearness and fullness.

     That it is possible for the man of the New Church to elevate his thought above time, and think of state instead of time, and thus come into the angelic idea concerning eternity, is clearly evident from that most wonderful work, "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom."

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In it we are repeatedly told that if we would comprehend the truths revealed, we must elevate our thoughts above space and time. Thus, near the beginning of the work, the following words are addressed to the reader:

     Do not, I entreat you, confuse your ideas with time and with space, for so far as time and space enter into your ideas when you read what follows, you will not understand it; for the Divine is not in time and space. This will be seen clearly in the progress of this work, and in particular from what is said of eternity, infinity, and omnipresence. (51.)

     There are two things proper to Nature,--space and time. From these man in the natural world forms the ideas of his thought, and thereby his understanding. If man remains in these ideas, and does not raise his mind above them, he can in no way perceive things spiritual and Divine, for these he involves in ideas derived from space and time; and so far as that is done, the lumen of his understanding becomes merely natural. To think from this lumen in reasoning about spiritual and Divine things, is like thinking from the thick darkness of night about those things which appear only in the light of day. From this comes Naturalism. But he who knows how to raise his mind above ideas of thought derived from space and time, passes from thick darkness into light, and has discernment in things spiritual and Divine, and finally sees the things which are in and from what is spiritual and Divine; and then from that light he dispels the thick darkness of the natural lumen, and banishes its fallacies from the middle to the sides. Every man who has understanding is able to think above those things which are proper to nature. (69.)

     Here it is clearly stated that man can raise his thoughts above ideas of space and time; and in the teaching which now follows we are told that, by so doing, he can think of God from eternity:

     He who has no knowledge of, and is unable from any perception to think of God apart from time, is utterly unable to conceive of eternity in any other way than as an eternity of time; in which case, in thinking of God from eternity, he must needs become delirious; for he thinks with regard to a beginning, and a beginning has exclusive reference to time. His delirium arises from the idea that it is from Himself that God had existed, [instead of in Himself], from which he rushes headlong into the origin of nature from herself; and from this idea he can be extricated only by a spiritual or angelic idea of eternity, which is an idea apart from time; and when time is separated, the Eternal and the Divine are the same, and the Divine is Divine in itself, not from itself.

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That which is in itself is the very Esse, from which all things are; Esse in itself is very life. This, to the angels, is the Eternal, an Eternal as removed from time as the uncreated is from the created, or the Infinite from the finite, between which, in fact, there is no ratio. (D. L. W. 76.)

     To this let us add a teaching from the "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence:"

     The infinite and eternal, consequently the Lord, is to be thought of without space and time; and He can be so thought of, and He is so thought of, by those who think interiorly in the rational mind; and then the infinite and eternal is the same with the Divine. Thus do angels and spirits think. By thought abstracted from time and space are comprehended the Divine Omnipresence and the Divine Omnipotence, and likewise the Divine from eternity, and not at all by thought in which inheres an idea from space and time. Hence it is evident that we can think of God from eternity. (51)

     The teachings which have been adduced reveal the wonderful possibilities which are open to the man of the New Church, who loves spiritual truths and desires to elevate his mind into heavenly light. It is possible for him, yea, it is his privilege,--a privilege which none others on earth enjoy,--to raise his thoughts above the limitations of time and space, even to the extent that he may have a perception concerning the Divine from eternity, as also concerning the Divine Omnipotence and the Divine Omnipresence. But the nature of the idea concerning the Divine from eternity into which he can come is described in the Writings only in such most general terms as occur in the passages which have been quoted. The reason why this idea is not more particularly described, is, because it is something that cannot be conveyed by words to the natural mind. It is a thing of perception,--of a perception which can come to man only in deep and interior meditation. Let him who would have that perception retire to where he can be private and alone, and there meditate, praying the Lord to enlighten him. Let him abstract his mind from the world and all worldly things, and transfer his thought to heaven, thinking of it as the Doctrines teach him. Then let him think of state instead of time, and of eternal state with the Lord, and there will come to him the perception concerning the Divine from eternity. Yet let no one imagine that he will, the first time he does this, come into any fullness or clearness of perception.

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It will at first be but faint and obscure. But in time, as he does it again and again, and as he grows in the understanding of the truths revealed in the Doctrine, the light will become clearer. It must, however, be constantly borne in mind that such meditation must be meditation on the doctrine of the Church and according to that doctrine. And we would suggest that he who desires to engage in it can do it best and most safely by taking in hand one of the Writings, opening it where such interior truths as we are now considering are treated of, reading, and pausing often to meditate.

     The things which man sees in such meditation he sees in an elevated state of the mind; and when he again brings his mind down to earth, down to thoughts limited by time and space, he will no longer see them, nor, consequently, be able to communicate them to others. But although he then no longer sees those things nor can recall them with any clearness, yet they are interiorly with him, and light from them, that is, through them from the Lord, will illumine the lower thoughts of his mind, enabling him to see truth in a light which would otherwise be impossible.

     Is it not wonderful that the privilege should be granted to us of the New Church to travel, as it were, in thought to another world, to a world of which men at this day know nothing and which is entirely hidden from them, and there to behold marvelous things, such as the eye of the natural man has never seen nor his ear ever heard, and in the sphere of that world to perceive the most interior and sublime of all truths! This privilege is open to us. It remains with us to use it. And we will use it, if we realize that it is in the delight of heavenly intelligence and wisdom that we can find the happiness which is eternal, and not in the delight which arises from things which are merely of this world.

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PURIFICATION IN SLEEP 1903

PURIFICATION IN SLEEP       Rev. W. B. CALDWELL       1903

     He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber not sleep. (Psalm cxxi, 3, 4.)

     The general doctrine involved in these words is concerning the ever wakeful and watchful Providence of the Lord, which guards and preserves man from evil, operating perpetually to purify and prepare him for heaven through the instrumentality of spiritual and natural sleep. The general doctrine and subject is a very large one, but, to bring the understanding into light from the internal sense, let us consider this phase of it in particular, namely, the purification of man from evil, by means of sleep, as an operation of the Lord's Providence.

     It is a remarkable thing that men place the whole of life in the things of the external senses and in the pleasures of the body, when yet the life of the external senses, thus of the body, is relatively mere shade and sleep compared to the life of the interior senses, that is, of the natural mind, wherein, however, are phantasy, imagination, and cupidity; in these again, some place the whole of life, when, nevertheless, they are mere sleep relatively to the life of a more interior faculty, which is properly human. Even this is nothing but a sleep, as it were, relatively to man's inmost life, which is the life of his soul, and this is nothing but sleep relatively to the Verimost Life of God Messiah, Who is Life Itself. Thus each and everything of man is nothing but shade and sleep, and thus also there are degrees of sleep like degrees of men, spirits, and angels. But it is remarkable that men will put the whole delight of life in what is really the grossest sleep, as in the senses and pleasures of the body, wherein there is mere darkness. They do not know that the life which is properly to be considered life flows in according to an order from things more interior, and that Life Itself flows into the inmost from God Messiah, and from the inmost into all the faculties of a man. (See Adversaria, III, 2654.)

     Therefore man does not really awaken from sensual and natural life into spiritual life until he comes to know and acknowledge that his life does not flow in from without but from the soul within, which receives it from the Lord, and that all the apparent awakening to activity and life which comes from without is but the affecting of that life which flows from within.

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     The influx of life from the Lord into man's soul, and from his soul into his mind and body, is like a stream which meets the afflux of another stream from the world without. The conflux of these streams either in the senses of the body, in the thought of the mind, or in the affections of the will, render a man conscious of life and delight. Where the conflux is, there is the conjunction and the delight. If it be only in the senses and the natural affections it will be in the delights of the love of self and the world, thus in delight from afflux only, but if the conjunction take place in the spiritual mind it will be in the delights of love to the Lord and the neighbor, thus in the delights of influx from the Lord through the angelic heavens, and in perceiving the power of this influx as given in the ability to perform uses.

     But the consciousness and delight of the natural degree without the spiritual, thus of afflux without influx, is as sleep to wakefulness, because it is consciousness of an appearance and a fallacy.

     
The whole of education and regeneration is a gradual awakening from the sleep of appearances to the daylight of realities.

     Infancy is a slumber, childhood is a slumber, manhood is a slumber; the whole of this life is a slumber from which we will only awaken when raised into the glorious day of the spiritual world, and even this day must bring to us a greater and greater awakening to eternity, for this will be in the Lord's Providence for those who seek it. In the life of regeneration we suffer rude awakenings as well as delightful ones. In the continual dawn of new ideas and new perceptions Providence gifts us with the greatest delights of life, but from the conceit of believing or fancying that we are ever fully awake, that we ever come to a complete light on all things, or on any one thing, we can only be saved by a rude awakening to the reality that such light belongs to God alone. Such a state of sleep is a denial of the Lord's Providence, because it is a state of human conceit in which there is always that insane prudence which is self-sufficient, and self-leading, despising charity and love of God.

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     The state of ignorance that he lived only from God is signified in the Word by the deep sleep which the Lord caused to fall upon Adam, during which the rib, his self wisdom, was removed and formed into a woman, a "help meet for him." The rib is the old proprium, the wife is the new proprium. This circumstance involves wonderful arcana concerning the means of man's regeneration in and by conjugial love, in and by his giving up the love of self and its conceits for the love of the wife, which is effected in the Divine Providence while he, as it were, sleeps.

     No one can truly love the consort conjugially, who is in the pride of his own intelligence from the love of self. (C. L. 193.) This pride must be subjugated, but it never would be unless man were permitted to do it in freedom, with every appearance of doing it from himself, and while he, as it were, sleeps. He may acknowledge from the Doctrine of the Church that he lives from God alone, and that conjugial love is given him only through the wife, but the acknowledgment of the will is only possible as the love of self is interiorly removed, and it is revealed to us that this is effected in secret ways by conjugial love, which could never exist if either the husband or wife were consciously aware of that removal. Adam's sleep was a state of ignorance that he lived from God, and a belief that he lived, thought, spoke, and acted from himself; but when he began to know that this was false he awoke from his sleep, and Eve was brought to him. So it is that man and wife are conjoined by the Lord, only when the belief in Him as the origin of life and love is received and acknowledged. As he grows in conjugial love man is awakened more and more, not only into a perception that life is given him by the Lord, but also into a greater delight of freedom in the love of the consort; for while it is an eternal verity that man does not live from himself, it is also a truth that unless it appeared to him as if he lived from himself he could not live at all. In this perception lies all human delight, which is truly human, and to all eternity man will be awakened more and more to a perception of this true delight. We must ever recur to this fundamental law of Providence. We live by influx not by afflux. For man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live. (Deut. viii, 3.) And the Lord in His Providence provides this life perpetually because "He neither slumbers nor sleeps."

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     While it is a truth that the pride of self love and self intelligence is removed while man, as it were, sleeps, it is also true that as he awakens to the reality of a reliance upon the Lord's wisdom and love, his self-life is gradually lulled to sleep. Hereditary evil, as we know, is never completely removed, but remains to eternity, sleeping perpetually as we are held in good by the Lord. But during regeneration this inherited pride must be subjugated and reduced to quiescence, and, in place of it and in dominion over it, the love of the neighbor and of the consort received as the means of love to and conjunction with the Lord. Unless pride of self-intelligence be put to sleep conjugial love is impossible. Until it is, there cannot but be a striving for dominion between married partners, an endeavor to correct and govern, due to an over-critical state toward one another's evils. Such a state cannot exist where there is a mutual effort to do the Lord's will, and a looking to the goods in the other rather than to the evils, and this, by putting selfishness and conceit to sleep; for in such a state each is wide awake to the other's faults, but as it were asleep to his own. Pride and conceit are nothing but a sleep, for then good sense within is dead; but once put Pride and. conceit to sleep and good sense and good-will awaken the mind to charity and love.

     The closing of the eyes, as in sleep, corresponds to the closing of the understanding, and to close them to prevent seeing the faults of others, is to close that critical faculty of the understanding as far as others are concerned, but to open it interiorly as far as we ourselves are concerned. Judgment and criticism are indeed necessary for protection against the evil, or against the evils of those who are unregenerate, but they make a willing servant of the love of self, and between men who feel a spiritual confidence in the integrity of one another's ends it cannot be continually to the fore if a state of mutual love is to remain. This is especially true in the marriage relation, but it is also true in the life of charity. Instead of a state of sleep toward our own evils we must cultivate a willingness to put our own animosities to sleep, to bury the memories of injuries done us, kept alive in the memory by the burning fire of self love, in order that the Lord may awaken the life of charity within us. Charity and marriage love are the Divine means of saving men, and woe to that man who conceives it his duty to regenerate his neighbor, and woe to that house which becomes a "Kingdom divided against itself." For, Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it. (Ps. cxxvii, I.)

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     The Lord's part in our regeneration is effected in wonderful ways unknown to us, and if they were known we would interrupt their operation. Therefore they are effected in our spirits in a manner analogous and corresponding to the restoration and purification performed in the body without our voluntary co-operation, especially during sleep, when the involuntary brain, together with the heart, is in complete control, and restores the functions of the organs and viscera. Even during wakefulness there is this involuntary control over the internal viscera and their operations, the cerebellum governing the heart, its beating, and the circulation of its blood, also the stomach, and the other organs of digestion. These purificatory functions are beyond our conscious control because, if they were not, we would abuse them, as we do abuse voluntary powers and functions. With the Most Ancients voluntary and involuntary life were conjoined, for they lived according to the order of nature, thus according to divine order, nor did they violate that order until the decline of the Most Ancient Church; and to save them from destruction when their wills became evil, a miraculous disjunction was performed. Since then "all the voluntary motions are different from natural action, exceeding and extending natural limits, and twisting or straining them in various ways, these limits nature restores particularly during the time of sleep." (A. K. 376, Note a.) For "That which proceeds from prior to posterior, flows according to nature's stream; but what proceeds from posterior to prior too often goes contrary to nature, and does violence to the order of the higher mind," (A. K. 367, Note al--an order inscribed upon it by God.

     When the voluntary of the cerebrum is conjoined to the involuntary of the cerebellum, there is a marriage of the two brains, and also of the heart and lungs, corresponding to the regenerate state, as also to the conjunction of the celestial and spiritual Kingdoms of heaven. This marriage is violated during conscious and wakeful life by the activity of our evil passions, by anger, hatred, revenge, and cruelty, as also by over-indulgence of the bodily appetites, over-eating, over-drinking, also by over-work and exercise and all manners of intemperance.

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Temperance is an orderly and equable conjunction of the voluntary and involuntary functions, giving balance to the mind and poise to the body. But without the suspension of our conscious and voluntary powers, putting a check upon immoderate habits, men would soon send their own physical bodies to destruction; and a spiritual death would in like manner await all if evils were not checked and lulled to sleep by a Divine power,--unless we were healed from our insanities by Divine remedies. It is a natural fact that much of the insanity in the world results from habits, the indulgence of which is unfavorable to sleep, just as spiritual insanity it due to that inordinate activity of evil loves which prevents the operation of good loves and thereby spiritual purification and healing by the Lord. We present a pitiable sight indeed when we examine ourselves in honest light, and consider how the soul, from the Divine presence, urgence, and order, yearns continually and perpetually to put the body in a state of excellence, which we from ignorance, waywardness, or wickedness ever violently disallow. How exquisitely conscious the Soul is of every vicissitude and circumstance in her realm! How promptly she takes the field when things are disordered, and with what zeal she renews and re-establishes their ties and harmonies, but this only when we ourselves sleep and are thereby bereft of our will. This is the Lord's watchful and never-ceasing guard and providence over our nature or physical lives, for when, in old age and disease, it departs, the body dies, and this, as we have seen, is a correspondence of that purification which is only effected spiritually by the deep sleep of Adam. (See A. K. 106.)

     During states of sleep the cerebrum or voluntary brain, together with the lungs, collapses and as it were dies, becoming tacit under the government of the cerebellum or involuntary brain, and the heart, which never cease their animation and pulsation respectively; until the spirit leaves the body, no longer tenable as a house and home when disease and decrepitude, due to the waste of voluntary life, at length so render it. In conditions of order men would not die of disease, but, like the inhabitants of better planets than our own, they would Pass away in sleep; for in orderly conditions voluntary life co-operates with involuntary life. These truths will show on our ultimate plane why it is that if, in conditions of order, we would depart from the body in health, we only depart this life in a state of spiritual health when we have voluntarily co-operated with the Lord's life given us by influx through the soul.

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This we do by receiving from Him a new love, a new heart, which will animate according to the pulse of heaven. By praying to Him to "create in us a new heart," that is by a living prayer in the effort to do the truths of wisdom, we receive the affection and love of good, which forms a means through which He may operate to purify and restore our spirits, placing in order the tangled and disordered condition in which we have put our house by the mixed activity of evil and good; and the Lord performs this work during such periods of rest and the quiescence of our evils, as He may grant in the life of regeneration. It is necessary that our evils come forth into our consciousness, in order that they may be seen, acknowledged, and shunned; but unless they be, at times, reduced to quiescence the Lord could never operate to put our spiritual house in order. Except the Lord build the house they labor in, vain that build it: Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman walketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so he giveth his beloved sleep. (Ps. cxxvii, 1, 2.)

     The process of physical digestion, castigation, purification, and preparation of foods for the blood, is a correspondence of spiritual digestion in the mind, and of resurrection into the life of the Gorand Man of heaven. The angelic societies which perform those spiritual uses belong to the organs of the body which are under the involuntary control, that is, they belong to the provinces of the cerebellum and heart, the celestial kingdom. By means of them the Lord "builds the house." They are present in their corresponding uses in the body, in the minds of men and spirits, and in the use of elevating men to heaven, saving them from hell. This process in man's spirit is the elevation of knowledges from the external to the internal memory, into the rational mind, and into the will or love, no otherwise than the essences of food from the stomach are elevated into the blood, which is further purified in the lungs and still further in the brains,--a purification and refinement by which the higher degrees of blood, namely, spirits, are produced. For the blood is of three degrees, as the mind is of three degrees, and as the heavens are of three degrees, the lower respectively more gross and less pure than the higher, like states of shade and sleep to wakefulness.

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     There is an effort in the mind and body of man to purify and refine that which is lower and thus elevate it to the higher, and this from the Soul in which the Lord is immediately present with His infinite love of saving men for His Kingdom. If the stomach be diseased, the heart or brain unhealthy, this is not as efficiently performed, no more than it is effected in the mind if evil loves are at heart,--if we are interiorly in self-love and its conceit. According to the state of good with a man, according as his heart is healthy, an orderly arrangement of truth is given him by the Lord in his rational mind, and this without effort of his own. By that orderly arrangement he has rational perception, and growth in the good of life from the truths raised out of the memory and prepared for reception by the will.

     This orderly arrangement given by the Lord in His hidden Providence while man as it were sleeps, is signified in the Word by the silver which the brethren of Joseph found in the mouths of their sacks of corn. Joseph had given it back to them unsought, and when they returned out of Egypt they found it. (A. C. 5530.)

     But the evil heart and its conceit has no trust in the Providence of the Lord, and in the mind of an evil man truths cannot be disposed into a heavenly form by the Lord; for evil never sleeps except with the good man, and it is by the sleeping or quiescence of evil that this is done. The conceit of self intelligence arranges truths according to an order suitable to its own prudence and evil designs, which is represented in the Word by David's numbering the people, for which offence the pestilence was sent. (A. C. 10217.)

     This pride also is the serpent in the Garden of Eden which seduced man, and it is a remarkable natural fact that serpents' poison causes, in the human body, what pride and prudence cause in the mind. It takes away the power of sleep, which is the Divine means of healing man's evils, as it is the Divine means in the laws of nature whereby disorders of the body are healed.

     Pure trust in the Divine Providence of the Lord, like blind faith: will heal us of many of our distresses, whereas impatience and anxiety, which are merely corporeal affections, the qualities of the serpent in us, do but increase our afflictions. The pride of self-intelligence must be broken by temptations, and by temptations we learn to rely upon the Lord; not only to rely upon Him by further perseverance in the regenerate life, but also by further reliance upon Him for that which we cannot do for ourselves if we would.

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In spiritual temptations a man is brought face to face with the fact that he lives from the Lord alone, that of himself he is perfectly helpless, and when this is seen and acknowledged he receives new power and life and trust in the Lord. The perception or realization of utter helplessness is often experienced in the night, when temptations are especially grievous because the man from illustration is then in more intense consciousness of his evils, the distractions of the day being removed. As Jacob said, In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. (Gen. xxxi, 40, A. C. 4157.) Sleep is then driven from the eyes because the inmost of the mind, the heart's love, is then most active, for therein conscience and love of God reside, and from that intense activity thought is intense, and the consciousness of evil more vivid, finally reducing the man to such despair that he desires to perish. When the root of his pride is thus plucked out, and he perchance obtains the consolation of peace in slumber, he will awaken to a new state of delight in the morning, a new state of illustration from more intimate conjunction with the Lord and with the angels.

     Temptations are spiritual castigations and purifications, a process whereby man is vastated of his evils and elevated to higher goods, in a manner anal to the digestion of foods, the purification of the blood, and also to the fermentation of wines when the pure spirit rises and the dregs fall, and like the storms in nature, which purify the atmosphere and remove noxious gases. After them, man's mental atmosphere becomes clear, and he comes as from sleep into wakefulness. Evils have then been removed from the external man which is conjoined to the internal, and by this conjunction there is power and illustration in the external, in the natural from the spiritual.

     The Lord by temptations in His Human conjoined His internal man, which was Divine, to the external human, and thus He put on the Divine Natural. "From this He now illustrates not only the internal spiritual of every man, but also the external natural, and unless these two are illustrated at the same time, a man is as it were in shade, but when they are both illustrated he is in daylight.

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For when the internal man alone is illustrated, or enlightened, and not at the same time the external, or when the external alone and not at the same time the internal, he is as one who sleeps and dreams, and who, as soon as he is awakened, recollects the dream, and concludes various things from it, which, however, are imaginary; and he is as one walking in sleep, who thinks the objects he sees are in daylight." (T. C. R. 109.)

     A man is in the internal man apart from the external when he is intellectual but not practical; and he is in the external alone, when he is in knowledge and obedience without enlightened understanding. These states are both sleep when compared with the state which follows the conjunction of the internal and external, the state in which a man knows and understands what he does, and does what he knows and understands. This is the celestial spiritual quality which is to make the New Church. This is Joseph, in whose name, which signifies what is added together, we have the representation of the conjunction of the Divine Celestial and Divine Spiritual in the Divine Natural, from which conjunction in the Divine Human of the Lord men are to receive that great awakening which is the light of love. (See A. C. 5097.) But we will not receive this unless we are spiritually vigilant and active, unless we acquire an obedience to that early morning brilliance in the mind given us by angel messengers from the Lord, unless we do the best things in this our greatest light. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man. (Proverbs xxiv, 33, 34.) Amen.

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COMING OF THE LORD 1903

COMING OF THE LORD       Rev. E. S. PRICE       1903

     As the coming of the Lord to the world at large is at the end of the Church, so also with the individual His coming is at the end of the Church, that is, when the individual comes to see and acknowledge that all that he has before believed is not and cannot be true, and, when he desires to obtain the truth, and rejects what he has before believed as false and misleading, and accepts Divine Revelation as the only source of information. He then comes into an historical faith of the birth and life of the Lord on earth in His assumed Humanity. The Lord then is conceived in man in the remains which are stored up by the Lord from earliest natural conception to latest old age. These remains are the affections of good, and are in the Word called virgins. These affections open the mind for the reception and acknowledgment of the Lord which in the Word is meant by conception. Those who are in simple, that is, in single states of affection for what is good, or in good natural tendencies, acknowledge the truth when it is presented to them, and it finds a resting place in their memory. When the truth thus conceived in the heart of man, is as it were, carried in the womb, and has taken to itself a form in man's thought, it is then given birth by being made to exist in actuality, by being applied to man's life, in his combats against evil, followed by his life of charity towards the neighbor. This also is what is meant by giving birth in the Word; for a son is an actual form of human life, in word or act. It is a truth formed into act, that is, become a good, arising from the conjunction of the affections of good and truth. "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son."

     The life of charity with man is, in its widest or most universal sense, the life of love to the Lord, not the smallest part of which a man has of himself; but it must all come from the Lord. It is by the reception and acknowledgment of, and life according to the Divine Truth that man learns to know the Lord, and to worship Him in humbleness of heart and integrity of purpose, rejecting everything from the proprium, and receiving anew from the Lord all of life and light, love and thought.

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This is what is meant by calling the name, or calling by name; for to call by name, or to name, is to know the quality or to be of such a quality. God is received by man in the degree of, and according to the quality of man's life formed and directed by the Divine Law of the Word. "His name shall be called Immanuel--God with us."

     The Word and the divinely inspired Writings of the Church are nothing but dead paper and ink until they are received, loved and lived by man. But there is much to prevent this reception, love and life, in the constitution of man, especially as he is at the present day. As at the time of the Lord's first coming into the world, the evil spirits of those who had died in the times of the Ancient and Israelitish Churches possessed the world of spirits, and even the lower heavens, and thus obstructed the way for the descent of the Divine Truth to men, so that the Lord could no longer communicate with men on earth by means of the representatives of the Israelitish Church, so now man's natural is so entirely filled with the cupidities and concupiscences of hereditary evil that the Divine Light can inflow, as it were, only through a few cracks and chinks. Man can, however, if he will, with the help of the Lord widen these chinks, and make of them windows, through which the Divine Light may inflow in its power and glory. This he can do by learning to know what his evils are, by fighting against them and by praying to the Lord for power to overcome them; and as one evil after another is conquered and cast out into hell where it came from, goods from the Lord take their place; for evils are perverted goods, and wherever an evil is removed a good must take its place or else there will be a vacancy.

     When all this is accomplished with man, and he is no longer actuated by his own proprium, but by the regenerate proprium from the Lord, when he gives up all his conceit of self-derived intelligence, and looks to the Lord in His glorified Human as it now comes to us in power and great glory in the opening of the Divine Word, which the Lord, in His Infinite Mercy, has vouch-safed us in the Writings of His Church, the all-glorious New Jerusalem, then, "Behold, a virgin has conceived and born a Son, and His name is called Immanuel--God with us."

     The Lord is Infinite and Eternal and whatever He does must partake of the qualities of Infinity and Eternity, therefore the birth of the Lord as an infant is an infinite and eternal work and takes place for the redemption of every man upon all the earths, and every man is redeemed thereby, that is, the Lord, by the assumption of the Human and the combats against temptations to evil admitted into it, and victories in every one of them, so reduced and subjugated the powers of evil spirits that they can never again take possession of the bodies of men,--never again gain complete control of men unless men with them so to do.

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This work of the Lord is a purely Divine one from Infinite mercy, and in this work man has no part whatever, so far as his own will or free determination is concerned; but he only has part in that he is the object of the work of redemption. But man may avail himself of this redemption by acceptance and the living out of the requirements on his part, that is, by living according to the Divine commands; this work then results in salvation for man.
RICHARD DE CHARMS 1903

RICHARD DE CHARMS              1903

     V. HIS LIFE IN BALTIMORE.

(For the preceding installments of this biographical sketch, see New Church Life for January and March, 1992, and February and May, 1903.)

     1845-1850.

     THE Rev. N. C. Burnham having resigned from the pastorate of the Baltimore Society, Mr. De Charms accepted the invitation to fill the vacancy, and he left his former charge in Philadelphia without a great deal of regret, as his teachings there had, apparently, fallen upon stony ground. The staunch, sound old laymen of a former generation one by one had passed away, and the influence of the democratic Quaker element in the Philadelphia First Society had become more and more dominant. Even Mr. De Charms's successor in the pastorate, the Rev. W. H. Benade, became affected, for a time, by the democratic sphere, so that he opposed Mr. De Charms at the meetings of the Central Convention, especially in regard to the trine in the ministry. Before long, however, Mr. Benade thoroughly repented of his opposition, and in 1854 made a public confession of his change of heart, acknowledging his indebtedness to his "elder and superior brethren in the ministry," (i. e., Messrs. De Charms, Powell, and Burnham), for the better light to which he had come.

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     While in Baltimore, Mr. De Charms enjoyed a brief period of comparative peace, externally, affording him an opportunity to devote himself to work on his important volume on the Trine in the Priesthood. The Church was at this time increasing in Baltimore; the services were very well attended, and Mr. De Charms himself made a number of firm and life-long friends, whose devotion were a source of great consolation to him during his later, troubled years.

     We may now look back briefly, upon Mr. De Charms's literary work during the period which had passed since he left Cincinnati, Each one of his works deserves, indeed, an extended review, for nearly every one may be counted as among the "Classics" in the literature of the New Church, but we have space, here, for only brief notices.

     In the year 1541 he published a small volume containing A Course of Lectures on the Fundamental Doctrines of the New Church, (Philadelphia, 92 pp.), which he had delivered in Charleston. S. C. The author here appears as an evangelist of marked ability and clearness.

     In the same year he began to edit The Newchurchman, a magazine which was published in Philadelphia in two large octave volumes, from 1841 to 1844, under the auspices of the Central Convention. If, in our account of The Precursor, we were liberal with praise, this, the second journalistic venture of Mr. De Charms, deserves the same in even greater measure. Indeed, previous to the appearance of Words for the New, Church, in 1877, there can be found nothing more sound and solid in the periodical literature of the Church. In the two volumes of The Newchurchman we find the first systematic presentation of the Divine authority and infallibility of the Heavenly Doctrines, of the true nature and significance of the New Church, of New Church science and education, of order and government in the Church, of the state of the Christian world, in fine, of most of the "Academy doctrines," as they were first conceived and formulated. A special feature of this magazine was the publication of a great number of "Documents for New Church History," which form a most valuable archive of important records, relating to the earlier and inner history of the New Church.

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Mr. De Charms, in all that he did, looked more to the future than to the time in which he lived, and was convinced that a time would come when, with a greater appreciation of the distinctiveness of the New Church, there would be also a keen interest in the history of that Church.

     Again, in 1841, our prolific author published a volume of Sermons illustrating the Doctrine of the Lord and other fundamental Doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church. (Philadelphia, 376 pp. A second edition was published by Wm. Newberry, in London, 1843). Unlike most other sermons of by-gone days, these are still of living interest, being the result of profound study of the Writings, and are still being read with great profit, in the worship of isolated members and smaller circles of the Church.

     In order to relieve The Newchurchman of its heavy burden of decidedly controversial matter, Mr. De Charms, in 1843, undertook the publication of a third periodical work, entitled The Newchurchman-Extra, which was intended for circulation within the Church only, in order to keep the manifold controversies "within the family," as it were, so as to give no offense to outsiders or to young and weaker brethren. This, of course, was a very foolish procedure, the bottling up of spirits which were still fermenting, the erecting of a closet in which to hide the family-skeletons, but the plan was virtually forced upon Mr. De Charms by the Central Convention.

     The first of these semi-public "Extras" is occupied entirely by documents relating to the "Conjugial Heresy," which has been described above. The second, published in 1844, contains an "Historical Sketch of the New Jerusalem Church in the United States." It is not written by Mr. De Charms, and is not of any special interest or value. The third, also published in 1844, contains "Strictures on Mr. Wilkin's Letters in Advocacy of the Eastern Convention and its Measures and Principles." This article, we understand, is from the pen of Mr. De Charms, and is very incisive and lively.

     Finally, in 1848, there appeared a volume of seven hundred and twelve pages, constituting nos. IV-XVI of the Newchurchman-Extra, and bearing the sub-title A Report on the Trine, to the Central Convention.

     It is quite impossible for us to present, here, any adequate idea of this crowning work of Mr. De Charms's theological, ecclesiastical and historical labors.

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Suffice it to say, that it is a well-nigh inexhaustible storehouse of information and teaching on the subject of the priesthood in the New Church. Written in the very best of the author's always lucid, entertaining, and elevated style, this work, alone, is sufficient to make the name of Mr. De Charms immortal in the history of the New Church, as occupying a place in the front rank of those teachers who have given shape and direction to the spiritual thought and tendency of the Church.

     By the publication and careful, critical analysis of a mass of original documents, Mr. De Charms here traces the beginnings of the New Church and its ministry both in England and in America up to his own limes, describes the infestations, temptations, controversies and conflicts to which it had been exposed from its very infancy, portrays in vivid outlines the personality and mental characteristics of the early leaders and of the more prominent amongst his own contemporaries in the Church, collects and focuses the teachings of the Writings on the subject of the Priesthood, makes vigorous, often personal onslaughts on the opponents of these teachings, and outlines the policy of ecclesiastical government, which we truly believe will prevail in the New Church of the future, that is, the government of a Council of bishops, with a primus inter pares, a first among equals, as presiding officer.

     But whether the readers may agree with his teachings and conclusions, or not, those who take up the study of this book cannot fail to catch something of the sphere of intense and burning love for the Heavenly Doctrines and for the organized New Church as its feeble but single embodiment, which breathes and pulsates through the volume.

     To the young student of Theology, especially, and to all who are or who wish to remain young and ardent in the Church, the study of the Report on the Trine is an education in itself.

     It has been said, on very good authority, that this great work was never written in manuscript form, but, like many others of Mr. De Charms's productions, flowed directly from the author's teeming brain into the printer's type. Formerly a printer by trade, he was an expert compositor, and set up his type almost as fast as an ordinary man could write. His labors on this work, with his other duties as preacher and pastor, were so arduous that his health, which had always been delicate, suffered such serious injury as to necessitate his giving up the pastoral charge of the Baltimore Society.

363


Hoping to restore his vigor, he spent some months travelling in the West, in 1839, and on his return East, delivered in Washington a famous sermon on Freedom and Slavery, which was afterwards published. This subject was then being discussed, in the New Church as in the whole country, with a great degree of passion, but Mr. De Charms, as usual, fearlessly and calmly brought out the unmistakable teaching of the Writings. In the spring of 1850, he returned with his family, to Philadelphia.

     (To be Concluded.)

364


MANUSCRIPTS OF SWEDENBORG 1903

MANUSCRIPTS OF SWEDENBORG              1903

     THE past few months have witnessed a remarkable interest, on the part of some of the highest scientific authorities of Sweden, in the scientific writings of Emanuel Swedenborg,--an interest the direct result of which has been a movement looking to the printing of the unpublished scientific manuscripts The immediate cause of this movement, as the Life has already noted (see pp. 100, 216, 278), was the receipt in Stockholm of an official enquiry made by the Swedish Legation in Vienna at the instance of Dr. Neuberger, respecting the unpublished manuscripts of Swedenborg. In endeavoring to answer the enquiry. Dr. Retzius, the famous physiologist, commenced a personal examination of the manuscripts; but finding considerable difficulty in deciphering the handwriting, he soon gave up the attempt. Shortly afterwards he met Mr. Alfred Stroh, and finding that Mr. Stroh was able to read Swedenborg's writing, he immediately took measures, which resulted in the appointment, by the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, of a committee to investigate the scientific manuscripts of Swedenborg with a view to their publication.

     From a communication addressed to the Life by Mr. Stroh,--the greater portion of which was also sent to Morning Light and New Church Messenger, in both which papers it has already appeared,--we learn something of the preliminary results of this committee's investigations, as given in the report presented by its chairman, Dr. Retzius, to the Academy of Sciences at its meetings on April 8th. Mr. Stroh writes:

     "In his report, Dr. Retzius stated that at its first meeting the committee was organized and began its examination of the scientific manuscripts and also the printed works of Swedenborg in the library of the Academy; the particular examination of the works on physics and kindred sciences being placed in the hands of Professor Arrhenius, that of the geological treatises in the hands of Professor Nathorst, while the examination of the physiological and anatomical works was undertaken by Professors Loven, Henschen and Retzius. The report further described the interest with which the committee had heard through me of the existence in America of copies of one or two of the larger manuscripts on the Brain and that I had been commissioned to write to America to see whether the copies could be forwarded to Stockholm for the use of the committee.

365


The committee had also been much interested in the manuscript of the Lesser Principia revised copy* of which I had promised to furnish, if it could be printed. I may add that I was also asked at this first meeting of the committee to furnish a calculation of the approximate number of pages the Lesser Principia would fill, the size being that of Dr. Wilkinson's edition of the Third Part of the OEconomia Regni Animalis; and also to calculate the number of pages of unprinted matter contained in four of the largest codices on physiological and anatomical subjects, not including codices 55 and 65, which were presumably those which had been copied in America."
     * The copy here referred to, was made from the photolithographed manuscript by a committee by the Swedenborg Scientific Association. The work was done by Rev. Emanuel Goerwitz, Rev. Reginald Brown and Professor Vinet.

     The copy of the large manuscripts on the Brain, here referred to, was made from the photolithographic Manuscripts, by the Rev. Phillip B. Cabell, then professor of Latin in Urbana University, and it remained in the possession of the University after Mr. Cabell left. At Mr. Stroh's request, conveyed to the authorities at Urbana through Dr. Sewall, this copy was forwarded to Stockholm for the use of the committee appointed by the Academy of Sciences.

     After acknowledging the courtesy of Urbana University, our correspondent continues: "The committee also took action on my report about the pages of unprinted matter in the four codices referred to above, and I was asked to have copies made of the unprinted sections, together with the important indices of the Animal Kingdom and the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, which were made by Swedenborg, but were not published by him. In conclusion, Professor Retzius moved that a beginning be made in the printing of Swedenborg's scientific works under some such general title as Emanuelis Swedenborgii Opera Quaedam Obsoleta et partim Inedita, the first work to be the text of the Lesser Principia, to be published under the auspices of the Academy and the expenses to be borne by himself.

366


The motion was unanimously passed and the liberality of Professor Retzius was recognized by a rising vote. In the course of the report Professor Retzius spoke of the evidence which showed that Swedenborg had most remarkable and marvellous scientific ideas which were a hundred years before their time and that the publication of the hitherto inedited manuscripts and the republication of the text of the works out of print was an important matter in the history of science. The Lesser Principia was given as an example, for this is the first work known to be in existence, in which a nebular hypothesis of the origin of the planets is presented, and it furthermore contains a remarkable theory of light based on the idea of undulations and pressure in the ether, besides other scientific theories of much interest.

     "Part of the Lesser Principia, has gone to the printer. The size is to be a large octave and every effort will be made to produce a handsome volume. The question of the size of the edition to be printed having arisen, I have been requested to ascertain whether the various New-Church printing societies and book-rooms are willing to take a certain number of copies of this volume, and if so, how many.

     Mr. Stroh requests, that all who are desirous of subscribing to this publication communicate with him at 77 Radmansgatan, Stockholm, at once, specifying the number of copies wanted. The work is to include Swedenborg's Latin text, together with notes written by Professor Arrhenius.

     THE REPRODUCTION OF SWEDENBORG'S MANUSCRIPTS.

     Under this heading, our correspondent gives a number of particulars respecting the manuscripts now preserved in Sweden. He says:

     "Nearly all of Swedenborg's manuscripts are preserved in the library of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, but there are a few at the Royal Library in Stockholm and at the Diocesan Library in Linkoping. The collection at the Academy of Sciences is a small library in itself, and on examining the many large volumes of manuscript one cannot but wonder at the tireless industry which produced such a collection of finished works, drafts, indices, extracts and notes. There is so much material here that although the New Church has been in existence for over a hundred years there are still many hundreds of pages of manuscript which have never been printed, and although ten large volumes of photolithographs have been published and copyists been kept busy for months there are still many hundreds of pages of theological and scientific importance which have never been photolithographed, phototyped, copied by hand, or reproduced in any way. This is surprising, but it is true."

367




     Referring to the condition of these manuscripts, he continues:

     "Some of the manuscripts are remarkably well preserved and with proper care will remain in very legible condition for many years to come. Others are in a different condition; there are cases where the paper has become exceedingly brittle, and other cases where the ink has spread so much that the writing is obscured, almost illegible, or altogether so. The importance of a speedy reproduction is therefore evident."

     THE THEOLOGICAL MANUSCRIPTS.

     The theological manuscript which has, for some time past, been most prominently brought to the notice of the Church, is the Spiritual Diary. This is now being Phototyped by the General Convention. with the co-operation of the Academy of the New Church, and from the letter of our correspondent,--under whose direction the actual work is being carried on,--we learn that three firms are now simultaneously engaged in the work, and that the whole of the Diary will be finished by autumn. He adds that, in addition to the Spiritual Diary, three short theological manuscripts have also been phototyped, namely, De Conjugio, Annotata de Calvino, and a collection of draft pages of True Christian Religion. The latter manuscript is preserved in the Royal Library, and has never been printed in Latin, though it was "partly translated" by Dr. Tafel in his Documents concerning Swedenborg.

     Mr. Stroh supplies some new and important facts respecting the first drafts of Arcana Caelestia and Apocalypsis Explicata, which emphasize the importance of reproducing these manuscripts. It may not be necessary to reproduce them in their entirety, at any rate at the present time when so much more pressing work claims the support of the Church, but, at comparatively little cost, a careful comparison of the first drafts with the printed Arcana, and the photolithographed copy of the Apocalypsis Explicata could be instituted, and all variations and omissions, etc., be carefully copied; or even phototyped.

368




     With only a very partial comparison, Mr. Stroh has found a number of more or less important variations. Thus, in one case, he discovered a short numbered paragraph in the first draft of the Arcana Caelestia which was omitted in the printed edition, though, unfortunately, he fails to give the number. "In another case in the Apocalypse Explained, a passage in the Word which is nowhere else explained is given an evil signification, when the whole context would lead the student to expect a good signification, However, on consulting the first draft, the explanation is at once found, for there is a different word in the sentence which gives the passage in question a good meaning, the divergence in the later product being due to a slip in copying. It is thus certain that when the student of the present editions of the Arcana Caelestia and Apocalypse Explained finds some difficult sentence or question of reference, he will not be able to feel sure that the first drafts of those works would not at once solve the point if they could be referred to. In looking up another passage to see whether the same translation is given in the first draft of the Arcana as in the printed edition, I found that the number was not there at all, The number in question was one of those which gives the general exposition of a group of verses, the particular exposition following later. After a further search in other places I found that the general exposition was lacking elsewhere. It thus appears that Swedenborg's method was to give the particular exposition in the first draft and afterwards compile the general exposition when writing out the second draft."

     In the course of his letter, Mr. Stroh gives some account of his experiences in England and Sweden. In the former country he met the Rev. Andrew Czerny and the London and Colchester members of the General Church, besides "a number of the Conference clergy and laity." He also met Bishop Benade, whom he found recovering from his accident, and in good health.

     Of his remarks about Stockholm, we quote the following interesting passage respecting the site of Swedenborg's house:

     "Swedenborg's dwelling is no longer extant; it was torn down some years ago to make room for new houses; but the site is marked by a commemorative tablet.

369


However, the little pleasure-house (lusthus), which he used as a library, has been repaired and is preserved in the national park, "Skansen," where many interesting buildings and objects characteristically Swedish are exhibited. On the walls of the little house, just referred to, there are a number of pictures of Swedenborg; in one corner stands his organ and on two tables at the sides of the room are exhibited a number of the original editions of the Writings and scientific works and also a number of the earliest translations. In another part of the city there is a building connected with the government of Swedish mines (Jern-kontoret), on the wall of which are bust relievos of prominent Swedes and in the most conspicuous place is that of Swedenborg. In still another place, in an old building at the foot of Stora Nygatan* facing the southern quarter of the city (Sodermalm), where Swedenborg's dwelling was, the minutes of the 'College of Mines' are preserved." Some of Swedenborg's works are kept here and also his inlaid marble table, mentioned in the Documents, and about which he wrote a memoir for the Academy of Sciences.
     * This is one of the streets mentioned in S. D. 5711, 5721.

370


FOUNDER OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH 1903

FOUNDER OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH              1903

     NICHOLAS LOUIS, Count of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf, the founder of the sect of Herrnhuters or Moravian Brethren, was born in Dresden in the year 1700. Influenced by his surroundings and education, he early became imbued with the spirit of the Pietists,--a party within the Lutheran Church, established in the latter part of the seventeenth century as a protest against the purely dogmatic tendencies of the Lutheran clergy. Although intended for diplomacy, Zinzendorf's natural bent led him to seek a life which was more in accordance with his pietistic principles, He himself describes how from boyhood it was his ambition to found a "society of believers;" and, while still at school, this ambition led him to form, among his fellow-pupils, a society for the promotion of piety, to which he gave the name, The Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed. At his majority he retired to his estates in Saxony with the intention of devoting himself to works of religion: and there he was joined by some families of the ancient Moravian or Bohemian Brethren who were seeking a place where they could revive their almost extinct religion, and to whom he offered an asylum.

     These Brethren were the last remnants of a Society whose roots are to be found in the religious movement initiated by John Huss in the fifteenth century. When, after the death of Huss, his followers were divided into two factions, there remained many pious people, who, calling themselves "Brethren," were content with simple meetings for reading the Word and for worship. From these arose, in 1'547, the ancient Moravian Brotherhood or Unitas Fratrum. It is probably this First Moravian Church" or the "Brethren" who preceded it), which is referred to in S. D. 3488, where it is said that the best spirits were those of the "Primitive or Moravian Church." The Unitas Fratrum laid great stress on the preservation in its priesthood of the true Apostolic Succession; and when, at the time of the religious persecutions in the first quarter of the seventeenth century, the Church became almost extinct, this succession was still handed down by ordination, in the hopes that better times would come.

     The few families who found a home with Count Zinzendorf were soon joined by others of their faith, and it was not long before a small town was built up in one part of the Count's estate.

371


This town was situated on the hill Huthberg, from which was derived the name of the colony, "Huth des Herm" (Hi11 of the Lord), contracted to Herrnhuters. Their other title "Moravian Brethren" was adopted for the sake of a connection with the earlier Moravian Church, from which, by its two remaining bishops, the Apostolic Succession was transferred by ordination to the Herrnhuters.

     Zinzendorf himself took up his abode in the new town, and while, at first, he found some difficulty in managing the more or less independent spirits whom he had entertained, it was not long before he had formed them into a compact and organized body subjected to a strict monastic or ecclesiastical discipline under the absolute control of himself as leader. Judging from the organization of this body, and from the various titles which its leader assumed, it would seem that what Zinzendorf really aimed at was more or less a pontificate.

     However this may be, it was not the Count's professed purpose to found a new Church. According to his own statements he wished to form nothing more than a society of pious believers which should be devoted to the cultivation of good works. He and his followers proclaimed themselves as being a Congregation within the Lutheran Church, (ecclesiola in ecclesia); and, though preserving their own organization and even their own priesthood, they at first attended the pariah church in the neighborhood of Herrnhut. In accordance with their professed objects, the Moravians have never formulated any Creed or statement of doctrine, but have always professed to accept the Lutheran doctrine in its entirety. Indeed, in 1734, Zinzendorf himself was ordained in the Lutheran Church.

     But despite this apparent doctrinal unity with the Lutherans, it is unquestionable that the Herrnhuters held doctrines which they did not suffer to be publicly known. For a few years the sect was taken unenviable notice of by the civil power, and we have no less an authority than McClintock and Strong, (in their Biblical Cyclopaedia), for the statement that "the interference of the Government with Zinzendorf can hardly be regarded as a measure of persecution, as secret doctrines were undoubtedly held by him, and thus motives given to his followers and objects sought, of which, whether good or evil, the established authorities could take no cognizance."

372


To the same cause, at any rate in part, may be ascribed the opposition which the Moravians received from the Lutheran clergy, who, while not knowing the secret teachings, no doubt saw something of their fruits. What these teachings were has been fully set forth by Swedenborg, to whom they were revealed in the spiritual world; but historical indications of their existence and nature are not wanting. Thus, shortly after its foundation, the Church fell, for a period of about five years, into great excess, and its real faith then necessarily became more or less revealed; at this time grossly sensuous images were publicly exposed; and the most fanciful and raphsodical language was used in speaking about the Lord, particularly when apostrophizing "the wounds of Christ." A further evidence of the existence of secret doctrines is afforded in the writings of Zinzendorf himself. His hymns are full of "pious indecency," and his sermons were mystical, anti-scriptural, and sensuous, particularly when treating of the Holy Ghost as the spiritual mother.

     From the foundation of their Church, the Moravians have shown great zeal in carrying on missionary work. In this they have been remarkably successful, and not the less so, because they carried it on under the external garb of Lutherism. Zinzendorf watched this work with keen interest, and himself took no mean part in it. He was an indefatigable traveller in the interest of his church, and made many long journeys, going even as far as America, where he spent over a year. He died in 1760, and in that same year he met Swedenborg in the spiritual world, and underwent the experiences related in n. 37, seq. of the posthumous work on the Last Judgment.

373


LAST JUDGMENT 1903

LAST JUDGMENT              1903

[MINOR WORKS BY SWEDENBORG]

     ZINZENDORF AND THE MORAVIANS.

     1. ZINZENDORF.

     37. I spoke with Zinzendorf after his death; and then his life and his life's affection and also his principles of religion were disclosed; for a spirit can be let into such a state that he conceals absolutely nothing, but lays all things open. It was then laid open, 1. That he had been, in the highest degree, a persuader, and that he had persuaded by earnest protestations that he knows the mysteries of heaven, and that no one comes into heaven who is not of his doctrine. 2. That, at first, he spoke with others according to their religion, thus pretending [that he was in a doctrine similar to theirs] and so alluring them; and that afterwards he implanted his own secrets, first making a searching examination as to whether they would be received and concealed. 3. It was said that the mystery of his faith had been, that the Lord was born that He might be the adoptive Son of God; that, at first, he had believed the Lord to have been the adoptive Son of God simply [because He had taken on Himself the passion of the Cross]; thus that he was an Arian. 4. That he had believed that the Lord's Divine had been like the divine with other men, but that it is now something more. 5. He hardly wished to hear about the Lord's conception from the Divine as related in Matthew and Luke; he turned himself away, and was unwilling to say what he felt; aid that this is a mystery which they are afraid to manifest. 6. That he had attributed sins to the Lord, and [had believed] that, in the Gospels, He spoke no better than any other man; calling what He there said, obscure; that he cares nothing for the Old Testament, and was unwilling to hear the things there written about the Lord. 7. That he had rejected all life of charity, and [had maintained] that it is detestable to think about God and about salvation, from religion in respect to life, and that faith separate from charity saves. 8. He believed that he alone, with his followers, would come into heaven; and that they alone were alive, and all others dead.

374


9. They speak about themselves as the Lord spoke about Himself, namely, that they are sons of God; that they are without sins; that they are the life and the truth, because no attention is paid to any evil with them because they are in faith, and that therefore they are the life and the truth; and they call their life blameless, because it is alive through faith.

     38. Yet they love the Lord, because that love was commanded on account of His having suffered the Cross in order to propitiate the Father; this is the faith that saves them.*
     * See S. D. 5988-5999: "They said they loved the Lord, because, on account of the passion of the Cross, He was received by God the Father as His Son; it was told them that such love is not in the least effective of conjunction, except with some simple-minded spirits in the ultimate heaven who do not know their mysteries, but only perceive from their mouth that they love the Lord....
     "Still some of that congregation who have not confirmed themselves in such things, can be saved, and still more those who were ignorant of them, and believed that the Lord was worshiped among them in the chief place, and that there ought to be life also, together with faith."--TR.

     39. Because Zinzendorf had believed that he alone, with his followers, would come into heaven, opportunity was given him to ascend into the heavens; and, wheresoever he was, he was ordered to depart, because those who were there were sensible of the falses flowing forth from him, together with the delight of glory arising from the fact that he had established a Church; it was perceived that in the delight of glory there was merit. He also spoke with his brethren about heaven; they said that heaven is not theirs.*
     * Further particulars respecting Zinzendorf's visit to societies in heaven, and also respecting his conversation with the Moravians about heaven, are given in S. D. 5993.--TR.

     40. In a vision of the spirit, there appeared to me a wild stag in fetters, but which burst its fetters and rushed with fury upon all whom it met, wishing to tear and destroy them. But there then appeared an enormous dog, which rushed upon that stag and rended it. The stag was afterwards seen in human form,--it was Dipple,* who [appeared thus], because he is not allowed to go about, refuting all men, from the delight of his life, and at the same time exciting disturbances.

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And Zinzendorf said that he had loved him, but that he had noticed that he afterwards receded; and that he was of such a character that he wished to lash all men with his malignant writings; and that he could refute in an ingenious manner as though he were full of knowledge and wisdom; and that this was a natural gift with him, but that from himself, he thought about things foolishly.
     * John Conrad Dipple (1673-1734), a German theologian who, on account of his hatred of orthodoxy, gave up theology, and devoted himself to medicine, becoming in time a celebrated physician, in which capacity he was summoned to Stockholm by Frederick, king of Sweden. Under the pseudonym Christianus Democritus, he published many writings in which he bitterly attacked the Church, exposing its doctrines to scathing criticism. Swedenborg appears to have been, at one time, favorably impressed with these writings. See S. D. 3486. Dippel excelled in' the art of destructive and stinging criticism, but had little, if any, original thought, his belief being that love alone sufficed for religion, and that statements of doctrine were superfluous.-TR.

     41. When Zinzendorf first came into the spiritual world, he began to go around to societies and preach, as he had done in the world; but it was said that he is nowhere received. He was led to his Moravian followers, and he perceived that they were not in heaven, but were in misery, because they contemptuously rejected all uses of life, which are good works. When they wish to receive truths, falses oppose, and these cannot be dispersed because they have loved them exceedingly. They know how to falsify the Word, and twist it from its genuine sense, in a dexterous and artful manner, which is done when they meet together in congregation. Some of their attempts against their companions who wished either to refute their mysteries or to reveal them, were disclosed,* and Zinzendorf said that it was on account of these that he had removed himself from them. They say that the Lord is to be loved on account of the Passion of the Cross, but that He must not be worshiped. They call the Holy Supper a reminder of the Passion.
     * These are related at some length, in S. D. 4806 seq.-TR.

     42. Zinzendorf was in an abstract idea, thinking within himself about the Lord. It was observed that he thought of the Lord as of another man and not as being God; and that the Divine in Him was like the Divine in another man; and that the Lord spoke in an extremely simple manner and not wisely, and that Paul spoke more wisely.

376


But it was shown him that all the Lord's words were words of life, because in each one of them there is a spiritual sense; thus that each of His words had infilled heaven, because He spoke by correspondences.

     43. Zinzendorf believed that all things were of mercy, and that if one of the Brethren committed a grave sin it is forgiven him, because such forgiveness is, to God, a means for the exercise of mercy; that they are altogether condemned, and that Sodom and Gomorrah are better off than those who do good works for the sake of salvation; and that to do this, is the sin of sins because they thus attribute to themselves merit which belongs to god alone.

     44. When Zinzendorf had been rejected wherever he went, and had seen his Moravian followers in an unhappy state, he suffered himself to be convinced that he was in falses; and therefore, he labored with all his might, and still continues to labor, to disperse his falses and to receive truths in their stead; but he confessed that he could not tear himself away from the societies in which he inserted himself while in the world; for every man is one with these societies, nor can he afterwards dissociate himself from them, for this is what is meant by the Lord's words concerning the five foolish virgins, that they afterwards wished to buy oil, and also did buy it, but, still could not enter into the wedding.

     2. THE MORAVIANS.

     45. That the Arians induce pain in the right arm near the shoulder-blade; but the Socinians induce pain in the breast-bone.

     46. The Moravians conceal their mysteries of mysteries and close up the ways lest they be known by others, insinuating themselves by such things as agree with the Lutheran Doctrine, putting themselves forth as the remains of the Apostolic Church because they call themselves brethren, and [saying] that they have mothers, and certain statutes from the early Christians; but in respect to the interior things of religion they absolutely differ from those Christians. They do not acknowledge the Divine of the Lord as being anything else than, the divine with other men who are in their faith; they hold the Word of the Old Testament in cheap estimation, and reject it as useless; they care nothing for the Gospels, but only for the Epistles of Paul; they utterly condemn the goods of charity, or good works, in respect to salvation, and more than others do they confess faith separate from charity.

377


Because they are Arians, I spoke with them about the Lord. They said that He was sent by God the Father, that by the passion of the Cross He might save the human race, and, on that account, He was acknowledged as His Son and called the Son of God; that their faith is confidence that they love the Lord as the best of men, because He took upon Himself to propitiate the Father by the passion of the Cross. They say that the Lord has authority in heaven, but not over heaven; they call Him the Lamb, nor do they ever adore Him as Gad.* When it was told them that He was conceived of God, that He says of Himself, that He was from eternity, and that the Father and He are one, they hear these things but they think against them; they do not dare to say that it is so written and yet was not said. They vehemently distort such sayings concerning the Lord, and as it were tear them to pieces. Therefore they take refuge in these words: That they themselves know how the matter is, but that it is among their mysteries of mysteries.
     * See S. D. 4785: "Because they do not acknowledge the Lord as God, but only as man, therefore, in common discourse they call Him the Lamb, and by this they mean one who is innocent." They do this to avoid calling Him God. S. D. 4810.--TR.

     47. They call only themselves who are of that faith, alive, and all others, who are not in that faith, they call dead; and they believe they themselves are saved above all others, and that they will come into the third heaven; but when they come into the first or ultimate heaven, among the angels, they cannot bear the heavenly sphere there, which is derived especially from the goods of charity, and, in that degree, from faith; and therefore they flee away. Their aversion for that sphere has been perceived and felt by me. And moreover, in no heavenly society are they tolerated, because they think, within themselves, that all but they are dead; so that they have a dead idea about the angels themselves. If they come into the second heaven, and still more if they come into the third, where love and charity and hence the works of love and charity make the all of heaven, they are seized with pain like those who lie in the death struggle; and a livid darkness comes over their eyes, and they make conclusive motions and are inwardly tortured.

378




     48. They have preached a great deal to the effect that they have a certain interior sensation, thus a perception, which, they say, is from influx from God the Father through heaven by means of angels or spirits. But it was said to them that they have that sensation or perception from spirits who, in the world, were Moravians, and that they are in the midst of such spirits; and that these spirits inflow from similar principles and confirm them, which is done with strong effect, because they love their religion and think much about it. This was shown them in a living manner; also that Quakers are in society with Quaker spirits, Enthusiasts with Enthusiast spirits, and every man with spirits who make one with his affections, and the thoughts or principles acquired therefrom; and that it is never otherwise. By reason of the living experience they could not but affirm this, though they were unwilling.

     49. They call the good which they do to the brethren of their congregation the good of friendship; and they have something of hatred against those who preach good works.

     50. Because they notice that no one can come into heaven except those who acknowledge the Divine of the Lord, and they cannot do this, they recede from love towards the Lord on account of the passion of the Cross, and act as one with infernal spirits. From these, they hold angelic spirits in hatred--to do which is as it were implanted in them,--and persecute them in ways sometimes abominable; but each time they are made to pay the penalty.

     51. They rarely have dealings with others. At first, they appeared at the right in the plane of the knees, but, by turns, they were diminished, driven away, and dispersed. They speak of their mysteries among themselves, with closed doors, and severely prohibit the revelation of these mysteries unless by common consent; yea, they threaten. Whether, from those threats, anything has broken forth in the world, they did not wish to be explored, [nor] what they had done against certain ones.*
     * In the Latin edition the latter part of this passage reads as follows (the revised readings of the original MS. being included in parentheses): (num) ex minis illorum aliquid in mundo erupit (eruperit), non voluernut ut explorentur (exploraretu), quid fecerunt (fecerint) contra quosdam. Mr. Hayward interprets the unrevised text as meaning: "For notwithstanding their threats, something has broken forth in the world; they have not been willing to be explored as to what they have done to some," (N. C. Magazine for 1864, p. 347) an interpretation which is hardly home out by the Latin. Taking the text as revised, the true meaning seems to be that these spirits were unwilling that enquiry should be made as to whether, as a result of their threats, some evil had befallen or "broken forth" against those in the world who had revealed the Moravian mysteries; or that their own treatment of spirits who had done this in the spiritual world should be found out. Their cruelty to these latter is fully described in S. D. 4806 seq.-TR

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     52. All things with them while they are in their faith from confidence, they call holy.

     53. There flows forth from their sphere a perception of abominable adultery, because they adulterate the Word throughout, and also mock at many of the things therein.

     54. They appeared at the left in the plane of the foot, where it was disclosed that they made one with the evil against those who have been in the goods of charity and have acknowledged the Lord, all of whom are angelic spirits and become angels; wherefore they were driven away towards the north. But because they would not rest quiet there, but must needs plot evil, calling to their help also the Babylonians, they were driven still more remotely into the north, and sent into a cavern which tended obliquely under the west, in order that they might no longer hurt others. Everywhere they form a brotherhood.

     55. They were forced to an interior confession concerning the Lord, and I then heard things so profane that I hardly dare to make them public. [They spoke of the things said in the Word concerning the Lord], denying, yea, profaning what is there said about His conception from the Father; [they said] that He was carried away from the sepulchre by His disciples; that His transfiguration was a vision induced by phantastic spirits; that He was a man so common that He was lower than all others; besides many other abominable things. From this it was plain, that they are the worst of all in Christendom, and that they have hatched a theology out of their skull, and have afterwards consulted the Word, profaning it because it does not make one with the mad offspring of their brain. The evils with themselves, they call goods, because nothing of evil is imputed to them.

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     56. They were afterwards called together and explored as to whether they were all unanimous in confessing these abominations; and it was found that some of them held no such abominable dogma; they were those who were ignorant of their mysteries; and they constituted one-third of their number; these were separated; and the rest after being separated, were given to certain ones as slaves, and it was forbidden them to gather together any more even for a single moment. The others were also separated and sent away into societies, with the prohibition that they should not be together. The Holy Supper they did not make holy. Concerning Baptism, [it was said] that they have it in use, on account of the Reformed.

     57. Those remaining were gathered together in companies, and after visitation were cast down towards the inferior regions, and compelled to enter a cavern; but because there was no food for them there, and the rooms were mean, they made a loud complaint. They were let out and cast forth into deserts. Zinzendorf saw this.

     (To be Continued.)

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Editorial Department 1903

Editorial Department       Editor       1903

     The issues of New Church Life for August and September will be published together as a double number, and will contain, among other things, a report of the seventh annual meeting of the Council of the Clergy of the General Church, recently held at Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     QUESTIONS AS TO THE "LIMBUS."

     A CORRESPONDENT who is much interested in the subject of "the Limbus," asks this question: "We are taught that the Limbus of the departed is conjoined with the bodies of men still in this world. Does this mean that evil men must necessarily exist on the earth, in order to serve as an ultimate of hell? I cannot help hoping that this is not the case, and that in the far distant future men will all be good and true. And another question: When the Limbus is seen by men here, is it seen with the natural eyes? And a final question, Has it been ascertained whether the Limbus is from the father or from the mother?"

     In regard to the first question we would answer that since the human proprium became evil through the fall, it will remain evil to all eternity, in the race as in the individual. Hereditary evil will always remain, even if all men were to become good and true by means of regeneration, and thus there will always remain a plane on earth to serve as an ultimate for hell. But it is not necessary that some men must be actually evil, for there is no such thing as predestination for hell.

     In regard to the second question, whether the Limbus, when "seen by men here, is seen with the natural eye, we would answer that the Limbus is "the cutaneous envelop of the spiritual body," and therefore, ii seen by men on earth, is seen only when their spiritual eyes have been opened. And, of course, it cannot be seen apart from the spirit whom it envelops. It cannot be seen by the natural eye, any more than the substances of the memory, or the spirituous fluid of blood, call be seen by that eye.

     The third question is one upon which opinions are still much divided in the Church. Some hold that the Limbus is entirely from the father, some that it is only from the mother, and some that it consists chiefly of substances acquired by the man himself during his life in the world, being identical with the substances of the natural memory. According to the view of the writer of the current article on this subject in the Life, there is an element of truth in all these positions.

     The Limbus, it has been shown, is identical with the substances of the natural memory, but infants who die immediately after death, do not have such a memory (except a most general plane, produced by the first sensations of life), and yet they must possess a Limbus, or they could not live after death. But it has been shown, also, that the Limbus is identical with the animal spirit, or the third and inmost degree of the blood, and, therefore, newborn infants have a Limbus, but it does not become their own Limbus, until it is separated from that of the mother, and called into individual life by individual sensation.

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     If, then, the Limbus is identical with the animal spirit, the infant must have received it from the mother, for a woman has a Limbus, a third degree of the blood, as well as a man, and must necessarily communicate it to her offspring. But since the very prolific of the masculine seed consists of the animal spirit, (as shown by Swedenborg in his work On Generation, the Limbus must in the first instance be communicated from the father. These things, however, are said only in the way of suggestion, and we should be glad to hear from and of our readers who have given thought and study to this interesting and intricate subject.
Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     From Dr. Rufus Choate, of Washington, D. C., we have received three parts of a work entitled Correspondences of the Talisman by Sir Walter Scott, being a word for word translation, in parallel columns, of the "internal sense" of this novel according to some special revelation received by Dr. Choate. After the appearance of Mr. Kip's Psychology of the Nations we were prepared for almost anything in the way of phantastic interpretations, and we had been looking forward for something truly startling from Dr. Choate, a prominent Washington physician, who, in a general conversation some years ago, gravely informed us that he had actually discovered the Ancient Word,--deeply buried beneath several layers of correspondences in Xenophon's Anabasis!

     In the present work the author amply fulfills our most daring expectations. For instance, "Woman is externally influx and internally efflux, or man, that is to say, a man is externally a man and internally a woman, and a woman is externally woman and internally man." But why waste further time in quoting. The author, happily, does not claim Swedenborg as a source of his "inspirations," which are too wild to mislead even the most simpleminded.



     The New Philosophy for April, somewhat delayed, brings us the continuation of Mr. Stroh's translation of Swedenborg's Summary of the Principia, (Chapters v-vii), and a translation, by Dr. C. L. Olds, of Swedenborg's brief paper on the "Characteristic and Mathematical Philosophy of Universals," (written about 1740), the MS. of which is reproduced in vol. vi of the Photolithographs. Swedenborg here attempts to by symbolic initials the results to which he had arrived in his physiological investigations. He did not afterwards employ these signs, but the tract is of interest as showing how the doctrine of series and degrees gradually took shape in Swedenborg's mind.

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     The present issue of The New Philosophy contains also a brief but graceful tribute to the memory of Mr. C. Hj. Asplundh, the late treasurer and manager of the Swedenborg Scientific Association. In the literary department we find a Philosophic review of the new edition of Swedenborg's work On the Infinite, by Dr. Sewall, and also a review, by the Rev. L. F. Hite, of A. L. Kip's Psychology of the Nations, (see N. C. Life, 1902, p. 696). Mr. Hite very properly characterizes the book as "the mere play of haphazard fancy," appearing sometimes as deliberate burlesque, sometimes as a reckless and sacrilegious exhibition of inordinate conceit." The reviewer is correct also in describing the author as a superficial imitator of the methods of the Rev. John Worcester,--methods which, we are glad to see, are not especially admired by Mr. Hite. But not only Mr. Worcester, but the Writings themselves, fall under Mr. Hite's disapproval, for he concludes his review with the astounding proposition that "the Church needs a more systematic and more critical exposition of the Doctrine [of Correspondences], than we have either in Swedenborg or in Worcester." Surely, Mr. Hite cannot mean what would seem to be implied in this reckless statement. He cannot seriously mean to place Mr. Worcester on the same level with Swedenborg, who was revelator inspired by the Lord alone. And he cannot possibly mean that the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem is insufficient for the needs of the New Church. His statement as it stands is inexcusable.



     In volume II of the Documents, p. 773, Dr. R. L. Tafel prints an English translation of what he describes as "the last work projected by Swedenborg;" and in a foot note on the same page he states that the original "has lately been transferred from the library of Count Engestrom to the Royal Library in Stockholm, where it now is." As was his custom in the Documents Dr. Tafel confined himself to the publication of the translation, and for many years this translation was all that was known to the church. But in the April issue of the New Church Magazine, Rev. James Hyde prints the original Latin, and in doing this he has conferred a benefit upon every student of the Writings. The manuscript which he has used for this purpose is "a copy made by Dr. Tafel while in Stockholm" and which is now in his possession. The original appears to have been lost or mislaid since Dr. Tafel it, for Mr. Hyde states that "repeated researches" at the Royal Librarian Stockholm "have left the manuscript undiscovered." He therefore prints his copy in order "to assist in the possible recovery of the autograph, as "ell as to put the Latin beyond the possibility of oblivion."

     The document is entitled:

     "De Consummatione Saeculi
          de
     Adventu secundo Domini
          et de
     Nova Ecclesia."

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     It consists of about twenty lines which briefly indicate the manner in which these three subjects were to be dealt with.

     Mr. Hyde adds an English translation which has been made the subject of a short controversy in Morsing Light, between himself and a Mr. E. P. Fry, M. A. Oxon, particularly as regards the curious meaning which Mr. Hyde gives to the word reciprre, rendering ut Dominum digne recipiant "that they should return to the Lord worthily." Mr. Fry thinks "welcome" would be better than "return to," but Mr. Hyde retorts that he does not accept the suggested change. He would have been better advised and also more faithful to the Latin had he retained Dr. Tafel's translation "that they should worthily receive the Lord."



     The New Christianity for May reprints the second article on "The Theology of Origen," which was published in our issue for April, and adds these comments:

     "The above is reprinted solely because it is interesting and valuable, but at the same time it gives us an opportunity to point out a perhaps unconscious inconsistency of attitude, on the part of our contemporary, towards this Christian Father who believed and taught the final salvation of spirits from hell. It claims Origen as a New Church prophet, but not very long ago it disclaimed as utterly unfit for the New Church Ministry a man in Stockholm whose only offence was the same belief and teaching. It ought to be as ready to recognize in the latter as in the former many points of agreement with itself, and to bring these forward as a ground of fellowship; but while it would 'stimulate the study of Origen among the members of the New Church,' it has shown no signs of repenting of its warnings of 'danger,' by which it sought to turn hearers away from that New Church minister in Stockholm, who was teaching New Church truths: more fully and distinctly than did Origen. If there was fear lest New Church people or others should in this case be led into pernicious heresy, then why is there no fear in stimulating among New Church people the study of Origen? Perhaps 'tis distance lends enchantment to the view,'...and the chief heresy charged against Origen, for which he was deprived of his priestly office and excommunicated, was his denial of eternal punishment."

     Our contemporary, if better informed, would have realized that the case of Origen is widely different from that of the Rev. Albert Bjorck, to which he refers. The former "taught a final restoration, but with modesty, as a speculation rather than a dogma, in his youthful work De Principiis (written before 231), which was made known in the West by the loose version of Rufinus, (395). In his later writings there are only faint traces of it; he seems at least to have modified it, and exempted Satan from final repentance and salvation." (See Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church. Vol. II, p. 611.) The notion of a final restoration when held as an "amiable hope" by a simple-minded Christian who has not the spiritual-rational Doctrine of the New Church to guide him, is, indeed, a fallacy, but not a heresy, especially in the case of Origen, who, as is known, did not confirm himself in the notion.

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     But Mr. Bjorck, the New Church minister, not only possessed a knowledge of the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem on this subject, but frankly admitted that his own doctrine was diametrically opposed to the Doctrine of the New Church. He maintained that Swedenborg was mistaken, and that, while in Swedenborg's time, the devils used to dwell in hell to eternity, nowadays, "another law" is operative in hell, according to which the devils no longer remain there to eternity!

     The denial of the revealed Doctrine probably weighs but little with The New Christianity, but we are surprised to find our rationalistic contemporary stand up as the champion of evident self-contradiction and arrant, driveling nonsense. Mr. Bjorck, however, has not a monopoly in regard to inconsistency. Our contemporary quotes the teaching that "if charity lived and ruled in the church, schism would not be called schism, nor heresy, but a doctrinal according to one's opinion; and this would be left to each one's conscience, provided it was no denial of first principles." (A. C. 1834) And The New Christianity immediately illustrates its conception of this teaching, and points its "charity," by assigning "jealousy" and "love of dominion" as the internal motives of New Church Life in defending the integrity of the Heavenly Doctrines.

     "THE GIFT OF TONGUES."

     Dr. E. Madeley contributes an exceedingly interesting article to the New Church Magazine for May, on "The Gift of Tongues," in which he contrasts the explanation of the miracle of the cloven tongues, as given by Mr. Hindmarsh, with that given by Mr. George Howarth, (see Intellectual Repository for 18I2). Mr. Hindmarsh concluded "that the Apostles spoke in all the languages of the nationalities of which the multitude consisted;" but Mr. Howarth contended "that the words spoken were not in any natural language, but in the common language of the spiritual world." Dr. Madeley agrees with the latter position, for as he shows clearly enough, to say that the Apostles had spoken all the languages of their audience not only would infer the existence of an indistinguishable jargon of sounds, but would also contradict the narrative as given in Acts II, from which it is clear that, at any rate in the case of Peter, one single speech was heard as if uttered in several different tongues. Therefore, as Dr. Madeley concludes, "we are forced to the conclusion that the language spoken was that of the spiritual world, and that it appealed to them as being their own language because they understood the Apostles' words." We may add that this conclusion is also indicated by the teachings of the Writings; as in S. D. 481, where we read: "Speech is only a series and composition of ideas which falls with man, when in the body, into such words as belong to his language. They are the mere ideas of spirits that fall into words with man, wherefore all spirits speak his language, even among themselves, whether he knows this or not; or whether [he speak] in a foreign language, as is known, inasmuch as the Apostles could speak in every language, which miracle was from spirits."

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     It is interesting to note in this connection, that the only passage in the Writings, which, so far as we know, specifically treats of this subject (S. D. 205 a), contains little more than the heading "How they spoke various tongues in the Primitive Church." The passage itself, which appears to have been unfinished, reads, "Because the world at this day is such, that men will believe nothing except what they understand, and because such things do not exist as existed with those who spoke in strange tongues, it has happened to me to converse with these latter and to question them, and thus to be informed."

     In the concluding part of his paper, Dr. Madeley deals with the cognate case of the gift of tongues which was enjoyed by the Corinthians. The difference between the case of the Corinthians and that of the Apostles, was that with the former "one gifted with the power of interpreting had to come in between the speaker and the hearer, whose duty it was to translate to both the words and sounds uttered," whereas, in the case of the Apostles, every man who heard, heard in his own tongue. Dr. Madeley explains the case of the Corinthians by a reference to the teaching that spirits can so speak to man, that the speech is projected on the organ of hearing by an internal way, so presenting itself to the man that he knows no otherwise than that what he hears is external or atmospheric sound. When this speech flows through man's external memory, it presents itself to him as some language with which he is acquainted. "Otherwise their language is that of the other world...incomprehensible to man." "Such, we are inclined to think," he continues, "was the state of the men of Corinth at the time Paul wrote to them [deprecating their gift of tongues, I Cor. xiv], and hence the necessity for the gift of interpretation." From the character of the Corinthians, he also judges that the spirits who spoke through them were by no means angelic, but were "enthusiastic spirits newly arrived in the world of spirits."

     The subject which is thus discussed in the paper is full of interest for every student of the relations between spirits and men, the study of which, to quote the closing words of the writer, "is worthy of closer investigation."

     THE NEED FOR DOCTRINE.

     The New Church Magazine for April contains a searching article by the same author, which, under the title "The Place of Doctrine in the Church and Man," answers the question so much discussed of late in the Magazine, as to why the Church does not advance; and, in the course of his argument, Mr. Madeley presents a startling but true picture of the present state of the New Church in England. After reciting a few of the generally accepted reasons for the non-advancement of the Church, the writer continues, "But the fact, the hard fact, stares us in the face, that at the time the Church made the greatest numerical advances it had none of these outside attractions. But it had what is now becoming an absent quality-zeal for the doctrines themselves--an ardent desire not only to spread them, but to become acquainted with them."

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     "Then again, the sermon was not a dilettante essay, prettily conceived short and pithy, lasting some twelve or fifteen minutes. The men of the early days of the Church...asked, not for pleasure, but for solid instruction, either as to the doctrine and philosophy of the Church, or as to the truths revealed in the spiritual sense of the Word, and the application of these to their lives. The minister thought the endeavor to please a congregation...was a wilful neglect of the opportunity of building up the Church....

     "But the minister [now] says he is compelled to adopt this course. He tells us that his people say they hear enough of doctrine and can read sufficiently in the Writings.... Possibly this is true as an abstract statement. The Writings are open both to minister and people. But it can be spared for reading and at last in both [the Writings and the Word] that a member thinks that by means of a little mental reservation, he can join in the worship of other bodies and learn as much and acquire as much real help from other churches as from his own.... Of the actual sphere by which he is surrounded he sees and feels little, and passes unnoticed the strengthening of the power which the falses he hears exercise over him in closing up those faculties into which it is the Divine desire that heavenly truth shall flow. This is not by any means an imaginary case. Frequently have we heard the statement "I can hear as good sermons out of the New Church as in it," and this we imagine to be a most serious reflection not only on the individuals themselves, but on those whose duty it is to supply spiritual food to the people." The writer might have added with great force, that it is many of these latter who by upholding fraternization with the Old Church, and by preaching the doctrine of "permeation," encourage the people whom they should feed to look for as good spiritual food outside the Church as in it.

     Mr. Madeley does not pretend, of his own knowledge, to say that these charges are universal but he thinks it beyond a doubt that they are "widely spread and deeply felt."

     The only remedy for this state of things and the only means by which the Church can advance is, he shows, for its members to turn away from looking to the world, and to apply themselves to the reception of doctrine and truth. He makes a distinction between these two--the latter as coming from within, and the former as coming through the senses in the form of "scientifics." This distinction has often been made by New Church men, and with the disastrous conclusion that doctrine is of little importance; but this is not Mr. Madeley's conclusion, for he adds in the most emphatic manner, that "truth can be received from within only when true doctrine has already been received and confirmed, and that scientifics are the only basis with us on earth,--the only vessels which can hold and retain the truth until it can be raised into the will and made a part of the real man with us," and therefore, as he naturally and rightly concludes, it becomes our "imperative duty" to provide these vessels of doctrine.

388


"If this were seen," he continues, "we should hear less of 'more musical services' 'more attractive services,' 'shorter sermons' and the like, for we would see that our worship is not performed for the sake of others but for higher uses to others through ourselves. We may be useful to them merely as books of doctrine, as intellectual exponents of a system grounded in ourselves in scientific knowledge, more or less confined to generals; we shall be infinitely more powerful if we bring to bear upon the world the truth itself, received in all its purity and power from its Divine source. That truth will be powerful for good because the Lord Himself is in it."

     And finally he sums up "Doctrine, which includes all we can be told of the spiritual sense of the Divine Word, is absolutely essential to our well being and to our advancement. It is a method which can never fail, because it is the Divine method of progress. We may by other means fill our churches, but will the advance be real? . . . True success can only be inspired by true methods and the divine ones must ever be the truest and best."

     There is one thing, however, which is necessary to the realization of this essential need of doctrine, that Mr. Madeley has omitted from the otherwise excellent presentation of his subject, and that is the necessity that the Church shall acknowledge the Divine authority of the Writings. Without this acknowledgment there can be no progress, however, much men may see the value of doctrine. For how can there ever be that regard for the doctrines of the New Church of which the paper speaks; how can there ever be the turning away from the falses of the Old Church, for which the writer so earnestly pleads, unless the Doctrines to which men are asked to look, are seen as the Lord's doctrines--His own Divine Word? So long as they are seen as Swedenborg's, and as more or less Divine, so long will men be ready to see something equally more or less Divine in the notions and theories, the advanced (?) and improving (?) doctrines which are continually being brought forth in the Christian world.

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MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR MR. BOSTOCK 1903

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR MR. BOSTOCK       F. R. C       1903

     The members of the Colchester Society first heard of the death of Mr. Bostock on the evening of Easter Monday. The news was wholly unexpected, as all had been looking forward to seeing their late pastor on the occasion of his visiting England to preside over the next assembly in London. It brought to our minds thoughts of the many and great services which Mr. Bostock has done for our Society, and it made more active the feeling of affectionate regard which we have always had for our late pastor both as a priest and as a man.

     The memorial service which was held on Tuesday, April 14th, was well attended, and was a notable meeting by reason of the strong sphere which prevailed--a sphere of appreciation of Mr. Bostock's work amongst us as a priest, and of affection for him as a man and a friend, appreciation and affection which was voiced by almost every man present.

     In the opening remarks, the pastor, MR. CZERNY, after speaking of death as being but a passage into the other world, the state of the man remaining the same, referred to the wider field of usefulness which would now open itself to Mr. Bostock. It was evident to all who knew him, that Mr. Bostock had the good of the Church at heart, and was ever ready to do his utmost to promote its uses. Such a man would not seek long in the other life to find a field in which to exercise his love, and that field would be wide according to the elevation of the love. The speaker, referring to the teaching that those who have loved uses in this life are appointed to offices corresponding to those they had filled here, indicated what the nature of Mr. Bostock's uses would be, by quoting from the Writings, that "those who have promoted uses from love to the neighbor are placed as rulers over heavenly societies" (T. C. R. 412) and that "those who had in the world presided over large bodies, are set over societies according to the extent of the offices which they had filled." A. R. 153.

     MR. GILL paid an affectionate tribute to Mr. Bostock, whom they all "honored as a Driest for the sake of his office, and as a man because of his wisdom and fear of the Lord." He was a man whose "chief desire was 'to get out of the road' and to let the Divine Truth speak unhindered by that which is from the proprium."

     MR. APPLETON spoke of the great work which Mr. Bostock had done in instructing the Society in what they now knew to be the authoritative position of the Writings in the building up of the Lord's New Church. They loved those Writings, and they loved their departed brother for his faithfulness in teaching them.

     MR. COOPER also spoke of the debt which all owed to Mr. Bostock, both individually and as a Society. "Undoubtedly, his instruction as to our duty in the matter of financial support of the Church and its uses made possible our later developments, and it may be truly said that we are now enjoying the fruition of the spiritual instruction which Mr. Bostock instrumental in giving us."

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     MR. POTTER and MR. MOTUM spoke in a similar strain, the former gentleman referring to Mr. Bostock as the man "who first implanted the principles and views of the Academy in the Society, the fruits of which we are now enjoying.

     MR. EVERETT after speaking of the greater use which Mr. Bostock will be able to perform, and expressing his deepest sympathy with Mrs. Bostock and her children, spoke of the duty of the Society to manifest its appreciation of Mr. Bostock's work by standing together firmer than ever, and encouraging" and helping their present pastor in the great work which lay before him.

     MR. LOCKE referred to Mr. Bostock's work in the other world as indicating that by his death "we shall not be the losers, for we shall still profit from his performance of the more interior uses of the Church there."

     MR. BEDWELL spoke in high terms of Mr. Bostock as a clear, methodical, and patient man; and he expressed the appreciation of the Society for what he had done for them. "We feel that Father Bostock was the means of forming and establishing this Society upon a sound basis. I have used the word 'father,' for I feel we have lost a spiritual father, and I think the more one knew of him, the more one would admire and love him for his own sake and his work's sake."

     MR. FROST laid great stress on the fact that Mr. Bostock's removal to the spiritual world should be looked upon in a cheerful light. He was one of the many in the New Church, who had passed thither recently, and his presence there would enable greater strength to come from the world of causes to the church militant here in the world of effects. F. R. C.

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Church News 1903

Church News       Various       1903

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS

     Bryn Athyn, Pa. Another school year has closed and another vacation has begun; books are laid aside; the pupils have for the most part sped to their homes, some to find recreation, others to work, all to store up energy for another year of preparation for the life of uses, when the school opens again in the fall.

     The closing exercises of the schools this year occupying two days, namely, the eleventh and twelfth of June, were more elaborate than usual.

     First came the closing of the local school at nine o'clock, on the morning of the eleventh, consisting of religious exercises followed by an address by the Head Master, Rev. H. Synnestvedt. Among other things Mr. Synnestvedt spoke of the renewed interest in the school in manual work, as drawing, painting, basket weaving and other textile work which, though entered into more extensively than heretofore, has appeared to assist rather than retard the learning of intellectual lessons. After these exercises parents and patrons were invited to examine the exhibition of products of the hand work referred to. This consisted of hundreds of drawings, both in black and white, and in colors, some wood carving and carpentry, and numerous specimens of basket weaving. All of this work was commendable, and some of it was exquisitely beautiful. Mr. Synnestvedt and his corps of teachers are to be heartily congratulated on the success of the year's work.

     The closing of the schools of the Academy began with the usual exercises of worship at eleven o'clock on June 11th, and was continued with the reading of essays by the members of the third year class of the college. The essays were, "The Divine Providence in Marriage," by Mr. Randolph Childs; "The World, a Kingdom of Uses," by Mr. Alexander Lindsay; and "Freedom," by Mr. Frederick Gyllenhaal.

     
On the following day, June 12th, at eleven o'clock, after the usual religious exercises, the Superintendent, Rt. Rev. W. F Pendleton, read the Annual Address, on the "Stages in Religious Education." This paper is probably one of most useful contributions to New Church educational literature thus far appearing, and should be read by everyone in the Church,--by those who believe in New Church education, that their hands may be strengthened, and by those who do not, that they may learn to see its advantages. At this meeting the Superintendent announced that, owning to the increasing pressure of the duties of the episcopal office, he had been obliged to resign the office of Superintendent of the Schools, his resignation to take effect on September 1st, 1903. He further announced that the Board of Directors had placed the management of the schools under the control of the Faculty of the College for one year, beginning the first of September. This arrangement does not include the Theological School, which remains under Bishop Pendleton.

     In connection with the closing exercises, two entertainments were given, one on the evening of the eleventh, and the other on the evening, of the twelfth of June.

     The first consisted of the enacting of an adaptation of the fourth and fifth acts of Hamlet, by eight of the students of the College, one young lady from the Girls' Seminary and one from the Normal School. The young actors were trained in their parts by Mr. George Heath, who has, during the season just closed, played the leading role in "Old Kentucky," with Jacob Litt's company.

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The whole was well done, and each part deserves commendation, but it deserves to be said that the part of Ophelia reached almost the classical pitch.

     The second entertainment was the rendering of George F. Root's Cantata. "The Flower Queen," by the young ladies of the Seminary and Normal School, assisted by the little girls of the Local School. In this the training and conducting was done by Revs. George Heath, formerly of Augustin Daly's operatic troupe. A description of this entertainment would not be uninteresting, but would require more space than this news article admits of; suffice it to say that this cantata was the most beautiful entertainment ever given by the pupils of the Academy, and the training received and the affection excited by this piece will be of use to both entertainers and entertained forever. E. S. P.

     Chicago. The Sharon Church desires to contribute its share to the growth and prosperity of the church, externally as well as internally. Its extreme youth is more than counterbalanced by its enthusiasm, and it is amply supplied with that truly western characteristic known as "hustle." Doubtless the social life of the society will partake somewhat of this quality, and perhaps there may be "doings" of general interest. With this in view the society wishes herewith to make its formal bow through the columns of the Life.

     On the evening of April 3d a reception in honor of the Rev. W. B. Caldwell was held at the church
building on Carroll Avenue. News of the momentous occasion was spread far and wide in order that all might be present to welcome the new minister, those arrival was looked forward to with much pleasure. Several toasts mere proposed and honored. Dr. J. B. S. King, our genial, informal, impromptu, and extemporaneous toastmaster, introducing the various speakers in his customary felicitous vein, and enlivening the occasion with numerous funny stories both ancient and modern. A hearty welcome was accorded Mr. Caldwell, and he replied in a few well chosen words, sketching a very bright picture of the future to which we all look forward.

     The usual Wednesday evening supper and doctrinal class was replaced on May 13th by an "Inaugural Social." The occasion was a merry one, and although the inaugural ceremony was not very apparent, the music and dancing were enjoyed by everyone, as also were the refreshments, which never fail to be appetizing when Mr. and Mrs. Marelius act as host and hostess. One entertaining feature of the evening was a "Gallery of Art," displayed in the vestry. According to the official catalogue the collection contained such celebrated masterpieces as "Reminiscences of Childhood" (a suggestive looking strap), "A Horse Fair, after Bonheur" (oats) "The Jolly Friar" (a frying pan) and other equally well known works of art.

     The ladies of the society have recently organized an "Auxiliary," for the purpose of co-operating in the church work, particularly as regards the Wednesday evening suppers.

     The large attendance at church and at the doctrinal classes has been a source of much encouragement to the society. The singing practice, too, has afforded everyone much pleasure and profit. Several of us may really learn to Sing in time. At the Wednesday evening classes no systematic study has as yet been attempted, but various topics of timely interest have been taken up. Our minister has begun the development of what to us is a new phase of doctrinal study, namely, the relation of spiritual truths to natural sciences, and the correspondence which exists between them.

     A meeting of the Chicagoans who are interested in Swedenborg's science was held at Steinway Hall on April 25th, to discuss the formation of a society to replace the old and defunct "philosophy Club."

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The aim was to form a local circle which might aid in the work of the a general body, the Swedenborg Scientific Association. The details of organization were placed in the hands of a committee, and at a subsequent meeting on May 4th, The Swedenborg Philosophy Club of Chicago was formally organized with sixteen charter members. The officers elected were: Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, President; Mr. F. S. Layton, Vice-President; Dr. E. A. Farrington, Secretary-Treasurer. The club will meet once a month. At present the Economy of the Animal Kingdom is to be studied under the leadership of Rev. R. W. Brown.     F.

     Parkdale. The Wednesday supper of May the 6th was postponed until the following evening, to greet our new pastor, Mr. Cronlund. He did not seem very much the worse for his journey, in spite of the fact that he was recovering from a long illness. He was greeted cordially, and replied in a happy little speech.

     The Wednesday evening and Young People's classes were at once resumed and a Sunday school has been commenced for the children, which is, being well attended. Mr. Cronlund is taking the older ones, and Mrs. Hyatt the primary class. We have also begun to use the new Liturgical Service.

     The last Wednesday supper was held on the 20th of May; it brought out a full attendance, and proved a very enjoyable ending to what has been a pleasing feature in the life of the Society during the past winter.

     When our friends from abroad next visit Toronto, they will have difficulty in recognizing our church property, as our young men are making valiant efforts to convert the grounds into a tennis-court. Of recent evenings, some of them have been seen industriously plying the ax and saw.

     We have had the happy faces of two young friends in our midst lately-Mr. Rudolph Potts and Miss Ella Stroh whom we soon hope to have with us permanently, as they intend making their home in Toronto. E. G. R.

     Colchester. At the annual meeting of the Society held on January 22d, some interesting statistics of the average attendance at our various meetings during the pat year were reported, which were quite encouraging. The average attendance at the Sunday services was 42; at Communion, 15; doctrinal classes, 16; socials, 15; children's class, 31. The report of the treasurer, Mr. Gill, showed a small deficit, but under the circumstances, this was considered quite satisfactory.

     We celebrated Swedenborg's birthday on February 1st, this year, the postponement being made so as to allow of Mr. Czerny's presence. The celebration took the form of a supper to which we were invited by Mr. and Mrs. Motum. Various toasts were responded to, including, of course, the toast to Swedenborg. Mr. Gill read Swedenborg's Answer to a Letter, published in the April (1902) number of the Life, and from the same number Mr. Potter read Mr. Odhner's article, Emmanuel Swedenborg, the Man who dared to tell and do the Truth.

     On Easter Monday at the close of a very enjoyable children's social, Mr. Czerny announced to us is the sad news of Mr. Bostock's departure into the spiritual world early on the preceding day. The memorial service was held on the Tuesday evening following, a report of which is given on another page of this issue of the Life. F. R. C.

     Missionary Work. In making my great circuit in the missionary field, Wheeling, W. Va., was reached on April 16th, and on Sunday, 19th, we held services at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pollock. The Lord's Supper was administered after the sermon, in which all the adults present, eight persons, took part.

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Mr. James M. Cresap and family and Mr. George Peters and family were also visited, the former at Short Creek and the latter at Welcome, W. Va.

     On my way up the Ohio river, our good English friends, Mr. and Mrs. Samson Turnbull, were visited at East Liverpool, O., April 23d. The missionary always receives a cordial welcome at their home.

     On my arrival at Salem, O., the next day, Mr. and Mrs. John S. Webster expressed, in a most hearty way, their pleasure at seeing the missionary once more. On Saturday the Rev. W. L. Gladish called, and was with us several hours, during which we were engaged in animated conversation concerning the things of the Church. It was a real pleasure to meet a fellow worker in the uses of evangelization, and especially one who performs these uses faithfully, according to the Doctrines. This is the kind of missionary the Church stands in need of. Sunday, April 26th, was passed with the Websters, who have a warm interest and affection for the Church. They are looking forward to the time when their bright little girl, now about five years old, can attend a New Church school. Mr. and Mrs. John Field, who live next door to the Websters, are also becoming much interested in the new doctrines, and were with us a great part of the time during my stay.

     In Columbiana and vicinity three families of the Renkenbergers, and the Wunderlin family, were Visited during the week. These are old friends of twenty-six years' standing, and a visit with them is always mutually enjoyable and spiritually useful.

     On Sunday, May 3d, we had service in the chapel at Greenford. The attendance was twenty-seven persons, of whom twenty participated in the Holy Supper. The more frequent visits of a minister would be acceptable to the members of the Greenford Society, if it were possible; in the present circumstances, it is convenient for me to go there only twice each year.

     After two days with the Rhodes family and other friends, at Greenford, my course was into Pennsylvania, at Pittsburg, where I stayed three days.

     At Leechhurg, Dr. U. O. Heilman and family dwell in their comfortable residence, but in the midst of the spiritual wilderness,--the state of the world in which there is the "thick darkness" of ignorance concerning the genuine truths of the Word, the grand realities of heaven and the Church. A few months ago the only believer in the Doctrines near them passed away, and they are now isolated. They have been longing for several years to make a change, that they might be so situated as to have New Church associations and privileges; and, seeing their son, Martin, so highly pleased with his experiences at the School at Bryn Athyn during the past year, this desire has, of late, been growing stronger. The Heilmans have another son and a daughter both of the right ape to go to Bryn Athyn, and both anxious to do so.

     Three days were passed at Philipsburg. Mr. F. W. A. Shultz and brother and sister are the only New Church people we know in that place. Their home on the mountain-side, three-fourths of a mile from the town and over-looking it, and with fine scenery in view, is always a pleasant place to visit. There is a New Church sphere; a book-case, containing a set of the Writings, a copy of the Sacred Scriptures, and copies of the periodicals of the Church, including the Life, are always in sight. The significance of the presence of these things in the home is evident; and in correspondence with them is the fraternal greeting of welcome, which the missionary received on his arrival there. My visits to the father of our friends at Philipsburg, some twenty years ago, are well remembered. He was an intelligent New Church man, and, although a plain farmer, he was quite a student, and delighted in the acquisition of knowledges of both natural and spiritual things.

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     The next place visited was Renovo. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Kendig, we had a meeting on Sunday, May 17th. The baptism of the wife and child of Mr. Wilfred M. Kendig, on the occasion, caused rejoicing on the part of the members of the little Circle. The young wife and mother had been a member of the Episcopal Church, and by what she heard of the Doctrines from time to time, in her associations with her husband's people, she had become enlightened by the truth, and voluntarily requested to be introduced into the New Church by baptism. She also applied for membership in the General Church of the New Jerusalem. At our meeting the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was also administered to eight communicants.

     On May 19th I went to North Bend, to the home of the Van Sickles. The journey to the top of the mountain was made on foot. It is a steep road for about two miles, the ascent being about one thousand feet. This part of the road is through the forest nearly all the way, and on the top of the mountain there are some fifteen farms, the tract being surrounded by still higher mountains. Having got somewhat fatigued from my walk of four miles, I stopped at "Pilgrim's Rest," the home of Mr. Dallas E. Van Sickle and family, who are now at Bryn Athyn. In the meantime the house is occupied by Mr. Elmer Van Sickle and family. After dinner my walk was continued "over the ridge," to the home of father W. J. Van Sickle and another son and his family, where the hours of two days went swiftly by Mrs. Kirk, widow of the late Rev. E. I. Kirk, and her children live in an adjoining house.

     Next a visit was made in the city of Williamsport, where I stayed with Mr. Warren E. Creamer and family; and, as usual, an evening was devoted to a visit with Mr. William B. Jordan. Both of these gentlemen fill responsible positions in the Office of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. It is to be regretted that in Williamsport but little can be accomplished at present in the way of New Church work.

     A pleasant stay of two days with Mr. and Mrs. John F. Shurtz, in the old College town of Lewisburg, finished my missionary tour of four months; and I arrived in the charming New Church village of Bryn Athyn, Pa., on May 27th. JOHN E. BOWERS.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The report of the annual meeting of the Scottish N. C. Evidence Society, held at Glasgow on April 7th, indicates that the "fraternization" movement now going on in Paisley receives the sympathy and support of the Society. The secretary reported, among other things, that the minister of the Paisley Society (Rev. C. A. Hall), with the cooperation of a Congregational minister had established open air services in the public park, where they were also assisted by a Presbyterian and a Baptist minister; Mr. Hall has also preached in a Congregational church, and has further evidenced his sympathies with the Old Church by establishing a "minister's 'Fraternal.'" The report was unanimously accepted by the Society without comment, and "with acclamation"

     The Society has been uniquely enterprising in bringing its publications to the notice of the public. In Glasgow a member of the Church has been supplied with a wheel-barrow filled with New Church literature, with which he goes about selling in the streets. His efforts have been attended with some success. The Society has also engaged with a number of booksellers to handle New Church literature. Friends in Council, the organ of the Society, an eight page bi-monthly published for the benefit of isolated receivers, to them it is sent free, has appeared regularly since its establishment about a year ago, and has a circulation of about 250 copies.

     At a meeting of delegates and be representatives of the various New Church Young People's Societies of Great Britain, held in Preston on May 6th, a federation of the Societies was decided upon, and a constitution adopted.

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The Federation consists, so far, of 13 Societies, with a total membership of 580.

     The following appeared in the N. C. Magazine for April: "The report of Rev. R. R. Rodgers [in the annual report of the Birmingham Society] contains the following items of more than local interest; he says: 'On January 19th I had the pleasure, for the first time, of exchanging pulpits with the minister of an orthodox community;...the Rev. R. Coates, M. A., of the Baptist church, officiated in Wretham Road, and I officiated for him in his church. It was, I believe, a step in the right direction; it was a triumph of charity over doctrinal differences and on both sides it was a practical lesson in real Christianity.'" The extract then relates Mr. Rodgers's unsuccessful attempt in trying to break down the "narrow and intolerant" spirit of the Y. M. C. A.

     After an animated discussion the Society at Blackburn has adopted a "new method" for the administration of the Holy Supper, the change being based on "hygiene, health and good taste." Every communicant is to be supplied with "a small glass or porcelain vessel containing just sufficient wine for the purpose;" these are to be "set upon a table set apart for their use," and handed by the minister to the deacons who then pass them to the members, and at the invitation of the minister, all partake in unison. "Technical (!) objection was raised to this mode of administration as being against the Doctrines, and also on the ground that the present mode has been generally considered satisfactory" but the objections were "explained away by the minister."

     MAURITIUS. The Easter services of the Port Louis Society brought together a congregation of 62 persons, of whom 44 partook of communion. Mr. Ackroyd conducted the service. He began his sermon "by expressing his regret that he was not more capable of addressing and instructing them, and more worthy to give them the Communion; but as the Society had chosen him for this duty he would try and perform it to the best of his ability." Remarkable words from a lay preacher! As a rule, the tendency with such men is to think they can do as well and even a trifle better than the average minister.
DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE NEW CHURCH 1903

DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE NEW CHURCH       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1903


Announcements.




AUGUST-SEPTEMBER
     The address of Bishop Pendleton, read to the Council of Ministers of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, June 27, 1903.

     It is clearly taught in the Writings, and prefigured in the letter of the Word, that unless a New Church were instituted no flesh could be saved. But the mode and manner of that institution has been called into doubt. It has been held that the New Church is not to exist as an organized body of men in the world, but that it will simply be a state of life in the individual man; or, as held by some, it will not exist as a body separate and distinct from the bodies of the Old Church, but those bodies will be gradually reformed, and finally led to recognize and acknowledge the Lord in His Second Coming.

     The New Church is indeed to exist as a state of life, and that there will be some external reformation of the Old Church is also clear, since the hells themselves have been brought into order; but it is erroneous to suppose that the New Church will not take form as an organized body of men in the world; nor can the New Church exist permanently as a state of life, unless this state take ultimate form in a new and distinctly organized body, which is to have a new and distinct priesthood, and into which men are to be introduced after having received the Sacrament of New Church Baptism.

     The Writings treat of the New Church as a state of life; but, so far as literal statement goes, the question of external organization is to a large extent left open, like most other questions of an external or practical nature. In this we see a wise provision for the freedom and rationality of man, that there may be nothing of compulsion or persuasion in the establishment of the Church in men and among men, that men may be free to adopt views that are various or divergent, that the jewel of liberty may be preserved, and that genuine rationality may grow in an atmosphere of liberty.

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     Sound views and wise conclusions are important nevertheless, hilt they must be sought for by man in a humble and teachable spirit, that he may receive illustration, that he may be enabled to see what of practical application is involved in the teachings that are given, and be gifted with the wisdom to provide, under the leading of Providence, the ways and means to the successful inauguration and development of the Church.

     Although the teaching of a distinct organization of the Church is left apparently in doubt, still the spirit of the Doctrine throughout looks in that direction; and there are passages, when closely analyzed, that can have no other meaning. Among these is the teaching given in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 813, as follows:

     "And His wife hath made herself ready, signifies that they who are to be of this New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, will be collected, inaugurated, and instructed." It is the design of the present discourse to present an exposition of these words.

     The word translated "collected" (colligantur) means in plainer English "gathered together," which brings out more clearly and forcibly the manifest spirit and purpose of the words. "They who are to be of this New Church will be gathered together, inaugurated, and instructed."

     The subject divides itself into three parts, the Gathering, the Inauguration, and the Instruction. And we shall endeavor to show that these words exhibit three general stages in the institution or establishment of the New Church, both as a state of life, and as an organization composed of men; that the words have both an internal and an external, or a spiritual and a natural, idea in them; and that the fulfilling of both the spiritual and natural ideas, is what is meant by "His wife hath made herself ready."

     The word in the Latin, which is translated "collect" (colligo), signifies "to bring together," "to gather, collect, draw together, choose, select." The English word "gather" is from a root signifying companion, and fellowship, and means in general to bring together, assemble, muster, congregate: as, a number of separate things into one place, or into one aggregate body; or, into company, association, or union; so as to act, or be made to act in concert, and with mutual co-operation.

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The idea of organization, the organization of a body of men, is most clearly contained in the natural meaning of the word, both in the Latin and English languages.

     There are two steps in the gathering together for the natural organization of the New Church. The first is the calling, and the second is the actual assembling. Before the assembling, before the muster, or the gathering together, a call must be sent forth, and an invitation given. And we find that this calling and invitation to the New Church is spoken of and given in the Writings.

     We read that the Divine Truth calls together, congregates, teaches the way, and leads. (A. E. 502.)

     That by "the called" are meant those who receive; that all indeed are called, but they who do not receive, reject the call. (A. R. 816.)

     That the Advent of the Lord is the call. (A. C. 9428)

     That by the Lord calling is signified His influx and presence. (A. C. 7912.)

     That the spiritual sense of the Word is revealed in order that a New Church may be established, into which those who are of the former Church are invited. (A. E. 948)

     The subject is also touched upon in other passages, and there is a little book entitled "An Invitation to the New Church, made to the whole Christian World, and an Exhortation to worthily receive the Lord."

     The Word itself is the call, and now the Lord appearing in His Word calls all to come unto Him in His New Church which is the New Jerusalem; and so the Writings themselves are the call, that has been sent forth into the whole Christian world inviting men to the New Church.

     The call indeed is made to the whole world, to every man that is born, and is to be born. The call to the Gentiles is not yet openly and manifestly made, because the Gentiles are not as yet externally prepared to receive,--with this exception that an immediate call from the Spiritual World has been made to some in Africa. A call has also been made to the world of childhood and youth; which call has now become active in the work of the Academy and General Church of the New Jerusalem.

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     All are called, but the gathering is of those who receive, for all others reject the call and therefore cannot be assembled together; those only can be brought together, who acknowledge the call and respond to it.

     We have said that there is a spiritual idea as well as a natural idea in the words we are considering. There is a spiritual gathering before there can be a natural gathering. A spiritual idea must be active before its natural embodiment call exist. A spiritual organization precedes a natural organization; which means that there is organization in the spiritual world before there can be organization in the natural. All natural gathering or organization, before spiritual gathering or organization, is premature and abortive, wanting in the elements of permanence and perpetuity.

     The first of spiritual organization is the formation of the New Heaven, with its many societies, after the Last Judgment was accomplished. The second, is the formation of societies of the good in the World of Spirits. The third, is the establishment of an internal state of the Church with men in the world. The fourth is the organization of the external body of the Church, in which all the others act and react. For we read that "the internal (of the New Church) is to be formed before the external, and afterwards the external by the internal." (T. C. R. 784)

     The internal of the Church with men in the world is affection, and from affection illustration, and from illustration the preparation of a body of doctrine by which Revelation is understood. This results from association with the societies of the good in the World of Spirits, and through these with the New Heaven.

     There must be a gathering together of doctrine; hence we read that "when the Church is being established, the doctrinals of good and truth must first be gathered into one, for these are the things on which it is built; doctrinals also have a connection with each other, and regard each other mutually: wherefore unless they are first gathered into one, there will be a defect, and the things which are deficient will be supplied by man's rational, and how blind and under hallucination this is, in things spiritual and Divine, whilst its conclusions are from itself, has been abundantly shown above." (A. C. 3786, Cf. A. C. 5339, 6112, 6336, 6338; A. E. 972.)

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     And we read also that doctrine must be gathered from the Word by those who are in illustration. (A. C. 9424.)

     And now what is true of doctrine is true of those in whom doctrine is; they must be brought into one or together. This is true in the other world and also in this; societies or bodies are formed of those who are in a similar faith from a similar affection. And this is the teaching contained in the Apocalypse Revealed, "that thy who are to be of this New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, will be gathered together, inaugurated, and instructed."

     After the gathering comes the inauguration. Those who are to be of the New Church are to be gathered together, and after being gathered or collected, they are to be inaugurated. What is meant by this? What is it that is done when that is carried out which is signified by inauguration?

     The word inaugurate signifies, in both the Latin and English languages, to initiate or introduce into something. The meaning therefore is, that those who are to be of the New Church, after being gathered together, are to be initiated or introduced into the Church. Baptism is what is meant, carrying with it all that is involved in that Sacrament of the Church; and indeed Baptism is spoken of in the Writings as inauguration.

     We are told, that those who were baptized by John were inaugurated into knowledges derived from the Word concerning the Lord, and they were thus prepared to receive Him (A. E. 475); that at Baptism the infant receives the sign of the cross, which is a sign of inauguration into the acknowledgment and worship of the Lord (T. C. R. 682); that infants and foreign proselytes are inaugurated into the Christian Church by Baptism (T. C. R. 677); and that Baptism signifies initiation into the Church and the things which are of the Church (A. C. 4255).

     It will thus be seen that Baptism is not a mere formal or single external act, but that an extended state is involved, contained, and as it were concentrated in it: that is, a use in a series is represented and involved in it. We are therefore taught that "the first use of Baptism is introduction into the Christian Church, and at the same time insertion among Christians in the Spiritual World;" that "the second use of Baptism is that the Christian may know and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and Savior, and follow Him," and that "the third use of Baptism, which is the final use, is that the man may be regenerated." (T. C. R. 677, 681, 654.)

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These uses are uses of the Church, namely, introduction into the Church and insertion among Christians in the Spiritual World, the knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ, and regeneration. It may be remarked that by the Christian Church here is meant the New Christian Church for in the beginning of the chapter on Baptism in the True Christian Religion (n. 668), from which the above quotations are made, it is said that "the Christian Church, such as it is in itself, is now first commencing; the former Church was Christian only in name, but not in essence and reality."

     Baptism therefore is what is meant, when it is said that those who are to be of the New Church are to be gathered together, inaugurated, and instructed; and there can be no other inauguration into the Church than Baptism, and what is represented and involved in it; and we have in Baptism one of the essential steps in the organization of the Church.

     There is first the invitation and the gathering, then follows the inauguration, and finally the instruction, that the Church may be prepared for conjunction with the Lord, or the bride made ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

     It is not necessary here to enlarge upon what is meant by instruction, for it is a work that is familiar, being the use that the Church by its priesthood is continually performing, the use that is involved in Baptism and is unfolded after it. But it may be remarked that the word "instruct" signifies in its root meaning to build; and it is by instruction that the Church is builded, erected, or instituted.

     The conclusion is therefore manifest that in the gathering, inauguration, and instruction of those who are to be of the New Church, the one ruling and essential idea is that of the institution of the Church, not only as a state of life, but as an external, visible, organized body of men in the world, and without this the Church as a state of life cannot be permanently established.

     By organization the Church reaches its fullness of state, and is ready to react with the life of heaven, and thus to accomplish the Divine end for which the Church is to be the means, the salvation of men, and the formation of a heaven from the human race.

     It was said that the institution of the Church is the subject in the Doctrine under consideration, but it is rather that part of the institution or establishment of the Church, which is called preparation.

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The gathering, the inauguration, and the instruction is the stage preparatory to the final institution. Instruction is always preparation; it is for the sake of an end, for the sake of something that is to be done, in order that the use may be accomplished. The use in this case is that the individual may be regenerated, and by regeneration conjoined with God.

     Instruction is given that the things may be removed which impede or prevent conjunction; the house is to be swept and made ready for Him who is to come and dwell in it. Falsities and evils are to be removed, and to be removed they must be seen and known. For all this, organization is necessary; and without organization it cannot be successfully and permanently accomplished.

     How call the priesthood do its work without organization? The very word priest and priesthood involves organization. Can there be such a thing as worship without organization? Can the Holy Supper be administered without an organized priesthood, and a body of the people to receive the ministrations? Where would Baptism be without it?

     Let us return for a moment to the subject of Baptism. And first, let us examine the teaching concerning the Baptism of John. In the True Christian Religion, n. 658, the teaching is, that "John was sent to prepare the way for Jehovah God, that He might come down into the world, and perform Redemption; and that he prepared the way by Baptism, and the announcement then of the Coming of the Lord; and that without that preparation, all there would have been smitten with a curse, and would have perished."

     The curse was the curse of profanation. The Divine things of the Lord would have become commingled with the profane things of the Jewish nation, and the whole human race would have perished. Hence John's Baptism was necessary for the separation of those who were baptized, especially in the Spiritual World, from those who were in confirmed falsity and evil. For we read that by the Baptism of John "they were introduced into the future Church of the Lord, and in heaven were inserted among those there, who expected and desired the Messiah, and they were guarded by angels, so that devils from hell might not break forth and destroy them." And further that the effect of John's Baptism was that "the hells were closed and the Jews were preserved from total destruction." (T. C. R. 689.)

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     It is similar now with New Church Baptism. By it a separation is made in both worlds, so that the Lord may descend among men and do His Divine work for the salvation of the human race. Otherwise the Divine things of the Lord would become commingled with the falses and evils of men, and the earth would be smitten with a curse, the curse of profanation; and no man could be saved, all would perish in eternal death, and the human race would disappear from the face of the earth.

     Could anything make more plain the necessity of a distinct organization of the New Church--the necessity of a distinctive priesthood, of a distinct worship of the Lord Jesus Christ as the God of heaven and earth, of the distinct administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper, of a distinct and systematic instruction in the truths of the internal sense of the Word, of a distinct marriage relation, of a distinct social and religious life, of a distinct performance of all the spiritual uses of the Church? Can these things be left undone, and the Church continue to live? Can they be performed and administered in the midst of the profane things of the consummated Church? It could not be done when the Lord came into the world, hence the need of the Baptism of John. Nor can it be done now when the Lord has made His Second Coming; hence the need of the New Christian Baptism, performed and administered in a distinctively organized Church, by which, indeed, the organization is made distinct and separate in both worlds from those who are confirmed in the evils and falses of the former Church, and by which, performed on the earth, societies are formed in the World of Spirits by the Lord, and distinct bodies of men in the natural world. The two worlds are thus to work together as one in the work of preparing men for heaven by instruction in the truths of heaven.

     There is no doubt about the necessity of a distinctive New Church organization in our body of the Church, for this is one of the fundamental principles of Academy teaching, and has been from the beginning. But it is well to consider, and reconsider, important and fundamental truths from time to time; it is well to refresh our minds now and then with the essential principles the fathers of the Academy have taught; and it is of especial use to inform the young and rising generation of these principles, that they too may imbibe them with understanding, take up the work where we leave it, and carry it on to a larger and a fuller fruition.

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That they may do this is our ardent hope, and in the other world we shall be blessed in their increase.
JOHN THE BAPTIST 1903

JOHN THE BAPTIST       Rev. N. D. PENDLETON       1903

     "There hath not arisen among them that are born of woman, a greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." (Matt. xi. 11.)

     No one born of woman is greater than John the Baptist and yet he is not the equal of the least of those who are in the Lord's heavenly kingdom.

     The greatest man is below the least of the angels. This is the teaching of the letter of the text; and it is true. The lowest angel exercises powers of mind and body that are beyond the conception of men on earth. We are informed that a single angel has sufficient power to drive before him a thousand evil spirits. This is only a crude illustration adapted to our comprehension. Their more interior powers which they exercise daily in their heavenly occupations are beyond our earthly imagination. But when we are told that a single angel may be seen driving before him a cloud of evil spirits, we at once conceive of a power vastly beyond the reach of man, but which, nevertheless, we are able to fancy. We conceive of it as a power almost Divine, and we are right, for it is with them from the Lord, and not in any degree from themselves.

     Besides the peculiar power given by the Lord to angels and good spirits, every spirit, both good and bad, simply by virtue of being a spirit, or of being freed from the material body, enjoys a vast increase both as to the power and celerity of thought and the strength or intensity of love. Several passages in the Spiritual Diary speak of this. For instance it is said that the thought of evil spirits is so rapid and subtle that no man can follow it, and because of this they can lead a man to his destruction, he being the while entirely unconscious of it.

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The only reason why the human race is not in this way altogether ruined is owing simply and solely to the increasing guardianship of the Lord.

     The obvious meaning of our text deals with the comparative power of angels and men, and it makes the difference between them clear by placing the lowest angel above the greatest man. Understood in the light of spiritual knowledge, we see how true this natural teaching of the text is. And we observe that without certain knowledge concerning the spiritual world, we can not gain an adequate knowledge of even the letter of the Scripture. Yet we must not mistake and suppose that when such natural truth is broadened and rectified by spiritual knowledges, we therefore have the internal sense of the Scripture. Before this sense can be gained, the literal expressions must be resolved into their spiritual correspondents. Still, it is to be noted that the radical ideas remains the same.

     Thus is order to expose the spiritual sense of the text before us we must first learn the significance of John the Baptist, and also of those who are in the kingdom of heaven. Let us consider John the Baptist.

     All the leading characters of the Word represent the Lord as to some attribute. Frequently we find different characters representing the same thing. This is because at all times there must be a full representation in the Word throughout. Thus when one character dies another takes up or puts on the same or a like representation. There is always an Elisha upon whom the mantel of Elija may fall. Moses was followed by Joshua, be by the Judges, and these by the kings. Thus there was provided a continuous representation of the Lord in Israel from the beginning of the history of that nation down to the time of the coming of the Lord? When such representatives vanished like shadows before the rising sun. After He came there was a difference. His disciples were also representative, but instead of representing the Lord Himself they represented the celestial and spiritual things of heaven and the Church. There was no need that any one should represent Him. He stood forth before the eyes of men in His own Human form, the sole and supreme representative of Himself; first in His Human assumed, and finally in His Human glorified.

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     The fact is that John the Baptist was the last of those who represented the Lord in the old way. And this fact is thus proclaimed in the Word "The prophets prophesied until John;" for after him all prophesies were fulfilled; and this being so, all representation ceased. John was the last, and he lived to see the day when he should put off his representation of the Lord, even the day when he came into the presence of the Lord. On that occasion he "confessed and denied not," saying, "I am not the Christ. They therefore asked him, what then, art thou, Elias? But he said I am not: art thou a prophet? He answered, no." And speaking again he said "There standeth One in the midst amongst you whom ye know not." And when he saw Jesus he said, "Behold the Lamb of God."

     Thus did John put aside the representation which had rightly belonged to him, for in spite of his denial he was both Elias and a prophet as may appear from the Lord's own words. "The disciples asked Jesus, why do the scribes say that Elias must first come. He answered and said, Elias indeed shall first come, and restore all things; I say unto you that Elias hath already come, and they did not acknowledge him, but did in him whatever they willed. So likewise shall the Son of Man suffer of them; and they understand that He spake of John the Baptist."

     Along with Moses and Elias, John the Baptist represented the Lord as the Word. But being the last his representation included all who went before him. Specifically therefore he stands for that Word which was in the world before the Lord came, and which was the Divinely appointed means for preparing the way for the Lord. As being this Word he is described as a "voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord." This Word was severely external and worldly in form. It was a "hairy garment."

     Speaking of John, or of the Word in the Old Testament, the Lord said, "What went ye out into the wilderness to see...a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold they who wear soft things are in king's houses." Instead of one so clothed they found a man clothed with camel's hair and girdled about with a leathern girdle. Instead of finding Spiritual and Divine things openly expressed in this Word they found only what was rude, obscure and worldly.

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Even so this Word was holy and Divine, for the Lord declares this John to have been a prophet. "Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet." A prophet is doctrine, and John was said to be more than a prophet, because "the Word is more than any doctrine in the world," because it includes all doctrines and all truth. This will sufficiently explain the first clause of our text, "Verily, I say unto you, there hath not arise among them that are born of woman, a greater than John the Baptist."

     The Word as a whole is greater than any doctrine or any truth in the world. Yet in the text these remarkable words are added: "But he who is least in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he."

     Evidently here is something greater than the Word, that is, the Word as represented by John, the Word such as it is in the world, or such as it was before the coming of the Lord. John is the letter of the Word. Those who belong to the kingdom of heaven signify the Word such as it is in the heavens, or the Spiritual sense of the Word. Thus while John is the greatest born of woman, he is less than the angels. The Word in the letter is incomparably greater than any book of doctrine in the world. Yet it is less than the spiritual sense which is the Word in heaven. The Word in its Spiritual sense is a distinct degree above the Word in the letter. This is what is meant by its being greater.

     Let me repeat. The Word such as it is in the world is than any doctrine, and yet it is less than the internal sense. It is evident that we are to make a decided distinction between doctrine and the internal sense of the Word. And we are to place the one far below the other; even as those in the world born of women are below the angels of heaven. And the question immediately arises as to whether the doctrine here spoken of includes the Heavenly Doctrine given in the Writings. This doctrine certainly in the world, and our first thought would be to so include it and thus make it subordinate to the letter of the Word. But on the other hand, we have the statement that the Heavenly Doctrine is one with the Spiritual sense or the Word in heaven, and as such it is superior to the Word in the letter. I am convinced that the doctrine here spoken of as born of woman, and thus as less than the Word in the letter, is that which is sometimes called the doctrine of genuine truth; which any enlightened man may draw from the letter of the Word.

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This doctrine, be it ever so true, is a very different thing from the internal sense formulated into the Heavenly Doctrine. This latter is the truth of heaven confirmed by the letter. It is the very essential Word as it is with the angels, and now given to men. Our text will afford us a striking illustration of the distinction we would make. Interpreted in the light of genuine doctrine it teaches that the greatest man is less than the least of the angels. This is a truth of wide application and involves much. But the same text interpreted in the light of the internal sense teaches the superiority of internal over external truth, or of the Word in heaven over the Word in the world. One would think this statement of truth to be self-evident, and yet the recognition of it is attended with difficulty. The main reason for which is that the world rejects all internal truth. Modern scientific thought is altogether adverse to it. Hence the Church labors in its effort to recognize it, and therefore hesitates to give the Heavenly Doctrine its rightful place. Its tendency is to place this doctrine below the letter of the Word; when yet the new revelation consists of truths, each of which are greater than those represented by John the Baptist. By "greater" is here meant distinctly more internal, and therefore of superior authority in the Church. In plain language this means that everything great and small in the letter of the Word is to be subjected to and interpreted by the truths given in the Writings. Thus and from this source New Church thought and life are to be established. To reverse this order, and subject the truths of the Writings to the crude appearances of the letter, would be to disturb or confuse influx; and this would beget spiritual insanity. On the other hand, to subject the appearances of truth in the letter to the internal truths of the highest revelation, is to restore orderly influx from heaven whereby the mind is open to all celestial wisdom.

     Nothing is more certain than that the Word with man is according to his understanding of it. It teaches that which man reads into it from his doctrine. It is known to yield to every kind of interpretation. The supremely important thing therefore at this day is that man should have the true interpretative doctrine. This is so important that the Lord has at length revealed from heaven this Doctrine and entitled it the Heavenly Doctrine. And by virtue of the origin, nature and use of this Doctrine, it comes to man with the most absolute authority--even Divine authority. In the first instance we prove and confirm this Doctrine by the teachings of Scripture.

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But in the end we observe that this Doctrine purifies, exalts, aye, even glorifies the Scripture. And such a result we should expect from a doctrine which is one with the Word in heaven, and the same with the internal sense.

     How was this sublime Doctrine given to men? Through a man who was commissioned and inspired.

     Swedenborg was trained for this supreme function from the beginning of his life. First he learned the exterior and interior truths of nature. Then he dreamed dreams and saw visions. He heard spirit voices and held intercourse with the unseen world. Finally he was introduced into the spiritual world. In person he ascended the heights of heaven and descended into the depths of hell. His mind was stored with celestial arcana and infernal secrets.

     But the committing of these things seen and heard on his own authority would not have revealed the Heavenly Doctrine or constituted the Second Coming of the Lord. The man was commissioned by and inspired from the most high God. When he took his pen in hand for the deliverance of the Heavenly Doctrine, the angel voices were hushed. Heaven was quiet lest it should interfere. He entered into supreme communion with the Divine, and gave forth to the world an immediate revelation of truth, which in point of excellence exceeds every revelation heretofore given. This immediate revelation is the Heavenly Doctrine. That this Doctrine might be adapted to the comprehension of angels and men he drew upon the knowledge stored in his mind concerning the nature and constitution of both worlds, and of their relation one to another. The recounting of these things constitutes the body of the Writings; but the truth which we must grasp is this, that the Holy Spirit pervades those writings, because they were written with the pen of inspiration. And further, we must recognize that the inspiration of Swedenborg enjoyed was of the highest type. Unlike the prophets of old, no spirit or angel dictated the words which he used. He was indeed given to experience this form of inspiration, that he might learn its nature; but it is said of the few things which he thus wrote from spirit dictation and positive hand-guidance, that the papers were destroyed because it was not the will of God Messiah that it should be so done at this day.

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     When the prophetic spirit came upon Saul he fell upon the ground like one who was mad. When Balaam blessed Israel from Peer he described himself as one falling into a trance, and as being unable to speak anything but the word which the Lord put into his mouth. It was not so with Swedenborg; he was in full possession of all his conscious faculties; and was given a complete understanding of the things which he wrote. Nevertheless was he in the highest sense inspired, for while reading the Word he was given a miraculous understanding of the spiritual, celestial and Divine things involved in the sacred text. He was thus the subject of a unique influx of truth, instead of a verbal dictate. And this influx came to him from the Lord unmediated by either spirits or angels.

     Through the medium of this man, and by means of his peculiar interpretation, was the Heavenly Doctrine given to the world--given as of supreme authority. Certainly it exercises supreme authority over the letter of Scripture. When it appears the fallacies of the letter vanish. The ultimate Word is made to give forth its hidden verities.

     In the light of this doctrine the Word in the world, represented by John the Baptist, becomes translucent, and through it the heavenly Word is seen, and in the midst of this heavenly Word we behold the form and appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Thus is He enthroned as the only God. From thence comes the proclamation of His supreme Divinity, and of His supreme rule over heaven and the Church; and the inspired statement of this Divine fact constitutes that which is called the Heavenly Doctrine.

     In the very heart therefore of the heavenly Word, or the internal sense, we see nothing save that which is plainly stated on the outward face of the Heavenly Doctrine.

     Remember, when John stood in the presence of the Lord, he denied that he was the Christ, he even denied that he was Elias or a prophet. In like manner, when we are granted a vision of the Almighty God in His Divine Human enthroned in the midst of His heavenly Word, so do we then see the history of the Jews vanish like a whiff of smoke. There is nothing sacred in that history, such as it is in itself.

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Its only sanctity comes from the fact that it is so wrought upon by the Divine Hand as to be in correspondence with, or representative of hidden Divine things. The Heavenly Doctrine exposes this hidden Divinity; and is itself the Divine thing which is exposed. It might therefore with propriety be called the Divine Doctrine.

     Such is the Doctrine which has now come down from or through heaven to the earth. Its passage through the heavens was prepared for by the last judgment, and we are told that in passing through the heavens it fell upon the earth like the "dew of the dawning." It brought to life every seed in which there was any remnant of life. Thus it brought about the installation of a new and spiritual church on the earth, even the New Jerusalem, and in so doing it brought redemption and wrought salvation for the sons of men.

     It is therefore evident that this Heavenly Doctrine is the angel of our text who is greater than John the Baptist.

     The text in general teaches the superiority of internal over external truth. And here lies our difficulty and our labor. We are prone to confide in what is external; we care not nor long to look into the face of the Divine. From our most exalted states we invariably fall back to the earth. Owing to this variance of state internal truth is not always of equal power with us. Therefore the Word in the letter is given us. The Word in the letter is in continual power. At times the heavens are overcast with clouds so that we cannot see the things which are there; but the Lord has provided that He may at such times be with us in things that are of the earth. He has provided that He may be with man in every possible human state in which there is any good. And as He has thus provided for all states of all men, so has He provided for every state of each man. And that in order that when man falls down He may go down with him and lift him up again.

     When man's spirit is weary, and spiritual truths strike upon his ear with a dull meaningless sound, then will the Scripture reach him. Then will he seize upon the sacred words of Scripture with affection, and begin again his ascent up to the mansions of heaven; for John is a Prophet, aye, and more than a prophet. The Word in the world is more than any doctrine. In the last resort it sustains us when our doctrine fails.

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And yet when we be lifted up we see that great as is John the Baptist he nevertheless is less than the least of those who are in the kingdom of heaven.

     John is external Divine Truth. Those of the kingdom of heaven are internal Divine Truths. Internal Divine Truths when seen are of superior authority, but external Divine Truths are in more continual power. Internal Divine Truths are not always equally visible. External Divine Truths seldom fail to appeal. We need both for the sake of our soul's salvation--both the "voice in the wilderness" and Doctrine from heaven; the letter of Scripture and the spiritual sense.

     Those who confide in external Divine Truths belong to the external church, while those who enter into and recognize the dominion of internal Divine Truth are of the internal church. It is written that the New Church must be an internal church. To it the Divine Doctrine is given, and this doctrine can not but make those who receive of it internal men. We observe that whenever
and wherever the Church becomes external, it soon disintegrates. The Lord has not need of a merely external New Church. The world is full of external churches. That which He needs, that which He proposes, and that which He is providing, by means of the Divine Doctrine is a church that will actually be one with the church in heaven, a church that will be as the heart and lungs, or the vital inspiration of the great communion of saints on earth. This is the mission and the function of the New Jerusalem. Its high destiny thus placed before us should inspire our hearts with a grand enthusiasm, and nerve our hands to labor unceasingly for its triumphant establishment, Amen.

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FUTURE OF THE NEW CHURCH 1903

FUTURE OF THE NEW CHURCH       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1903

     An address read to the Council of Ministers of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, June 23, 1903.

     EVERY one who loves the New Church, and every one who has some perception of the beauty of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven, adorned as a bride for her Husband, is filled with delight at the thought of the greatness and glory which that Church will some day attain; his mind dwells with affection upon the words of Divine Promise that "this New Church, truly Christian, which the Lord is at this day establishing, will endure to eternity, and was foreseen from the creation of the world; it will be the crown of the four preceding churches, because it will have true faith and true charity. In this New Church there will be spiritual peace, glory, and internal blessedness of life. These things will be in the New Church, because of conjunction with the Lord, and by Him with God the Father." (Sum. Of Cor. 59-61.)

     But not all passages in the Writings, which speak of the future of the New Church, awaken such happy thoughts as does that which has just been read; there are some which cause with the man of the Church at this day something of regret, for they teach that there is but little hope for the establishment of the New Church in Christian lands, and that it will take root and grow chiefly with the Gentiles. This teaching causes something of regret, because every true man of the Church loves his country, which love with him is principally a love for the spiritual welfare of those who live in it, and when he learns that neither now nor in time to come will there be many in his country who will receive the Heavenly Doctrines, and that possibly the Church in it may in time die out altogether, he cannot otherwise than be saddened at such a prospect. But such sadness and regret will pass away as he elevates his mind above his earthly country and thinks of his eternal country, which is the Lord's kingdom in the heavens and on the earth. Filled with love for that kingdom, he will rejoice that there are those on this earth with whom it can be established, and with gratification and pleasure he will read the teachings concerning the noble duality of the nations with whom the New Church is to be established, and concerning the vast area throughout which it will extend.

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     There are many passages in the Writings which teach that the New Church, like the preceding churches, will he established with the Gentiles; and who are meant by them is clearly stated in the following words:

     "By the holy Jerusalem, in the Apocalypse, is meant a New Church among the Gentiles, after the present Church which is in our European world has been vastated." (A. C. 9407)

     The reasons why the New Church will be established with the Gentiles, are, in general, the following: 1. Because they have not, like Christians, extirpated the heaven-implanted perception that God is a Divine Man. (A. E. 52.) 2. Because they live a much more moral life than Christians, and consequently embrace and receive much more readily the doctrines of the true faith. (A. C. 932, 1932) 3. Because there is no such cloud in their intellectual part, since they have no principles of falsity contrary to the truths of faith, being ignorant of these truths. (A. C. 1059, 2986.)

     The New Church will be established with the Gentiles first in the spiritual world and then in the natural. A Church must always be established in the spiritual world before it can be on earth. Therefore, at the Second Coming of the Lord, the New Heaven was first formed, and from it the Church in the world of spirits, and from this again the Church on earth. That the Church on earth depends on the Church in the world of spirits for its establishment and growth, is taught as follows in the Apocalypse Explained:

     "The New Church on earth increases according to its increase in the world of spirits, for spirits from thence are with men, and they are from those who were in the faith of their Church, whilst they lived on earth, and no others of them receive the doctrine but those who were in the spiritual affection of truth; such only are conjoined to heaven where that doctrine is, and conjoin heaven to man; the number of those in the spiritual world now increases daily, wherefore according to their increase the Church which is Called the New Jerusalem increases on earth." (732.)

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     It is here said that the spirits of the New Church which with men, are such as were in the faith of their Church, whilst they lived on earth. Consequently, the spirits which must be with the Gentiles who are to be of the New Church, must be such as were Gentiles when on earth, and in each case of the same particular Gentile religion.

     The New Church in the world of spirits consists of those who, in their third state in that world, which is their state of instruction in the Heavenly Doctrines, are being prepared for heaven. That there are Gentiles among them, and that these ale instructed by angels of the New Heaven who were once Gentiles, is clearly taught in the Writings. (H. H. 514, 515, H. D. 3.)

     It is, therefore, from the New Heaven, through New Church spirits, once Gentiles, in the world of spirits, that the New Church descends to the Gentiles upon earth. But it cannot descend unless there be with those on earth the means of acquiring the knowledges of the Heavenly Doctrine by an external way, that is, by hearing or reading them. These means the Lord has provided and will provide more fully. He has provided them by the revelation of the Heavenly Doctrines in the interior of Africa; and He will provide them more fully in time to come both by the extension of the Church from Africa into the interior of Asia, and by its extension from Christian lands to the Gentiles of other regions. Swedenborg tells us, from his own observation and experience, of the institution of the New Church with the African both in the world of spirits and on earth. These people, he says, are more receptive than others in this earth of the Heavenly Doctrine. They willingly receive from the angels the doctrine concerning the Lord; and, more than others, have it implanted in themselves that the Lord must appear altogether as a Man. They are in the capacity of receiving not only the truths of faith, but especially its goods, being of the celestial genius. (S. D. 4783)

     Concerning the formation of the Church from Africans in the world of spirits, by means of instruction there given them in the Heavenly Doctrines, many Interesting particulars are related in the Spiritual Diary. In several passages we are told of angels being sent to them, who instructed them in the Heavenly Doctrine; and that the spirits said they would communicate these truths to their people on earth. (4772, 4774, 4775, 4776.)

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We also learn that the Letter of the Word was given to African spirits, and that they perceived its holiness; and that afterwards there were given to them the following of the Writings: Heaven and Hell, The Last Judgment, The Earths it the Universe, The White Horse, and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. (S. D. 5946) The fact that these books were given them, indicates that in the establishment of the Church among these people there was also active the instrumentality of "the man before whom the Lord manifested Himself in Person, and whom: He filled with His Spirit, to teach the Doctrines of the New Church by the Word from Him." Nor was it only by these books being given them that Swedenborg performed His mission to these people, but he also on several occasions taught them in person; we read that once he instructed some of them in the Doctrine of the Lord, before angels and spirits were sent to teach them (5517); and that at another time he gave them instruction concerning representatives and correspondences. (5946)

     Concerning the revelation of the Heavenly Doctrines to the Africans on earth many interesting particulars are also given (4772, 4774, 5946); but we can here present only the general doctrine on this subject, as given in the Continuation concerning the Last Judgment:

     "The Africans in the spiritual world comprehend and receive interior truths, because they think more internally and spiritually than other nations. Such being the character of the Africans even in the world, there is, at the present day, a revelation among them, which, commencing in the centre of their continent, is communicated around, but does not reach their coasts. They acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and call ingenious wickedness stupidity. I have heard the angels rejoicing over this revelation, because, by means of it, a communication is opened for them with the human rational, hitherto closed up by the blind which has been drawn over the things of faith. It was told me from heaven, that the truths now published in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, concerning the Word, and in the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, are orally dictated by angelic spirits to the inhabitants of this portion of the globe." (75, 76.)

     To this must be added the teaching, given in the Diary (5946), that the letter of the Word has been dictated to them from heaven.

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     The teachings given in the Writings concerning the genius of the Africans, can be summarized as follows:

     They are of the genius of the angels of the celestial kingdom. (S. D. 5518, 4783, J. post. 118.)

     They, differently from Christians, perceive truth from good. (S. D. 5946)

     They have a perception, or interior sight, which is singularly deal--and strong, and they think much more interiorly than Christians. (T. C. R. 837-840, S. D. 5518)

     They prize conjugial love, and are wise in its arcana. (Cert. L. J. 77; C. L. 113.)

     They detest their blackness, knowing that their souls are white. (J. post. 115.)

     From these teachings it can be seen how exalted is the character of these people, and consequently how heavenly is the state of the Church which has begun and which will increase with them. The man of the Church cannot but rejoice that so glorious a future awaits the Church. It needs, however, to be noted, that this Church will not be of the same quality with all the Africans who receive it. With those who dwell in the centre, it is, at least at this day, more interior than with those round about. And in the progress of this Church into Asia, it will also be of various quality with different nations.

     Just where in Africa the New Church commenced is difficult to determine. In the passage quoted above (Con. L. J. 76), it is said that "it commenced in the centre of the continent, whence it was communicated round about;" here, we are told, the best of the Africans dwell. (S. D. 5946, J. post. 124.) In another place (S. D. 4771) we read that the revelation took place "as if somewhere in Asia, in the vicinity of Africa." And in still another passage (S. D. 4776, 4777), we are told that the place from which the Heavenly Doctrine would advance is "in the entrance to Africa."

     From this place, wherever it may be, the Church spreads into various parts of Africa and Asia. The course of its progress is described as follows:

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     "It was shown, in an obscure vision, in what way the Heavenly Doctrine would advance in Africa, namely, from this place [i, e., the entrance to Africa] towards the interiors of Africa, but, still, not to the middle of it; and, then, should bend itself to the inhabitants who are in interior Africa, nearer to the Mediterranean Sea, and thus go on for a long distance, but not as far as the coasts; and, then, after a time, should bend its way back through an interior tract as far as towards Egypt; and, also, should then proceed from there, to some in Asia under the government of the Turks, also in Asia round about." (S. D. 4777.)

     The greater part of the regions here mentioned is but little known to Christians; for the people dwelling there do not admit Europeans. (S. D. 5946) One portion, however, is an exception, namely, that towards the northeast of Africa, and concerning this Swedenborg says:

     "This region is known to Europeans, and in the maps is called Ethiopia, where a noble race dwell in tents." (S. D. 5947)

     This noble race is probably the Gallas, who, from all accounts, answer the description here given of them. Travelers speak of them as a people of many excellent qualities. It is generally supposed that they came from the interior of Africa, but this is not positively established, and their race affinity is a matter of doubt. Some of them are Mohammedans, but the most of them are pagans, or, rather, are believed to be such.

     The country still further to the northeast, or Abyssinia, is even better known to us. Concerning inhabitants of this country Swedenborg speaks most highly. (S. D. 5947.) But it can hardly be supposed that the people of whom he speaks are the Abyssinians proper, among whom there exists a most debased form of Christianity. Those who are meant are in all likelihood people of the Gallas tribes, who have settled in large numbers in that country and occupy a considerable region of it.

     In the account of the extension of the Church, given above, it is said from Africa it would proceed "to some in Asia under the government of the Turks, also into Asia round about." Those "in Asia under the government of the Turks" can be none other than people dwelling in Arabia; and "Asia round about," is, we believe, the entire region of central Asia. That this is what is meant by "Asia round about," we shall now endeavor to show.

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     Swedenborg, in concluding the relation concerning the people to whom the New Church will extend from Africa, says:

     "I was afterwards brought back, but higher up, where were spirits from the regions of the north part of Asia; and it was perceived that they were of such a disposition, from their life in the world, as to be able to receive the Heavenly Doctrine of which I have spoken above." (S. D. 4779.)

     The north part of Asia, here spoken of, cannot mean Siberia, the inhabitants of which country are for the most part Christians, and, from all accounts, not a remarkably good people. What is meant is undoubtedly the north part of well-inhabited Asia, or the region which in the Writings is called Tartary. It is here that the Ancient Word is preserved, and worship conducted according to it. Jehovah is worshipped, by some as an invisible God, and by others as visible. (A. R. 11.) Concerning the noble character of the people of at least one part of this region, we have the following teaching in the Spiritual Diary:

     "There were some from Tartary close to China, or Lesser Tartary, with me. They spoke of the country where they lived, that it was populous, and that they knew nothing about war. They knew of China and of Siberia. They said that, with them, he governs who is able to govern, and if he is not able, he is dismissed with a fine. They accord him no other honor than as a wise man who Call tell them whether this or that is just. They stated that they are all engaged in their labors at home, in making clothes, in cultivating the land, and the like. They marveled that they should be questioned by Christians, when they came, as to God being a Man; inasmuch as they believed that all knew this, without any question whether it be so. In like manner respecting the precepts of the Decalogue; for example, regarding only one wife, whether they live so, as if they did not know that everyone so lived, since the Lord wills it. They stated that they have houses, where they are taught about life, and about the commandments of God. They said that they had a book, respecting which people elsewhere do not know that they have it. They called it the Divine Book; they read this, and are instructed by it and understand it. Inquiry was made, and it was the Psalms of David. They said that strangers are indeed admitted among them, but they do not give them the means of going away. They give them necessary food; and if one wishes to work, he is accepted. They also possess the Decalogue. They call the Chinese their friends, because they are of their race: they do not think of wars, in their country. They have some fear of Siberia, but say that they have nothing, and that, if they came, they would at once surrender to them; but still they would all go away with their belongings, unawares to them." (6077.)

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     In the light of this account of these people, it hardly seems possible to doubt that the "north of Asia," where are the people capable of receiving the Heavenly Doctrines, must be in Tartary. How widespread the Church will be in that country, we cannot say. The Tartary of which Swedenborg speaks includes Manchuria and Mongolia, and perhaps also Tibet. It includes Manchuria, for thence is the reigning dynasty of China, which the Writings speak of as coming from Great Tartary. It includes Mongolia, because there dwell the people so well spoken of in the number quoted above. And it may include Tibet, because the inhabitants of this region, more than those of Manchuria and Mongolia, permit no strangers to enter their country, and this, we are told, is a practice of the Tartars.

     In order that the New Church may spread to this north part of Asia, it will he necessary for it to pass through a great region of central Asia. Hence our belief that the Church will exist throughout that region.

     But besides the Gentiles in the interior of Africa and in the interior of Asia, there are also many others, to whom the New Church will undoubtedly some day be brought by New Church evangelists from Christian lands. There is, it is true, no direct teaching that this will be done,--at least none that we have been able to find. The passages which teach that the New Church will be transplanted to the Gentiles, all apparently treat of its establishment in Africa. There are, however, three reasons why it can be believed that such will nevertheless be the course of events: 1. That in the establishment of former Churches, a beginning was made with a remnant of the preceding Church, and from them the Church spread to other nations; also that we are taught that "the last of the Church with one nation is always the first of the Church with another, the last being continued into the first." (A. C. 529, 770, 788, 1104, 1126, 4901; A. R. 409, S. D. 4074.) 2. That it is of the Divine Providence that the Letter of the Word should be carried to the Gentiles (S. S. 108), which it being done; and this must have the establishment of the New Church as its ultimate end. 3. That the character of some of these Gentiles, as given in the Writings, is so excellent, that it cannot be doubted that the New Church will extend to them.

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     Among the Gentiles well spoken of in the Writings are the Chinese and the Indo-Chinese.

     Concerning the Chinese we are taught, that they are in charity, and seek to avoid doing injury to others or giving offense. Swedenborg spoke with some Chinese spirits concerning the Lord. When he called Him Christ, a kind of repugnance was perceivable amongst them; the cause, however, was perceived to be this, that they had contracted a prejudice against that name, during their abode in the world, by observing that Christians lived worse than Gentiles, and were not in charity. But when he simply called Him Lord, they were inwardly moved. Afterwards they were instructed by the angels, that the Christian doctrine inculcates love and charity above any other doctrine in the whole earth, but that there are few who live according to it. (A. C. 2596)

     Concerning the Indo-Chinese, or inhabitants of Further India, it is related that

     "Angels spoke wisely to them about God and about His marvellous attributes, and that they were so delighted at this, that they were in the tranquillity of peace. Others were unable to approach, because it spiritual-celestial sphere." (S. D. 6067.)

     The way is at this day being prepared for New Church evangelization among the Gentiles, by the work which Christian missionaries are doing; for these bring to them the Word in the Letter, the reception of which must precede the reception of the Word in its internal sense. The thought may occur that these missionaries are doing more harm than good to the cause of the New Church, because of their falsities of doctrine. But of this we need not have much fear, as we are taught that the Gentiles do not imbibe these falsities. On this subject we read as follows:

     "The Lord is received otherwise by the converted Gentiles outside the Church; these worship and adore Him as their Only God; and they say with the mouth and think in the heart, that they acknowledge Him as God, because He has appeared in a human form. It is contrary within the Church." (A. C. 9198.) [See also A. C. 5256; S. D. 4676, D. P. 322; A. E. 1008.]

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     'The work which the missionaries are doing is, however, progressing very slowly and it is not probable that it will result in a general acceptance of Christianity by the Gentiles to whom they have access. The Gentiles believe that religion must be of life, and they see that such is not the case with Christians. Hence they are averse to the Christian religion, as is taught in the following words:

     "There are Gentiles who had heard, in the life of the body, concerning Christians, that they led a very evil life, in adulteries, quarrels, hatreds, and drunkenness, and who then had a horror of them, because such things were against their laws and manners and their religious principles. Such in the other life, are more timid than others about receiving the truths of faith, because they retain that fear, and a certain species of horror against Christians so-called. Wherefore they are instructed by the angels, that there are very many such, and they are moreover instructed by experience, that there are others, though few, who are not such, and that the Christian doctrine dictates quite the contrary. They then receive the truths of faith." (S. D. 4401.)

     When the day comes for New Church evangelists to take up the work among the Gentiles, they will need to give the same instruction as that given by the angels in the passage just quoted, namely, that "the Christian doctrine dictates quite a contrary life," and this instruction will need to be supplemented, as was the case in the other life by "instruction by experience," that there are Christians, though few in number, who do endeavor to lead good lives, and that these few are the remnant whom the Lord brings into His New Church. The removal of the prejudice against Christianity will he no easy matter; in fact, it will not be possible for it to take place without the aid of a powerful influx from the other world. Therefore the day when the New Church will begin to evangelize among the Gentiles, will not be at hand until the New Church in the world of spirits, formed from Gentiles, has attained sufficient strength to co-operate with the work being done on earth.

     Will the two forms of the New Church,--that of the interiors of Africa and Asia, and that of Christian lands and thence with Gentiles--ever meet and consociate? We believe that they will, and that the meeting-place will probably be in Tartary.

     To the New Church in Christian lands it is said: "Seek for the Ancient Word in China, and you may perhaps find it there among the Tartars." (A. R. 11.)

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It does not seem possible that any New Church man or men will be able to carry on this search without the active co-operation of the Chinese and the Tartars among them; for these people jealously guard their treasure. And their co-operation will not be given unless they are in sympathy with those carrying on the research, which sympathy will not exist unless they, too, know of the command given in the Writings to "search," and from a love for the cause of the New Church open the way to the Ancient Word. It will therefore be necessary that the New Church be established with Chinese and with Tartars among them before the Ancient Word can be found. When this has taken place, the way will readily open for communication with Tartary. Into that country, as we have seen, the New Church will advance from Africa, and reach its furthermost boundary. Therefore there we believe will be the meeting-place of the two forms of the Church. The Church which is of celestial quality, similar to the Most Ancient, will meet the Church of spiritual quality of this day, on the ground where there is still a remnant of the state of the Ancient Church. That the two forms of the New Church are respectively celestial and spiritual, is taught in these words:

     "The Africans in our globe are the ones of the genius in which are the angels in the celestial kingdom; Europeans those who are of the spiritual." (S. D. 5518)

     Why has the Lord provided for the preservation of the Ancient Word? There can be but one answer: For the sake of the New Church. And not only for the sake of the establishment of the New Church in Tartary, but also for the sake of the uses which that Word will perform in all time to come throughout the universal New Church. What those uses will be, it may be difficult now to say; yet one of them is evident, namely, that it will bring the men of the Church into closer consociation with the heavens of the Ancient Church.

     Although the two forms of the New Church will some day meet and consociate, yet they will remain distinct, because of the difference of their genius. The consociation will, however, be of benefit to each: those of the celestial Church will learn those more ultimate forms of truth which are with the spiritual; and those of the spiritual Church will receive that more interior light which the celestial can impart.

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The truths revealed to the Church in Africa are the same as those revealed to us; but the form in which they are imparted, or their clothing, is different. Nevertheless the day will come when the Writings will be read and studied in the celestial New Church. We have seen that books of the Writings were given to Africans in the other world; they were given to them, because they would be of use to them; and since they were of use to them, we can conclude that they will also be of use to those of their Church in this world, and will come into their hands when the day that this will be arrives. The meeting and consociation of the two forms of the Church could have no other effect than the further perfection of the state of each; and since such would be the effect, We can conclude that they will some day meet and consociate.

     From what has been presented it can be seen that it will be in Gentile lands that the New Church will attain unto that greatness and glory for which it is destined. There will it enter into knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, such as has never been on earth before; and there, too, will it gather into its fold myriads of souls, so that its numbers will far exceed those of any of the preceding Churches. And this mighty Kingdom of the Lord will endure forever. "His dominion is the dominion of an age, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that shall not perish." (Dan. vii. 14.)

     And what will become of the New Church in Christian lands? Will it, after it has fulfilled the mission of imparting the Truth to the Gentiles, die out as did the Christian Church among the Jews, after it hall served the use of propagating the Truth in Gentile lands? Or will it endure, united in the bonds of brotherhood with the Church established with the Gentiles? These are questions which even the angels of heaven cannot answer, as is evident from the following teaching:

     "I have had various converse with the angels concerning the state of the Church hereafter. They said, that things to come they knew not, for that the knowledge of things to come belongs to the Lord alone; but that they do know that the slavery and captivity in which the man of the Church formerly, is removed, and that now, from restored liberty, he can better perceive interior truths, if he wills to perceive them, and thus be made more internal, if he wills it; but that still they have slender hope for the men of the Christian Church, but much for some nation far distant from the Christian world, and therefore removed from infesters, which nation is such that it is capable of receiving spiritual light, and of being made a celestial-spiritual man." (L. J. 74.)

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     We are here told that the angels have slender hope of the establishment of the New Church in Christian lands. There is hope, but it is slender; yet, because there is some hope, it is also possible that the New Church will endure in the country in which we live, and which we love.

     It can readily be seen how easily the same fate may overtake the New Church in Christian lands as that which obliterated the Primitive Church from among the Jews. The Christian Jews were zealous for their faith; and yet there was with them a clinging to Jewish traditions, to Jewish customs, and to the Jewish life; their children were instructed by Jews and imbibed the spirit of the life of that nation, and for the most part fell back into the old faith. It was otherwise with the Gentiles, for they were totally separated from Judaism, and their children also were kept separate from it.

     Will the history of the Primitive Church with the Jews be repeated in the history of the New Church in Christian lands? We cannot tell. The history of the Church thus far does no encourage us to say that it will be different. And yet it is possible for it to be different, if we, and our children after us, do our duty. Let us do what is necessary for the perpetuation of the Church, and trust that our children will do the same. What is it that we must do to this end? First of all, we must separate ourselves from the Christian Church, fully acknowledging that it is dead, utterly dead as a Church, and will never be revived: there must be no clinging to it whatever, no fraternizing with it; we must be on our guard against everything in it that is clothed in the garb of religion, however plausible it may appear. Next, we must separate ourselves from the life which prevails among Christians, abhorring it as the Gentiles do,--abhorring the selfishness, the adultery, the lasciviousness, the greed, the dishonesty, and all the other evils which hold sway, by shunning them as sins against God. These are the things we must do, and in them we must also instruct our children.

427


If the Church is to continue in Christian lands, the children must be educated in the Church. They must be taught the doctrines of the Church; they must be made to see how false are the doctrines of the Old Church, and how evil is the life of Christians; they must have implanted the love and desire to find their social life within the Church, and also to marry within the Church. Unless our children are thus educated, they will go the way in which the children of the Jewish Christians wandered to their destruction. The hope of the New Church is in its distinctiveness.

     The angels said to Swedenborg that they had but slender hope for the establishment of the New Church among Christians. Yet we can believe that hope is stronger today than it was in Swedenborg's time; and the reason why we can believe this is, that the angels know that there are those of the New Church on earth who are receiving the doctrine of conjugial love and are endeavoring to carry it out in their lives. This must increase their hope. It is a doctrine of the New Heaven and of the New Church, "that offspring, born of two who are in love truly conjugial, draw from their parents the conjugial good and truth, from which they have an inclination and faculty, if a son, for perceiving the things which are of wisdom, and if a daughter, for loving the things which wisdom teaches." (C. L. 202.) In other words, this doctrine teaches, that children, born of those who are in love truly conjugial, will have the inclination and faculty to love the Church, and to be of the Church, and to enter into the life of conjugial love. Do we not see herein a bright ray of hope for the permanence of the Church with our children, for all ages to come? Let us then, one and all, earnestly strive to come ever more fully into love truly conjugial, shunning all the evils which oppose that love, and at the same time do all in our power to educate our children in and for the Church. The more we do this, the greater can be the hope of the angels for the eternal duration of the Church with the generations which are to follow us, and the greater also can be our hope.

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POPES IN THE OTHER LIFE 1903

POPES IN THE OTHER LIFE       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1903

     WE read in the Writings, that when the Roman Catholics enter the spiritual world, they seek each one his own saint, but that they do not find him, and are thereby greatly amazed; after this they are instructed (C. L. 64). The reason why the saints are not permitted to appear before their votaries, is given as follows:

     Because man is such from heredity that he desires to rule, and to rule over greater numbers according as the bonds are loosed, and at last to rule over all, the inmost of his love being the desire to be invoked and worshiped as god; therefore all who have been made saints by papal bulls are removed from the eyes of others and concealed, and all intercourse with their worshippers is taken away. This is done lest that worst root of evil should be excited with them and they should be carried into phantastic deliriums. C. L. 63.

     The teaching here given applies only or at any rate for the most part to the evil see S. D. 6091); for the good do not set themselves up as interiorly holy above others, nor are they led astray by the folly of their adorers. In other words the evil are restrained lest the lust of dominion be unduly excited in them, while the good restrain themselves. Moreover the latter do sometimes appear to the Catholics, but they repudiate all worship of themselves, and the purpose in their appearing is to teach that the Lord alone is to be worshipped. This was the case with St. Genevieve of Paris. (C. J. 67, J. p. 61.)

     The same principles that are contained in the teachings respecting the saints are also operative in the case of popes. Because of the intense love of dominion which characterizes most of the popes, therefore when they enter the spiritual world they are rarely permitted to appear before the members of their religion. Yet from the general law that all men who come to the other world are held in their own religion that they may confirm or reject it in freedom, the Catholics are permitted to have a pope over them as in the world; but it is always someone personating the pope, and in a few cases only, one who has been a pope on earth-of which latter cases we shall treat lower down.

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This one thus personating a pope, they look up to as was their custom on earth. (C. J. 59.) He is probably, as a rule, some simple person whose vanity is tickled at acting the pope but who seeks no more than the external acknowledgment of his power, nor strives after anything like interior dominion over souls. (See C. J. 3, as to those who personated Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.)

     When one who has been a pope on earth enters into the spiritual world, he, like all other men, imagines himself to be still in the position in which he was on earth. His first experiences are with angels and good spirits who instruct him in the truth, and especially in this truth, that the Lord alone rules. (See S. D. 5843.) This instruction runs through a longer time according as the man is in a good state, or else in such a state of externals that he can appear to accept and believe.

     In the meantime he will, as is the general rule in the world of spirits, seek spirits of his own religion, and will of course be permitted to find them and to associate with them; but unlike other men, a pope is very rarely permitted to enter into and exercise the office he has held on earth. Yet if he be an evil man, it will not be long before, from his very nature and training, be burns again to rule, as he ruled on earth, as the vicar of Christ. This is not permitted, because the love of dominion, unrestrained by external considerations, would bring incalculable harm upon good and evil alike, and especially on the evil pope himself, if it were indulged in without bounds.

     In the case of evil popes,--men whose love of dominion has ultimated itself in the highest degree, even on earth--there are no hounds within which that love can be exercised and at the same time restrained. They have so confirmed themselves, internally and externally, in the idea that they are actually in the place of Christ, that, in the spiritual world, it would be but a short time before they would speak and act as though they were, in truth, God Himself; and this to their own deeper damnation. To save them from themselves, these evil popes, so soon as they begin to seek after their old dominion, are separated, and kept apart as it were in prison, and prevented from ever appearing to the Catholics.

     They are thus kept until their love of dominion exceeds all bounds, then they are prepared for their final lot among their like.

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In many cases the very highest point of their vastation is, when, no longer able to restrain themselves, they disregard all precautions, put aside all fears, and appear among their co-religionists to assert their assumed dominion; for the very act of assertion breaks away all external appearances and causes the internal to be seen in its true colors.

     It was stated that no one ever appears to the Catholics who had been pope in the world; and that if he should appear, he would be carried in a moment, and cast into a place which corresponds to his life, altogether like other men. S. D. 5215.

     The only thing that restrains the popes from thus assuming the position they have held on earth is fear, and, for the inspiring of this fear, is used the same love of dominion which actuates themselves manifested in other spirits. The popes fear the Cardinals and other high officials of the Church, for these also wish to rule, these also wish to be popes and to exercise, in the other world, a supreme dominion denied them on earth: they will not tolerate the presence of one who has already been pope, for his sphere of dominion would threaten to overwhelm them and reduce them to subservience. The presence of such a man excites their evil loves and they burn with the desire to cruelly punish him and cast him out. And it is doubtless true that many of these Cardinals and others are used as punishing spirits both to restrain the popes and to cast them forth when, their love of dominion exceeding their fear, they break away from their place of separation.

     In that chamber which is at the right where the southern quarter is, several sat at a table [deliberating as to how they would worship God in case He gave them power to govern in His stead, and how they would do in case He did not]. That chamber referred to the papal consistory; for it is not allowed these to have a consistory, as in the world. But further removed towards the south, were those who had been cardinals, who ruled those in the chamber. The popes were still further off; but they did not dare to show themselves, for, as often as they showed themselves and wished to govern, they were cast down and at the same time subjected to punishment, and, in fact were cast into a certain abyss. S. D. 5229.

     It thus appears, that evil popes do not remain long in the world of spirits before they are separated from all other Catholics, even from their own inferiors in the priesthood.

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This separation is not necessarily a natural or external isolation, for several instances are recorded in the Writings of conversation had with popes, and it is evident that they can meet with spirits and talk with them, like other men. (S. D. 6087.) The separation is an internal or spiritual separation,--a separation as to the exercise of their love. Popes dare not appear before the Catholics as popes, still less dare they assume their papal authority. Viewed internally they are kept separated from the Catholics, because they are held separate from them as to the specific exercise of their love of dominion. Their position may be compared to that of a deposed king on earth; he dare not show himself before the people, and yet he may live among them.

     The separation of the popes from the Catholics,--the prohibition of papal power which rests upon them,--does not prevent them from exercising the cunning and craft of their love of dominion, from seeking in many ways to destroy men, and especially those who believe in the Lord, for which acts they are grievously punished. The endeavors of one pope in this direction are thus described in the following passage,--which will also serve to confirm some of the observations made above:

     After three weeks from his death it was permitted me to speak with the pope [Benedict XIV., (1740-1759)], and at that time for four days, about many things in the spiritual world, especially about the Lord, that He is the God of heaven, and has not given any power to any man, because power belongs solely to the Divine. He was also instructed about the remission of sins, about heaven and hell, about man--that his fate is according to his life in the world--and very many similar matters; and, at the time, he seemed to understand them all, and also, as it were, to believe them. For this reason, some cherished the hope, respecting him, that in the world he may have been a worshiper of the Lord and in the affection of truth, and thus that he might have been able to be of use with the people of that religion. But he was of such a disposition, that he spoke in accordance with the affection of another, and very politely and adroitly. When it was supposed that he accepted the instruction, he was left to his own love and the principles thereof; and, when he was so left, he acted in unison with the most crafty of his religion, countenancing and instigating the destruction of those who were of the Reformed religion, but clandestinely and, inasmuch as he was allied with the most wicked, he also endeavored, and thus in many different ways, to totally destroy those who ascribe all power to the Lord; and he was told to desist, because he is now in a world where there is no respect of persons, but whoever does evil is punished.

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But he still persisted, believing that none can do anything to him. But when he persisted he was punished like the rest, and indeed grievously in a cavern where was a rigorous punisher. S. D. 5533.

     Further on, it is stated that Benedict discovered a certain saint who was a most powerful sorcerer, and who was brought from hell that he might speak with him. Benedict, in his pride of dominion, "wanted to determine by competition which was the more cunning; and it was ascertained that this one was equally cunning." (S. D. 5847.)

     Within certain bounds, popes like the one referred to above, are permitted to carry on such evils as have been described, (though not without suffering punishment), and in this way they are vastated. But when the vastation is almost completed, the lust of dominion has so far eaten them up that they will observe no bounds. Then they call be no longer held separated from the
Catholics, but rush incontinently to seize the reins of their lost power, and thus rush, really of their own accord, into the abyss, i. e., into hell. (S. D. 5215.)

     The hells of evil popes are hells where the love of ruling prevails in its interior forms, that is, the love of ruling over souls. In these hells they are not distinguished from other men who--though not popes--have yet been in the same love. Yet, when the Lord permits, they may be recognized by those who had known them on earth, as was done by some prelates who, with Swedenborg, witnessed the final lot of two popes. The state of these later is described in a Memorable Relation, wherein the love of ruling from the love of self is treated of. The first part of this Relation tells of the appearance of devils who proclaimed themselves as "kings of kings;" these were followed by the "emperors of emperors," these again by a devil who cried out that he was "the God of heaven and earth." The Relation then continues:

     Afterwards was opened a hell where I saw two men, one sitting on a bench holding his feet in a basket full of serpents who were seen to be creeping softly upwards over his breast even to his neck; and the other sitting upon a fiery ass, at whose sides red serpents were creeping, lifting up their necks and heads and following the rider.

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It was told me that they were popes who had deprived emperors of their dominion...and that the basket . . . and the fiery ass . . . were representations of their love of ruling from the love of self, and that like things do not appear to any but those who look from a distance. There were some canons present, whom I asked whether these men were popes; they said that they recognized them and knew that they were. C. L. 265

     Such is the dreadful lot of popes who have regarded only themselves and their own dominion, for they, more than others, have confirmed themselves in the love of that dominion.

     We have stated, that popes are not allowed to exercise their office in the other world; this, however, does not prevent the fact that the spirit of the papacy--the lust after supreme dominion--is nevertheless present among the Catholics there. But it is exercised, not by popes, but by cardinals and other prelates of the church, both high and low. These are continually striving, in many and magical ways, to establish an absolute rule over the souls of those around them. To further their own ends, they even proclaim what is indeed the truth: that Christ alone is the head of the Church. They will not brook the authority of a man, therefore they tell the people that the pope is only the earthly vicar of Christ, and that the dominion of this earthly vicar and the submission of the people to him, cease in the spiritual world where they now are. Thus we read of certain wicked Catholic prelates who were among the worst, that

     They have a great city upon a mountain at the right where they hold a consistory. They say, however, that the pope is not there, because they are in the other life; and that there the Lord is pope. S. D. 4957.

     They do not intend, by this, to lose one iota of their own authority but rather to strengthen it, for the Lord they proclaim is all invisible God in whom they have no faith, but whom, nevertheless, they pretend to show to the people as the source of their own authority. The prelates referred to in the passage last quoted were "on each side of the place where the Lord appears as a sun," but this sun they themselves had produced by phantasy, and within it was a wicked man. (S. D. 5004) It was to this man, whom they permitted thus to exercise his love of authority, that they ascribed the headship of the Church. Their method of procedure is described fully in the following passage, which also shows how much of sincerity there is in their saying, that in the spiritual world the Lord is pope. The passage treats of those of the Catholic religion who are in the north, in the world of spirits, towards the east:

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     They seduced the common people in this way: They placed a certain devil very high up on one of the rocks, and, by means of phantasy, induced upon him a beard, and shouted out, saying that he was God the Father. They said also that they worshiped him; and yet those impious wretches inspired with him whatever they wished. He gave answer only in accordance with their pleasure....They who did this aspire to govern all by means of that devil. S. D. 5208. See also 5080.

     Strange as this relation may seem, it is but a manifestation before the eyes of what has characterized very many of the popes on earth in their internal thought.

     Benedict XIV, said openly that, when he had lived in the world, he had believed the Lord has no authority because He had transferred it to Peter and his successors but that He should nevertheless be worshiped, because without this the pope would not be worshiped in a holy manner. A. E. 114.

     It may be asked, What of the Catholic people who are subjected to those wiles and machinations? Some of these are in the same love of dominion as their rulers though in lesser degree: others are in other evils, and of the fate of these there need be no question; the deceits of their false rulers are the means for their vastation. But by the same deceits, the simple are enlightened, for they learn how vain are the pretensions of their priests, and so they leave them. Moreover, other means are provided both by means of angels and by men--even popes--of their own religion from whom they receive instruction.

     Thus far we have spoken only of evil popes, that, so soon as they seek the authority they had on earth, they are separated, while the papal power is wielded by lesser prelates in the name of a false Christ. (The experiences of good popes are wholly different. There are but two good popes (Sixtus V., 1585-1590, and Clement XII., 1730-1740) of whom mention is made in the Writings, but from what is said about these we can get a general view of the experiences of good popes before they enter heaven.

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     Like their evil brethren, when they enter the world of spirits they think themselves popes as before; and it is the task of the angels to teach them that the Lord alone is to be acknowledged as the Head of the Church. Some, perhaps, receive the teaching at once, and at once renounce the office they have held, and at the same time endeavor to lead those who come to them, to approach the Lord alone. Perhaps this was the case with Sixtus V., of whom we read, that "for half a year before his death he had believed that the Vicarship was an invention for the sake of dominion," and that the Lord alone is to be worshipped and that the Word is Divine. A. R. 752.

     But with other popes this renunciation is not so easy. These must be taught by experience, and, in some cases, at any rate, if not in all, this experience is gained by their being permitted to exercise the office of pope, and to find out for themselves that the Lord alone has power to open heaven, and that He alone must be approached. This was the case with Clement XII, of whom we read:

     All who go from earth into the spiritual world are at first kept in the confession of faith and the religion of their country. So also the Papists; wherefore they always have set over them a pope whom they adore with similar ritual as in the world. Rarely does any pope, who has been pope in the world, fill that pontificate. Yet he who was pope in Rome twenty years ago [Clement XII.] was set over them, because in his heart he had cherished the belief that the Word is more holy than is supposed and that the Lord should be worshiped. But after he had filled the office of pope for some years are left it of his own accord and betook himself to the Reformed Christians with whom he still is and with whom he enjoys a happy life. C. J. 59.

     The reasons for his thus leaving the papacy are given elsewhere in the Writings.

     He [Clement XII.] was in this office for a long. time; but when he noticed that he had not the slightest open heaven, and that such power was Divine and hence belonged to the Lord alone, he began to turn away from that doctrine, and, afterwards, to stand in horror of it: and, of his own accord, he gave up his office and betook himself among Christians who worship God; and he is with them in heaven. J. p. 102.

     From these two passages, and especially from the first, it seems evident that, in the rare cases where popes are allowed to exercise their office in the other world, those popes are good men and are permitted to rule, only that they may learn not to rule.

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When they learn this lesson, then they are really ready to receive instruction in genuine truths, either in heaven or in the interior sphere of the world of spirits, then also are they ready to instruct Catholic spirits and to lead them from the worship of the saints and popes to the worship of the Lord alone, for good popes are used by the Lord to impart this instruction, either while they themselves are still acting as popes, like Clement, or after their ascent into heaven. Therefore when certain spirits still believed that Benedict XIV, was a good man, they thought "that he might have been able to be of use to the Catholics." S. D. 5843.

     In heaven, popes, as such, are, of course, treated no differently than other men; but it is doubtless true that they are of such a character that they can fill positions of ecclesiastical authority in their society, higher or lower, according to their state, and to such positions they would therefore be appointed. This was the case with Sixtus V., who, we may remark, appears to be in the natural heaven.

     It was granted me to speak with Pope Sixtus V. He went forth from a certain society in the west at the left. He told me that he was appointed the supreme governor to a society collected of Catholics who have judgment and industry above the rest....

     He said that he is in a life of activity, like the life in which he was in the world; and that, every morning, he proposes to himself nine or ten things which he wished to be done by evening."

     We cannot, perhaps, conclude this paper better than by a reference to the message which this pope sent to the world by Swedenborg. It was that Christ is God, that the Word is Divine, that the Holy Spirit does not speak by the mouth of anyone but only satan so speaks, and that those who do not attend to the above truths are, after death, cast into hell. Receiving this message, Swedenborg said, "Perhaps these words are too harsh for me to write." "Write," he answered, "and I will sign, for they are true." Then he left Swedenborg to go to his society "and he signed a copy and issued it as a Bull to other societies devoted to the same religion. A. R. 752.

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SUNDAY SCHOOL PROBLEM 1903

SUNDAY SCHOOL PROBLEM       Rev. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1903

     THE leading educators of the day are very much agitated over the fact, daily growing more apparent, that the elimination of the Bible from the public schools of this country is not being counter-balanced by anything outside those schools. These men know that the Bible is the basis of our civilization and the inspiration of much of our literature,--and, yet, an alarming number of pupils, even in the High Schools, have only the haziest knowledge of what is in the Book. Who thinks of teaching the literature or history of Greece and Rome without some familiarity with their religion? And yet in our schools the Book of the Christian religion is shut out--nay, in many States, even the reading of it is made an offense against the law.

     The last meeting of the National Educational Association, held at Minneapolis, was largely given up to this subject, and the plea was made to readmit the Bible, or selections from it, as literature and as indispensable to the understanding of our own literature. So strong is this movement, and so illustrious are the men who advocate it, that it seems likely to bear fruit. Meanwhile it seems to have occurred to some of the churches that all this reflects upon them, inasmuch as, by common consent, when our schools were thoroughly secularized, the work of teaching- religion and morals was relegated to the various churches, who undertook to do it by means of their Sunday Schools.

     Now the fact is, that only about half of the children of the country,--and in the new portions the number is far less than half,--ever attend the Sunday Schools, and those who do attend are notoriously irregular (except towards Christmas time), and even those who attend regularly acquire too little of either knowledge or reverence for the Book. All this is attributed, by the professional educators, to the lack of trained teachers.

     One good result of all this criticism is, that the churches are beginning to realize that all is not as it should be; and they naturally turn to their critics for suggestions. In this connection it is interesting to see, in the current number of the Educational Review, a contribution to the subject by Dr J. T. Prince, of Boston, who, as a prominent official Of the far-famed Massachusetts department of education, and as a New Churchman, ought to be an authority on the subject.

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Dr. Prince's paper, which we cannot here review in detail, was delivered before a joint meeting of the Congregational and Baptist Sunday School Superintendents' Associations of Boston and vicinity and was published by their request.

     Two things in his paper deserve commendation. He shows what the Sunday School ought to do. Thus, he says:

     So far then, as the children and youth come to know the chief events recorded in the Bible, to understand and appreciate its inspiring literature, to have in mind its noble precepts of moral and religious life, and to look to it with reverence as containing messages of love from God to men, so far will the Sunday School realize its high ideal as a means of spiritual culture.

     He exhibits, in considerable detail, the shortcomings of the Sunday School, he gives suggestions as to the reasons therefor, and also for improvements in the way of organization, order of exercises, and adaptation of the subject matter to the various ages. Many of these suggestions are good, while others are questionable.

     Doubtless it would be too much to expect from a member of a body which believes that the New Church is permeating the Old, the very palpable truth which lies at the bottom of this whole matter, namely, that our great and glorious public school system is at fault, vitally and fatally recreant to its trust, inasmuch as it fails utterly to teach, and to teach as the most important thing, the Christian religion and the Christian Bible upon which all our institutions are founded. This would imply, what, of course, the members of that body would not admit, although it is so plainly revealed in the Writings, that the Christian world is Christian in name only, and does not really suffer in heart, even when the Lord, and with it the Lord, are taken away from it!

     Yet the educational system of a country is that country's recognized agency for perpetuating itself and those traditions which it holds most dear; and any subject which is relegated outside the pale of this agency ceases to have its place as a part of the serious educational work of its young.

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     Dr. Prince's paper shows plainly that the Sunday Schools suffer from the lack of everything that makes for effective education,--money, trained ability, time, serious study, and the zealous cooperation of the home. It is most decidedly a special and occasional work. Nevertheless, we of the New Church can easily make of the Sunday School a far more powerful agency than it is,--but of this at some future time.
DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN MARRIAGE 1903

DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN MARRIAGE       RANDOLPH W. CHILDS       1903

     IN the work on Conjugial Love there is a statement that is of the greatest interest to every New Churchman--a statement that answers the question that many a mind has asked.

     The statement reads: "The divine providence of the Lord is most particular concerning marriages because all the delights of heaven stream forth from the delights of conjugial love as sweet waters from the stream of a fountain, and that on this account it is provided that conjugial pairs are bent" (229). It is this last statement that stands forth as one of the most interior arcana that have been revealed in the Second Coming of the Lord in the Heavenly Doctrines. The rational mind naturally concludes that since "the Divine Providence is most particular and most universal concerning marriages," the Lord provides that there should be born pairs capable of inmost conjunction. Since the heavenly marriage is formed from the truth of good in the man and the good of that truth in the woman, it is necessary that souls should be born capable of becoming interior similitudes, and finally be united in love truly conjugial. Divine Providence labors to accomplish the conjunction of these souls. In children the minds of the boy and girl are so educated, so developed, so moulded, that unconsciously they grow towards each other: in adolescence this growth is more marked, and, finally, when the youth becomes a man and the young girl a woman, then the divine providence leads the twain to each other--if not in this world, then in the world to come. Such is the blessing given to those who have labored in the heat of the day, for the evening shall bring them welcome rest. To every man is given the choice whether or not he will meet the one with whom he may live to eternity in the joys of heaven, or whether he will wander alone in the pathless forest of evil.

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     As everyone is born for heaven, in like manner a man and a woman are created in such a form that they may be united in conjugial love; but just as everyone is in liberty to lead an evil life, so every man and every woman is at liberty either to avail or not to avail himself of this opportunity of becoming inmostly united with one of the other sex. Every man, so far as is possible, is reserved in freedom. The Divine Providence provides that there shall be certain permissions. So in this case, although providence labors to bring about the union of this pair, still it is not allowed that this end shall he effected against the will of either of the pair--for this would destroy freedom. It is evident then that if one or the other desires to go to hell among his like, then the bond that might have united them is never formed. The man who, of his own free will, chooses to sever himself from conjugial love and thus from her who might have become his consort, thwarts the crowning blessing which the Lord would bestow on everyone.

     The other of the pair is left to be considered. It appears unjust that the innocent should suffer with the guilty; yet the good do suffer to some extent with the evil, but the injustice is on the part of the latter. The man who Opens hell to himself, has destroyed his usefulness; he has not contributed his particular good and truth which should have contributed with other forms of good and truth to produce heaven in the aggregate; he has sinned against man, against heaven, and against God. Such a man has sinned against conjugial love and against her, who might have become his conjugial partner. He has followed only self. Yet we must understand that to the good there is no sense of bereavement. In place of the evil one he is given another one, with whom he can be conjoined in conjugial love.

     But it will be objected, how can this man and woman be conjoined? Are they not dissimilitudes or at least not exact similitudes? Can two with such various similitudes be inmostly conjoined? We shall proceed to the consideration of this question. In the work on Conjugial Love read: "There are various similitudes and various dissimilitudes both external and internal with consorts.

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It is known that between consorts there are similitudes and that there are dissimilitudes. Similitudes and dissimilitudes in general take their rise from connate inclinations, varied by education, consociation, and imbued persuasions. (227.)

     From this it is clear that conjugial pairs are potential similitudes at birth. The good are formed into actual similitudes by Divine Providence which governs the least things of their life, but if one, or the other, or both, are evil, they do lot become similitudes.

     The formation of conjugial pairs into similitudes is beautifully described in the Writings when treating of those who die in infancy. "They are continually educated under the auspices of the Lord for their several marriages, both the boy and the girl being ignorant of it; and after the complete time, then that marriageable virgin and that young man fit for nuptials, meet somewhere as if by fate, and see each other; and then, as from a certain instinct, they instantly know that they are partners, and, as if from a certain dictate within, they think in themselves, the young man, that she is mine, and the virgin, that he is mine; and after this has been seated for some time in the minds of both, they deliberately speak to each other and betroth themselves; it is said, as if from fate, instinct, and dictate and what is meant is Divine Providence, because, while this is not known, it appears thus; for the Lord opens internal similitudes, that they may see each other." (229.)

     This is in heaven, yet the same applies to earth, for similitudes can be formed with all those who truly desire conjugial love. It must not be forgotten that divine providence always provides that similitudes shall be formed with such. For we read "That the Lord provides similitudes for those who desire love truly conjugial, and that if they are not given on earth He provides them in the heavens." (229.)

     But as we have said, on earth one or the other of the pair may not be regenerated. Yet even in this case similitudes can be provided by the Lord for those who wish it. It is written: "There are many varieties, and they are distant from each other more or less, but even those which are distant may in time be conjoined by various means, such as accommodations to the desires, mutual love, civilities, abstinence from things unchaste, the common love of infants and the love of children; but especially by conformities in things of the Church; for by means of things of the Church there becomes a conjunction of similitudes interiorly distant, but by other things a conjunction of things externally distant.

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But with dissimilitudes conjunctions cannot he effected, because they are antipathetic. (228.)

     Thus we may conclude that in cases where pairs have not become similitudes, the one who has lived in good may nevertheless be interiorly conjoined with another in love truly conjugial, who has been formed by the Lord into a similitude; conjugial similitudes are always provided for those who shun evils as sins, and desire love truly conjugial.

     We have endeavored to show how divine providence continually overrules the consequences of man's evils--evils which are ever threatening the establishment of conjugial love. The contemplation of this providence will more forcibly impress on our minds the truth, that under any and all circumstances, the Lord always provides conjugial similitudes for those who wish it: and all those wish it who "from an early age have loved, have wished, and have asked of the Lord a legitimate connection with one, and have scorned and shunned wandering lusts." (49) This is the duty of the young man of the New Church.
FREEDOM 1903

FREEDOM       FRED. E. GYLLENHAAL       1903

     "ALL freedom is of love, for that which a man loves he does freely. Therefore all freedom is also of the will, and as love and the will constitute the life of man, freedom also constitutes it. From this it is evident that freedom is that which is of the love and of the will and therefore of the life of man. Hence it is that that which a man does from freedom appears to him to be from his own proprium." N. 141.

     There are many loves, good and evil; the good loves flowing into man from heaven, the evil loves flowing into man from hell. So also there are as many freedoms, good and evil; but in general, there are two, namely, heavenly freedom and infernal freedom.

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     Heavenly freedom is from heaven and is real freedom; but infernal freedom is from hell, and is slavery.

     The Lord, although He wills all men to go to heaven, compels no one, not even in least things; for if He should compel man, He would take away his life, that is to say his freedom. This is contrary to the laws of Divine Providence. But the Lord gives to every man the liberty of choosing between good and evil, heaven and hell; and when man has, from this liberty or freedom, chosen heaven, then he is in heavenly freedom, and the Lord then implants in him truth: and truth can only take root in man when he is in heavenly freedom. On the other hand, if man from this liberty chooses hell, then he is in infernal freedom, which, in truth, is not freedom, but slavery; though the man imagines himself to be in freedom, because he acts according to his loves.

     Every man has, by inheritance, the love of self and the low of the world. From these two loves come all evils. This inheritance is man's proprium. If, from reason, man confirms himself in favor of these evils and does them, then he comes into infernal freedom or slavery. But if, from reason, he confirms himself against them, and shuns them as sills against God, then he comes into heavenly freedom.

     While man is in his proprium, as long as he confirms himself neither for nor against it, he is in liberty to turn himself either way.

     If, from the love of reputation, for the sake of honor or gain, he conducts himself externally like a moral man, committing no external evils, then he is in external freedom or freedom of the external thought and will. If, at the same time, he is a spiritual man, then he is in internal freedom, or freedom as to his internal thought and will.

     From natural and external freedom, man may come either into spiritual or heavenly freedom, or into infernal freedom.

     Man is in natural or external freedom as to thinking and willing what he pleases, for "Every one knows that man has the freedom to think and will just as he pleases, but not the freedom to say whatever he thinks, or to do whatever he wills. Thinking and willing are spiritual, but speaking and doing are natural." D. P. 72.

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     The will and understanding of man are separate and distinct, and man can act from the one and not at the same time from the other. As to the exercise of them, he is in freedom.

     But man is not free to say what he thinks or to do what he wills, civil laws restrain him. They even restrain him from doing what he wills to himself.

     It is not man's freedom which is thus restrained, but the freedom or rather the license of the hells which act through him. The hells can only be restrained in ultimates. They are constantly endeavoring to destroy man, and they would destroy him if they could. And man whose proprium is evil, from which he acts, is constantly endeavoring to destroy himself or allow himself to be destroyed by the hells. The Lord, therefore, has given laws which, in restraining man from committing external evils, restrain the hells also; and, further, He has established punishments, and when man is punished, the evil spirits, from whom his evil flows, are also punished. On account of these laws and punishments, the evil man thinks he has no freedom, for they do not allow him to act according to his loves. But a good man does not feel the law. He wills only to do good, and so, from heavenly freedom, he is also in natural freedom.

     We read in Divine Providence: "Man possesses reason and freedom, or rationality and liberty; and these two faculties are in man from the Lord; and that it is by means of these two faculties that man is reformed and regenerated by the Lord; and without them he cannot be reformed and regenerated."

     Infants are born into total ignorance and they inherit from their parents a proprium which is wholly evil. At the same time the Lord gives them a plane in which remains may be stored up; and by means of parents and teachers He awakens in them good affections. As they grow to manhood and womanhood, from reason they confirm either the loves of their proprium or the good affections awakened in them. The Lord leaves them in perfect freedom to choose between the two, but through that freedom He bends them away from evil and to good; leading them so gently and silently, that they do not know but that it all proceeds from themselves. A. C. 9587 And yet it is the Lord that leads every man, good and evil, in everything that he does, for it is a law of Divine Providence, that "to think and to speak truth and to will and do good from freedom according to reason is not from man but from the Lord; and that to think and speak falsity and to will and do evil from freedom is not from man, but from hell, and yet in such a way that, while the evil and falsity are from hell, the freedom itself, regarded in itself, and the ability itself to think, speak, will and do, regarded in itself, are from the Lord."

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     The Lord although He gently and silently bends and leads man in freedom to do good, yet does not compel him to make the choice of good or evil. The devil attempts to make man choose evil, but the Lord preserves him in freedom, for no one can be reformed except in freedom!, and therefore. "It is an eternal law that, as to the interiors, every one shall he in freedom." A. C. 2876. But man must compel himself, for, "to compel one's self is from freedom, but not to be compelled." A. E. 900. "An internal man is of such a character, that he loves to speak and act from freedom, and not from compulsion, for with them the internal compels the external, and not the reverse. A. C. 2842.

     In temptations the freedom of man is increased according to his will to shun evils. But with an evil man his chains are weighted when he gives way to his evil lows; while with a good man, his load is lighter when he has overcome in temptation.

     The men of the Most Ancient Church were in real freedom, for they were regenerated. "They had a voluntary which was good and an intellectual in which was the derivative truth, which two with them made one." A. C. 2328. As they willed only to do good, there was no need of external laws and so we read of their living in families and nations. Here they were in freedom to say what they thought and do what they willed, and thus were in external freedom.

     The men of the Ancient Church "had the voluntary utterly destroyed, but the intellectual entire, in which the Lord, through regeneration, formed a new voluntary, and, through that, a new intellectual also." A. C. 4238. They inherited an evil proprium and consequently were not born into external freedom.

     The Jewish Church, which was merely a representative of a church and had no internal, had neither heavenly freedom nor external freedom. Innumerable laws were given them and even then they had to be compelled to obey God and follow Him, by miracles being constantly performed. And from their history we can see that, by miracles, nothing of truth and good can be implanted.

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     The world had become so wicked, so many had turned from serving God, to serve the devil, that, in order to save the few remaining and preserve the ultimate on which heaven rests, the Lord was born on this earth as an infant, with all the inherited evils from His earthly mother. But, in freedom His Human overcame in temptations, and by victories over the hells He subjugated them, and restored man to equilibrium or freedom.

     It would appear as if the Lord when He performed miracles used compulsion; but if we examine carefully the accounts of those miracles, we will see that such was not the case. The Lord performed miracles, only when He foresaw that they would not compel, and therefore in Nazareth, "He did not many mighty works, because of their unbelief." Matt. xiiv, 58. And, therefore, also, before performing miraculous cures, He so often asked, "Believe ye, that I am able to do this?" Matt. ix. 28.

     But when charity began to wane in the church, and the love of dominion to take its place, men sought to perform miracles, merely for the sake of compelling; and a more interior development of the same endeavor to compulsion, was the suppression of the understanding under obedience to mere faith. The same end was sought, by the establishment of doctrines by majority votes in Councils, and by excommunicating and damning all who refused to accept them. And the final and most direful offspring was the doctrine of predestination, taking away from man the last vestige of freedom in spiritual things. If this doctrine had been accepted by the whole world, all freedom would have perished.

     The state of the "world had again become so bad that it was necessary for the Lord to make His Second Advent, which He had prophesied. He made this Second Advent in a Divine Revelation given through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg; and with Divine Truth, He restored to mankind the precious jewel of Freedom.

     Let the New Church ever cherish it, and keep it safe, for without it there call be no reformation and regeneration, and consequently no conjunction with the Lord.

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WORLD--A KINGDOM OF USES 1903

WORLD--A KINGDOM OF USES       ALEC. P. LINDSAY       1903

     When we behold the heavens full of myriads of stars; when we think that these stars compared with other celestial spheres, are but as a drop of water in the vast ocean of space, and then when we learn that all these stars are suns, about which planets revolve in their own vortex, we are struck with amazement, and me ask ourselves, What is the end in this creation?

     But let us not dwell with the universe, let us look at our own earth. For we know that in order to get a good idea of the general, we must study the particulars, for the general is made up of particulars. Let us take for an example a man who is regenerating. He first sees that great general evil to which he tends, and, wishing to destroy it he strikes down one after another of its supports until finally the entire evil falls.

     So we see that universals are made up of particulars, each being a form of, and subservient to the whole. Thus if we start with that which is within our grasp, we will be better able to extend our thought, and see the use and end of the whole.

     In this earth of ours we find everywhere hidden within its bowels a great abundance of minerals, some of which are dug up by man and converted into useful articles, while others are taken up by plants and used by them as food.

     On it we find the vegetable kingdom, which consists of a great wealth of trees, shrubs, and plants, all of which, severally and collectively, give nourishment, raiment, and shelter to man and beast. Lastly, we find an exuberance of animal life, every single insect and every living creature, no matter how vile, performing its use to the whole, In fact, we can look nowhere in nature, where we do not see a creation for some end--and that end is the use of some higher form of life.

     But before going any further into the subject, let us distinguish between nature and spirit,-nature which has to do with forms, and spirit which has do to with life.

     In nature there is no real life, because it derives its esse from the sun of this world, which is pure fire, and because it was created in order that it might clothe the spiritual and thus serve it for use in its operation in this world.

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     It is spirit, which comes from the sun of the spiritual world which is pure love, that is within all that is natural; for all things that exist in this world--every particle and every atom--are effects produced by spiritual causes, and it is an axiom, that "nothing comes forth in the effect, that is not in the cause." Thus the entire natural world is the theatre for the operation of spiritual forces; and from these forces, which come from the Lord, there is in all nature a conatus or striving after the human form--the form of its Creator. Thus all men, angels, and spirits, and the entire heavens are in a human form. This form derives its conatus to such things from the Lord, from Whom all things are. Man is a receptacle, and thence an image of Him, because man receives His life which is divine love and wisdom.

     From this it is evident that man is the most perfect receptacle of spiritual life, and that everything is made subservient to him, created for his use and pleasure by which he may promote his spiritual and natural life. As the Psalmist says, "For Thou hast made him less, a little, than the angels, and with glory and honor Thou hast crowned him. Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; all things hast Thou put under His feet. The flocks and herds, all of them, and also the beasts of the fields. The bird of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, passing through the paths of the seas."

     How truly the man, that is humble in heart, might exclaim: "O Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is Thy name in the whole earth." From these words we see how important man is. How everything that is within the earth, as minerals, chemicals, etc.; everything that grows upon it,--the vegetable kingdom in its entirety; and every living thing that walks and creeps on earth, that flies in the heavens, or that swims in the sea, have all been created, co-ordinated and subordinated, and given to man, in order that he may make use of them, and, by making use of them, become a more perfect image of the Lord. Hence all earthly uses go to make one grand use, and for the accomplishment of this, every use is dependent on other uses. In our body we see each organ performing its separate use, and, yet, if we were to take away the help of the other organs, we would find that it could not play its part in the mechanism of the man.

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     But for our purposes this concatenation of uses, may be seen even more plainly, if we take a more ultimate illustration. Let us take, for instance, the manufacture of an ordinary woolen garment. First we will have to consider those who raise the grass, herbs, and plants, upon which the sheep feed; then those who tend the flocks, and wash the wool after it has been cut; those who are employed in packing and shipping it to market; then we have the transportation. Here we enter into a still larger field, and must take into consideration the making of ships and railroads; the development of such branches of science, as, chemistry, physics, mathematics, electricity, astronomy, etc. For by these we learn how to assay the minerals; how to find the stress and strength of the different materials used; how to manufacture the different instruments, as the telescope and the compass, which are used to lay out and determine their respective courses. But it would be tedious, and almost impossible to merely enumerate all the branches of use, that lend their aid in the production of one simple garment. For in order to make this garment we have to call to our aid every branch of science and learning that is known, and its application.

     When we think of this wonderful chain of uses in connection with man, we see that his uses are not confined to one man but have almost unlimited extension to others.

     Almost every one finds during his sojourn in this world, that he is more adapted for one kind of use than for another. It is so provided by the Lord, in order that there may be a completeness, in order that each man, performing his own use, may contribute to the whole, and that this whole may effect one grand use--the use of the human race which appears before the eyes of the Lord as one grand man.

     We cannot do a number of things equally well. We must keep within our own line. We must keep within the bounds which our love has set for us, doing that particular use to which we are best suited, and doing it to the best of our ability. We must act in accordance with the laws of rhythm, of action and reaction, so that equilibrium is always sustained. One hair's variation in the order of the universe would bring immediate destruction, and, yet, we little individual microcosms are constantly knocking ourselves into chronic states of chaos, because we feel that we are gods and call direct our own lives better than the God who made us.

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We of the Lord's New Church know that man is prepared for use it; the Lord's kingdom, while he lives in this world, by passing through man's states. First, in infancy and childhood, he learns to walk and talk, to read and write; then, in youth, he learns how to sustain his body and perfect his rational; finally, he becomes a man, and, if he has learned to shun evils as sins against God, he passes into the use to which the Lord has constantly been striving to lead him, by ways and means unknown to him. Thus it is in this world, the training-school of life, the seminary of heaven,--that man wanders and is led, trained, and prepared to perform that use which he will eventually perform when he enters the spiritual world, and into which he is being initiated in the interiors of his thoughts even in this life.

     If we are but willing to do our uses, our duties, in the way that God gives us to see them, we will he ever climbing upward on the ladder of life swerving neither to the right nor the left, for then the Lord will not suffer our foot to be moved, but will keep us steadily in our path. He will see that the use we are performing will contribute something to the grand use of heaven.

     We cannot stand still, we must either regenerate or degenerate. If we regenerate, we will advance and enter into these heavenly joys which follow a life of usefulness in this world. For by a life of usefulness we provide a plane into which the Lord may flow with His infinite love and power, and this He freely does, if we receive Him.

     If, on the other hand, we degenerate, and choose to lead ourselves; if we perform only those duties which we are forced to perform, or if we perform uses for the sake of our own glory, honor, and gain, or because public opinion compels us, then we will find our place in hell among our like.

     Everywhere we see the Divine Providence ever creating, building, and preserving all in order that man may he in the divine sphere of uses which is in heaven and which constitutes heaven. It is a man's use that determines his life and distinguishes him from other men. It is use that is the bond of society. It is use that withholds men from rushing headlong into crime, or inspires them to greatness for the sake of use.

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     We, especially, who are of the New Church can see how the Lord has given man all things in order that he may live a useful, a spiritual and a happy life. For He says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and its righteousness, and all things shall be added unto you." In order that we may, "seek the kingdom of heaven," He has provided us with New Church schools, and thus with means by which we may be instructed in His heavenly doctrines, by which we may become useful citizens, not only in this world, but in the New Jerusalem. He has inspired us with a sense of duty to our neighbors, which considered in the broadest natural sense is, our glorious Church, and our dear Alma Mater. It has been given us to guard that sacred flame, which shall go forth and enlighten the world,--to stand ever ready to defend the doctrines of the New Church.

     The Lord has shown us all these things and has opened wide the gate to eternal life through which we may enter, if we are but willing to lay aside the conceit of human greatness, and humbly acknowledging the Divine Omnipotence, to apply ourselves to the fulfillment of our destiny in a life of usefulness among our fellow men.

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JOURNAL OF THE Seventh Annual Meeting of the Council of the Clergy Of the General Church of the New Jerusalem 1903

JOURNAL OF THE Seventh Annual Meeting of the Council of the Clergy Of the General Church of the New Jerusalem       F. E. WAELCHLI       1903

HELD AT BRYN ATHYN, PA., FROM TUESDAY, JUNE 23D, TO FRIDAY, JUNE 26TH, 1903.

     Tuesday Morning, June 23d, 1903.

     1. The meeting was opened with reading of the Word and Prayer, conducted by Bishop Pendleton.

     2. The Rev. C. T. Odhner was appointed Secretary pro tem.

     3. The members present were:

     Bishop Pendleton.
Pastors Bowers, De Charms, Price, Odhner, Waelchli, Pendleton, Synnestvedt, Acton, Doering, and Klein.

     Minister Stebbing.

     The Rev. Walter Brickman was present by invitation.

     4. On motion of the Rev. N. D. Pendleton the secretary was requested to read over the minutes of the last meeting, and report a summary thereof.

     5. The Reports of the Ministers were read, which were, in substance, as follows:

     The Rev. J. E. Bowers has, during the past year, been steadily engaged in the work of evangelization, and in the various uses of the ministry of the Church. Sermons and lectures were delivered forty-eight times. The amount received in contributions is $413.80. Paid in traveling expenses, $119.40. Received from the Treasurer of the General Church, $200.

     The Rev. Richard De Charms resigned the pastorate of the Denver Church of the Lord's Advent on November 1, 1902, to assume the duties of the office of Secretary to the Bishop of the General Church.

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He entered upon the duties of that office on December 1. Since March 22d he has also conducted services and preached for the Philadelphia Society of the Advent.

     The Rev. Andrew Czerny reported that the work in London and in Colchester went on quietly during the past year, and that the interest continues. The average attendance at worship, at each place, is 42. The number of pupils in the London school is 21.

     The Rev. E. S. Price was engaged in professional work in the schools of the Academy of the New Church. Also, preached once in Bryn Athyn and twice at Allentown.

     The Rev. F. E. Waelchli reported the regular continuance of the various uses in the Carmel Church, at Berlin, Ont. The average attendance at worship is 79. There are 44 pupils in the school. Services were conducted for isolated members at Wellesley, Clinton, and Milverton.

     The Rev. N. D. Pendleton on April 1st of this year severed his relations with the Immanuel Church of Glenview and Chicago, after being in the service of that Church for thirteen and one-half years, to accept the pastorate of the Pittsburg Society of the New Jerusalem.

     The Rest. H. Synnestvedt had assisted the Bishop in the pastoral charge of the Bryn Athyn Society. Also, conducted services twice in Baltimore, three times in Philadelphia, and once in Berlin, Ont.

     The Rev. Alfred Acton reported that, in addition to his duties in the Academy of the New Church, he had continued to act as Secretary of the General Council and as pastor to the societies in Allentown and Brooklyn. In the case of the latter the past year has witnessed a marked growth in the social life of the society, and consequently in the unity of its members. Six of these who have been constant attendants at the services have joined the General Church.

     The Rev. R. H. Keep reported the formation of an organization of the Church in Atlanta on July 20, 1902. Services and classes are held regularly. The work has been fruitful of good results, and there are encouraging indications for further growth and progress.

     The Rev. George Starkey continued to serve as Secretary to the Bishop during the summer of 1902. On October 19th he was ordained into the pastoral degree of the priesthood; and in December he arrived in Denver, to take pastoral charge of the General Church Society there. The situation in Denver is encouraging as regards the essential feature,--the interest and zeal of the members. The average attendance at worship is 18. Sunday School work has been begun.

     The Rev. Emil Cronlund was forced to discontinue his work as pastor of the Advent Church of Philadelphia in February, 1903, owing to illness. On April 1st he resigned from the pastorate of the society, and in May removed to Toronto, Can., being now in charge of the society there.

     The Rev. Reginald Brown continued to serve the Pittsburg Society as its minister until April 1st, when he resigned that position in order to devote himself to the field of education.

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Since then he has been pursuing a course of university studies in preparation for his future work. In August, 1902, he preached at Erie, and since leaving Pittsburg preached twice in Chicago and once in Glenview.

     The Rev. William Caldwell ministered to the Baltimore Society of the General Church during the summer of 1902. In October he entered upon the duties of preacher for the Bryn Athyn Society, and the same month was ordained into the ministry. In April of this year he became the minister of the newly-formed Sharon Church in Chicago. The average attendance at services in the Sharon Church is 38.

     Mr. Alfred Stroh has done no regular work in the public ministry except preaching once in Colchester. His time has been mainly taken up with the investigation and reproduction of Swedenborg's manuscripts preserved in Sweden. It is important that this work should go on; for the manuscripts are perishable and time has greatly damaged some of them. Besides this work, he has also begun a General Index of Swedenborg's scientific and philosophical works.

     No reports were received from the Rev. Messrs. Jordan, Klein, Stebbing, and Boyesen.

     6. The resignation of the Rev. George Starkey as Secretary of the Council was accepted, and Rev. F. E. Waelchli was elected to the office.

     7. A letter from the Rev. Andrew Czerny, and one from Mr. Alfred Stroh, were read.

     8. The Bishop proposed a list of subjects for the docket of this meeting.

     9. The question of selecting at this time one or more ministers for ordination into the Third Degree was taken up and considered until the close of the session.

     Tuesday Afternoon.

     10. The consideration of the question of the choice of another man for the third degree was continued, and it was concluded that it is not advisable to take action in this matter at this time.

     11. On motion, it was resolved that the Bishop be requested to present the subject of The Science of Exposition on Thursday, and that both sessions of that day be devoted to this subject.

     12. The meeting of the General Assembly was the next subject taken from the docket. From the remarks of the speakers it was evident that there is throughout the church a strong desire for another Assembly, and it was agreed that it is desirable to have a General Assembly next year.

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     Tuesday Evening.

     A public session was held, at which the Bishop delivered an Address on "The Distinctiveness of the New Church."

     Wednesday Morning, June 24th.

JOINT MEETING WITH THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

     13. The meeting was opened with worship, conducted by Bishop Pendleton.

     14. The members of the Executive Committee present were Messrs. Pitcairn, Wells, Macbeth, Hicks, Doering, and Paul Synnestvedt.

     THE BISHOP'S REPORT.

     15. The Bishop verbally delivered his annual report.

     He spoke of the pastoral changes during the past year; of the death of Mr. Asplundh and Mr. Bostock, of his own resignation as Superintendent of the Schools of the Academy of the New Church, in order to devote himself more fully to the work of the General Church; of the serious illness of Mr. Hyatt; and of the Advent Society of Philadelphia and the Middleport Society both being without pastors. Continuing, he said:

     This brings to the front the subject of the scarcity of ministers in our body. There are not enough to do the work for us. Let us pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest. Let us remember that it is His harvest.

     Our Theological School is equipped to do its part in the work. The need is students. The school is prepared to give a more thorough training than ever before.

     The same is true of the Academy Schools throughout. They are deserving of the confidence of the Church. This is being given, and is growing, as can be seen in the increased attendance during the past year, which was larger than ever before. The fine college buildings add much to the effectiveness of the work.

     Mr. Bostock's death has left a vacancy that is hard to fill. We miss him for his sterling worth as a man and a priest. There is again but one man in the third degree. The Council of the Clergy in its present session has given a whole day to the consideration of this matter, but reached the conclusion that nothing can be done at this time.

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We must wait for the clearer indications of Providence.

     Mr. Bowers continues in charge of the work in England, giving great satisfaction. The only drawback is the condition of his health. Let us hope that this difficulty will soon pass away, that he may be able to remain at his responsible and important post.

     The work on the new liturgy is proceeding steadily, but slowly. We have selected about one hundred and thirty-five hymns, the best that can be found in the large field of hymn literature. Nearly all of them have been set to music by Prof. George Blackman. I can testify to the high character of the music chosen. We expect soon to begin the printing of the hymns on installments, not waiting for the printing of the Liturgy.

     It was decided by the General Council not to call a meeting of the General Assembly this year, as the conditions were not favorable for the entertainment of so large a body. The District Assemblies, which have all met during the year, have largely made up for what is lacking in this respect, together with the annual meetings of the Council of the Clergy and the Executive Committee. It is hoped, however, that we shall not pass another year without a meeting of the General Assembly.

     Finally, the Bishop said that the entire work of the General Church is in satisfactory shape, though there is room for improvement in particulars, which we expect from year to year.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH.

     16. The Secretary of the General Church reported as follows:

     1. As Secretary of the General Church, I have to report that the General Church of the New Jerusalem numbers at present 650 members, showing a net increase of 35 members over the membership reported June 20th, 1902. Altogether 43 persons have been received as members since the last report, while, on the other hand, 8 passed into the spiritual world.

     2. The following are those who have passed into the spiritual world:

Mrs. Eliz. Everett, of Colchester, Aug. 22, 1902.
Mrs. M. M. Cowley, of Pittsburg, Sept. 19, 1902.
Mr. Samuel Klein, of Brooklyn, Nov. 7, 1902.
Mr. Adam Doering, of Berlin, Ont., Jan. 13, 1903.
Mr. C. Hj. Asplundh, of Bryn Athyn, Feb. 12, 1903.
Mr. C. G. Nahrgang, of Parkdale, Ont., March 7, 1903.
Rt. Rev. E. C. Bostock, of Bryn Athyn, April 11, 1903.
Mr. E. C. McCandless, of Pittsburg, April 11, 1903.

     3. The following are the new members who have been received during the year:

Mr. F. E. Longstaff, of Toronto, Ont.
Mr. and Mrs. William Gill, of Colchester, England.

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Mrs. L. A. Sanner, of Middleport, O.
Mrs. W. H. Grant, of Middleport.
Mrs. Emil Gunther, of Baltimore, Md.
Mr. John Bornscheuer, of Baltimore.
Dr. Ernest A. Farrington, of Chicago. Ill.
Miss Nellie Larson, of Chicago.
Rev. Joseph E. Boyesen, of Stockholm, Sweden.
Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal, of Glenview, Ill.
Mr. Gustav Gottfrid, of Rockford, Ill.
Mr. and Mrs. George Heath, of Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Mrs. Robert B. Caldwell, of Toronto.
Miss Mary M. Doering, of Milverton, Ont.
Miss Bessie D. C. Sharp, of Salem, O.
Rev. Walter E. Brickman, of Bryn Athyn.
Mrs. Susan M. Coffin, of Baltimore.
Mr. and Mrs. J. Price Coffin, of Allegheny, Pa.
Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Fincke, of Brooklyn, N. Y.
Mr. and Mrs. George A. Trautman, of Allegheny.
Mr. August J. Trautman, of Allegheny.
Mr. Arthur H. Powell, of Given, O.
Mr. and Mrs. Frederic Kansen, of Newark, Del.
Miss Zella M. Snow, of Denver, Col.
Mr. Franklin P. Burkhardt, of Chicago.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Streich, of Chicago.
Miss Elsa C. Lechner, of Pittsburg.
Miss Freda Pendleton, of Bryn Athyn.
Mrs. Margaret E. Kendig, of Renovo, Pa.
Mr. and Mrs. Anders Elis Bergstrom, of Denver, Col.
Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Conger Brown, of Orange, N. J.
Mr. and Mrs. Thairgen, of Brooklyn, N. Y.
Miss M. Schweitzer, of Berlin, Ont.

     4. The Clergy of the General Church numbers at present twenty-one ministers, and two candidates. The Rt. Rev. Edward C. Bostock, who was ordained into the third or episcopal degree of the Priesthood by Bishop Pendleton on October 19, 1902, was removed to the spiritual world on April 11, 1903. The Rev. George G. Starkey was ordained into the second or pastoral degree on October 19, 1902, and Mr. William B. Caldwell was ordained into the first degree of the Priesthood on the same day.

     The Rev. Joseph E. Boyesen, of Stockholm, Sweden, was received into the Priesthood of the General Church on September 21, 1902. Respectfully submitted, C. TH. ODHNER,
Secretary.

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     17. The Secretary of the Executive Committee presented the following statement:

     The Executive Committee has held three meetings since its meeting at Berlin, Ont., last June.

     The committee has lost one member, our valued Treasurer, Mr. C. H. Asplundh, who departed this life February 12, 1903.

     The committee, by virtue of the authority vested in it by the General Assembly, has added to its membership Messrs C. E. Doering, Paul Carpenter and Dr. Geo. M. Cooper, bringing the membership up to 18, the full number authorized.

     Mr. Doering was elected Treasurer of the General Church to succeed Mr. Asplundh.

     The support of Mr. Bowers as missionary has been continued for other year.

     The committee has decided to hold regular quarterly meetings in the future, beginning the third Saturday in September, at Pittsburg. At the Pittsburg meeting last October a Committee on Holding Property appointed to report upon the advisability and the necessary legal method of incorporating the General Church, and the advisability of the General Church taking title to properties for local churches. The report of this committee was discussed by the Executive Committee on June 23d, and by the Joint Council June 24th. and was made a special order of business at the coming meeting of the committee to be held at Pittsburg next September.

     The committee has authorized Treasurer Doering to take subscriptions to the new Liturgy, which it is proposed to publish in parts of 32 pages each. Respectfully submitted,
JOHN A. WELLS,
Secretary.

     18. At the request of the Executive Committee the subject of the Incorporation of the General Church was taken up for consideration.

     Various reasons were pointed out why it is desirable that the General Church should be incorporated; as, that it would enable societies to place their property in the hands of the general body, should they wish to do so; that it would make it more feasible for the General Church to receive legacies; that the legal status of the body would be improved.

     19. On motion, it was then

     Resolved, That it is the sense of the Joint Meeting that the General Church should take on corporate existence on the civil plan.

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     20. A discussion followed as to the nature of the Corporation.

     The general sentiment of the meeting was in favor of a simple plan of incorporation. Some of the speakers advocated the inclusion of ministers as well as laymen among the incorporators, while others would include only laymen.

     Mr. Paul Synnestvedt, seconded by Mr. Pendleton, offered the following resolution

     Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that it is desirable for the General Church of the New Jerusalem to adopt such legal organization as will constitute each member of the General Church a member of the corporate body.

     In the discussion of this motion it appeared that the opinion was divided as to whether all members of the General Church should be members of the corporation or only some of them. It was held by several that only the members of the Executive Committee should constitute the Corporation.

     Wednesday Afternoon.

     The Joint meeting was continued.

     22. The discussion of Mr. Synnestvedt's motion in regard to incorporation was continued, but the motion was finally laid on the table.

     23. On motion, it was Resolved, That the question of the Incorporation of the General Church be referred back to the Executive Committee.

     24. On motion, the question: "What comes first in our support of the Church?" was taken up for consideration.

     Mr. Macbeth asked which should hold the first place, the uses of the General Body or those of the particular societies?

     After considerable discussion the conclusion was reached that the uses of the particular societies are first in time, but those of the General Body the first in end; both uses are important and should be supported. Each member must determine for himself how much he should give to the one and to the other. Just as on the civil plane there is the country and the family, each calling for support, so also in the Church there is the general body and the local body.

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There can be no country without families, and families cannot be preserved without a country. As there may he family self-love, so also there may be society self-love, an evil which must be guarded against. Every member of the General Church should contribute something to the general body, even if it be but little. This is far from being the case at present.

     The Bishop stated that there are three duties resting with the priest in regard to this matter. The first is, to teach the people that they should give what is needful; the second is, to show what are the needs and uses; the third is, not to make official appeals for money for particular uses.

     25. The meeting adjourned.

     Wednesday Evening.

     26. A public session was held, at which the Annual Address to the Council of the Clergy was delivered by Rev. F. E. Waelchli. The subject was "The Future of the New Church."

     Thursday Morning, June 25th.

     MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY.

     27. The meeting was opened with worship.

     28. The secretary presented an abstract of the minutes of the last annual meeting.

     29. Bishop Pendleton presented, from notes, the subject of the Science of Exposition.

     The Bishop gave an outline of the study in which a minister should engage preparatory to writing a sermon.

     Thursday Afternoon.

     30. The presentation of the subject of the Science of Exposition was continued.

     31. All present having expressed an earnest desire that the Bishop permit his notes to be published, on motion it was

     Resolved, That the publication of the Bishop's notes on the Science of Exposition be referred to the Publication Committee of the Academy.

     32. The subject of a New Formula for Statistical Reports was taken from the docket, and a committee, consisting of the Messrs. Waelchli, Odhner, and Pendleton, was appointed to prepare the same.

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     33. The subject of The Use of the Word "Confirmation" was next considered. As there was no unanimous opinion, the question was laid over for another year.

     The Bishop stated that the word "confirmation" is used in the Old Church for a rite by which there is introduction into the state in which the person becomes a member of the Church and can partake of the Holy Supper. It is a confirmation of the vows made by parents at the time of baptism. The subject of such a rite was considered some years ago in the General Church of the Advent, and Bishop Benade proposed that it be called either "The Rite of Coming of Age," or "The Rite of Confession of Faith." A Rite of Coming of Age was prepared, but has not been found satisfactory. In recent years we have had the Rite of Confession of Faith on a number of occasions. He considered that that was not a fitting name for the rite, as it makes too limited an application of the term "Confession of Faith." Confession of Faith enters into all worship. Probably "Confirmation" is after all the best name.

     Some of the ministers favored "Confession of Faith," and others "Confirmation."--The former held that "Confession of Faith" exactly expresses what is meant by the rite, for it is a public confession of faith; that "Confirmation" is not a desirable name, because the youth then only begins to confirm, and continues to do so throughout life; that confirmation is of life, but confession of faith oral, or from the heart; also. that there is a prejudice against the name "Confirmation" from past associations.--Those favoring "Confirmation" replied that "Confession of Faith" should not be applied as the name of a particular rite. as it causes people to lose sight of the more general application of this expression; that "Confirmation" fits the purpose exactly, and from long use has come to mean this particular rite: that the youth does not then first begin to confirm, but has been confirming for some time, and now does so by a public act; and that it is not wise to object to the same simply because of past associations.

     In the course of the discussion it was brought out that the freedom of the members of the Church is to be observed in regard to having such a rite performed. There are two rites which are essential, Baptism and the Holy Supper; these are universal gates. Confirmation is not essential; it is a subordinate gate through which it is useful to pass; nevertheless persons can become members of the Church and partake of the Holy Supper without having passed through it.

     Friday Morning, June 26th.

     34. The meeting was opened with worship.

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     35. The subject taken up was The Baptism of Infants: whether this should take place at the home or in the church.

     The conclusion reached was that either way is good and right; and that it should not be a matter of conscience, as is to a great extent the case in our body at present, that children must be baptized at home.

     All agreed that baptism ought to take place as soon as possible, in view of the teaching in the True Christian Religion that without the Christian sign of baptism some Mahometan or idolatrous spirit might apply himself to the new-born Christian infant, and also to children, and infuse into them an inclination in favor of his religion; and that when infants are baptized, angels are appointed over them by the Lord, by whom they are kept in a state of receiving faith in the Lord. When the rite is performed at home, an early baptism is possible. But when it is desired to have it performed at church, there may often he considerable delay. Nevertheless such delay is not likely to be harmful, so long as parents remain in the desire to have the baptism take place as soon as possible. Harm comes when parents are indifferent as to the matter, for such indifference lays a plane for the operation of spirits not of the Church.

     In favor of baptism at church it was said, that when this is done there seems to come out more strongly the idea of bringing the child to the Lord; that a large number are benefited by the service; that such a service calls forth a strong sphere of worship and of love for the Church; and that such a sphere must be of great value to the child.--On the other hand, in favor of baptism at home it was said, that the child belongs to the home, and is nowhere else so well off, and nowhere else so much in a sphere of peace; that the sphere of the mother is most powerful with the child, and that if she be in a nervous and disturbed state, as is likely to be the case if the baptism is at church, the child will be affected by it; and that where there are a number of small children in the family, these can then all be present at the service, and give it their whole attention and affection, without having their thoughts drawn away by their surroundings.

     It was the general opinion that it would be useful to have a Baptismal Service, which can be introduced into our Order of Worship, coming in right after the Lord's Prayer and followed by the sermon.

     36. The subject of the Frequency of the Holy Supper was next considered.

     Bishop Pendleton said that he favored having the Holy Supper more frequently than is now our custom. Bishop Benade, he believed, advocated having it seven times in a year.

     A number of the ministers expressed the fear that, if the Holy Supper came more frequently, it might become common, and thus the holiness of the sacrament would in a measure be lost sight of.

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     The Bishop replied that if our worship were what it should be,--if there were the proper fervor and affection in it,--there would be no feeling of commonness from too great frequency. The places of worship which we have, have something to do with the lack of a proper state of worship; they are not places so built and arranged as to best awaken worshipful states. However, the worship, which the Church should have, cannot come in this generation. It must be a matter of growth. At present it might not be wise to have the Holy Supper more frequently. But we should look forward to such being the case, and lead towards it.

     In the course of the discussion, the Bishop also stated that he did not consider it well to have a sermon at the same service with the Holy Supper. The whole service should be one of worship, a state of affection prevailing throughout. A sermon on the Holy Supper, or preparatory to partaking of it, could be delivered on the preceding Sunday.

     Friday Afternoon.

     37. Rev. J. E. Bowers was appointed to deliver the Annual Address at the meeting next year.

     38. The subject of The Use of Hymns in Worship was taken up for consideration.

     All agreed that hymns fill an important place in worship, and that it is most desirable that the prejudice against them, which exists in some parts of the Church, should be removed. It was suggested that this subject could be usefully discussed at the next Assembly.

     39. The subject next considered was The Support of the Pastoral Office.

     It was held by all, that societies ought not to make it a matter of conscience that the only way in which the pastoral office should be supported is by offerings at worship. This is one way of doing it, but not the only way. It is just as orderly to support by a salary.

     Several reasons were advanced in favor of a salary; as, that a priest is then in greater freedom to take a holiday and to attend general meetings; that the pastor is relieved of anxiety by knowing what is his regular income; that the society then has a collective obligation towards its pastor, which is not the case when he is supported by offerings.

     It was pointed out that, if a society should cease to support its pastor by offerings, the importance of the offering as an act of worship ought not to be lost sight of.

     One speaker held that the giving of offerings would become a more worshipful act if the idea of the support of the pastor by the same were eliminated.

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The thought of the man's support now intrudes itself, and this would not he the case if the money went into the treasury.

     40. The meeting then adjourned.

     Friday Evening.

     A Men's Meeting was held, at which the men of the Bryn Athyn Society were present. The Bishop read a paper on "Degrees in the Relations of the Sexes," and an interesting discussion followed.
F. E. WAELCHLI,
Secretary.
RELIGIOUS FAITH AND RACE SUICIDE 1903

RELIGIOUS FAITH AND RACE SUICIDE              1903

     The Library Digest for July 25th quotes the following from the Federation, the organ of the Federation of Churches and Christian organizations in New York City:

     "It will he found that, as a rule, the unspecified Protestant families have a higher average of children than the families which, while unwilling to call themselves agnostics, are not even willing to call themselves Protestants; and that, in turn, the average among the agnostic families is lower than among the indefinitely Protestant families and considerably lower than the Protestant average as a whole.

     "The writer is clearly aware that certainty concerning these inferences would be justifiable only after the age classification of the mothers of the various groups and the statistic.; of deceased children had entered into the study. But he believes, and believes beyond a peradventure, that religion has more to do with the birthrate, and especially with fecundity, than statistical writers have been wont to concede. Professor Mayo-Smith says, for instance: 'The great religious confessions show no differences. We have about the same birth-rate in a Catholic country like Italy as in a Protestant country like Prussia. Where both religions are represented in the same country, as in Germany, no difference is visible.' M. Leroy-beaulieu says, on the other hand: 'A low birth-rate goes hand-in-hand with high wages and the spread of education, and appears to be particularly associated with democratic aspirations, and still more with a lessening of religious belief on the part of the people.'"

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Editorial Department 1903

Editorial Department       Editor       1903

     MR. REED ON THE WORD AND THE WRITINGS.

     THE Rev. James Reed, in the Messenger for June 24th, briefly replies to the criticisms that have been made against his Report on the relation of the Word to the Writings of the New Church. Having recapitulated the main points of that unfortunate document, he closes with the statement that the Writings "uniformly point to the Word itself as the one Divine and Perfect book, the source of wisdom even in heaven. To say this is not to speak disparagingly of them. The fact that they are not a new Word, but a new revelation from the Word, shining out of the Word as light shines out of the sun, does not make them any the less adequate, any the less noble, or any the less Divine."

     It is surprising that Mr. Reed could pen these words without noticing their evident self-contradiction. If the Word itself, by which he means the letter of the Word, is "the one Divine and perfect book," then the books known as the Writings are not Divine, and it is simply illogical to talk of this fact not making them "any the less Divine." But the rest of Mr. Reed's statement fills us with the hope that he will eventually come to recognize that the Writings of the New Church are really Divine, because and only because they themselves are the word of the Lord, the new Word of the Lord in His Second Coming, the Latin Word that is one with the Greek and the Hebrew, and which has been given not to dissolve the Law and the Prophets and the Gospels, but to fulfill them all. For if he recognizes that the Writings are "a new revelation from the Word, shining out of the Word as light shines out of the sun," he will probably recognize also that what is revealed by the Lord out of the Word is in itself the Word, even as the light that shines out of the sun is nothing but the sun itself.

     DARK INSINUATIONS.

     In an editorial on "The Return to Rome," in the New Church Review for July, "H. C. H." describes the growing tendency in the Episcopal Church towards ritualism and towards an ultimate return to the Roman Catholic Church. The writer then discovers the same tendency operating in two ways in the New Church itself. "First, in the passing of some into the Episcopal Church, and of larger numbers in Christian Science organizations, where a similar condition of absolute submission to ecclesiastical authority prevails; and, second, in the institution of a similar ecclesiastical authority among those who adhere to the teachings of the New Jerusalem." Then, in order to point his allusion more directly, he says, further on. "If it is maintained that the writings of Swedenborg are themselves that spiritual meaning [of the Word] and the Lord Himself in person, and that to deny anything in them is to deny the Lord Himself in His second coming; and if, furthermore, it is maintained that priests are called by the Lord, and enlightened and authorized by Him to interpret these writings, and that laymen must accept and obediently adopt their interpretations, then in a deeper degree will not the return to Rome be consummated?"

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     Anyone who is at all acquainted with the slanders which are being circulated amongst members of the Convention and the Conference against the General Church and the Academy will readily see that the greater part of the mysterious insinuations of "H. C. H." are directed against these latter bodies of New Churchmen. Toward these, it would seem, neither spiritual charity nor natural justice need to be exercised. Against these, no charge is so absurd, no gossip so malicious, but that it finds credence amongst professed members of the New Church, and this--with few exceptions--without the least attempt at investigating the evidences of the charge.

     Against these private slanders the innocent have no defense--in this world. But public misrepresentation, even though it assumes the cowardly cloak of insinuation, intends to produce a public impression, and therefore we have this to say to "H. C. H." and the New Church Review:

     1. That there does not exist in the General Church or the Academy any "condition of absolute submission to ecclesiastical authority," either in the government of the Church, or in the interpretation of the Heavenly Doctrine. In the government the laws of Counsel, Assembly and Unanimity prevail to an extent unknown in any other ecclesiastical body in the world; and in the interpretation of Doctrine the teaching of the priesthood is accepted only in so far as it is known to be in harmony with the Divine Revelation which is open to all, laymen as well as priests. As to the insinuation that in the General Church "laymen must accept and obediently adopt" the interpretations of the Clergy, "H. C. H." would quickly repent of the insult which he sees fit to offer to the reason and manliness of the members of that Church, were he to take the trouble of investigating the subject of which he speaks.

     2. That the Writings of the New Church are the Advent of the Lord Himself is no longer a teaching which is exclusively peculiar to the General Church, for this truth was most forcibly advanced in an address recently delivered before the Convention's Theological School in Cambridge, and which, moreover, was published "by request" in the July issue of the New Church Review. If then the Writings, or, what is the same, the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, are the Advent of the Lord, they are necessarily also the Lord in His Advent, and any denial of the Doctrine is a denial of the Lord. This, however, is a very different thing from a denial of a priest's teaching, for though "priests must teach the people, and must lead through truths to the good of life, still they must force no one, because no one can be forced to believe contrary to that which from the heart he has thought to be true. He who believes differently from the priest, and does not make disturbances, must be left in peace." (A. C. 10798.)

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With this Divine teaching before him, what New Church priest would dare demand, what layman would be willing to pay, implicit obedience to any human teachings?

     Incidentally, we must repudiate also the absurd insinuation that the General Church maintains that the Writings are "the Lord Himself in person!" How would it be possible for any New Churchman to make such a claim for any Books or Doctrines, when the Writings themselves teach that "This Second Advent of the Lord is not in Person, but in the Word, which is from Him and is Himself" (T. C. R. 776) And again, "Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, and nevertheless He foretold that He would come again and found a New Church which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man who is able not only to receive the Doctrines of this Church with the understanding, but also to publish them by the press." (T. C. R. 779.)

     The charge of "Romanism" has been preferred, time and again, against the General Church in such papers as the New Christianity and the New Church Independent, but we were scarcely prepared to find the New Church Review make room for such wretched fustian. But in the name of all that is manly, if our contemporary must attack the General Church, why does it do so under the cover of darkness?

     THE OBJECTIONS OF "S. M. W."

     THE much respected signature of "S. M. W." appears under an editorial in the current number of the New Church Review, in which the writer reviews unfavorably the tract entitled Swedenborg's Testimony concerning his Writings. (New Church Life for October, 1902.) In this tract, it will be remembered, there are collected under general headings, a great number of passages which show that the Writings are not only a Divine Revelation, but that they are, in fact, the very Word of the Lord, revealed in its internal sense.

     While "S. M. W." objects to the inclusion of Gjorwell's testimony among the passages which are adduced, it is not the evidence itself that he finds fault with so much as the headings under which the passages are collected and arranged. Without attempting to show that the conclusions are not warranted by the evidence, he denounces them simply because they are couched "in other terms than those of the Writings themselves."

     "It would have been much better," he argues, "to have left the authoritative statements of the doctrine from the Writings to speak for themselves, in their own terms of Divine authority, instead of attempting to collate and formulate doctrine from them in other terms than theirs, and to present this to the Church, for acceptance, as of Divine authority." And he asks "why should you formulate your understanding of them into a dogma, and demand my acceptance of this your understanding of them, rather than my own? What warrant has any man, or any body of men, to present as authoritative, for general acceptance in the New Church, a statement of doctrine which is not so formulated in the Writings?"

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     We cannot but deplore that "S. M. W.," with his long and unbroken record of fairness in argument, should condescend to confuse the issue by introducing unjustifiable charges, as, for instance, that his opponents are setting up the claim of "Divine authority" for their own doctrinal conclusion, or are "demanding" his acceptance of them. We will let that pass, however, but cannot our friend see that he himself is doing the very thing for which he blames others. He claims most strenuously that "the Writings are a new Divine revelation, and are therefore entitled to entire and implicit credence, as of Divine authority,--as truly as the Word itself." We entirely agree with this statement, but there are others in the New Church, thousands of them, who would totally reject it. These, adopting the policy suggested by "S. M. W." might justly ask. "Where in the Writings do you find this teaching stated in so many words? How dare you claim 'Divine authority' for this statement of yours?" Is it not evident that the method which "S. M. W." predescribes for us (but not for himself), must result in a dead and absurd literalism, in the complete cessation of the process of thinking and understanding? Is it not childish to condemn a conclusion simply because it is a conclusion? If you do not agree with it, prove that it is false in the light of Revelation and sound reason. If you cannot do this, it is time to begin to consider whether the conclusion may not after all be true.

     It is a heaven-revealed principle of the New Church that "the Doctrine of the Church is to be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word, and to be confirmed by it." This is done in the Heavenly Doctrine by the Lord Himself, but nevertheless every reader of that Doctrine is urgently called upon to do the same for himself, and he is told that this is done "when many passages of the Word are justly compared together." Then, as in the Writings, a general conclusion is drawn, but never in the ipsissima verba of the Letter, simply because the general cannot be expressed in the words of any one of the particulars which compose it.

     What applies to the Letter of the Word, in this respect, applies, on their own plane, to the Writings of the New Church. Were a New Churchman to take any one passage in the Writings, and stubbornly refuse to compare it with other passages that bear on the same subject, he would never arrive at a wide or even a correct understanding of any one of the Doctrines of the Church. He would remain in the letter of the Doctrines, and his mind would soon experience that even this letter "killeth." But the spirit that maketh alive can be given only to him who justly compares many passages taken together, and thus draws a just conclusion or generalization from them all. And when he has done this, he may justly tell himself and others: "This is the Doctrine of the Church on this subject."

     To this process "S. M. W." objects that "as a deduction from the exact language of the Writings, it is not the very doctrine, but a fallible man's understanding of the doctrine.

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By the very fact of its having passed through his understanding it has taken on something of its form, and has become--not the very doctrine of the Church, but his conception of the doctrine. It is no longer an unhewn stone; he has lifted up his tool upon it." To this we must reply that the Doctrine was given to be understood, and that it is quite possible to understand it correctly. The fact of its having passed through "a fallible man's understanding" does not necessarily falsify the Doctrine. And so long as it is not falsified, the Doctrine remains as "unhewn" stone. (See A. C. 1298, 8941; A. E. 781.) But who is to decide whether or not we have falsified the Doctrine in our generalization or deduction? Ah, well! The evidence is open to all, and every man must be left in freedom to decide for himself whether two and two make four, or whether they make five.

     Our friend claims that the headings or formulae in the Testimony "probably cannot be found anywhere within the range of New Church literature founded upon and expository of the Writings, until in very recent years. The ardent defenders of the Divine authority of the Writings of even a generation or two ago had not discovered them; and would now be in peril of castigation, with some of our oldest, soundest, and most useful servants of the Church today, by men who with intemperate zeal have become propagators of the new dogmas of, in important particulars, a strange and unhallowed creed."

     What rhetoric, what inconsistency, what ignorance of the facts of New Church history! Why this appeal to age and personal merits instead of rational arguments in a purely doctrinal discussion? Why this fear of "castigation." if our friend feels secure in his theological position? What is this "new dogma," this "strange and unhallowed creed," which we are supposed to have invented? Simply, that the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem is the Word of the Lord in His Second Advent. Is it not strange that "S. M. W." is willing to cover this teaching with opprobrium when he himself professes a faith so nearly the same? He believes that the Writings are "entitled to entire and implicit credence, as of Divine authority,--as truly as the Word itself." Surely, then, he must admit that the Writings are the Word of the Lord, for it would be impious and perilous to the salvation of our souls, were we to put our entire and implicit faith in anything which is not the Word.

     "S. M. W." declares this truth to be "of recent invention," but his memory fails him. It was clearly announced as long ago as the year 1799, and by men of such eminent standing in the New Church as Manoah Sibly, Joseph Proud, and James Hodson, then joint editors of the Aurora, a London journal in which the records of the first great controversy on the authority of the Writings are still preserved.

     The discussion in this magazine was opened by a letter from Mr. Roger Bernet, of Hull, who stated that "In my journeyings from place to place, I have met with two very different classes of readers of the Hon. Baron Swedenborg's works.

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One class holding it as a fixed principle that the Baron's Writings are really the Word of the Lord as positively as the writings of any of the four Evangelists....The other class readily allow the Baron to be a person highly illuminated by the Lord, and that his Writings are highly useful in opening the spiritual sense of the Word, and thereby the true nature of the New Jerusalem state; but still they cannot allow his Writings to be upon an equal footing with the Word itself." And he closes his letter with an earnest request that the editors "declare which class of the above-mentioned readers it is you conceive to be most agreeable to truth." (Aurora, Vol. I, No. 6.)

     And the editors, in reply, declare that the Arcana Caelestia, in particular, is not to be considered as Swedenborg's Exposition or Interpretation of the Holy Word; but it is the Word Itself in its Internal Sense, opened by the Lord Himself, dictated to and through the instrumentality of Swedenborg." Then follow numerous letters for and against the position taken by the editors. John Augustus Tulk, Esq. who afterwards became the chief founder of the Swedenborg Society, strongly supported the affirmative view, and the Rev. Francis Leicester, the only clergyman of the Established Church who ever came over openly to the New Church, ably proved that "these Writings are the Word itself, in the interior sense, made manifest." (Aurora I:78.)

     It will be seen, therefore, that this doctrine dates from the very beginning of the New Church. It was afterwards forgotten for many years, even as the remains of good and truth, implanted in childhood, are apparently obliterated during the period of youth. But it was brought out again, in greater fullness and maturity, in the memorable address on "The Standard of Authority," which was read by the Rev. W. H. Benade before the American Conference of New Church Ministers, meeting in Cincinnati, 1873, and which was republished in New Church Life for July, 1903. The gentlemen,--of whom "S. M. W." was one,-who, in 1876, organized the Academy of the New Church, must have been perfectly familiar with Mr. Benade's public declarations in regard to the Writings being the Word of the Lord. Nay, the editors of the Words for the New Church, in 1879, not only speak of the editors of The Aurora as having "estimated the Writings at their true value," but go further and state that in the "editorial answer to Mr. Benade there is a seeming discrimination in the Writings in favor of the Arcana, to which we cannot agree. The Arcana comes with Divine Imprimatur upon it no more than the other Theological works published by Swedenborg." (See Words for the New Church. Vol. I. p. 471.)

     The Academy today, in teaching that the Writings are the Lord's Word, teaches nothing more than the doctrine which was acknowledged by its founders, and by the founders of the New Church. But even if this were not the case, what of it? Is the New Church, the Church of an endless future, to be bound by any "traditions of the elders?" Have we not all been told that we have departed from "the faith once delivered unto the father,"--from the creeds of Niccea, Athanasius, Augsburg, Dort, and Westminster, from the dogmas of fifty generations of Christian teachers, all of whom are now older but not necessarily wiser than our venerable friend, "S. M. W."

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In the Old Church men are constantly looking back to the primitive age for the light that has now disappeared, but in the New Church we must look forward for an increase of light in each generation.



     It may be doubted whether the Church will suffer any loss in the proposed transference of the English New Church day schools to the civil authorities. This step only ultimates what has long been the fact, namely, that the schools themselves are New Church in name only. They lack distinctive New Church teachers, New Church pupils, New Church spirit; and it is not surprising that the religious instruction has been confined to a few chapters from the Word, the Conference Catechism and a few hymns, all of which work could be done just as well, if not better, in the Sunday School, and, in any case, is not calculated of itself to develop in any remarkable degree a distinctive New Church education.
BRYN ATHYN COUNCIL MEETINGS 1903

BRYN ATHYN COUNCIL MEETINGS              1903

     To an outside observer, perhaps the most distinguishing feature of the late Council meeting was an unusual absence of social sphere, and the little opportunity offered for the manifestation of public interest in the meetings. In both these respects the meetings were very different from those of last year, which almost reminded one of a General Assembly. At that time there were public meetings afternoon and evening, while this year, the sessions of the Council were mostly private; and, to non-members who were not entertaining guests, it was hardly noticeably that there were council meetings.

     It must not be supposed, however, that this feature came as a surprise to the members of the Council. It was arranged for when this matter was considered in the General Council, where it was the general opinion that the meetings should be devoted mainly to private discussions. This opinion was the result partly of a conviction that in this way more real work would be done, which would result in the solid advancement of the Church.

     From the point of view of the members of the Council, the meetings were very profitable. The discussions covered an unusually wide range of subjects, and were of considerable interest both in the way of suggesting ideas, of stimulating thought, and of giving practical help to ministers in their professional work.



     The discussion as to the choice of one or more ministers for the third degree took up a considerable portion of the time of the meeting, and, though no choice was made, the discussion brought up the whole question of the orderly perpetuation of the priesthood.

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The main question was, whether for the sake of ensuring the perpetuation of the priesthood through the third degree, one or more ministers should now be added to that degree, who could then perform such episcopal work as might arise from time to time; or, whether we should wait for some indication in the work, for the need of more than one minister of the third degree. On the one hand, it was thought that it was the duty of the Church to provide for the continuation of its own order in the perpetuation of the priesthood, and that, even if there should be little executive work for new men in the third degree, yet their elevation would strengthen that degree in the Church, and they would, moreover, be of increased usefulness to the Church in the way of counsel, and, with the Bishop, would form the nucleus of a Council of Bishops. On the other hand it was thought that, under the circumstances, the use of counsel could be performed by pastors, that it was objectionable to elevate a minister merely in order to ensure the uninterrupted perpetuation of our order, and that, therefore, in the absence of any clear indication of the need for another minister in the third degree, the matter might be left in the hands of Providence. It was also suggested that, in case of the failure of the third degree, there was an orderly method of re-establishing that degree by means of the priesthood itself. These, are, in general, the points that were brought up during the discussion, and, no doubt, the ministers will give them serious consideration during the coming year. The immediate reason why the matter was dropped at the meeting, was the fact that the bishop, having given up the office at this meeting, was the fact that the bishop, having given up the office of Superintendent of the Schools, did not feel any pressing need for assistance in his episcopal work.

     One little point which the discussion developed was the need for a word meaning "a minister of the third degree." The word "bishop" is unsuitable because it is so closely associated in our minds with the function of bishop at head of a general church; and during the discussion, the use of this word brought forth, on several occasions, the explanatory remark that one ordained to the third degree would not necessarily fill the office generally associated with the name Bishop.



     On the day that Bishop Pendleton gave his talk on Exposition, the Council became practically a summer school for ministers. And an interesting school it was. The Bishop has been making a special study of this subject for several years past, and it was the result of this study that he laid before the Council. Several new points in the science of exposition were brought out even more valuable was the arrangement in orderly form of the various points, old and new, which must be considered by a minister in the construction of a sermon.



     There were three public meetings and one Social. The latter, however, was a somewhat impromptu affair, and, coming on the Sunday evening after the meetings were over, lacked the presence of some of the visiting ministers. But, despite this drawback, a very pleasant evening was passed. Several speakers gave a short account of the meetings that had just been closed, and addresses were also given by the visiting ministers, Messrs. N. D. Pendleton, Klein, and Stebbing.

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     The first of the public meetings was a meeting of the Teachers' Institute, when a paper was read by the newly elected President (Rev. H. Synnestvedt) on the subject of the new developments in primary education. The discussion on this paper promised to become quite animated, but it was not long before it developed, that, after all, there was not much difference of opinion. Those who believed in the training of mind and memory by exact study also believed in the main features of the new education and vice versa.



     The first public meeting of the Council was the occasion of the delivery of the Bishop's Annual Address. The subject of his address, which is published in this number of the Life, was The Distinctiveness of the New Church. The various points brought out by the paper were, as the Bishop stated, well known to the members of the Church, but needed to be restated from time to time, especially for the sake of the young people. The discussion was somewhat listless, but it brought out some interesting thoughts. In answer to a question, the Bishop gave it as his opinion that in the case of those who, from one reason or another, lacked the opportunity of being baptized, the use of baptism in the insertion of men into societies in the ether world, was nevertheless effected, because baptism existed and was preserved as a rite in the organized church. It was also brought out that this use of baptism was, to all intents and purposes, dissipated unless there were an end and intention of seeking and remaining in societies of the church on earth,-thus in the case of infants who are baptized in the New Church and then brought up altogether out of the sphere of that Church and without instruction in its doctrines.



     Mr. Waelchli's paper on The Future of the New Church, which also appears in this number of the Life, was read at the third and last of the public meetings, and was the occasion of a bright and animated discussion which was finally suspended only because of the lateness of the hour. The paper treated of several subjects which have long been matters of enquiry and wonder among New Churchmen, such as the state of the Africans, and the revelation to them of the Doctrines. It was conjectured that the statement that certain of the Africans were celestial men, meant no more than that they were in a state of innocence something like the Preadamites and the simple of the Most Ancient Church. Questions were asked as to whether the revelation to the Africans did not take place in the spiritual world, but the passages quoted were too explicit to leave any doubt on this point. The paper was a comprehensive presentation of the teachings of the Writings on the subject and the discussion brought out many suggestive thoughts, and yet, after all, the subject of the Africans still remains in much obscurity.

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     The last of the series of meetings was the final meeting of the Teachers' Institute on Saturday morning. After a discussion on the subject of curricula, Bishop Pendleton read his notes on Instruction in the Letter of the Word. He treated the subject somewhat after the manner of his notes on Exposition, bringing out the various points which should be noted by a teacher. Several of these have been brought out by teachers in the Old Church, but several of them were entirely new, particularly those that referred to the bringing in of facts from the other world. In this connection, the Bishop noted that the spiritual sense should not be taught to children except in a concrete form, and Mr. Acton enlarged on this point, adducing a number of relations from the Writings in which the spiritual sense of certain passages of the Word was presented in the ultimate and attractive form of a picture. These "pictures" should be presented to the children in connection with the Letter of the Word, and they would undoubtedly serve to insinuate a general idea of the spiritual sense, but, especially would they cause children to realize that the Word is spiritual, and the spiritual world real.
Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     Mr. Charles Higham, of London, in the Messenger for June 10th, reports a long list of public and private libraries owning sets of the photolithographed editions of Swedenborg's Manuscripts. His investigations have not yet been completed.



     The Messenger for June 24th presents a handsome portrait of the late Daniel Lammot, Esq., who at one time was president of the "Central Convention" of the New Church, together with a very interesting biography of this doughty New Church champion, from the pen of the Rev. P. B. Cabell.



     A friend asks, What is the meaning of the triple crown that was worn by the new pope at his coronation? We do not know, but perhaps it is a symbol of the three heavens to which he is supposed to have the keys, or more likely, the three opposite degrees below, or the three essentials of the Church which he represents: blind obedience, faith alone, and the love of dominion.



     At the meeting of the "Round Table," which was held in connection with the recent session of the General Convention in Chicago, the committee which last year solicited statistics as to what had become of the children of the New Church, now reported that "only twenty-five per cent, of the children baptized into New Church societies in the United States since 1870 can be accounted for."

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     Nya Kyrkans Tidning, for June, translates, with words of strong approval, the editorial in New Church Life for April on "Human Understanding and Divine Revelation." And our other Swedish contemporary, Nya Kyrkans Harold, for April-May, presents a very fine translation of our editorial in the March number on "What of the Night." Words of commendation of the doctrinal position of the Life have been received from other distant and unexpected quarters, as well as from new friends nearer home.



     The Rev. W. K. Hinkley, at the recent meeting in Chicago of the Alumni of the Convention's Theological School, reported that there are ten societies of the Convention at present without ministers. We suppose that this means ten societies able to support ministers, for otherwise the list could be greatly increased. The Rev. Louis Rich at the same meeting offered "as a matter of meditation" the remark that "no people in the world are so critical, or disposed to reject what is offered to them, as those of the New Church." Query: What is it that as a rule is being offered to them?



     The American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society this year reports a sale of 1722 volumes of the Writings in English, besides 46 volumes of the Latin-English edition, and 23 volumes of the Latin reprints. The new translation of The True Christian Religion is making slow progress at present, owing to the absence of the translator, the Rev. J. C. Ager, on an extended journey abroad. The publication of the Divine Providence in Danish has been completed, and the society is assisting in the publication of the fourteenth volume of Mr. Manby's Swedish translation of the Arcana Caelestia. During the past year the Society has received a memorial signed by a large number of influential men in the Church, asking for the publication of Swedenborg's Adversaria in English, but the Society has felt obliged to decline the task, believing that the Adversaria does not come within the limits to which it is restricted by its charter. What a pity!



     Morning Light for August 1 prints a report of the recent meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association, but, apparently to guard himself from the dreadful consequences which might result from this step, the editor, in the same issue, is careful to publicly disclaim all responsibility. We have received the account, he says, and print it 'without thereby necessarily committing ourselves to the statement of fact, the expressions of opinion, or the approval of methods which it includes." One would imagine the account was the work of some base and insidious deceiver, full of errors and breathing heresies. But really we could find nothing at all dreadful in it and were quite at a loss to understand the editor's spiteful disclaimer, until we came to nearly the end of the report, where it speaks of a toast "to 'The Academy of the New Church' which has produced most of the men now actively engaged in the work."

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It was all clear then.



     The American Bible (Scranton, Pa., 1902), presents the latest attempt to "modernize" the Scriptures by an up to date" translation. It is of no special interest to the New Church, except as a warning example of the spirit of self-intelligence which is ever ready to substitute its absurd notions for the sacred text. Thus throughout the New Testament the "American." Bible has introduced "saloon-keepers and prostitutes" in place of the old-fashioned "publicans and sinners," the idea being that "saloon-keepers and prostitutes" are the only kind of publicans and sinners to be found in this goodly country of teetotalers and blue-laws The new "version" reminds us of the recent protest of the Ottoman censor in Constantinople against the name "Macedonia" in the proposed Turkish translation of the New Testament. Instead of "Macedonia," he wants the American Bible Society to introduce the more modern designation "vilayets of Salonica and Monastir." And the expression "Christ came to save sinners," he wants to change so as to read "Christ came to save Christian sinners." not good Mohammedan sinners, of course! If the poor Turk is "unspeakable," what of the translator of the Scranton version of the Bible?

     AN INTERESTING OLD VOLUME.

     The copy of Schmidius' Latin Bible which is owned by the Rev. Richard De Charms, of Bryn Athyn, is a volume of rare historical interest to members of the New Church. On the title page we find the following autographs: Ex dono J. Clowes, to Wm. Hill." 'Ex dono E. Hill, Johnson Taylor.' "Ex permutatione cum J. Taylor pro Biblia a Castellione." "Ex dono Fratri in Domino R. De Charms, J. Young, 23 Aprilis 1833=76.' On the margins to the Psalms and the prophetical books the whole of Swedenborg's Summaries of the Internal Sense is copied in Latin, in the handwriting of Wm. Hill.

     These autographs represent some of the most notable names in the history of the New Church, and in unbroken succession, from the beginning to the present day. The venerable volume belonged first to the Rev. John Clowes, the first translator of the Arcana Caelestia, who also was the founder of the New Church in Lancashire. By him it was given to his young friend, the Rev. William Hill, the first translator of the Apocalypse Explained, who also labored very efficiently for the New Church in Philadelphia, New York and Boston, and died in 1804. His widow, Esther Hill, the daughter of the Rev. Jacob Duche, of revolutionary fame, exchanged the volume with Mr. Johnson Taylor for a copy of Castellio's Bible. Mr. Johnson Taylor was one of the founders of the New Church in Philadelphia, and it was in his school-room that the first meetings of New Church people were held in that city, in 1808. From him the volume passed into the hands of the Hon. John Young, the founder of the New Church west of the Allegheny mountains.

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And he presented it to his "brother in the Lord," the Rev. Richard De Charms, who in turn left it to his son, the present Rev. Richard De Charms.

     STRAIGHTFORWARD DOCTRINE.

     The "mixed" state of affairs which prevails doctrinally in the Church at large is strikingly illustrated in the varied contents of the New Church Review for July. On the one hand we have the editorials by "S. M. W." and "H. C. H." which are noticed in our own editorial department. And on the other hand we find a lengthy paper by the Rev. Baman N. Stone on "The Distinctive Work of the Ministry of the New Church," this being the first of three lectures given to the students of the New Church Theological School at Cambridge, Mass., and "published by request."

     We should be delighted to reproduce the whole of Mr. Stone's paper in our own columns, but the following extract must suffice. Having quoted Swedenborg's testimony: "I have not received anything which pertains to the doctrine of that Church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word," Mr. Stone continues: "The man who could thus testify in truth of his holy calling verily ought not to be named in the same breath with Wesley, Calvin, Luther, Augustine, or even the Apostle Paul. His rank is with the Prophets at the end of the long line from Abraham and Moses down to John the Divine. If he wears not the prophet's raiment, he speaks with the prophet's voice. He speaks as one having the authority of Divine truth, and not as the scribes of the theological schools. No Newchurchman under the sun, so far as I am aware, claims for the Writings the sacred style of the Scriptures, or their infinite fulness of Divine truth and matchless holiness and power of conjoining in one, the Lord, heaven and earth. But the truth contained in the Writings makes one with that of the Scriptures,--it is the same in kind if not in form. The Hebrew, the Greek, and the Latin Word form a continuous series of Divine revelations, wholly separate from the libraries of men. Many good books have in the general sense of the term been inspired from heaven, but the Writings are heaven-revealed. Ministers of the Gospel preach from the Lord, but the Writings are the Advent of the Lord Himself." (Italics ours.)

     The students of the Convention's Theological School are to be most sincerely congratulated upon their good fortune in having had the opportunity to listen to teaching such as the above. It must be bewildering, however, to hear teachings, the very opposite set forth by other teachers.

     AN AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY.

     We have received from Australia the June and July numbers of "The New Age, an Australian monthly journal advocating the doctrines of the New Church." The New Age, which is now in its seventeenth year, having been established in 1887, is published at Brisbane for "The New Church in Australia, an Inter-colonial organization."

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It is a small 16 page journal containing a sermon or doctrinal article, correspondence, and several gages of detailed news respecting the New Church societies in Australia. The Rev. W. A. Bates is the editor.

     The occasion of sending the two numbers of The New Age to the Life is given in the July number in a letter by Richard Morse. Mr. Morse questions the correctness of the Australian news given in our April issue from the letter of an Australian correspondent. "The Church of the Firstborn," referred to in that letter, is quite unknown to him; he quotes the latest statistics of the Melbourne Society to show that the regular attendance is 36 and not from 12 to 18 as given in the Life, and finally he states that Sydney never published a magazine, but that some years back The New Age was published in that city. So much for his corrections, which the Life is glad to receive and willingly prints.

     Mr. Morse is rather disposed, in a friendly wag, to blame the editors of the Life for publishing the Australian news referred to "on such vague authority" as that of the Australian correspondent, "when they might be posted up with full particulars every month from reliable sources." He does not stop at mere criticism, however, but very kindly places the "reliable sources" at the disposal of the editors. "As the Life seems interested in Australia," he continues, "and is disposed to publish items of our Church news, I have sent to our friends at Bryn Athyn a copy of our Articles of Association, our last Conference Minutes and a copy of The New Age for June." He also suggests that the latter be forwarded regularly.

     The Life has received the New Age sent by Mr. Morse and wishes to make due acknowledgment of his courtesy. It is the object of the Life to make its Church News as comprehensive, exact, and reliable as possible, and the editors gladly welcome any such friendly co-operation as that given by Mr. Morse. Hitherto, they have not been able to procure copies of The New Age, but now that its regular receipt seems assured they will make full use of it in the presentation of Australian news to their readers.

     Mr. C. W. Morse writes in the June issue of our Australian contemporary, a vigorous letter, taking exception to a statement made in the New Christianity that "the final criterion of truth is an inward dictate not a written formula," and that "to fix it by any writing to the extent of making that writing a standard rather than a subservient and suggestive help, destroys its fluid and living quality." Mr. Morse justly identifies this position with that of the "higher" critics in their warfare against the Word. It is "the non-essentiality of Scripture dressed up in another guise" and the "latest attempt to belittle the Word of God, given in its fulness to Emanuel Swedenborg." He continues. "Can the author of the criticism (in New Christianity) on the Rev. D. H. Klein's very sensible and true statement, 'Loyalty to the Lord must take the form of loyalty to his revealed truth, for there is no other approach to him than this,' show us by what means we call equip ourselves with this 'vital fluid' he speaks of to enable us to get past the barrier of evil."

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     A NEW WORK ON "CORRESPONDENCE."

     In the recent work entitled Correspondence, the Key to Causation and Revelation, (London, Speirs, 1903, pp. 124), the Rev. W. A. Presland disclaims "any intention to furnish even the briefest summary" of the science of correspondence, but his aim is simply "to show its reality and importance, and the only means of obtaining a safe and adequate knowledge." As such it is not, indeed, a systematic presentation of the science as a whole, but may be of use as a general introduction to the study for the uninitiated reader.

     The volume consists of "four lectures delivered at the New Church College, London," and the author speaks everywhere directly to an audience consisting of New Church theological students. As a course of advanced instruction it is decidedly a failure, as it offers milk for babes rather than food for strong men. It is, indeed, doctrinal, and consists to a large extent of passages from the Writings, treating of all sorts of subjects, but the author's own observations are rambling and superficial, and, moreover, marred by a tone which lacks the duality of thorough conviction.

     Speaking of the Darwinian theory of evolution, he remarks, for instance: "It has never yet been proved that one species has been evolved from another. Until it is proved, it is an adequate interpretation of our philosophy, that all species were originally created instantaneously. If science demonstrates what at present it only assumes, a wider interpretation will be called for, and our philosophy will be quite able to offer it."

     This, certainly, is extremely accommodating and is quite Pauline in being all things to all possible theories and contingencies. The Heavenly Doctrine is diametrically opposed to Darwinian evolution, simply because the universal law of discrete degrees shows the impossibility of the evolution of one species from another. But if science should be able to prove its assertions, then, whatever happens, even should it prove that the crow is white, "our philosophy" will be able to confirm it by a "wider interpretation."

     On the subject of inspiration the author holds that "we must rigidly distinguish between what is so called and his [Swedenborg's] enlightenment. The Divine Word has a supreme Divine sense, and celestial and spiritual senses; the Writings have neither, but contain what the Lord has been pleased to show us of all the senses of the Word." But it may be asked, How can the Writings "contain" that which they do not "have?"

     The hesitating tone of the author is again illustrated in his description of the proper attitude of a New Church theological student towards the Writings of the Church: "Should those Writings ever appear at variance with the Word,, he will hold an open mind: certainly he will not accept what appears opposed to the Word; at the same time he will not affirm that the Writings are against the Word: he will know that more light and deeper research may remove the difficulty. He cannot but esteem Swedenborg as a 'good and faithful servant.' But there will be no 'hero worship.'"

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     Such a line of thought might be expected from an outside investigator, but not from a teacher of New Church Theological students. To a man who proposes to unite with the New Church, and still more to a man who proposes to become a teacher in the Church and yet is troubled with doubts such as described by Mr. Presland, the only safe advice would be, Do not attempt to enter the New Church until you know that there is not and cannot be any possible variance between the Writings and the Letter of the Word."

     There are enough of doubters in the Church, as it is; of ministers, even, who stand with one foot in the New Church and with the other in the Old! These half-believers continually infest the Church and fill it with proselytes more skeptical than themselves.

     ERRORS IN "DE VERBO."

     It is much to be regretted that a number of serious errors crept into the English edition of the little work De Verbo, which was issued last year by the Academy Book Room. Most of these errors had been corrected in the proofs, but two successive sets of corrected proofs were unaccountably lost by persons to whom they had been confided, and the work was printed without a final revision. We now ask all those who possess copies of the work to insert the following corrections in their copies:

     On page 3, line 27, for "August," read "Anders."

     P. 5, l. 11, for "thus was represented in the sense," read, "thus was represented the sense."

     P. 7, l. 9, for "(vi:65)," read "(vi:63)."

     P. 12, lines 23 and 24, have been transposed and should read "singing and the modulations of music. Taste is similar, and also odor; in a word, all the things which appear to and are perceived by any of the senses."

     P. 15, l. 32, for "by the," read "by it."

     P. 19, l. 21, for "among who," read "among whom."

     P. 27, l. 27, for "likens Heavens," read "likens Heaven."

     P. 30, l. 72, for " as to the World," read "as to the Word."

     P. 42, l. 16, for "[Numbers xvi:27-30]," read "[Numbers xxi: 27-30]."

     P. 42, l. 20, for "Mash'lim," read "Meshalim," and strike out the wrongly printed Hebrew word.

     P. 43, l. 1, for "prophesy," read "prophecy."

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COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION 1903

COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION              1903

     The Council of Ministers of the General Convention met in the Englewood Church, Chicago, on June 23d and the two following days. The meetings were attended by thirty-seven ministers. The evening of Tuesday, June 23d, was devoted to religious services, the annual sermon being delivered by the Rev. Louis H. Tafel, who preached on the test "Ye are the Salt of the Earth," (Matth. V: 13). The preacher dwelt with great earnestness upon the danger of "the salt losing its "savor," as when ministers of the New Church do not love and preach the truth itself, regardless of consequences, but hide the truth for the sake of popularity. We must not cease teaching the real state of the world around us, and pointing out the actual evils which are by no means unknown within the New Church itself. Why did the New Church grow so slowly? Where were the large families that used to be seen in the Church? It was not considered "popular" to bring out the real truth about this condition. The preacher concluded by stating that the New Church in this country was now entering upon its second century, the first having been more of a growth in the truth alone, [not too great a growth!]; the work before the second century was the fight against evil.

     The public sessions on Wednesday, June 24th, was opened by a paper by the Rev. W. H. Hinkley on "The First Grade of the Ministry," in which the writer advocated the doing away with the class of "licentiates," who year by year are authorized to preach, without fulfilling their expressed intention to prepare for and enter the ministry.

     The Rev. E. J. E. Schreck moved that the Rev. William Winslow, of Denmark, and the Rev. W. B. Caldwell, a minister of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, be invited to take part in the deliberations of the Council. The Rev. H. C. Hay thought that in view of the undecided question still before the private sessions of the Council, and in deference to the 139 signers of a certain petition, the second half of the resolution should be withdrawn. Messrs. Alden and Landenberger stated that their opinions had changed during the past year, and they held that members of the General Church ought to be recognized. Mr. Hay regretted to appear discourteous, but he felt a responsibility in this matter; he was sorry that the resolution had been offered. Mr. Schreck felt that in the interest of common charity the custom of past years should be followed. On motion of Mr. Sewall the resolution was divided. The resolution to invite Mr. Winslow was unanimously adopted, and the motion to lay on the table the second half of Mr. Schreck's resolution, (to invite Mr. Caldwell), was adopted by a vote of 12 to 11.

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Thus, for the first time in the history of the New Church, a body of ministers of the Church deliberately refused to extend ordinary courtesies to a visiting minister of another body of the same Church,--not because of any personal objections to the visitor, but simply because of his connection with the General Church of the New Jerusalem.

     The Rev. Frank Sewall then read a paper on "The Functions assigned to the Ceremonials of the Church in T. C. R. 55," in which these ceremonials are compared to the dress of the body and the walls and roof of a temple. The essayist pointed out that Swedenborg nowhere adds a single ceremonial as something for the New Church, but only recounts the forms of the former Christian church, to be now used in the New Church, with a new purpose and spirit. We judge a man by his dress, and so the outside world will judge the New Church by its dress, its ritual. In concluding, the writer made an appeal for uniformity in worship,--not compelled but voluntary. The paper was discussed by a number of speakers, among them the Rev. W. H. Hinkley, who deplored the growth of ritualism in the Christian Church as indicating a materialistic tendency. He did net believe in judging a man by his dress, and hoped that the New Church would not he judged by its ritual, but by its teachings and its life.

     The Rev. John Whitehead read a paper on "The Support of the Ministry," in which, after presenting the doctrine concerning the "tithe," he described the unsatisfactory conditions at present prevailing in the Church. Of the 108 ministers now connected with the Convention, only 86 were actually employed in ministerial work. Of these only one-fifth receive any adequate support while the rest receive little or nothing. There was no systematic effort to contribute to the work of the priesthood, and a young man entering the ministry had no reasonable assurance that he would be able to remain in it. The contributions to the Board of Missions had also fallen off very decidedly during the past ten years.

     At the afternoon session the Rev. W. L. Worcester read a paper on "The Life of the Lord as interpreted by the Sermon on the Mount," in which he endeavored to show that the three chapters, Matthew v, vi, and viii, are an epitome of the Lord's own life on earth, especially of the last three years which comprised His "public ministry." In an "interpretation such as this, the writer had, of course, to draw quite extensively upon the faculty of imagination, and there was a tone about the paper which might have proved very satisfactory to an audience of Unitarians, the "frailties and weaknesses" of Jesus being dwelt upon as if they were His own, as ours are. This tone was noted by the Rev. L. P. Mercer, who felt that there was a "flavor" about the paper that was not wholly correct. It seemed to lose sight of that supreme truth that inmostly the Lord was Divine, and that it was only our hereditary evil that He took on for the sake of our, not His own, salvation. Messrs Hite, Smyth, and Tafel also felt very doubtful as to the line of thought in the paper, but Mr. Eby felt that the criticisms of the paper had not been well taken. "We cannot put it too strongly that what the lord did in His assumed Human, He did for the sake of entering into the experiences of men in their temptations.

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What He did for us He did for Himself." How can such a thing be imagined? As if the Omniscient God assumed the human in order to learn or "experience" something which He did not know before, or in order to effect Redemption--for the Divine!

     The Rev. John Goddard followed with a paper on "Saul and David," and then the Rev. Frank Sewall with a lengthy essay in answer to the question "Are there Planes of Revelation in the Writings?" The speaker introduced his subject by the declaration that while it is our duty to uphold the authority of the Revelation made to the New Church, still we ought not to claim for it an authority which it does not claim for itself. There were planes of revelation in the Bible itself, and Swedenborg called the Epistles the 'Apostolic Word' [?], when nevertheless he tells us that they are not the Word, but only good books for the Church. Revelation was of two kinds, external and internal, from speech and from perception. In the Writings there were both kinds; external revelation in the things seen and heard, internal revelation in the spiritual sense of the Word, from perception, and in the doctrines drawn therefrom. Mr. Sewall then attempted to arrange the various works of the Writings into different classes, according to the different planes of revelation, but found it difficult to place the work on Conjugial Love, which, according to him, treats of morals rather than of theology. He did not believe that the teachings in the second part can be called "laws of heavenly living," or mandatory for the New Church.

     The Rev. A. F. Frost hastened to defend Conjugial Love. In the original edition of that work, Swedenborg, on the last page, advertized "other theological Writings published by me." Mr. Frost believed that the work contained the doctrine of Conjugial Love in its fullness, and this from the beginning to the end of the work. Mr. Whitehead agreed with the last speaker, and referred to the fact that the second part of Conjugial Love is referred to in T. C. R. 313. But Mr. Goddard agreed with Mr. Sewall that it was a work on morals and not on Theology. He considered the second part of the volume addressed to the world, and not to those who are to be of the New Church. Mr. Schreck, in a stirring speech, showed that the work treated of theological things as well as of morals, and was most certainly intended for the New Church. The things in the second part were given in the Lord's infinite mercy and Providence for the preservation of love truly conjugial, that love which is unknown in the world, and very little known men in the nominal New Church. It had never been contended that the laws of permission are "mandatory" except for those who require them.

     On Thursday morning, June 25th, the Council adopted the report of the General Pastors, recommending the consecration of the Rev. L. P. Mercer as a General Pastor. The Committee on Revision of the Liturgy and on the New Translation of the Word presented their reports.

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In the latter report it was stated that the first forty-one Psalms have been translated, and that the first eleven Psalms have been printed. The Swedenborg Hebrew-Latin vocabulary has been completed by the Rev. L. H. Tafel. The Rev. J. E. Warren read the new translation of the First Psalm, and showed that it differed from that of the American Revised Version only in the single word "waters," instead of "water." Mr. Alden objected to criticism of the translation in open meeting and held that it ought to be made in the committee.

     The Rev. L. F. Hite read a very philosophical and rather abstract paper on "The Doctrine of Freedom and Its Application in the Church." The Council adopted a resolution recommending that Mr. Sewall be appointed as an ambassador to the next meeting of the German Synod, to ordain at his discretion any candidate presenting themselves. The Council then adjourned.
GENERAL CONVENTION 1903

GENERAL CONVENTION              1903

     The General Convention of the New Jerusalem met at the house of worship of the Kenwood parish, Chicago, on Saturday, June 27th, and continued its sessions until Tuesday, June 30th. Thirty-eight ministers and sixty-three delegates were present. The proceedings were largely occupied by the usual routine work, and presented but few features of general interest.

     The application of the Ohio Association for the consecration of the Rev. L. P. Mercer as a General Pastor was granted, and the consecration took place on Sunday, June 28th, the Rev. John Goddard officiating.

     An application from Senor L. C. de La Fayette, of Rio Janeiro, for recognition as "Provisional Pastor of the Church in Brazil," was read and granted. It was resolved that hereafter the meetings of the Convention shall be held, if possible, at some time not including May 30th or the first of the month.

     The report of the Messenger, showing the paper out of debt and with a balance on hand, was received with much enthusiasm; the conduct of the Messenger during the past year was heartily commended, and the Rev. S. C. Eby was continued as editor and publisher.

     A resolution was adopted urging upon the Church the support of the Urbana University. The former officers of the Convention were reelected. The President was authorized to present a set of the Writings to the Biblical Commission appointed by the late Pope. Memorials mere presented paying tribute to the memory of the Rev. Emanuel Goerwitz, the Rev. M. G. Browne, the Rev. T. F. Houts, Mr. David L. Webster, and Mr. H. G. Thompson.
SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION 1903

SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION              1903

     The Sixth Annual Meeting of the Association was held in the Kenwood Church, Chicago, on Wednesday and Thursday, July 1st and 2d, 1903, twenty-fire members and thirty-seven visitors attending during the two days.

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The membership has been increased by 13 during the past year; several names have been dropped for failure to pay dues. Considering the small fee of $1, and the worthy objects of the Association the membership should be much larger. These objects as set forth in the Constitution are: (I) The preservation, translation, publication and distribution of the Scientific and Philosophical works of Emanuel Swedenborg, and (II) The promotion of the principles taught in these works, having in view likewise their relation to the science and philosophy of the present day.

     The reports of Officers and Committees gave evidence of activity and progress in the various uses undertaken, which include revised editions of the Principia and Animal Kingdom, translations of the Lesser Principia, the work on The Senses, and some early treatises in Swedish. One or two who are engaged upon these undertakings confessed inability to maintain regular work, and it has been found necessary to postpone the publication of the revised edition of the Worship and Love of God. On the other hand, new editions of the work on the Infinite and the Economy of the Animal Kingdom have appeared, and De Sale is now in the press. The reports from Sweden, too, are most gratifying. The names of Mr. Howard P. Chandler, Mr. Arthur Burnham and Mr. Alfred Stroh were added to the Committee on the Publication of Swedenborg's unpublished works, but the work cannot proceed without more funds.

     The Editor of The New Philosophy stated in his report that he was not satisfied with the conduct of the Magazine, and desired to make some radical changes. He felt that there was a widespread disagreement among our members as to the status of the Scientific Works, and as to the meaning of the second clause of the Constitution, although we were more united in regard to the first clause. In view of this he proposed that the paper be devoted more to the publishing of translations of Swedenborg's works, and that much of the material now appearing in its columns he eliminated and left for the Church Magazines to publish. The meeting could not concur in this opinion, and was obliged to accept his resignation and take up the question of appointing a new editor who will conduct the paper along its present lines. Appreciation was expressed for the manner in which Mr. Swanton has fulfilled his duties, and regret that he should find it necessary to urge this change as an alternative to his continuing the work. The matter was left in the hands of the Board of Directors, the choice of a new editor to be made before September 1st, next.

     At the opening session a resolution was introduced and adopted as a Memorial to the late Mr. Asplundh, the efficient Treasurer and Publishing Manager, whose interest and activity in the uses of the Association were so great. The Officers who have been serving during the past year were re-elected, but in the election of the Board several changes were made.

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     It was a matter of regret that more of the time of the meetings could not have been given to the reading and discussion of several papers that had been offered, although this was atoned for in large measure by the Annual Address of the President, reviewing the events of the past year, and presenting some valuable and inspiring ideas on the "place and value of the work on the Infinite," and also by a paper from Mr. Alfred Stroh, entitled "A Review of the Course of Swedenborg's Science in Sweden," in which he gave the history of the movement which has resulted in the work recently undertaken by the Royal Academy of Sciences, that of transcribing and publishing Swedenborg's Scientific works. Proof sheets of the first pages from the press accompanied this paper. A letter from Dr. Retzius was also read, in which he courteously acknowledged the receipt of the transcriptions of De Cerebro and De Morbis Cerebri that had been sent him after their discovery at Urbana. He also stated that some early physical and cosmogonical works would first be brought out, and afterwards the geological and anatomical ones.

     The Banquet given by the Philosophical Club of Chicago proved a very happy and useful occasion for the fifty ladies and gentlemen who gathered around the festive hoard, and it was afterwards conceded that the speeches alone were "worth the money." Rev. E. J. E. Schreck presided and introduced along series of impromptu toasts in such a "fetching" manner that the remarks elicited were heartily applauded. There is not space to give a detailed account of the responses, but some of the points made should be mentioned. President Sewall, as guest of the evening, gave those present some valuable paternal advice, and also spoke of the possibility of enlisting the material support of the wealthy in the great undertakings before us, the preservation of Swedenborg's Scientific works. He thought that beginning recently made in Sweden might well be followed by others, and especially because it presents a worthy non-sectarian object. Prof. Hite responding to a toast to the "Royal Academy of Sciences and Dr. Retius" thought that their undertaking was a real act of historic justice to a fellow countryman distinguished for his great learning. Mr. Hoeck responded for "Our young champion in foreign lands," and spoke warmly of the labor of Mr. Alfred Stroh, who seemed likely to produce among other things important works like the Tafel Documents. A toast was proposed to the "New Church Board of Publication, one of our valuable allies," and in responding Dr. Harvey Farrington described the edition of the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, and brought out some of the teachings of the work. Mr. Gladish did likewise with the work on the Infinite, just published by another ally, "The Swedenborg Society of London," and he recommended it to all as a book from which he had gained great benefit and read with delight. Prof. Thos. French spoke upon the "Relation of modern science to Swedenborg's science," and contrasted with our views the two extremes of opinion held at this day. The Christian Scientists hold that matter is nothing while the materialists acknowledge nothing but matter.

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Our view is an intermediate one,--spirit is everything, and matter is relatively nothing, because dead. Mr. Caldwell responded to "The use of Swedenborg's Science and Philosophy to the Church," referring to the present occasion as unique because we are believers in science and philosophy as confirmatory of our religion, while in the world today science and religion are divorced. He also showed briefly the use of science and philosophy in the study of the Word and in practical life, expressing- it as his conviction that the Association had a big missionary field within the Church and with the young Mr. Mercer "shook the rafters" with his eloquent tribute to The New Philosophy, and tracing its history from its first inception in Urbana with Mr. Whitehead as editor and originator, he showed the important part it had played in our development. Toasts to "Urbana University" and "The Academy of the New Church" followed. Mr. Whitehead was moved to speak of the value of good fellowship, and the great use the Association performs in bringing together those who have theological differences. On the ultimate plane of natural science and philosophy we call for the time forget our doctrinal differences, and meet on a basis of mutual interest. He likened this to the union of the fibres of both brains in the medulla oblongata. This brought up the subject of the "back-bone of the Association, the financial support," as the toast-master was pleased to term it. On this topic Mr. Hugh Burnham expressed it as his belief that the Lord in His Providence would give the means for the preservation of the scientific works, which are of so great value to His Church, and he added his belief in the fundamental truth of the principles of those works as viewed in the light of the Theological Writings. Among the concluding toasts the "Principia Club of Bryn Athyn" and the "Philosophy Club of Pittsburg" were not forgotten, and the Rev. R. W. Brown responded for both, dwelling upon the use of studying the scientific works of Swedenborg.
GENERAL CONFERENCE 1903

GENERAL CONFERENCE              1903

     The ninety-sixth annual meeting of the Conference was held in Radcliffe from Monday, June 15, to Saturday, June 20, with a total membership of 120,--35 ministers and 85 representatives. Among the visitors present were the Rev. Messrs. T. F. Wright and J. C. Ager, of America, who were invited to take their seats in the Conference.

     The address of the retiring President, the Rev. J. Ashby, recounted the visits made by him during the past year, and noted as a result of his observations that "interest in the Lord's Supper is for the most part increasing." The general neglect in attending this service has been noted in previous conferences. At the end of the report was given an abstract of the replies written by ministers to the questions as to how the work of the Church can be made more successful. As is usually the case in these answers to the presidential enquiries, the suggestions made were varied and contradictory. Thus it is suggested that special attention be paid to "the presentation of distinctive New Church teaching" and that the Church needs "short sermons and clear doctrine;" and, on the other hand, that the pulpit should be abandoned as "a Chair of Theology."

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One minister suggests appealing to the eye and ear by music and lantern pictures; while another thinks that people should be drawn to Church from religion and not by the attractions of ear and eye. Other suggestions are: A ministers' sustentation fund; arrangements for the removal of undesirable ministers; and getting the members "to pray for the Divine blessing on the preached Word."

     In the course of his report Mr. Ashby gives a significant confirmation of what has for some time past been noted in the Life, namely, the growing tendency in the Church in England to break down the distinctive barriers between the New Church and the Old. His words are "Most of our ministers manifest a desire to associate with religious workers in other denominations in public movements for the moral elevation of the people. This is as it should be." A fitting illustration of the tendency to which we have alluded came in the early part of the meetings, when the minister of the Radcliffe Society, Rev. E. C. Newall, introduced on the floor of Conference a deputation of the Radcliffe Free Church Council. In the remarks of the ministers of this delegation the members of Conference were addressed as "Free Churchmen," and as "fellow-soldiers in the great warfare:" while the President of Conference, Rev. W. A. Presland, referred to them as having a "common purpose" with the New Church in their work.

     The various discussions-unusually pacific in their nature--at the sessions of Conference were, for the most part, on matters of more or less local interest; but the reports of some of the committees contain items which will he of general interest to the New Church reader.

     The Library Committee reported 485 catalogued items in the Conference library. These books (which have hitherto been kept in the home of the Conference librarian) are now deposited for storage with the New Church College in London. The committee recommended that the seven sets of the photolithographed manuscripts be distributed to certain public libraries, including the Free Library at Birmingham, to replace a former set destroyed by fire; the Guildhall Library and the National Library in Rome.

     The committee to index The Intellectual Repository reported the inclusion of four other periodicals in the work, namely, The Old and New Evangelical magazine, 1846-'48; The Dawn, 1861-'62; The Progressionist, 1863-'64; and The Recipient, 1865-'71. The index will thus cover all British New Church periodical literature for 1790-1881. This index is now almost ready for the printer. The report contained a recommendation for the compilation of the bibliography of all collateral New Church works published in Great Britain. The Rev. J. Hyde is in charge of this work, which had already been inaugurated.

     The Liturgy Committee has completed its work, and a new edition of the Liturgy has been published incorporating the new services adapted from the English Prayer Book.

489




     The translation of the Word has been going on very slowly, the committee reporting having reached only the twenty-sixth chapter of Genesis. The discussion on this report was contributed to by the visitors from America, who described the work being done by Convention. Dr. Wright rejoiced in the "signs of co-operation" between Conference and Convention, and stated that in the latter body the work of translation was being done in a more radical way than in Conference, in that before translating they first collected all the translations made by Swedenborg. For this purpose they had made much use of the Index Biblicus, but they had found the printed book so defective that he hoped this important work would, in a few years, be phototyped. Mr. Ager also spoke of the different methods prevailing in America and referred to the work being done by the Rev. L. H. Tafel, who for three years has been compiling for the committee a table of Hebrew and Greek scripture words with Swedenborg's translations.

     The Rev. I. Tansley, the secretary of the Conference Committee, thought that the work of translating Genesis could not be affected by Mr. Tafel's work. They were engaged in translating the Hebrew and not Swedenborg's Latin version. Moreover Swedenborg gives in the Arcana Caelestia, a consecutive rendering of Genesis. The report of the committee was finally adopted and money voted for the continuance of the work.

     The committee appointed last year to inquire into the question of religious instruction in the New Church day schools reported that, with few exceptions, the societies with day schools were making arrangements for the transfer of their schools to the authorities constituted by the new Education Act. This would, of course, make doctrinal instruction in school hours impracticable. The schools at Clayton, Failsworth, and Wigan were probably the only ones that would survive. During the discussion of this report Mr. Cunliffe, of Accrington, stated that his society would not hand over its school; a statement which must have come as somewhat of a surprise, as the annual report of the Accrington Society contains a resolution that "It is desirable that the day school become a 'provided school, " i. e., a school under the new Education Act.

     In this connection it is interesting to note the report of the Committee on Religious Education in the New Church day schools. The committee laid down as the curriculum, John xviii, 21; Exodus ii, 7, and from memory work, a portion of the Catechism, three hymns, and three psalms. Mr. Broadfield characterized this as insufficient, and recommended the whole of Mark. The Rev. I. Tansley agreed that it was not enough, but feared that more could not be undertaken. The Rev. E. Jones also thought it as much as could be given, since the lessons were only once a week. "If we try to force more the schools will not accept it." Mr. Seddon stated that the work had been done cursorily last year because the religious curriculum had been too long; the committee now endeavored to maintain a medium between that and the previous year.

490


The Rev. J. R. Rendell maintained that the public schools would give better religious instruction than was being given in the New Church day schools. The Rev. W. T. Large deprecated the teaching of religion at the last hour of the day when all were tired; he thought the schools could not undertake more than was recommended. Others spoke to the same effect, after which the report was agreed to and the sum of ?7 each was voted for religious instruction in the schools a: Clayton, Middleton and Wigan.

     The Council reported authorizing grants of money to several of the Conference societies, including the one established last year at Hillhead, Glasgow. The property of the defunct society at Bury has been sold by auction for ?750.

     The New Church Magazine Committee again reported a decrease (from 671 to 652) in the monthly sale of the official organ of Conference. The committee had endeavored to frame a brief statement of the Doctrines to be printed on the first page of the cover, but had finally decided to refer the matter to Conference. After discussion on this report the editors were authorized to introduce such a brief statement if they deemed it desirable, the statement to be in the words of the Writings; and to appear on the inside page of front cover. After this matter was disposed of, a letter was read from Mr. James Spiers offering to transfer Morning Light to the Conference; the offer was referred to the Magazine Committee.

     Among the other business done by Conference was the nomination of the Rev. I. Tansley as president for next year; the appointment of a committee to consider methods for the systematic training of "lay preachers"-why, if they are to be "trained," they should not be ordained is not explained; and the passage of a resolution on the importance of spreading the doctrines among the natives of India. This resolution, quite academic in its nature, was very different from the motion of which it was a substitute. This latter was made by the Rev. G. Meek, on behalf of Mr. J. H. Wilson, a member of the Jersey Society who had lived in India for over thirty years and who sees "a marvellous harmony" between the Vedanta philosophy and the "deeper philosophy" of the Writings of Swedenborg. Mr. Meek's motion was to the effect that this "marvellous harmony" gave valuable ground of appeal to the noblest thinkers and teachers among the natives of India for the consideration and acceptance of the doctrines" and that therefore the attention of the Church and its young ministers should be invited to the question of spreading the doctrines in India. Several of the speakers failed to see anything of the "harmony'" referred to. The Rev. T. Child denied it in toto. Vedanta philosophy was pantheism and nothing else. The Rev. R. R. Rodgers said it had no personal God, and moreover held the doctrine of reincarnation. Therefore the motion, when finally passed, appeared in such a new and strange form that it must have been hardly recognizable by its original author.

     The Conference authorized the ordination of Mr. Harry Deans--a graduate of the College--and the recognition of Mr. W. R. Homer as "leader" of the Blackburn Society and Mr. R. Mayers as "leader" of the society at Horncastle.

491


The joint ordination and recognition service was held on Friday evening of Conference week.
SWEDENBORG SOCIETY 1903

SWEDENBORG SOCIETY              1903

     The ninety-third annual meeting of the London Swedenborg Society was held at the society's rooms in Bloomsbury street on June 9th. The report of the year's work was as usual full of interest, and denoted considerable activity in the promotion of the society's objects. The total deliveries of books amounted to over 15,500, including the Writings in English, 2,423 volumes; Latin, 29; Russian, 325; Welsh, 41; Swedish, 18; Arabic, 12; Hindi, 13; Dutch, 4; Polish, 1; 81 copies of the English philosophical works; 12 volumes of the Documents and 122 sets of the Concordance. Sets of the Writings have been presented to many public libraries in England and the Colonies. One set was returned by the Dublin Public Library on the ground that its committee could not accept "that class of book." A volume of the Writings was also presented to the Emperor William in consequence of his pronouncements on the subject of the Lord and the Word. Dr. Max Neuburger was presented with a copy of The Brain, the text of which "at all events" he contemplate issuing in German. Over 1,000 copies of Foundation Truths were supplied to ministers and lay preachers. The work was also offered to all authors in England, but "they have not been found as a class to be deeply interested in theology;" 210 accepted the offer. The society has also placed a set of the original edition of the Arcana Caelestia in the library of the British museum. In connection with these presentations, it was also reported that, in acknowledgment of a set of 34 volumes, including the Documents and the Concordance, sent to the Imperial University of Tokyo, Japan, the society received in a box containing a simple but elegant Japanese bowl, accompanied by a letter from the Consul, which stated that it was the Japanese method of acknowledging a gift for which they had a high appreciation."

     Of the twenty copies of the phototyped Diarium Spirituale, Vol. II received by the Society in return for its subscription of ?100 paid some years ago sixteen have been placed in important public libraries, as follows: "British Museum, Church College, Conference Library, Bodleian of Oxford, University College of Cambridge, Trinity College of Dublin, Advocates of Edinburgh, Mitchell of Glasgow, Guildhall of London, Rylands of Manchester, Central Free Libraries of Birmingham and Liverpool, the National Libraries of Paris and Rome, and the Royal Libraries of Copenhagen and Vienna." The society has also placed one copy in its own library, leaving three copies still undisposed of.

     The committee has adopted a recommendation that a ledger be maintained for the entry of errors in existing editions, suggestions for improved renderings, and any information which may be obtained as to Swedenborg's use of words of uncertain meaning.

492




     The Rev. W. Rees has completed the translation of Four Leading Doctrines in Welsh and the work will soon be printed. The Doctrine of the Lord has been translated into Danish by Rev. W. Winslow and will be printed in Copenhagen. The society also owns a Swedish translation of Apocalypse Revealed in MS., but this will not be printed at present owing to the expense involved. Another MS. translation in the possession of the society is the New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrines in Russian; the society also has funds, from a special legacy, with which to print this work, but has not done so heretofore, owing to the lack of opportunity for circulating it. The Rev. A. Roeder, who has obtained some opening among the Doukhabors in Canada, is now in correspondence with the committee as to the advisability of printing the work for circulation among that sect. Mr. Roeder has so far made use of the Russian pamphlets issued by the society--one a brief life of Swedenborg, and the other the chapter on the Ten Commandments contained in True Christian Religion. Over 300 of these pamphlets have been circulated by Mr. Roeder and a few hare been taken by a New Church lady for circulation in St. Petersburg.

     The time of publication of the revised translation of the Principia (which the society has agreed to publish for the Swedenborg Scientific Association) is still very uncertain. The Revision Committee appointed by the association completed its work about a year ago and the revisions were sent over to the English editors, the Rev. Messrs. J. R. Rendell and I. Tansley. The report states that these gentlemen "have found the work involved greater than was at first anticipated, entailing an extensive revision of the present translation."

     The Bibliography of Swedenborg by Rev. J. Hyde has been completed and the MS. is now in the hands of the society, but the report does not give any information as to when it will be printed.

     There has been some correspondence with the American Swedenborg Society looking to a greater co-operation between the two bodies. The proposal is now under discussion that the expense of all Danish translations of the Writings shall be borne by the two societies jointly. A proposal to co-operate in the translation of the Arcana Caelestia was also discussed, but the idea was finally abandoned, the reason given being that the London Society had practically completed its new translation, and the American Society "concluded that they must undertake one for themselves."

     Colonel Bevington, in moving the adoption of the report, referred to work being done by the society, of which no mention was made in that document, namely, "photolithographing some of the MSS. in the Royal Library at Stockholm" and completing the work on the Brain. The speaker then gave an interesting account of his investigations, during a recent visit to Cairo, as to the circulation of the Arabic version of Heaven and Hell.

493


The promotion of this work is in charge of a Dr. Sarruf, who is net a receiver of the Doctrine, and frankly told the colonel that "he could not understand it." Only 41 copies of the work hall been sold, and on these Dr. Sarruf required "a pretty good percentage." Nevertheless Colonel Bevington authorized him to sell at a lower price, "and even, if he could not do that, to give them away, which he said he would do."

     Speaking to the motion Mr. E. H. Bayley contended that the Writings ought to be put into better English that they may be more extensively read, and he quoted an Oxford scholar who said that the ordinary man meeting with one of the Writings would probably get the idea that Swedenborg could not write English. Other speakers emphasized the importance of faithfulness to the original.

     After some formal business the chairman of the meeting, Rev. J. Deans, introduced Professor Dr. Gustaf Retzius, of Stockholm, who is in charge of the publication of Swedenborg's scientific writings for the Royal Academy of Sciences.

     Dr. Retzius, referring to this work, stated that the committee of which he was chairman was now studying, for scientific purpose, the many scientific MSS. of Swedenborg now in the library of the Royal Academy. "In recent years scientific men had more and more been forced to the conclusion that Swedenborg was one of the foremost scientific men of the last century. Not only was he a learned man of scientific attainments, but he advanced theories which, though not at the time accepted, had been of late years proved correct by the newer science. Many years ago he (the speaker) had learned to recognize Swedenborg as a very learned anatomist; but he must confess he did not know hew great he was until he had entered upon the researches he had spoken of." Dr. Retzius then made acknowledgment of the services of Mr. Alfred H. Stroh in deciphering the MSS. Continuing, he said that the Royal Academy was now "on the point of printing its two first volume; of Swedenborg on paleontology and anatomy, and the first of these proved him to be the predecessor of all Scandinavian geologists. But Swedenborg, as they knew, was also a great physicist, and it would appear from the volume which would cover that branch of his researches, that he was one of the greatest discoverers in the field of physical science. He had arrived at the theory of the formation of the planets and the sun and the theory of the nebulae long before Kant and Laplace; and the conclusion was that Laplace and Kant got their knowledge from Swedenborg. It was well known that Laplace quotes Buffon, and they were all aware that Ruffon was acquainted with the works of Swedenborg. There were other works of Swedenborg very astonishing, as the theory of light and the theory of the cosmic atoms. When Pantoff was shown his works he at first became angry, but his anger was succeeded by astonishment." The speaker then referred to the meeting at Heidelberg, a week previously, of the International Anatomical Congress, to which body, as president, he had delivered the inaugural address about Swedenborg.

494


"There were more than 100 of the leading anatomists of Europe there, among them many of the greatest living authorities, and he could assure his hearers that they also were quite astonished at what he placed before them relating to the achievements of that great man. They did not know that Swedenborg was the discoverer of the localization of the tissues of the brain. Swedenborg, however, divided the brain in another way than we. He said there are three lobes.... That his assumptions were correct was shown by a great number of most difficult experiments conducted by pathologists during the past thirty years. The discovery was first made in 1870 in Berlin by two professors. . . . The date of Swedenborg's discovery was 1714. About the brain there remained, however, still much to be found out, and he hoped and thought there was still something to be found in the manuscripts of Swedenborg to help their researches....The best of his works would be published in the volumes yet to be issued at Stockholm."

     Dr. T. F. Wright then addressed the meeting. After referring to the proposed New Church to be built in Stockholm by Mr. Manby's Society, which, he thought, should be put up "not as a memento of Swedenborg, but as a means of promoting the work which the Lord gave him to do in that city," the speaker addressed himself to the work of publishing the Writings. In the matter of translation they had been more or less wasteful in their efforts, and therefore had not attained to perfection. The American Society had published the Apocalypsis Explicata but the fact remained that a MS. of that work was in Stockholm different from the lithographed MIS. from which the edition had been made. That copy ought to have been consulted. Another Latin edition of the Arcana Caelestia was regarded as likely in America, but before this was done the MS., covering nearly two-thirds of the work, now in Stockholm, should be first critically consulted. Before the work of translation came the work of procuring the most perfect Latin text. In regard to translation itself the speaker thought that men had been employed who "knew not so much Latin as Swedenborg" and whose knowledge of Latin was confined to the simple language of their author. Dr. Wright concluded by urging the society not to be content with publishing but to see to it that the work they issued were put into circulation.

     After an address by the Rev. J. Ashby, the meeting then took up the subject of republishing the Documents Concerning Swedenborg as suggested in the annual report. There it had been stated that in the original plan of the work all the documents were to be printed in a separate volume and in the original languages without note or comment. This, however, had had to stand over, but it had not been forgotten as a future work for the Church, and the committee asked "that they be authorized to carry out the original intention of the society."

     The Rev. James Hyde, making a motion to this effect, called the attention of the meeting to the importance of giving to the world documents and statements concerning Swedenborg personally,--a work which was indicated in Swedenborg's answer to Hartley, giving some facts of his life, "because, as Mr. Hartley says, it was necessary to state to the world then what his real character and life had been."

495


Dr. Tafel had not professed that the work published by him in 1875-77-Documents Concerning Swedenborg--was complete, but he had made no provision for its extension. It was now proposed to complete that work. New documents had come to light since 1877, relating to Swedenborg's life in England and Sweden, also several original letters, and some articles concerning Swedenborg. It might be advisable to translate all these into English and make a supplementary volume of them; but it was essential that the originals should he made accessible to all students. It was only fair that they should know that he has been faithfully represented in English.

     The motion proposed by Mr. Hyde was shortly afterwards agreed to.

     The meeting then turned its attention to a discussion of the Examinations in the Writings, after which the adjournment took place.

496


Church News 1903

Church News       Various       1903

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     Bryn Athyn, Pa. The Nineteenth of June was celebrated by the administration of the Holy Supper in the morning, after which followed the usual banquet. The special feature of the occasion was a paper by Professor Odhner, presenting an account of the successive celebrations of New Church Day that have been held by the Academy since its foundation in 1876. As, however the paper also referred to the most important events in the Church that had occurred during the year intervening between the successive celebrations, it was really an outline sketch of the history of the whole Academy movement,--and an eventful history it has been! As the story of each year was told, there were many who marveled that the Academy had experienced so much of joy,--and also of sorrow, during the brief period of twenty-seven years.

     The paper was followed by many reminiscences, and some humorous controversy between the "elders" as to the place where some of the earlier celebrations had been held. Numerous "Academy souvenirs" were exhibited,--battered relies of glorious times in the olden days, when the Academy principles were represented, not by a vigorous Church, but by a mere handful of champions, many of whom are now gathered to their rest. The old-time Academy songs were sung,--though some of them had almost faded from memory, but the enthusiasm with which the younger generation entered into the spirit of their elders proved that "the sacred flame" is still burning brightly. This enthusiasm was especially manifested after Bishop Pendleton's address on "The Internal Development of the Academy."

     The annual meeting of the Teachers' Institute, the Council of the Clergy, and the Executive Committee, brought many welcome visitors from other centers of the Church, both ministers and laymen. As usual, a number of social meetings were held, public and semi-public. After the intense activity of those days, a reaction naturally followed, and we have had a very quiet and restful summer among our beautiful hills and dales,--that is, those of in us who stayed at home.

     But some of those who work the hardest seem to find the greatest rest in unusual labors, such as study or fishing. Mr. Synnestvedt, for instance, has spent the summer at the Chicago University, in the pursuit or Pedagogic lore. Miss Alice Grant, also, is pursuing a course at the same institution, for the future benefit of our numerous little ones, and Miss Hobart is attending the summer course of the Columbia University. On the other hand, two of our theological professors, Mr. Odhner and Mr. Acton, spent two or three weeks with Mr. Pitcairn and his son, Raymond, in stormy combats with mosquitoes, trout, and ouananiche in upper Canada, somewhere near Labrador. They had no end of "bites," both from the fish and the winged legions. E. L.

     New York. The Brooklyn Society celebrated the 19th of June by a supper at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. E Parker in New York City. Eighteen persons sat down to table, including Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Hicks, Miss Ruth Hicks and Miss Amena Pendleton, of Bryn Athyn, and Mrs. W. Parker, Sr., of Philadelphia. Toasts to the day we celebrate. "The Academy," "The Future of the Church," etc., were responded to by the pastor (Rev. A. Acton), Mr. W. C. Childs, Rev. J. Cleare, Mr. Hicks, and others, and, of course, the presence of Mr. Childs was sufficient to ensure plenty of good songs.

497


In response to the toast to the Academy, Mr. Childs, one of the founders of that body, gave an interesting account of the early days of the Academy as bearing upon the celebration of June 19th, which was then instituted for the first time in the history of the New Church. But the principal subject of the evening turned out to be the future of the Church as resting in the children, and many interesting remarks were made on this theme. The whole evening was very delightful, and has no doubt been of great use in strengthening the Brooklyn Society. Nor was the interest of those present lessened by the historic nature of the occasion. For this was the first formal celebration of June 19th that has ever been held in New York City, but all resolved that it should not be the last. Years ago one or two informal celebrations were held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Klein in Brooklyn. But none, so far as we know, has ever been held in New York itself. As Mr. Childs humorously observed in responding to the toast to our hospitable host and hostess, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Parker will in future distant ages become a landmark in New York and an objective point for New Church excursionists.

     Baltimore. Owing to the impossibility of securing the attendance of a minister on June 19th, the celebration of that day was deferred until the following Sunday, June 21st. On that day Rev. Alfred Acton conducted services for us in the morning, and presided over the annual meeting of the society in the afternoon. In the evening the members assembled together for the celebration, round the hospitable table of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Gunther. Speeches were made by the toastmaster (Mr. Acton) and Messrs. Herman Gunther, Knapp, Hammar, and others, and a sphere of warm enthusiasm for the Church was present throughout the evening. But particularly delightful was the discussion on Conjugial Love and the necessity of husband and wife growing in the Church together.

     On the following Sunday, June 28, we had the pleasure of a visit from our former pastor, Rev. F. E. Waelchli, who administered the Holy Supper and presided over several meetings.

     Atlanta, Ga, The outlook for Church extension in the South improves gradually, but steadily, and the prospects are becoming brighter. On a recent visit into Eastern Tennessee I met a few members of the Church in Chattanooga who expressed earnest wishes to have preaching and teaching resumed in their city. They have been destitute of the regular activities of the Church for years. In Knoxville was unable to find any one interested in the Church.

     On May 16th I returned from a week's trip to New Orleans. In that city I met Captain J. J, Gidiere, who has been a student of the Doctrines for many years, but never formally connected with any body of the Church. Both he and his son, Philip, a young lawyer, are deeply interested in the development of genuine New Church efforts.

     In Atlanta we feel encouraged to look forward to a time not very distant when we may he able to report several baptisms, both of adults and children.

     One of our active and devoted members, Mr. David Howe, has left the city to engage in business for a while in the southern part of the State. He joins with us in the hope that he soon may be able to return to Atlanta. R. H. K.

     Glenview, Ill. Since our last report in the Life the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, who served the Immanuel Church as pastor for nearly fourteen years, has left us to take charge of the Pittsburg Society. Mr. Pendleton has done admirable service among us: he has carried us safe through many a crisis, and he leaves behind him a church which, though it has lost more than half of its members (who withdrew to form the "Sharon Church" in Chicago), has continued to carry on all Its former uses without an intermission.

498


This, we think, speaks volumes for the quality of the work which Mr. Pendleton has accomplished here.

     The above paragraph gives the gist of what was expressed by all who were present at the farewell reception which was given to Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton just before their departure for Pittsburg, on which occasion the society presented to them an oil painting by Charles Francis Browne.

     Since April the Rev. David H. Klein has taken up the pastoral work here in a manner most satisfactory and encouraging to all. Shortly after their arrival Mr. and Mrs. Klein were welcomed to Glenview by a reception given to them at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh L. Burnham.

     On June 13th the closing exercises of the local school took place. The members of this year's graduating class, Ariel Burnham, William Junge, and Agnes Gyllenhaal, each read papers and all of the pupils gave recitations. The class graduating this year is the first to have received all of its schooling in Glenview.

     On Sunday evening, June 14th, a reception was given by Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Nelson to Dr. and Mrs. Earnest Farrington, in honor of their marriage, which had taken place in Middleport, O., a short time before. The speakers of the evening, who included the Rev. Messrs. Schreck, Klein, and Caldwell, and several of the laymen, wished the newly married couple health, wealth and happiness, beside much ancient, but wholesome, advice.

     This year, for the first time since we came to Glenview, we celebrated the Nineteenth and Twentieth of June apart from our brethren in the city, but in spite of this fact our I celebration was most successful. We began with an early morning service of praise on the Nineteenth. In the evening of the same day our annual banquet was held. Our pastor, acting as toastmaster, had prepared an interesting programme, to which ten speakers responded with much eloquence. A toast which your correspondent proposed to the Life brought forth much favorable and appreciative comment. After a toast to our "daughter," the Sharon Church, a verse composed on the spot was sung to the tune of "Annie Laurie."

     The meeting closed with an enthusiastic outburst of appreciation of the work of the Academy Schools, occasioned by the return of our young folks from the "Alma Mater" in Bryn Athyn.

     On the Twentieth the children had their celebration with a little banquet, which was followed by games, among thee being a baseball contest between the school boys and their papas. The papas won by the score of 45 to 26, but they were all sorry for it the next day. Counting children and old folks eighty-five persons from Glenview took part in this year's celebration. L. E. G.

     Denver, Col. Since our last letter we have inaugurated a Sunday School for the children. Lessons on the Ten Commandments, with some instruction in the Hebrew, have been the leading features of our pastor's work so far.

     The Thursday evening doctrinal class continues with increasing interest and delight on the part of those attending.

     The questions asked after the lesson have a tendency to bring out the application of the doctrine more fully. The lesson is followed by a singing practice of the music used in the Church service.

     We have all enjoyed a three weeks' visit from Mrs. S. E. Tyler, of Westcreek. Col.

     The afternoon of May 17th was the occasion of a rather unique event,--when the two New Church societies in this city held a union or fellowship meeting, for the purpose of promoting a mutual understanding and strengthening the relations of friendship and brotherhood which ought to exist between New Churchmen everywhere.

499


A simple service, in which the Rev. J. E. Collom read the first lesson, and the Rev. George G. Starkey the second, was followed by a more informal phase of the meeting, in which short addresses were made, mostly impromptu, Mr. Collom presiding. Dr. B. A. Wheeler, the founder of the New Church in Denver, gave a resume of the history of the Church life here, noting that beside himself only one of the original members of the society as it began under his leadership was now present. He gave an interesting account of the small beginnings (they have never developed into any very large results, numerically); of the various ministers that had succeeded one after the other; of the division of the society in 1888, when 17 members withdrew under the then pastor, the Rev. Richard de Charms, leaving the same number in the older organization; and to the retiring members as New Churchmen and New Churchwomen the speaker gave the same testimony which he gave to those who remained, as members of the first society. Mr. Collom spoke of love as the unifying essential of the Church; and Mr. Starkey dealt with "Unity in the Church," especially predicating unity of the spirit of charity and of humility, which accords to the neighbor the right and freedom to differ in belief and even in life so long as fundamentals are not undermined. Charity indeed makes the Church, but charity founded on the Lord's Doctrine, which informs and qualifies true charity. Other speakers were: Dr. Ervin, on Social Life in the New Church; Mr. Bergstrom, on Life in the Church; Mr. Tyler, on Life in the Home, and Dr. Wheeler, on The New Churchman in Politics. The meeting closed with singing "Jerusalem the Golden." after which much handshaking and individual conversation was indulged in. G. W. T.

     Toronto, Ont. The Nineteenth of June was celebrated here with a very interesting social. Our pastor, the Rev. Emil Cronlund responded to the toast to "the Day we celebrated and was followed by instructive remarks from Mr. Carswell, Mr. Brown. Dr. Beeker, and Mr. Peter Bellinger. We have never before had so full an attendance at a celebration of the Nineteenth.

     On Saturday, June 20th, we had a general Picnic at High Park, with games, supper, etc., and on June 27th the young people had a jolly little picnic up the Thunder river. A number of visiting friends have been amongst us lately. Among them Miss Amena and Miss Freda Pendleton, of Bryn Athyn, and Miss Edith Roschman, of Berlin. E. R.

     Missionary Services. The New Church society at Buffalo, N. Y. being without a pastor fit the time, it was arranged for me to preach for that society on Sunday, June 28th. The sermon from Rev. xiv:6, 7, was favorably received. There is in Buffalo an excellent opportunity for an energetic minister, having proper qualifications and the genuine New Church apostolic spirit, to build up a society.

     Five days were devoted to a visit with the members of the New Church Circle in the city of Hamilton, Ont., most of whom were called on at their homes. They continue to hold reading meetings on Sunday afternoons, which are led by Mr. William Addison. Thus they go on quietly and steadily to acquire knowledges of the Heavenly Doctrines; and it is to be hoped the course of time there will be growth and increase so that the result of this small beginning may be the formation of a regular New Church society, with a minister of their own.


     On Sunday, July 5th, at the home of Mrs. Brierly, we held a service, at which, besides the writer, twenty persons were present.

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After the sermon the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered, in which all participated.

     On invitation I spent a week with Mr. William Evens and wife and family of nine children on their farm at Randolph Post Office, about 100 miles north of Toronto. This is a fine farming country, on the shores of Georgian Bay. The people were all busy harvesting the wheat and other grains, of which there were heavy crops. There are no other New Church people in this vicinity that we know of. But the Evens family maintain their interest in spiritual things by reading the Word, the Writings, and the Life. They also hold a Sunday School regularly, which is commendable.

     On Sunday, August 2d, we held a service, using the Liturgy. After the sermon the Holy Supper was administered, in which the parents, two grown up sons and a daughter took part. JOHN E. BOWERS.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     THE UN1TED STATES. Maine. No meeting of the Maine Association has been held for a year or two. The society at Gardner has finally ceased to exist after a long and lingering death struggle. The Rev. J. W. Shafer is still doing some missionary work in the State.

     Massachusetts. At the closing exercises of the Convention's Theological School in Cambridge, on June 17th, Mr. John W. Stockwell, and Mr. Clyde W. Broomell, received certificates of graduation. Five students were in attendance during the past school year. The invested funds of the Theological School now amount to $229,531. The assets of the Massachusetts New Church Union amount to $177,455.

     Mr. David L. Webster, one of the most prominent members of the Boston Society, died on April 28th, at ninety years of age. He had been a member of the New Church since 1854, and for a long time treasurer of the Society and chairman of its Church Committee.

     The Rev. Joseph S. David has been engaged for one year as the pastor of the Society in East Bridgewater.

     Connecticut. The recent death Mr. Henry Thompson is a heavy loss to the Connecticut New Church Association, of which he was the founder and patriarch. There is no society of the New Church in Connecticut, and the Association consisted altogether of isolated members. Mr. Thompson was especially interested in the distribution of gift-books to the clergy of the Old Church, and was formerly the chief financial supporter of the extensive missionary work of the Rev. Arthur O. Brickman.

     Pennsylvania. The Rev. Samuel Beswick died at Hollidaysburg, Pa., on July 5th, 1903. Born at Stockport, England, 1822, he was brought up in the New Church by his parents, and as a youth became greatly interested in Swedenborg's works, particularly the Principia, of which he became a deep student. 1847 he became the principal of the Salford and Manchester New Church day school, and was also for a time leader of the Haslingden Society. At the call of the American Swedenborg Society he emigrated to America in 1855 to promote the work of that society, and under its auspices he published for a year or two a magazine called The Revelator. In 1856 he was ordained into the ministry of the New Church by the Rev. B. F. Barrett, and was the pastor of the New York Society from 1857 to 1867. He afterwards ministered in Paterson, N. J. and in Strathroy. Ont., but was suspended from the ministry of the General Convention in 1880. His last years were spent at Tyrone, Pa., where he edited the Tyrone Daily Herald.

     Maryland. The German New Church Missionary Union on June 22d held its thirty-first annual meeting in the temple of the German New Church Society in Baltimore.

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The Rev. L. H. Tafel reported that he had continued his revision of the German version of the Bible, from the Hebrew text, up to and including the prophet Daniel. It was reported that the first volume of the German version of the Spiritual Diary was now ready for the binder and would shortly appear. A new Sunday School song book had also been published. A strong desire was expressed for the consecration of the Rev. L. H. Tafel as General Pastor, but at the urgent request of the proposed candidate, no action was taken by the meeting.

     Ohio. The Rev. James Taylor, on April 1st, terminated his engagement with the society at Lakewood, near Cleveland, and the society is now without a pastor. The society in the city of Cleveland is in the same unfortunate condition, owing to the death of its pastor, the Rev. Byron G. Brown, on June 1, 1903.

     Michigan. The Detroit Society celebrated the Nineteenth of June by a banquet, at which Mr. William W. Walker acted as toastmaster. The toasts and speeches, all of which were centered on the theme of the distinctiveness of the New Church, were interspersed with musical selections. The pastor, the Rev. John Whitehead. in his speech dwelt on the object for which the twelve disciples were sent out into the universal spiritual world. Mr. Henry Wunsch responded to the toast to "The Necessity of the New Church Organization," and Mr. John Strongman replied to the toast to "The Education of Our Children."

     Illinois. The new temple of the North Side parish of the Chicago Society was dedicated on May 31st by the Rev. L. P. Mercer, who was assisted by the Rev. J. S. Saul and the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck. All the New Church societies in Chicago were represented in the audience. The building itself is 54 x72 feet, and includes, beside the elegant auditorium, a large Sunday School room, a parlor for the ladies, a parish hall, and a kitchen, the cost of the site being $5,600, and of the building, $12,000. No pastor has as yet been secured for the parish.

     California. The Rev. W. Welsh has resigned the pastorate of the Los Angeles Society. The Pacific Coast Association has held no meetings for a number of years, and there are now no active New Church societies on the Pacific Coast, outside of San Francisco.

     CANADA. The society in Berlin, Ont., which is connected with the General Convention, reports that it "has been in a state of healthy activity, its minister, Rev. A. B. Francisco, having resigned after two years of useful service to enter a wider field of usefulness,"--a rather peculiar way of putting it, though, of course, unintentionally so.

     The society in Toronto, to which the Rev. Mr. Higgins is ministering, has not yet been able to build a temple on the new lot which it has secured, but thirteen new members have been received into the society.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The annual meeting of the Manchester Printing and Tract Society was held at Manchester on May 12. The committee reported sales amounting to over 14,300. Comprising about 3,000 books, 2,500 tracts, 4,700 copies of Morning Light, 2,000 of N. C. magazine, and 11, 300 of Young People's Magazine. The tracts include a new series of five tracts on anger, gambling, slander, theft and unchastity published in view of the resolution passed at the previous annual meeting calling attention to "the frequency of moral lapses on the part of those holding positions of trust." The committee also contemplates the publication of tracts on suicide, intemperance the secularization of the Sabbath, etc.

     The discussions at the meeting were on suggestions for the improvement of the work, principal among which was that made by the chairman, Mr. R. T. Fischer, to follow the example of the American societies in producing tracts of a more inviting external appearance.

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     The 82d annual meeting of the Missionary and Tract Society was held in London on May 20th. The report of the year's work showed that assistance had been given to the various small societies in the neighborhood. Of Colchester it was reported that a number of the former members have rejoined the society, and that with the services of a minister "the Colchester mission would quickly revive, and become once again a centre of New Church activity." The committee also reported having made arrangements for the quarterly interchange of pulpits between the different London societies.

     A special report was made by Mr. Clowes Bayley on the Bruce Memorial Fund--a fund established within the past year for the publication, in cheap form, of the Commentaries on the New Testament by Rev. William Bruce. The fund is now collected and the MSS. have been purchased from Mr. Bruce's heirs and will soon be printed. The publication will also include The First Three Kings of Israel, the MSS. of which, by the same author, has been presented to the society, making in all 4 volumes at 2s 6d per volume.

     The society recommended to Conference the appointment of a missionary superintendent for London and vicinity, and offering to contribute ?100 per year for 3 years to his support. In the discussion of this recommendation. Mr. Spiers stated that some such position had been filled by the late Mr. Richard Gunton, but since his death "we have, in connection with our small societies, had nothing but disaster, and retrogression, not merely standing still, but absolute retrogression."

     We may add that at the meeting of Conference the recommendation was accepted and Conference Mission Council appointed Rev. J. T. to Freeth to the position.

     The New Church College held of its 39th annual meeting on May 27 at the College Library. In his opening remarks the chairman, Mr. Clowes Bayley, made a strong appeal for the establishment of a maintenance fund for theological students, in addition to the present educational fund. For lack of such a fund students were in too many cases withdrawn before they had completed their course. He also appealed to parents of the higher and middle classes to encourage sons who show any desire and aptitude for the work, to study for the ministry.

     The College will have four resident students during the next College year, two having been reappointed and two new ones adopted the General Conference.

     The N. C. Temperance Society held its annual meeting at Radcliffe in Conference week. The passing of a single resolution protesting against the recognition of vested interests in the liquor trade seems to have been the only outcome of the meeting.

     At the annual meeting of the N. C. of England Missionary Society held in Manchester on May 26, considerable time was given to singing the praises of the "lay preachers." The chairman. Rev. J. J. Thornton, thought they were indispensable; Rev. A. Stones urged that they should receive greater recognition--though in what way he did not state,--and recommended that the report embody a special paragraph speaking of their work; while Rev. W. T. Stonestreet was supremely glad" when he first came to the New Church "to find an Institute [the N. of E. Missionary Society] with forty lay preachers on its list."

     At the anniversary service of the Blackburn Society, held on May 10, when Rev. J. R. Rendell officiated in the morning, the afternoon services were conducted by a Congregational minister who gave an address on the story of David and Jonathan.

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     A mixture of the Old Church and the New similar to that described above also distinguished the annual services of the Bolton Society on the same date. The morning and evening services were conducted by Rev. A. Wilde, while in the afternoon the pulpit was occupied by a Congregational minister who "gave a practical and useful address on 'Seeking and Perceiving God.'

     The Rev. W. H. Claxton has accepted a call to become pastor of the Kearsley Society. He will enter upon his new work in October.

     Mr. Francis Heath, a well-known New Churchman, member of the Islington Society, died at his home in London on July 19th. Mr Heath, who was 64 years of age, has for more than 30 years been a prominent and active worker in the Church in England, especially in the direction of its financial and business affairs. He has served as treasurer of the Swedenborg Society, secretary of the N. C. College and treasurer of the General Conference, filling the last two offices for many years and up to the time of his death.

     From the "Historical Record" of the Lowestoft Society, published in the N. C. Magazine for June, we learn that since 1588 the public services of the society have been conducted by a woman, though occasional visits have been made by missionary ministers. Since 1898 these missionary visits have been made once a month, Miss Nabb conducting the services on the other Sundays. We believe that this is the first record ever made of a woman officiating at recognized New Church services.

     The Norwich Society has extended a call to Rev. Mark Rowse to become its pastor.

     The holding, on special occasions, of an afternoon service conducted by an Old Church minister, sandwiched in between two New Church services, seems to be a custom growing in popularity with several of the English societies. We have already referred to Blackburn and Bolton, and now Preston comes forward as the latest exponent of this practical fraternization with the Old Church. On July 12 the afternoon service was conducted by a New Church minister, but the sermon was delivered by a Free Church Methodist. The service had been "especially advertised" and drew "a splendid congregation." The question now Is whether this "splendid congregation" attended the New Church or the Old.

     Two new societies were admitted to Conference this year, Leicester and Saltaire. The former Society is only five years old, but the latter has had a more or less organized existence for almost 50 years. Until 1899, however, when it united with the Bradford Society in supporting Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack as joint pastor, its leader has always been a layman, though it has of course received ministerial visits from time to time. The Society arose from a vocal union, one or two of whose members knew something of Swedenborg. The vocal union soon became a meeting for the combined discus-ion of music and New Church philosophy, but it was not long before music took the second place and thus arose the Saltaire Society. The Society has one feature, which, we believe, is unique outside the General Church,--for many years it has made it a practice to keep Swedenborg's Birthday by a social tea-meeting with music and short addresses. It is also distinguished as having been the ambitious publisher of two New Church periodicals, both of which were, however, short lived. The first was a penny magazine, The Saltaire New Jerusalem Herald, published in 1871, containing articles by members of the Society.

     Ten numbers only were issued. In 1886 a member of the Society started a sixpenny monthly, The New Church Herald, a more pretentious publication, but only six issues were published, as failing health and press of business obliged its editor to relinquish the undertaking.

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     Saltaire is a small town in Yorkshire, entirely the private property of the Salt family, whose great alpaca factory founded over fifty years ago by Sir Titus Salt gives employment to nearly all the inhabitants.

     SWEDEN. The New Church Publishing Association of Stockholm recently sent a circular to all the (Lutheran) theological students at the two Universities of Upsala and Lund, offering gratis the choice of one volume of the Writings or of three collateral works. Thus far ninety-five theological students have availed themselves of this offer.

     DENMARK. In a communication to the English Conference, Rev. S C. Bronniche, pastor of the Copenhagen Society, reported a membership of 35, with an attendance of 20 at morning worship. The Society receives liberal help from both Convention and Conference.

     GERMANY. The German Swedenborg Verein is now incorporated, having a capital of over 10,000 marks and a stock of books of about the same value.

     ITALY. The Rev. Theodore F. Wright, who has been traveling in Europe for a year or more, visiting the various centers and missions of the New Church, writes as follows in a letter to the Messenger for July 22d:     

     "My last report spoke of our return to Italy in the hope that by giving up other plans we might place that mission upon its feet again in the manner contemplated by the will of Signor Scocia. We remained in Florence eighty days, engaged in gathering such proofs as would convince his executors that the books belonging to the mission were not to be counted as a part of his estate. Every effort was made to proceed peacefully, and also to save time, and two of the executors admitted the force of our case, but the lawyer, Becherucci, either refused to notice our representations or declared the papers in our hands to have been forged by us. At last our counsel had in his hands a copy of each book, with imprints showing that they had been produced at the expense and for the use of various bodies of our church, a full set of Scocia's own reports in which he declared over and over again that the books were not his, and other documents of incontestable evidence that he acted only as an agent. Of the mistakes made by the English and Americans in their relations with this mission as compared with others it may be well to speak at some future time, for this experience may teach us something which we ought to have known before."

     SWITZERLAND. Mr. Wright continues:

     "On the 5th day of May, I handed the last papers to Avvocato Sannini, whom I had come to regard as a dear friend, and the same evening we went to Milan, where we spent a part of the next day, and then went on to Lake Como for one day, and thence through rain and snow by the St. Gothard route to Zurich, where we spent ten delightful days, seeing much of Rev. Fedor Goerwitz and his family in their bereavement, and learning from their brave endurance a lesson of faith.

     "Mr. Goerwitz took up the work in Switzerland about twenty years ago, coming from Stuttgart to live in the house some five hundred years old which had already become, through the generosity of Mr. Mittnacht, the headquarters of the New Church for German-speaking peoples. The ground floor of this house has a neat and comfortable chapel. Above lives the wonderful Lady Von Struve, now ninety-four years old, but still young in her joyful eagerness to know the wisdom of the Divine Word. A Thursday reading meeting is held in her rooms, and it was good to be there.

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At the top of the house lives the pastor, and eleven children born to him and his gifted wife, the sister of Revs. R. L. and L. H. Tafel, and of these Emanuel was to have taken his father's place; but now this hope rests upon a younger son. The father shows the effects of paralysis, get he keeps on courageously and gratefully with his congregations in Zurich and Berne and Herisau and Neslau, and goes at least once a year to Berlin and Vienna and Budapest and wherever he can do good. One Sunday we sat in his congregation while he preached on the divinity of the Word, and the next Sunday I helped him in Zurich, and also had the great pleasure of going with him to the mountain village of Herisau in Eastern Switzerland, and to meet with his congregation there. We parted from the Goerwitzes with deep emotion, and I must confess with a sense of shame that the income of this most active and extensive mission had scarcely exceeded six hundred dollars, while across the Alps we had placed a childless man and his wife in a handsome villa and maintained him in luxury, although in all the same period he had never preached a sermon or performed a single ministerial act except one funeral. Is it strange that the Scocia executors now clamor for more money, and that the young man who came to us from Zurich was always pale and thin, and soon the silver cord was loosed and the golden bowl broken and he fell by the way where the mourners go about the streets and cry, 'Help, Lord! for the godly man ceaseth?'

     "Leaving Zurich on the 19th of May we went through Berne to that beautiful home above Vevay where the sisters of our Rev. C. A. Nussbaum maintain a charming pension. While there we went one day to Lausanne and saw Mr. Bauernheinz, who is a member of the Swiss New Church Union which has a membership widely distributed, as a revised list in the next Journal of Convention will show. We were indebted to him for very interesting interviews with Messrs. Byse and De Rondon. Mr. Byse is the author of the work 'Le prophet du Nord,' in which he makes an excellent presentation of the leading teachings of our faith, e but combines them with his opinions that the sinful are annihilated and that infants should not be baptized. The sad confusion caused by thus limiting the Divine Providence has, of course, nullified his efforts to interest others, and he is not now making the active effort which led to the production of his book. Mr. De Rondon is a different man, full in his reception of the teachings and likely to have a good influence upon others. He was invited Mr. Goerwitz to visit him, and may yet be a real help to our cause, although not at present engaged in ministerial work. In a subsequent interview with him I learned that he was formerly in the Episcopal ministry in Montreal and New York, and that his parents reside in America. He had read much of the doctrines and wished to learn all that he could of our organizations, modes of worship, and ministry. He has a fine family, but all his plans at present are affected by the health of his wife, who goes with him in everything, but is far from well. He saw in a copy of the Messenger, which I gave him, some suggestions as to what should be done at the St. Louis Exposition, and added one of his own which may prove to be as valuable as any."

     FRANCE. Of the New Church in Paris Mr. Wright gives the following sad account:

     "Under pressure of time we went over night to Paris and remained a few days on our way to the meetings in England. It should be understood that the work in France is independent of Conference and Convention, and that I approached it as a friend only and in no sense as an official visitor. In the year 1887 we had greatly enjoyed a visit in a beautiful suburban home upon the lady whose zeal and generosity has provided a place of meeting and a book room and lending library in the Rue Thouin, Paris.

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Her husband was then the leader of the services and told of all that was done, and showed himself so eager to do more that I suggested his issuing a periodical and thus extending the influence of the Paris circle throughout the country and beyond. He accepted the suggestion and took up the new work and carried it on for some years. At that time a little son was the joy of the house and was already looked upon as his father's successor As it was in July the service was suspended for a time, but the library was kept open and some work for poor children was maintained. Nothing could have been more promising for future growth than the situation as we found it in 1887 unless the fact of private ownership and the use of but one purse should turn out to be preventive of that free co-operation which is essential to church life.

     "We reached Paris on the second of June and soon found our way across the city to the Rue Thouin, a quiet street in the Latin quarter. To our surprise at this best season of the year the building known as the 'Temple' was found disfigured with posters old and new, the handle had been removed from the door, and the signs were defiled with mud. They still bore the inscriptions, 'Temple of the New is Christian Church called the New Jerusalem' and 'Worship every first and third Sunday of the month at in 3 P. M. and on the adjacent house was another sign describing the library. Everything in its day was tasteful and appropriate, but nothing indicated life and use except a few books suspended in a the window with a little notice requesting an intending visitor to apply upstairs. This we did at once and he were fortunate in finding the proprietress, but in very changed to circumstances; her husband had passed on, her son had not taken his place, and was now away from he home, unwise investments by a relative in France and an agent in America had brought pecuniary embarrassment, a feeling had grown up in her mind that Romanist influence had exerted itself to thwart her efforts, no services had been held for three years and there is no prospect of their renewal. The situation is certainly one to call forth profound sympathy, whatever view one may take of the causes of it.

     "We left the street with heavy hearts and it seemed as if we could find no light anywhere in Paris. A lady who might have given a more "helpful account was not in the city. A gentleman whom I was extremely desirous to meet was not at home when a long search had discovered his residence, and he did not return my call. The good lady first spoken of came all the way to our hotel, but did not see us, and we went again to her place without success. Of course we saw the wonders of the city but what are they in comparison with the light now put under a bushel? We left Paris with the feeling that, if any good is to be done there by a foreigner, he must patiently abide long enough to secure the friendship and confidence of the scattered people and encourage them as equal to combine in the Lord's name for His service. Switzerland has no rich people, but I saw a hard-working mountaineer hand a napoleon to the pastor, and there is strength where honest workers bring the fruits of labor and put then together upon the altar, fearing nothing but sin and having great joy in the Lord, the Dayspring from on high, whose light is as the light of Seven days when He bindeth up the breach of His people and healeth the stroke of their wound."

     In a subsequent letter to the Messenger Mr. Wright states that he has lately learned of another movement in Paris, which is about to take up the work under better auspices than before.

     And as to the mission in Italy he adds that "thirty-five persons kept the 19th of June with special services in Trieste."

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     AUSTRALIA. Towards the end of April Rev. Percy Billings, pastor of the Adelaide Society, by permission of the Society, left Adelaide for a few weeks' work in Sydney. During his absence services were conducted by leading laymen of the Society.

     Mr. Billings' stay at Sydney-which has no New Church minister--extended to the beginning of June, during the whole of which time he lectured at least thrice a week besides officiating at the services on Sunday. The lectures were on Theology, Anatomy, Sociology and Psychology in the light of the doctrines. The average attendance exceeded 120.

     In his lecture on Swedenborg, Mr. Billings was very clear and direct in teaching that the Lord has made His second coming in the Writings. Indeed, he seems to have made it a special point to be quite outspoken on this subject in all his lectures; for at the social held to welcome him to Sydney, referring to a misunderstanding of his remarks by one of his audience, he said: "I am not in the habit of mixing things up. I have been through the Academy training of New Church Theology, and some of you know what that means. I tell the people where these truths come from--that they come from God out of Heaven for His children; and that they came through the instrumentality of His servant, Swedenborg." The Academy training is certainly bearing good fruit, for Mr. Billings is one of the very few ministers outside the General Church who view the Writings in their true light. A correspondent to The New Age writes "Mr. Billings firmly believes that the Writings of Swedenborg are the Lord's Second Coming to man upon the spiritual-rational plane of human life, just as Jesus Christ was the Lord's first coming upon the ultimate plane of matter." Australia is to be congratulated on the possession of a minister holding such clear views.

     NEW ZEALAND. In the July issue of New Church Magazine, the Auckland Society makes a somewhat unique appeal to "some enthusiastic New Churchman--a young probationer perhaps"--who would minister to the society for a small guaranteed stipend, but depend mainly on secular work for his living. "We should be better pleased," the appeal continues, "if a New Churchman could see his way to come entirely on his own account, as there are so many useful ways in which our society could spend our limited funds."

     The Auckland Society was established twenty years ago by Rev. S. Edger, and for the past 15 years it has been holding regular services. During these years it has "plodded along, doing earnest work, but not influencing the public." The society owns, free of liability, a small building where services are conducted by some of the members in rotation. The second Sunday in the month is given up to a doctrinal discussion in place of a sermon. The congregation averages from 40 to 50 and on special occasions it reaches as high as 150; but the members are widely scattered.

     MAURITIUS. The society in Port Louis has applied for admission to the English Conference. It is also in correspondence with Rev. J. F. Buss, now in Natal, to arrange a ministerial visit from him if possible.

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Pittsburg District Assembly 1903

Pittsburg District Assembly              1903


ANNOUNCEMENTS.
     The Pittsburg District Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Pittsburg on October 23d and 25th. The Pittsburg Society extends a cordial invitation to all who may desire to attend these meetings. All such will please communicate with the Rev. N. Dandridge Pendleton, 632 South Negley avenue, Pittsburg, Pa.
WRITINGS OF THE NEW CHURCH ARE THE WORD OF THE LORD 1903

WRITINGS OF THE NEW CHURCH ARE THE WORD OF THE LORD       Rev. ANDREW CZERNY       1903


OCTOBER
     IT is well known, and also admitted by all who believe the Word, that the Word of the Lord is Divine Truth. In the Old Testament we meet constantly with the words, "Thus saith Jehovah," "the word of Jehovah came unto me;" and what the Lord says is accepted as Divine Truth by all who believe the Word. But although this truth is accepted, and seen to be true, it is not so generally seen and believed that all truth is the Word of the Lord; all truth which relates to the Lord, and to His Kingdom in the heavens and on the earth.

     And yet this is equally true. The reason why this truth is not so generally seen, is because the Christian Church had no other Word than the Word in the Letter, and therefore could not know of, or believe in any other. And everyone coming from the Old Church into the New, knows of no other Word. But that the Word of the Lord is all that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord, in whatever form the Lord may be pleased to give it, the following teaching shows conclusively. The passage treats of the Word in the four Churches which existed previous to the Lord's Second Coming:

     With respect to the Word, the case is this. In the most ancient time when the Church was celestial, the Written Word was not, for the men of that Church had the Word inscribed on their hearts, inasmuch as the Lord taught them immediately through heaven what was good, and thereby what was true, and gave them to perceive from love and charity, and to know from revelation. The veriest Word to them was the Lord. After this Church another succeeded which was not celestial but spiritual.

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This in the beginning had no other Word than what was collected from the Most Ancients. This was representative of the Lord and significative of His Kingdom; thus the Internal Sense was to them the Word. They also had a written Word, historical as well as prophetical, which is no longer extant, and [that] in it there was in like manner an internal sense, which referred to the Lord (see No. 2686). Thence the wisdom of that time was to speak and to write by representatives and significatives. . . . But in process of time that wisdom perished to such a degree that they did not know that there was any internal sense even in the Books of the Word. The Jewish and Israelitish nation was such. A. C. 3432.

     The ancient Word was succeeded by the Israelitish Word, given through Moses and the Prophets, known as the Old Testament, which was believed, and still is believed by that people to have no other sense, than the literal. Hence to them the Letter of the Word, was the Word of the Lord.

     The Christian Church has a Word, written by inspiration from the Lord, recording in many places the very words uttered by the Lord in the Human. It teaches more interior Doctrine in the Letter than the Old Testament, and explains some of its teachings. Thus the New Testament (which reveals something of the Internal Sense of the Word) was the Word given to the Christian Church, and regarded by that Church as the Word of the Lord.

     Now since to every one of these Churches a Word was given, differing in form, though not in essence, from the Word of each of the preceding Churches, the question naturally arises, Was there also a Word given to the New Church, differing in form from the Word given to the Churches that preceded it?

     In the Apocalypse Explained, in explanation of the words: "After these things I saw, and behold the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony in heaven was opened" (Ch. xv. 5), we have some teaching on this subject. We read that these words--

     "Signify internal or Divine Truth revealed by the Lord, as appears from the signification of 'temple,' that it is the Divine Truth from the Lord; and from the signification of 'tabernacle of the testimony,' which also is Divine Truth, but interior. . . . By interior Divine Truth is meant the Word as to the internal sense; for the Word is the Divine Truth, and the internal or spiritual sense is the interior [Word]. In what follows in this chapter, it treats concerning the Word interiorly revealed before the Church is altogether vastated. . . .

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The reason why the Word is interiorly revealed before the church is fully vastated, is because a New Church will then he established, into which they who are of the former Church will be invited. The case herein is similar to what took place at the end of the Jewish Church, for at the end of that Church, which was when the Lord came into the world, the interior Word was opened; for the Lord, when He was in the world, revealed interior Divine Truths, which were to serve for the use of the New Church then to be established by Him; and also did serve. At this day also, for like reasons, the interior Word is opened, and Divine Truths still more interior are thence revealed for the use of the New Church, which will be called the New Jerusalem. The quality of the Divine Providence of the Lord, in so revealing Divine Truths, may be seen from the Churches which have been successively established. . . . Interior Divine Truths were revealed to those who were of the Most Ancient Church; but exterior Divine Truths were revealed to those of the Ancient Church; and outermost or ultimate Divine Truths to the Hebrew Church, and lastly to the Israelitish....But after the end of that Church Divine Truths interior were revealed by the Lord for the Christian Church, and now truths still more interior for the Church to come. Those interior truths are what are in the internal or spiritual sense of the Word. From these things it now follows that there has been a progression of Divine Truth from inmosts to ultimates, thus from wisdom to mere ignorance; and that now there is brought about a progression from ultimates to interiors, thus from ignorance to wisdom." (A. E. 948.)

     We have quoted the greater part of this passage because it presents in clear light the relation of the Writings of the New Church to other forms of the Word. The passage itself is an exposition of the Internal Sense of a verse in the Apocalypse; in other words, it is teaching contained in that verse, and as such it is the Lord's unfolding of that verse. For as we are taught, no one but the Lord can unfold the Apocalypse. (Pref. A. R.) With this teaching before us, let us see what bearing the teaching contained in this passage has upon our subject.

     The passage opens with the declaration that the vision seen by John described in this verse represents internal or Divine Truth from the Lord. This internal Divine Truth, we are further taught, is the Internal Sense of the Word. Furthermore this Internal Sense is called the Interior Word. And this Interior Word is revealed for the use of the New Church, which is called the New Jerusalem. The Revelations of the Divine Truth to all Churches that have existed upon the earth, not excepting the last and Crowning Revelation to the New Church, are each and all called the Word of the Lord in this passage; from which it is plain that every Revelation of Divine Truth, in whatever form it may be given, is the Word of the Lord; that thus the term does not apply exclusively to any one form, but includes all.

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     The Word of the Lord is said to be a Revelation of Divine Truth. The term "revelation" means to remove the veil, thus to uncover what is hidden. When spoken of in relation to the Divine Truth it means unfolding, or making known Divine things, which were unknown before. This no one can do, but the Lord alone. Angels and spirits cannot reveal anything; because they do not know and Divine Truths from themselves. Nor do angels desire to instruct men, unless they are sent by the Lord, for they do not act from themselves, but from the Lord. And evil spirits cannot reveal a single Divine Truth, for they have no perception of truth. Falses to them are truths; hence if they were permitted to teach man, they would teach mere falses. Thus there is no Revelation of Divine Truth, which does not come from the Lord. And this is the teaching concerning the Divine Truths revealed for the New Church. We read: "The Lord Jehovah will derive and produce from this [New] Heaven a New Church, which will take place by a revelation from His mouth, or His Word, and inspiration." (Cor. iii.) Again, "It has now pleased the Lord to reveal various arcana of heaven, especially the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, which has been till now entirely unknown, and with it He has taught the genuine truths of Doctrine. This Revelation is understood by the advent of the Lord in Matthew xxiv. 3, 30, 37." (A. E. 641.)

     By "the various arcana of heaven" referred to in this passage, as well as by "the internal or spiritual sense of the Word," and "the genuine truths of Doctrine," are plainly meant the contents of the Writings. These, it is stated, have been revealed, and taught by the Lord; and are the Lord's advent foretold by the Lord Himself. They are clearly the Revelation of interior Divine Truth spoken of in the above quoted passage from the Apocalypse Explained, where it is called the Interior Word, a term applied in the same passage to the New Testament, to which is added, that in the former "Divine Truth still more interior is revealed for the use of the New Church, which will be called the New Jerusalem."

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     By the Word of the Lord in its wider sense is meant every form of Divine Truth. This is evident from the fact, that the Word in the heavens differs entirely from the Word on earth, as to form, but it makes one with it by correspondence. Indeed in every heaven it differs from that of other heavens. But in one respect the Word in the heavens is similar to the Word on earth, that it has an external sense, within which there is an internal sense. We read:

     "As regards the Word in heaven, it is written in a spiritual style, which wholly differs from the natural style. This spiritual style consists of mere letters, each of which involves some meaning; and there are little lines and dots over and between the letters, and in them, which exalt the sense. . . . As their writing is such, therefore the names of persons and places in [our] Word, with them are marked with signs; and the wise understand what spiritual and celestial thing is signified by each name. . . . It is similar with numbers. These are not in the copies of the Word in heaven, but instead of them the things to which numbers correspond. From these things it may be evident, that the Word in the heavens, as to the Literal Sense, is similar to our Word, while at the same time it corresponds to it; and that they are thus one." T. C. R. 241.

     Thus although the Word in the heavens is written in a spiritual style, and not like our Word in the Letter, in external correspondences, it likewise has all external sense, which is its Literal Sense, and an Internal Sense. Its literal sense serves as an ultimate or covering for its internal sense; the literal sense being provided for the simple, while its spiritual sense is perceived by the wiser ones among the angels.

     The Word of the Lord is One, but it appears in various forms. We have seen, that it is revealed to angels in forms differing from those in which it was revealed to man. In its essence, the Word of the Lord is the Infinite Existere from the Infinite Esse. This Infinite Existere from the Infinite Esse, cannot appear to any finite being. But by derivations from Itself, it is in every revelation of Divine Truth. It is from this Essential Word, that all the various forms or accommodations of Divine Truth are called the Word.

     The term "Word" has thus a universal as well as particular, or more limited meanings. In its universal signification, the Divine Truth in all its forms in the heavens, as well as on earth, is meant. Its particular signification applies to any one of its many forms, in which the Lord was pleased to reveal Himself.

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In this sense the Old Testament is the Word of the Lord; and so is the New Testament; and the Writings of the New Church are the Word for the New Church. They are the Second Coming of the Lord: the Last and Crowning Revelation, which the Lord was pleased to give, in order that the prophecy might be fulfilled. "Behold I make all things new!"
LORD'S WARNING AGAINST DECEIVERS 1903

LORD'S WARNING AGAINST DECEIVERS       Rev. J. E. BOWERS       1903

     And Jesus answered and said to them: See that no one deceive you. For many will come in my name, saying: I am the Christ, and many they will deceive. Matth. xxiv. 4, 5.

     THE Lord's warning given in these words is one which we are at all times required to observe, in order to proceed securely in the way of the Christian life. Especially for young people, who have come to adult age, but who are not yet so far advanced in spiritual things, as to be thoroughly grounded in the doctrines of the Church, this warning is of great import. It is so to all novitiates who come into the Church, and begin to learn the Heavenly Doctrines. The warning is, indeed, the voice of the Lord, the Divine Truth, speaking to all people, at all times, for the sake of their protection from all manner of deceivers.

     All are exposed to the influences of evil and malicious spirits, who seek to arouse the inborn self-love in men, and all that is contrary to heaven, who so far as it is permitted them, inject doubts into the mind, and do all they can to prevent man's entrance into the regenerate life; and who never cease to hinder that life in its progress, as much as possible, especially after its first feeble beginnings.

     From these spirits of the dragon the Lord alone call protect us; but only if we heed His warning. And the way to do so effectually, is to learn the truths of the Word and to do them.

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     The disciples had come to the Lord, and had asked Him to tell them what should be the sign of His presence, or coming, and of the consummation of the age. Then Jesus answered in the words of our text. The Divine discourse continues, and wonderful prophetic teaching is enunciated concerning the states in the Church which should come to pass, in the succeeding ages. The Lord who, as to the Divine in Him, was the Omniscient God from Whom nothing is hidden, proceeds and, in the sacred language of correspondences, describes the conditions of spiritual desolation, with all their lamentable results and direful circumstances, which are meant by the consummation of the age.

     In the first era of the Christian Church, which had been founded by the Lord through the apostles, and was therefore called the Apostolic Church, men worshiped the Lord Jesus Christ as God. But in the beginning of the 4th century, in the year 325, at the Council of Nice, that great falsity, the trinity of persons in the Godhead was promulgated; which in fact amounts to a dogma of three gods. When this was done, the Apostolic Church soon came to an end. At that time a cloud of darkness arose and extended itself far and wide, until it covered the whole earth of the so-called Christian world.

     In the first era of the Church, men indeed had but little knowledge of Divine truth, and scarcely any rational idea of truth at all. But there were a few who had some general conceptions of truth, and who, in their state of simplicity, were sincere believers. In the course of time, however, even the general truths formerly held were perverted, until every truth of the Word was utterly falsified and rejected. This was meant when the Lord said that there should not be left in the temple one stone upon another that should not be thrown down. As truths were falsified, goods were adulterated, resulting in evils of life. When faith in the One Lord ceased, then charity toward the neighbor died out. And finally there came the "great affliction," such as had not been from the beginning of the Church, nor should ever occur again. This most grievous state is the most direful infestation from falses.

     Those who confirm themselves in the falses of faith promulgated ages ago by councils and synods, are continually passing into the spiritual world from Christendom in large numbers.

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Their minds are so inverted, that it is agreeable to their nature to be deceived. They can absorb the notions of self-indulgence, no matter how absurd or insane they may be. But the ideas of rational or spiritual truth are quite repulsive to them. When such people become spirits, they are associated with and enter into the sphere of, those in a similar state in the other world, with whom they conspire to seduce everyone over whom they can gain an influence in the natural world.

     Those spirits are dragons. They are of those who separate the Lord's Human from His Divine; who, consequently, separate charity from faith; and who believe in the irrational dogmas of the tripersonality of God and salvation by faith alone. In the Apocalypse they are described, in complex, as "a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads" (xii. 3). And this monster is afterwards mentioned as "that old serpent called the devil and satan, which deceiveth the whole world" (v. 9). This monster, having many heads and horns, besides many other things signified, involves and suggests the idea that his deceptions are practiced in a great variety of ways, and in many forms. There is no doubt reference to this most striking representative of all evil and falsity in complex, in the ancient fable, in which the hydra, described as having many heads, is said to have been slain by Hercules, the hero of great strength.

     That old serpent, the sensual principle, still deceives all men more or less. There are probably none so perfect, or so far advanced in regeneration, as to enjoy immunity from his wiles altogether. And the hero of strength evidently was some representative of the power from the Divine, by which the monster deceiver was as it were slain, that is, completely subjugated. For we are told in the Writings, that the fabulous stories of antiquity had their origin in things which are in the Word; and that in ancient Greece correspondences were changed into fables.

     Now to bring the teaching of the text right home to ourselves, let us consider, that the deceivers against which the Lord warns His followers, are the delusive elements which, on account of our imperfection, are in our own minds. The Lord is addressing each one of us individually. And whatever any one's state of regeneration may be, the warning is, and ever will be, spoken to him.

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     In common with all men of our day and generation, we have inherited from our parents and ancestors, inclinations to evils and falses; and these inclinations are continually liable to deceive us, because they are always in the endeavor to do so. In common with all men, there are in us by birth, and thus from our infancy, the perverse loves, namely, the love of self and the love of the world, which are contrary to the two heavenly loves, which are love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor.

     Man in infancy is, indeed, in a state of innocence. There is in this state no actual evil, and no accountability for what is inherited from parents and ancestors. The Lord, through the ministry of the celestial angels, with infinite care, guards and protects from the deadly sphere of the infernals, the innocent little ones. And He provides for the implantation of remains, by which regeneration is afterwards made possible.

     Man's regeneration begins when he comes to maturity, or to adult age, and when he begins to exercise his own liberty and rationality, for which infancy and childhood are only a preparation. But man's regeneration cannot he effected at all, unless he can be led to see and acknowledge, in humility of heart before the Lord, that of himself he is only evil; that of himself he is as helpless as a little infant, as regards his ability to rise above the natural plane of life; that in all things spiritual and heavenly he is dependent upon the Divine, the Father in the heavens; that all truth and good, all faith and lone, all that can ever make man truly human, is from the Lord alone.

     This point of doctrine, that man of himself is only evil and deceived by innumerable falses, is, in many passages in the Writings of the New Church, expressed in very strong terms. And the teaching is given so forcibly as it is, on account of its great importance. In His Revelation to the Church, the Lord has mercifully provided instruction in order that men may know just what is their spiritual condition while they remain in their proprium, or self-hood; and also, that they may obtain some idea, if they are willing to receive the teaching, as to what will be their state in the life hereafter, unless they turn from the evil of their ways, and pray to the Lord that He may enable them to lead a new life, by shunning their evils as sins against God.

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     It is of the Divine mercy of the Lord, that evil men appear to themselves as men which they also are in outward form, although their internal form, as seen in the light of heaven, is very different. We are told in the Writings, that a man who cannot be governed by influences through heaven from the Divine, but who is altogether under the control of infernal spirits, is in a worse condition than a savage wild beast. And it is a sad fact, that we do hear of instances now and then of men, who are evidently insane from evil, committing crimes which are deeds far worse than any beast is capable of, because the beast can act only according to its natural instinct. So that the truth of the teaching just stated, is abundantly confirmed from actual observation. The Lord also, when He was in the world, called sensual men, whose internal character He describes, serpents and vipers. Another class of evil men, among the worst of deceivers, He calls wolves in sheep's clothing, and tells us to beware of them.

     According to the law of appearances, in the spiritual world, evil men there at a distance, in the light from the Sun of heaven, actually appear in the form of the various kinds of unclean and ferocious beasts, according to the correspondence of their spiritual states and conditions to those things which constitute the nature of the beasts. This is one of the striking things of the teachings in the Writings of the Church, respecting the marvelous realities of the spiritual world. In that world a man's true internal character will manifestly appear, in his very outward form and in the garments he wears,--and cannot possibly be hidden. We may add to this evil men, even in this world, who by their actions manifest the characteristics of beasts, are frequently compared with them.

     Those who acknowledge the Lord from the heart, receive the Divine truth, permit themselves to be led into states of regeneration, and are faithful to live according to His precepts, while they remain on the earth, become angels of heaven. And how wonderful and delightful are the ideas presented to the mind of a Newchurchman, by the simple statement that the faithful become angels of heaven! Especially so when he can give his attention to the subject, and can consider to some extent the vast amount of information which is given in the Writings concerning it.

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The diligent reader--the intelligent member of the Church--is familiar with what is related about the angels in the heavens; and so important is this information to him, that it seems evident to him that if he were to be deprived of it, only the most appalling darkness, a dreadful uncertainty, would oppress his mind respecting a future state of existence.

     The angels, then, are beautiful as to form and feature, according to the degree in which they are recipients, of all things of their life, from the Lord. They are beautiful, because by being spiritually created anew, they have become finite forms in the image and after the likeness, of the Divine Human of the Lord. In a word, by the reception of truths they have become good. Their good is of love, or of the conjunction of love and wisdom. The beauty of the angels is derived from love, rind especially from conjugial love. On account of the perfection of life which they have attained, the beauty of the angels far transcends any idea of beauty which we can conceive in our natural thought. While the wicked choose an evil life and become infernals, the good or those who are regenerated, choose a heavenly life and become angels. The infernals make their abodes in dens and caves in the regions of darkness in hell. And the angels dwell in the ineffable light of the Sun of heaven, in mansions of such magnificence that they cannot be described in natural language. Those mansions are in the midst of paradises far surpassing, in beauty and loveliness, the finest gardens which are ever seen in this world. The truth is revealed to us in the dearest light, that the Lord gives everyone the privilege and the ability to decide, in perfect freedom, his or her own quality of spiritual life, and hence destiny to eternity. There is absolutely nothing arbitrary in the Lord's ways; because man is a free agent.

     We are admonished in the text to see that no one deceive or seduce Its. To see is to understand, which is to see mentally, or spiritually. And this, in the internal idea, is the exercise of the intellectual faculty of the human mind, in the light of revealed truth, that is, according to Divine Revelation. It is therefore written: "In Thy light shall we see light."

     Divine Revelation is given by means of the World in its literal sense. The Word is written by correspondences.

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But as to the mere literal sense it is a sealed Book, except as the Lord, who is the Word, has opened it by giving a Revelation of its internal and spiritual sense. In the Apocalypse we read thus: "And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, nor to look thereon. (v. 3.) The Book, here mentioned, is the Word of God; and the Lord alone, the Omniscient and the Omnipotent, was able to open the Book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

     Men in the world,--Old Church theologians especially,--imagine that they can interpret and understand the Word according to their own intelligence; but this is both a presumption and a delusion. Their interpretations of the scriptures, according to erroneous systems of theology, will inevitably be nothing else than falsifications of the Word. And the consequence is, that with all their preaching of what is supposed to be the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, their hearers continue in states of spiritual darkness, because in ignorance of the genuine truths of the Word, and of the eternal verities of the kingdom of God.

     Neither can anyone, by means of his worldly wisdom, or by means of what is derived from mere natural philosophy, enter intellectually into the Divine mysteries of the Word, and understand anything as to its spiritual sense. This is as impossible as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle; because, from mere worldly wisdom and natural philosophy, a man's mind is fully occupied with the erroneous notions resulting from fallacious reasonings. And by these a man is deceived, and made spiritually blind.

     That men may see in the light of genuine, interior truth, the Lord opened the Word. He revealed the spiritual sense in the Writings of the New Church, in which we have the most precious of all treasures, the grand and glorious final Revelation of the Divine Truth, which is the Word, and in which is comprehended every preceding Revelation of the Word,--in which we behold the Divine Man, the Lord Himself in His Glory and Beauty, the One God made manifest and visible,--in which final Revelation there is the fulfilment of all prophecy, yea, the culmination of all things of the Church among men, the Church of the New Jerusalem, which is to endure for ever.

     To be a member of this Church, is the greatest privilege that can be granted to anyone in this world.

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It is the true Church, because only within its walls and its beautiful gates of pearl the Lord alone, the true and living God, is acknowledged and worshiped. What is generally called "the Church" ceased to be so when the trinity was divided, and the people began to worship three divine persons, instead of the Lord in the one Person. This point is clearly stated in the Writings, where we read: "Until the consummation of the age, means even to the end of the Church, n. 658; when, if they do not approach the Lord Himself, and live according to His commandments, they are left by the Lord, and when they are left by the Lord, they become as pagans, who have no religion; and then the Lord is among those only who are of His New Church" (A. R. 750).

     To be, not only in name, but really in spirit and in truth, members of the Lord's New Church, we must go to the Lord, not merely in the letter of the Word, but in that sublime Revelation which has been briefly described, namely, in the Writings of the Church, which are a Revelation of the spiritual sense of the Word. If we go to Him there we shall surely find Him. And as we devoutly and prayerfully study the heavenly doctrines, our understanding will be filled with light from the Sun of heaven, our hearts will be filled with the warmth of love from the same source; we shall be instructed and delighted with knowledges ever new, and perfectly suited to our spiritual needs at all times. We shall be enabled to go confidently forward in the pathway of life, performing faithfully the uses and duties which fall to our lot, and rejoicing in the Lord's mercy and loving kindness from day to day.

     In the text the Lord says: "Many will come in my name, saying: I am the Christ, and many they will deceive." Anyone who has given some attention to the history of the First Christian Church, and has observed the state of the so-called Christian world, in the light of the doctrines of the New Church, has some general idea, at least, as to the manner in which this Divine prediction has been, and is still being, fulfilled. At an early day,--even in the time of the apostles,--the deceivers, who were called anti-Christ, were intensely active in the insane endeavor to falsify, and thus to destroy the effect of, the Divine Truth, which in a new form had been introduced by the Lord into the world.

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The apostle John, in his second epistle, evidently has reference to the ancient Gnostics, who denied the incarnation of the Divine.

     Those who are in the text mentioned as coming in the Lord's name, claiming to be the Christ, are they who in the same connection, and elsewhere are spoken of as false Christs and false prophets. Christ means the Messiah, or the Anointed. The various Names of God stand for, and describe, His Attributes. Jesus, means the Divine Good; Christ, means the Divine Truth; and the two Names together express the idea of the union of the Divine Good and the Divine Truth, or the union of the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, in the Lord, who is God-Man, and in whom infinite things are distinctly One. Hence, all the fulness of the Divine, including all the infinite Attributes of the Divine and the Eternal, are, to a Newchurchman, expressed in the One Name, Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ, is to us in the New Church, God Manifest, the Visible God in Whom dwells the invisible God; who is the Father, the Son, and the Help Spirit in the One Person; who is at the same time the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Regenerator; and Whom alone we worship, Whom alone we acknowledge, in His Divine Human.

     The world, at least the so-called Christian world, is at this day full of those who come in the name of the Lord, saying they are the Christ; and vast multitudes, yea, untold millions, are deceived by them. The name of the "false Christs" is Legion, for they are many who teach falsities which can to evils of life, whereby the people are deceived. And this is the most grievous form of deception which can be practiced, because thereby all manner of delusions, insane notions, are insinuated into the minds of men, which are destructive of their spiritual life. There are various kinds of religiosities, but the True Christian Religion is known to very few as yet. From mere natural intelligence, men are indeed shrewd, and on the alert, lest they be taken the advantage of in worldly matters. But such a spiritual state prevails largely at this day, from fallacies and the consequent perverseness of mind, that in matters of religion it is agreeable to the nature of many to be deceived by erroneous teachings, and by those influences which act upon and animate the loves of self and of the world, which are the characteristics of the natural man. Perfectly applicable to the state of Christendom today, with its multiplicity of erroneous religiosities, are the words of the Lord: "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil" (John iii. 19).

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     In the doctrines of the New Church, we have the standard of Divine Truth, by which we can test all kinds of deceivers, and all the false systems of belief. When our minds are formed by means of truths, we acquire a rational judgment. We are then able to distinguish between what is spurious and what is genuine, in things of religion and of the Church. The ability to see things in clear light is of the intelligence of the man of the Church. And in our daily experiences, in the various relations with our fellowmen, in all the activities and pursuits of human life, there is constant need to have recourse to our heavenly doctrines, as the standard of Divine Truth, for our guidance. To have such perfectly reliable direction is a source of spiritual strength and consolation, which will never fail us, even under the most trying circumstances which may arise. For when we have recourse to the doctrine of Divine Truth, in the sincere and humble endeavor to apply it practically in the affairs of life, we are going to the Lord Himself, in the Revelation which he has made for the sake of the enlightenment of the understanding of the men of the Church. And what a blessed privilege, to be permitted to go to the Lord, the Divine Teacher Himself, in those heavenly Writings, in which He has revealed arcana of wisdom for man's instruction, exceeding in excellence the arcana revealed from the beginning of the world; yea, to go, to the Lord in the Writings, in which He has effected His Second Advent, and in which He comes, in the power and great glory of the opened Word, to every man of the Church who desires to see Him, and is willing to acknowledge Him alone.

     Brethren, such is our exalted privilege. May we, then, steadfastly look to the Lord, and pray to Him to grant us the needed strength and faithfulness, to make a right use of it. And may we ever heed the Divine injunction concerning the malevolent deceivers, who would turn us aside from that pathway which leads to the felicity of life, in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

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VISIT TO UPSALA 1903

VISIT TO UPSALA       ALFRED H. STROH       1903

     ON the thirtieth of April I travelled to Upsala and spent a few days there in the company of some student friends and in searching for new information regarding Swedenborg's life at the university and related subjects.

     For many years it has been customary for the students to celebrate the advent of spring on the evening of the thirtieth of April and on the first of May, and a great and unique celebration it is.

     The corps of students at the university is divided into thirteen clubs called "nations," each nation, with one or two exceptions, corresponding to the dioceses of the Swedish Church. This division into nations is one of the fundamental laws of the university organization. In order to become a member of the university an applicant must first be a member of one of the nations, and the relations between the thirteen nations and the governing powers of the university are very clearly defined. Each nation has its own headquarters and club-room, it elects its officials or "curators," holds property, and provides its members with the use of libraries and rooms for study and recreation. The governing powers of the university supply inspectors for the nations; their power in former times was a directing one, but now they only have a general oversight of the proceedings of the nations.

     On the evening of the thirtieth of April, at nine o'clock, the various nations assembled in the Great Square of Upsala, one after another, singing their songs and each with its own banner. Each student appeared with his student cap of white velvet bordered with black, and the army of students with the banners presented a gay sight. On the stroke of nine the thirteen nations formed themselves into a long line and marched to the old castle of Gustavus Wasa, the banners of the nations together with those of the choral societies being at the head of the procession. Having arrived at the height on which the old castle is built, songs were sung to the country and to the advent of spring; the old university town at the foot of the castle was lit up by great bon-fires and the music in the silence of the evening was most beautiful. The procession then wound its way back to the city, the nations dispersing to their headquarters after first assembling under their banners and cheering until the old walls of the university buildings rang with the echoes of it.

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     As the guest of the Stockholm nation I was present at what followed. The chief curator of the Stockholm nation is a young man named Theodore Odhner, a relative of Professor C. Th. Odhner, of Bryn Athyn. The duties of the curator at the meetings of the nations which are held on the thirtieth of April and the first of May are not light; the proper performance of them requires a peculiar knowledge of the history and habits not only of one's own nation but especially of that of the other nations, combined with a ready wit and sense of humor, with the ability to exhibit these qualities in one speech after another for many hours. The nations visit each other at their headquarters, the visiting nation or nations carrying banners, and when the visitors have lined up on one side of the long table which is usually found in the reception room of the nation which is being visited, the chief curator of the visiting nation addresses the chief curator and members of the nation visited, which is lined up on the other side of the long take, and at once exhibits a surprising knowledge of their strong points and also of their weaknesses, finally calling upon the members of his own nation to drink a "skal" of Swedish punch to the nation they are visiting and to accompany it with a most hearty fourfold hurrah. Then comes the turn of the curator of the other nation and he generally pays back the compliments his nation has received with compound interest. And so the fun continues until the small hours of the morning. Many songs are sung to inspiring music, much of which was written by Prince Gustaf, brother of the reigning king, who was a member of one of the nations.

     On the following day, May the first, I was present at a dinner given by some members of the Stockholm nation. The subject of the greatness of Emanuel Swedenborg as a scientist and the recent action of the Academy of Sciences in regard to the appointment of the committee and the publication of the scientific works came up for discussion. In response to a toast I had the honor of unveiling to the eyes of a company of students of the modern university of Upsala a picture of the scientific greatness of that former member of their venerable university who graduated nearly two hundred year ago, the full force of whose genius with its "long Atlantic roll" will never cease to move the sea of science.

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     On the first of May the festivities continued, being modified by strains of divers weird and peculiar kinds of music and the pelting of those who frequented the square of the city with many-colored confetti. In the evening the visits of the various nations were repeated but with greatly increased formalities.

     Upsala is a city of about twenty thousand inhabitants and has a very ecclesiastical flavor; it has been for a long time the residence of the Archbishop of the Swedish Church. The old cathedral is an imposing structure; at its rear is the building where the ecclesiastical consistory holds its sessions; good portraits of the archbishops may be seen there, among them those of the Benzelius family, which supplied four archbishops within the period of 1700-1758. Very many of the streets of Upsala have ecclesiastical names, and the theological atmosphere penetrates everywhere; although the power of the Church and the bishops has waned very much, it is still everywhere felt.

     Facing the cathedral is a building commonly called the zoological museum or the "Gustavianum." It is an oblong building surmounted by a large cupola. It was in the great hall of this building, in the "Auditorium Gustavianum," that Emanuel Swedenborg delivered his graduating thesis on the first of June, 1709, as appears from the title page of the Select Sentences.* The hall is now divided into rooms which are used for zoological purposes. In the cupola of the university, where Olof Rudbeck once lectured on Anatomy, I found the bones of "Swedenborg's whale." As is well known, Swedenborg was a geologist, and in 1710 he found this skeleton far inland and sent it to the museum of the university. The bones are miscellaneously piled in a large wooden box on which is pasted a piece of paper with the inscription "The Swedenborgian Whale" (Svedenborgska Hvalen).** The cupola is now used as a storehouse for geological and zoological specimens.
     * For a review of the Select Sentences see New Church Life for 1900, P 207.
     ** Swedenborg, in preserving this rare geological specimen and by calling attention to it, really made a contribution to science of considerable importance. See an extended discussion of the subject in the Proceeding of the Swedish Academy of Sciences for 1888. Kongl. Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar, Bandet 23, No. 1, Der Wal Svedenborgs (Balaena Svedenborgii, Lilljeborg) nach einem Funde im Diluvium Schwedens beurtheilt von Carl W. S. Aurivillius, Mit 3 Tafeln. Der K. Schwedischen Akademie der Wissenchaften vorgelegt den 11 April, 1888; pp. 57.

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     Reference was made just above to Swedenborg's graduating thesis. It is commonly supposed that the only copy of this very rare publication is preserved in the Library of the Academy of the New Church. I succeeded in finding two copies at the Library of the University of Upsala (Carolina Rediviva). One of them is of considerable interest. It is bound in one volume together with other graduating theses delivered under the presidency of Toerner, and the volume is entitled on the back of it: "Diss. Ups. Praes. F. Toerner, 3, 17909). On the last page of the copy of the Selectae Sententiae bound in this volume, there is written at the bottom of the page, left-hand corner, in somewhat faded old brown ink:

     "Opponentes
1. Magister Ryselius
2. Hr. Unge.
Extra Ord
Ipse pater
Biskoppen Svedberg."

     Something more was written but it was cut away and the copy is damaged by the margins being cut away too much. This is also true of the other copy preserved in the library; that in the library of the Academy of the New Church is still preserved with uncut margins and is the best copy of the three.*
* Since the present article was written the writer has found four additional copies of the Selectae Sententiae. Two of them are preserved in the Royal Library at Stockholm, one of them with uncut leaves. The two other copies are preserved at the Diocesan Library in Linkoping and at the library of the University of Lund.

     When a thesis was disputed the defender of it, or the "respondent," was opposed and questioned by one or more "opponents." The opponents were thus the examiners, in the present case Magister Ryselius, Hr. Unge and Bishop Swedberg.

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Magister Ryselius is the same as the well known Anders Olofsson Rhyzelius, (born 1677, died 1761, who afterwards became Bishop of Linkoping, (1743-1761), where there is a large portrait of him in the Diocesan Library. He is also, no doubt, the "Rhyseliades" who wrote the Greek verses which are found at the beginning of the Selectae Sententiae. Hr. Unge is very probably the gentleman who married Swedenborg's sister, Catharina, and was afterwards Dean of Linkoping.

     An examination of the archives of the Westmanland-Dala nation yielded some interesting results. This nation was in existence for many years before Swedenborg became a member of it. His father was a member of it and one of the curators. The nation possesses portraits of both Bishop Swedberg and Emanuel Swedenborg, showing the former in his younger years while inspector of the nation, (1696-1703), and the latter in his old age. In passing it may be remarked that there are also two other portraits of interest at Upsala, the one a portrait of Swedenborg, in the possession of the Art Museum, the other a portrait of Eric Benzelius, exhibited in the University Library.

     One of the albums of the university, containing entries from 1639 to 1730, (Album Studiosorum Diaecesis Arosiensis Vestmanniae et Dalekarliae, foloi), contains various items of information concerning the Swedberg family, on pages "27, 27, 67, Joh: 72, 74, 77, 80, 82, 82, 86,86," as given in the index. In the beginning of the volume are the rules of the nation, dated "Upsaliae die 10. Maji 1700," and signed "Jesperus Swedberg Nationis Inspector." Among the names which are signed after the rules is that of Emanuel Swedberg. In the entries for 1699, on June 15, appears the autograph of Emanuel Swedberg with the remarks in several different colors of ink: "Episcopi filius, ibit ad exteros in Angliam, reversus 1714. Ao 1717 Adsessor Collegii Metallici Holm.: N. Svedenborg." In another album, (oblong folio and entitled in a modern hand "Depositions och inskrifnings bok for aren 1648-1761"), Under the date of June 15, 1699, appears the autograph of Emanuel Swedberg, "Epis. filius. Ass. Collegii Metall."

     From this evidence it appears that Emanuel Swedberg became a member of the Westmanland-Dala nation on June 15, 1699, at the age of eleven years.

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A related piece of evidence is found in the signature "Emanuel Swedberg, 1700," contained in a Greek-Latin lexicon which was exhibited at the General Conference of the New Church in England in 1877. (See the Intellectual Repository for 1877, Page 44)

     I found no reference to Emanuel Swedberg in the account books of the Westmanland-Dala nation (quarto 1648-1714, folio 1699-1748), although other members of the family were referred to.

     In two other large folio volumes which give the names of the Novitiates, Juniors and Seniors of the Westmanland-Dala nation from 1661 to 1748 I examined the entries from 1693 to 1720. Quite a number of members of the Swedberg family were in attendance between 1693 and 1718, Sometimes as many as five or six in one year, especially during the time of Swedenborg's membership. The name Emanuel Swedberg appears in 1701 among those of the Juniors and is found every year there until 1709, when it is entered among those of the Seniors; on the first of June, as is known, he disputed his thesis and graduated. In order that the results of my examination of the entries from 1693 to 1720 may be on record I will incorporate them in a note.*
     * The titles of the volumes are: "Nomina Studiosorum Diaecesis Arosiensis, Vestmanniae et Dalekarliae," 1661-1704; and "album Civium Academicorum ex Novitiate Albertus Swedberg; 1694, Junior Albertus Swedberg; 1695, Junior Albertus Swedberg, Novitiate Johannes Swedberg; 1696, Juniors Albertus Swedberg, Johannes Swedberg, Novitiate Petrus Dan. Swedberg; 1697, Juniors Johannes Swedberg, Petrus D. Swedberg; 1698, Junior Petrus D. Swedberg, Novitiate Hans Swedberg; 1699; Juniors Johannes Swedberg, Petrus D. Swedberg, Hans Swedberg; 1700, Juniors Johannes Swedberg, Petrus D. Swedberg, Novitiates Petrus Joh. Swedberg, Johannes Joh. Swedberg; 1701, Juniors Johannes Swedberg, Petrus D. Swedberg, Hans Swedberg, Emanuel Swedberg, Petrus Joh. Swedberg, Johannes Joh. Swedberg; 1702, Juniors Johannes Swedberg, Petrus D. Swedberg, Johannes Swedberg, Emanuel Swedberg, Petrus Joh. Swedberg, Johannes Joh. Swedberg; 1703, Juniors Johannes Swedberg, Petrus D. Swedberg, Hans Swedberg, Emanuel Swedberg, Petrus Joh. Swedberg, Johannes Joh. Swedberg, Novitiates Eliezer Jesp. Swedberg, Jesperus Jesp. Swedberg; 1704, Juniors Johannes Swedberg, Petrus D. Swedberg, Hans Swedberg, Emanuel Swedberg, Petrus Joh. Swedberg, Johannes Joh. Swedberg, Eliezer Swedberg, Jesperus Swedberg; 1705, Senior Johannes D. Swedberg, Juniors Petrus D. Swedberg, Emanuel Swedberg, Petrus J. Swedberg, Johannes Swedberg, Jesperus Swedberg; 1706, Senior Johannes D. Swedberg, Juniors Petrus D. Swedberg, Emanuel Jesp. Swedberg, Petrus Joh. Swedberg, Johannes Joh. Swedberg; 1707, Senior Johannes D. Swedberg, Juniors Petrus D. Swedberg, Emanuel Swedberg, Petrus Swedberg; 1708, Senior Johannes D. Swedberg, Juniors Petrus Dan. Swedberg, Emanuel Swedberg, Petrus Swedberg, Johannes Swedberg; 1709, Seniors Johannes D. Swedberg, Emanuel Swedberg, Juniors Petrus Dan. Swedberg, Petrus Joh. Swedberg, Johannes Dan. Swedberg; 1710, Senior Johannes Dan. Swedberg, Juniors Petrus Dan. Swedberg, Johannes Joh. Swedberg; 1711, no Swedberg present this year; only twenty students in all, the explanation being given in a sentence at the head of the list: "Quo urbs tentata pesti funesta, gemens videt suos rarescere coetus;" 1712, Juniors Petrus D. Swedberg, Johannes J. Swedberg; 1713 and 1714, Seniors Petrus D. and Johannes J. Swedberg are present, and in 1715 and 1715 only Senior Petrus D. Swedberg; in 1716, 1718 to 1720 there is no Swedberg present. "Swedberg" is spelled with both "v" and "w" and sometimes an "h" is added at the end of the word.
     A search was made in the library of the Westmanland-Dala nation for a copy of the Selectee Sententiae but none was found, although many such publications are there.
     For a short account of the nation see Vestmanlands-Dala Upsala Studerande Nation. Anteckningar af G. H. Enestrom och B. M. Swederus. Upsala. W. Schultz.

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     The minute book of the nation ("Protocollum Nationis Westmanno Dahlecarlicae," 1692-1721) contains numerous entries relating to Emanuel Swedberg, his father the Inspector, and the other members of the Swedberg family who were enrolled in the nation. From this minute book I gleaned the following facts which are found entered in the minutes of the years specified:

     1699. There is no entry relating to Emanuel Swedberg.

     1700, May 10, (page 99), .15 ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1701. There is no entry relating to Emanuel Swedberg.

     1702. There is no entry relating to Emanuel Swedberg.

     1703. March 28, (page 128), .30 ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1703. May 23, (page 135, the nation bids goodbye to its inspector who has been appointed Bishop of Skara. Two silver candlesticks with suitable inscriptions are presented to him by the Westmanland and Dala divisions of the nation.

     1703. In the pages of the minute book for November, between pages 138 and 139, a letter from Bishop Jesper Swedberg to the nation is pasted in; four pages, small quarto.

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     1704, April 27, (page 155), .15 ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1704, Nov. 9, (page 161), Emanuel Swedberg is appointed as the opponent in a disputation on the "Providence of God." The Praeses is Hr. Jacob Monthelius, the Respondens Hr. Andreas Folckiern.

     1704, March 18, the above-mentioned disputation takes place, Monsr. Hedenius being the Respondents instead of And. Folckiern.

     1705, April 22, (page 169), .5 ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1705, Nov. 18, (page 175), .30 ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1706, April 7, (page 185), Emanuel Swedberg is Respondens in a disputation in "Officiis Puffendorfianis de Officiis Conjugalibus," book 2, chapter 2. The Praeses is Hr. Johannes Monthelius, the Opponens Ordinarius Monsr. Magnus Lundstrom and Opponens Extraordinarius
Hr. Magnus Aroseen.

     1706, April 7, (page 187), daler 1. 28 ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1706, Oct. 31, (page 192, Emanuel Swedberg is Opponens Extraordinarius in a disputation on "cap. 3. lib II Puffendorfii, de Officiis rarentum et liberorum." On the same page in another minute there is an entry of some length and of considerable interest, for it shows that Emanuel Swedberg even at this age began to exhibit that strong love of natural science which directed his
life for so many years after his graduation from the university. The minute states that the Rector of the university, (who was present at this meeting), related that Hr. Emanuel Swedberg had offered to preside at a disputation on "Natural Law" (uti Jure Naturae), which idea the Rector praised, but laid the question before the nation for approval and decision, also asking whether any of the Juniors had in former times presided. Reply was made that there was an example or two of that kind. But since some advanced the position that an approval of Emanuel Swedberg's proposal would allow of a somewhat too near approach to the Seniors, who constitutionally alone had the right to preside, and since many of the Juniors might wish to follow the example, nothing further was done.

532




     1706, Nov., (page 194), .15 ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1707, Nov. (page 207), .30 ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1708, May 13, (page 306), .15 ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1708, Oct. 31, (page 309), .30 Ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1708, Nov. 30, (page 313), Emanuel Swedberg is elected as a Senior.

     1708, Nov. 30, (page 323), Emanuel Swedberg mentioned as a Senior.

     1709, March 13, (page 325), .30 ore contributed by Emanuel Swedberg.

     1709, May 29, (page 336), Bishop Swedberg is present in Upsala, calls the students together at "his house," where he recommends three things; first, the fear of God by the reading of the Holy Scriptures; second, the having of some occupation as an end in life, first observing one's talent or inclination and afterwards letting the matter rest with God; thirdly, to strive for harmony.

     It was the custom to make voluntary contributions at the beginning of a new term "pro felici reditu," that is, for a safe and happy return to the nation after the holidays.

     At the university building, (Regia Universitas Upsaliensis), I also examined the minutes of the Philosophical Faculty from 1699-1709 (which the official in charge said were incomplete), the Album of the University and the minutes of the Consistory, but, although there were references to Emanuel Swedberg's brothers and relatives, I found nothing relating to him. However, there are many portly tomes in this building in which something may yet be found.

     On examining the archives of the "Scientific Society," (Vetenskaps-Societeten), some very interesting results were obtained. It is well known from the evidence in Dr. R. L. Tafel's Documents concerning Swedenborg and from the first volume of the Photolithographs that Swedenborg took a very active part in the establishment of a "Literary Society" at Upsala not long after his graduation from the University.

533


This body underwent much organization, but Eric Benzelius, who had taken a most prominent part in its first establishment, continued to be me one of the leading spirits until his departure from Upsala; indeed, in many ways he was the life and soul of the body and kept it from disintegrating.* It will be impossible in this place to give even a full summary of the material relating to Swedenborg contained in the archives of the Scientific Society. Suffice it to say for the present that this material is contained in three folio volumes, one of which contains the early minutes of the Society, where there are numerous entries regarding discussions on Swedenborg's contributions to science; the other contains the early correspondence of the Society, and among the letters is one by Polhem in which he refers to Swedenborg, and also one by Swedenborg himself to the Secretary of the Society; the third volume contains a number of manuscripts, some of them referring to the scientific manuscripts reproduced in the first volume of the Photolithographs.
     * For an interesting historical review of the whole movement, see the Essai sur la Societe Royale des Sciences D'Upsal et ses rapports avec l'Universite D'Upsal par O. Glas, Upsal, Ed. Berling, Imprimeur de l'Universite, 1877, pp. 99. The writer was the perpetual secretary of the Society. The names of Eric Benzelius and Emanuel Swedenborg are often met with in the early pages of this very interesting essay, which was written as a memoir for the four hundredth anniversary of the University.

534


IS THE WORK ON "CONJUGIAL LOVE" INCLUDED IN THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH? 1903

IS THE WORK ON "CONJUGIAL LOVE" INCLUDED IN THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH?       Rev. JOHN WHITEHEAD       1903

     AT times in the history of the New Church, under the stress of assault from without or of infestation from within, there have been in the church some who have shrunk from the full acceptance of this work as one of the authoritative books of doctrine revealed by the Lord for the use of His New Church. Especially has this been the case in regard to the latter part of the book, the teaching therein being regarded by these persons with aversion. The question naturally arises, What place does this book hold in the system of New Church Doctrine? These people support their attitude by quoting Swedenborg's letter to Beyer concerning the copies of Conjugial Love excluded from Sweden, in which he says:

     "This book does not treat of theology; but chiefly of morals." Documents Concerning Swedenborg, II:306.

     From this they conclude that the book is not one of the theological works of Swedenborg, that is, one of those books which constitute the Second Coming of the Lord. Would they conclude in the same manner that the fourth to the tenth precepts of the decalogue are not Divine Laws, because Swedenborg says:

     "The first three are laws of spiritual life, the four following are laws of civil life, and the last three are laws of moral life." H. H. 531.

     While the term "Theology" in its restricted sense treats of God, His nature and operations, in its wide sense it treats of all things of Divine Revelation, and it is in this sense that the term is used as applied to the books of theology of the New Church, including the work on Conjugial Love. This may be seen from the title and contents of "The True Christian Religion containing the Universal Theology of the New Church," and in the heading over the preface it is stated: "Containing the Universal Theology of the New Heaven and the New Church." What does this Universal Theology embrace?

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By a reference to its contents, we find that it treats of God, of the Sacred Scriptures, of the Decalogue, of Faith, Charity, Free Will, Repentance, Reformation, Regeneration, Imputation, Baptism, the Holy Supper, the Consummation of the Age, the Coming of the Lord and of the New Heaven and the New Church. Besides these many subjects are introduced in the memorable relations, including the subject of Conjugial Love. All these things then are subjects of theology in its wide sense, though we might confine the theology to the first three chapters on God, the Lord and the Holy Spirit, if we limited the term to its strictest sense. It is evident that Swedenborg, in calling the work on Conjugial Love a work on morals, not on theology, was using the term in this limited sense, and is not to be understood as thereby excluding the book from his theological works.

     Besides these general considerations, Swedenborg, a number of times, refers to the work on Conjugial Love in proof of various theological subjects. In the work on "Influx" he quotes C. L. to show" the nature of what is Spiritual, n. 326-329; The Human Soul, n. 3151 Influx, n. 380, 415-422." (Inf. 2.)

     Again in the same work, on the subject of Influx and the relation of man to God, as an image of God, he says: "For further particulars relating to this subject the memorable relation in the work on Conjugial Love may be consulted, n. 132-136." (Inf. 11.)

     On the ability of man to confirm whatever he pleases, falses as well as truths, he says: "This has been shown in a Memorable Relation inserted in the work lately published concerning Conjugial Love, n. 233 (B. E. 55.)

     Treating of the language of Angels and Spirits, he says in the "True Christian Religion:"

     "But concerning this language, and the writing of it, flowing from the spiritual thought of angels, see in the work concerning Conjugial Love, n. 326-9. and also the following pages." T. C. R. 19.

     This reference is quoted in T. C. R. 19, to more fully explain why the Lord is called Alpha and Omega.

     Again in the same work he says of the distinction between the natural and the spiritual:

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     "This distinction, what it is, has been described in the book concerning Conjugial Love, in a Relation there, n. 326-329, from which it is manifest, that they are not conjoined as to thoughts, but as to affections." T. C. R. 607.

     In the "Canons," in treating of the subject of the Divine origin of the Lord, it is said:

     "The Divine Truth which is the Word, in which is the Divine Good, from the Father, was the seed, from which the Human was conceived. From the seed is the soul, and through the soul is the body."

     "For confirmation this arcanum shall be related, that the spiritual origin of all human seed is truth from good; but not Divine Truth from Divine Good, in its infinite and uncreated essence as it is in the Lord, but in its finite and created form. See the Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugial Love, 220, 245" Canons. Trinity, iv, 4, 5.

     In the "Coronis," in treating of the heavens and hells formed after the judgments on the different churches, it is said:

     "All these heavens are described in the work on Conjugial Love; and because the spiritual origin of Love truly conjugial is from no other source than from the marriage of the Lord and the Church, thus from the love of the Lord toward the Church, and of the Church to the Lord (which was shown in that work from n. 116 to 131), and because the most ancient people were in each of these loves as long as they retained the image of God in themselves, therefore from that work I am able to transcribe these things following concerning that heaven, to which an entrance was then granted to me. (Then is quoted C. L. 75, and 76-52 are referred to), Coronis 37.

     Further on is the same work it is said:

     "It has been said that from the people of every church in its end there is made a new heaven and a new hell; and because in the preceding lemma concerning the heaven and the hell of those who were of the Most Ancient Church I have given a narration, it is permitted also concerning these (i. e., of the Ancient Church). For access was granted me to these; since it is granted to go about and explore the spiritual world, on account of the end, lest the New Church truly Christian be in thick darkness concerning heaven and hell and concerning their lot after death, according to the acts of their life. These are also in the work on Conjugial Love, n. 76." (Then follows the quotation.) Coronis, 44.

     Thus we see that the work on Conjugial Love is quoted from and referred to abundantly in proof of many important theological subjects; even that most important of all, namely, the Divine origin of the Lord's Human.

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A number of the relations in Conjugial Love have been incorporated in other works, several of them being in the "True Christian Religion" which contains The Universal Theology of the New Heaven and the New Church. Does this look as though Swedenborg did not regard the work on Conjugial Love one of the books of Doctrine for the New Church? But as if to place the endorsement of the book in the strongest possible light, it is referred to as a whole, and the various chapters of the second part are specifically mentioned in explanation of the commandment. "Thou shalt not commit adultery." After giving in general the meaning of the natural sense of this command as not only including the acts but also the lusts and thoughts leading to adulterous acts, it is said:

     "But more concerning these things may be seen in the work on Conjugial Love and on Scortatory Love published at Amsterdam in the year 1768, in which it treats of The Opposite of Conjugial Love, n. 423-443; of Fornication, n. 444-460; of Adulteries and their kinds and degrees, n. 473 to 499; of the Lust of defloration, n. 501-505; Of the Lust of varieties, n. 506-510; of the Lust of violation, n. 511, 512; of the Last of seducing innocencies, n. 513-514; of the Imputation of each love, scortatory and conjugial, n. 523-531. All these are meant by this precept in the natural sense." T.C.R. 313.

     Three of the four relations at the end of this chapter are taken from the work on Conjugial Love.

     Here we have a reference to the entire work on Conjugial Love for further elucidation of the subject treated of in the sixth commandment, and special reference is made to nearly the whole of the last part by chapters. Could a more specific endorsement of the work be made than is here given, since the entire work is practically incorporated in the explanation of the sixth commandment and thus is shown to be an integral part of the Universal Theology of the New Church. In view of these facts, how can anyone professing to be a New Churchman attempt to discredit the book or any of its teachings?

     In discussing what are and what are not the Doctrines of the New Church, frequent reference is made to T. C. R. 779 where Swedenborg teaches:

     "That the Second Coming of the Lord is effected by means of a man, before whom He has manifested Himself, and whom He has filled with His Spirit to teach the Doctrines of the New Church THROUGH THE WORD from Him."

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     And in the close of that number he says:

     "From the first day of that call, I have not received anything which pertains to the doctrines of that Church from any angel, but from the Lord alone, while I read the Word." T. C. R. 779.

     From this teaching an attempt is made to discriminate between the different works of Swedenborg, assigning some to the class of Doctrine from the Word, and others to his personal experience; assigning a Divine Authority to those drawn from the Word, and a lesser position and degree of authority to the second class. To the first class are assigned the books expounding the spiritual sense of the Word, such as "Arcana Caelestia," "Apocalypse Explained" and "Apocalypse Revealed," also the purely doctrinal works such as "Brief Exposition" and "True Christian Religion." These are considered to be the Doctrinal Works drawn from the Word under the Divine Auspices of the Holy Spirit; and hence they are of Divine Authority. But in these works there are many relations of things seen and heard, which strictly speaking come under the second class. If this division of the Writings be a correct one, we shall need to take every book and classify its contents, giving the purely expository parts the highest position, and other teachings a lower one.

     That this discrimination in favor of one class of teachings and against another class in the Writings is not a true one, may be seen from the following considerations:

     1. "That very many of the things which are in the internal sense of the Word regard, relate to, and involve the things of the other life. (A.C.67.)

     2. For this reason the things related at the beginning and end of the chapters in the "Arcana Caelestia" were inserted, because without a knowledge of them the internal sense could not be known. (See A. C. 67.)

     3. These relations, doctrinal prefaces, and conclusions to the chapters, are really drawn from the Word itself; but they are put in a more connected form for the sake of clearness. (See A. C. 71, 6627, 6628, 6632, 6633.)

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     4. That the work on "Heaven and Hell" is drawn from the "Arcana Coelestia" may appear from the multitude of references to that work at the end of each chapter.

     5. The same is true of the works on the "New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine," the "White Horse," the "Earths in the Universe," and the "Last Judgment."

     6. The works entitled "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom," and the "Divine Providence" are also from the Word. This may appear from the well known fact that all the wisdom of the angels is from the Word. Moreover all the phenomena seen in the heavens are expressions of the wisdom and love of the angels, in substantial corresponding forms.

     7. The doctrinal works like the "True Christian Religion," "Brief Exposition," etc., are manifestly doctrinal in their nature, not only embodying the principles of the internal sense, but drawing largely from the genuine truths of the Letter in confirmation thereof; thence they also are from the Word.

     8. Swedenborg in the performance of His office was inserted consciously into the spiritual world as one of the conditions necessary to the reception of the light of the spiritual sense. All the knowledges of the world were means to the perception of that light, and they are also revealed to us to give us a perception of it. Whatever is revealed in the Heavenly Doctrines has an intimate bearing on the Word, and is an aid to our understanding of it. It matters not that we do not see in some instances where such teachings are contained in the Word, or whence they are drawn. We may see, if we search and look to the Lord for light and guidance, and abandon the negative attitude toward His Revelation. How, then, may we see that the principles contained in the work on Conjugial Love are drawn from the Word? This surely is easily seen if we consider a few general principles, such as,

     1. "That the spiritual origin of love truly conjugial is from no other source than from the marriage of the Lord and the Church, thus from the love of the Lord toward the Church and of the Church to the Lord." (Coronis 37, C. L. 116-131.)

     2. That in each and every part of the Word there is a marriage of good and truth, this marriage being ultimated even in the words and letters. (S. S. 80-90.)

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     3. That true marriage love or conjugial love with all its states is derived from the Lord through the Word. (C. L. 128-130.)

     The work on Conjugial Love expounds the principles of true marriage from the Lord. It exalts this union to the very heavens and shows that "it is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, above every other love imparted by the Lord to the angels of heaven and the men of the Church." (C. L. 64.)

     But it may be said that besides treating of Conjugial Love, which it may be conceded is from the Lord through the Word, this work also treats of disjunctions, separations, colds, and various evils and perversions of marriage, both in the first and in the second part of the work. Are these also from the Word? Let us here ask the simple question, Does the Word itself, both in the internal sense and in the Letter, treat of these disjunctions, evils, and perversions, in their various degrees? The answer is ready at hand. The Word itself so plainly treats of these evils that many professed Christians will not read these parts of the Word. Some people regard these parts as immoral, as unfit to read, whence comes the demand for an expurgated Bible. Are these things then from the Lord? The evils themselves are from man. They are his perversions; but since they exist, to cure them, they must be described and characterized. Their nature must be shown, and for this reason, and on account of the importance of marriage to man's spiritual life, and because its perversions are detrimental and destructive to that life, they are described in the Word.

     This being the case, a Universal Theology drawn from the Word must contain the doctrine of marriage, its intermediates, and opposites, otherwise it would not be a universal theology. It would be like some of the works on Anatomy and Physiology which leave out all reference to the sexual organs; which books every child knows to be imperfect representations of the human form.

     To rule the work on Conjugial Love out of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church, would be like the Word with all reference to marriage or its opposites left out. Can the New Church exist from such an "expurgated" doctrine? This work instead of being outside of the Holy City, as some would have it, expresses that which is highest and purest in human life, and guards against all things which would injure and destroy it.

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He who would discredit the book, or pervert its teachings, strikes a blow at the very heart and life of Heaven and the Church, both in himself, and in whomsoever he influences. What New Churchman can take such a position in the face of the following teaching:

     "After this I conversed with the angels, informing them that something further is revealed in the world by the Lord. They asked, What? I said, 'Concerning love truly conjugial and its heavenly delights.' The angels said, 'Who does not know that the delights of conjugial love exceed those of all other loves? and who cannot see, that into some love are collected all the blessedness, satisfaction, and delights, which can possibly be conferred by the Lord, and that the receptacle thereof is love truly conjugial, which is capable of receiving and perceiving them fully and sensibly?' I replied, 'They do not know this, because they have not come to the Lord, and lived according to His precepts, by shunning evils as sins and doing goods; and love truly conjugial with its delights is solely from the Lord, and is given to those who live according to His precepts; thus it is given to those who are received into the Lord's New Church, which is meant in the Apocalypse by the New Jerusalem." C. L. 534.

     "Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Rev. xix. 9.

     "I John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. xxi. 2.

     "Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb's wife." Rev. xxi. 9.

     "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that thirsteth come; and let him that willeth take water of life freely." Rev. xxii. 17.

     Can the Church which is the Bride and Wife of the Lamb be conjoined with her Husband by rejecting His reaching on the marriage relation or His teaching concerning the evils relating to it?

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OF INTEREST TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE 1903

OF INTEREST TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE       WM. B. CALDWELL       1903

     "THE Child is father to the man," the youth of today is the man of tomorrow, and what we sow in childhood we reap in age. These undying themes of the educator come with especial force to the Newchurchman. The prosperity of the Church, its growth, its future quality, its very life, depend upon the children of today who are to be the fathers and mothers of tomorrow. And if it is mainly from the children of the Church that the New Jerusalem is to have its "glorious accession of Gentiles," then the first duty of the elders of today is the preparation of the children to embrace with affection the truths, the uses, and the duties of the Church when their heritage falls to them. And how did those who are now fathers of the Church embrace them? Ask them, and they will tell you about that great and glorious day when the Lord seemed to work a miracle upon them, when first the light of the truth dawned upon them, when first the sacred pages of the New Revelation shone before their eyes and held them spell-bound. This is the history of very many who have entered and remained in the New Church. They read the Writings and saw the heavenly light revealed on every page, and though the joy of this first draught of the eternal "water of life" gave way in time to the sterner realities of the life of repentance, it recurs again and again, day by day and year by year, in the reading or hearing of the truths of the New Covenant. And must not the child, too, learn to feel this joy and delight in the glory of the truth given in the Writings? Verily, if it does not there is little hope for the Church of tomorrow. The Church will not progress in interior quality without it, for the "accession of Gentiles" from beyond its borders cannot fulfill the promise of a Church which is to increase with the few before it can be given to the many. And therefore the child of today must be the first care of the father of today. The child cannot care for itself. It must be done for him even until the day when he may do it for himself. And let him learn by the way that as he reverences his parent and his teacher, so will he reverence his Heavenly Father in his manhood. Let him learn to love instruction and its fruits, the knowledge and intelligence of wisdom.

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Let him be led to it, and he will love it. This is the duty of the father of today.

     And there comes an age and a period when the child must cross the bridge which leads from the joyousness of childhood and youth to the graver life of responsible manhood aid womanhood, the age when he must begin in earnest his use of charity. His early preparation will carry him safely over this bridge if that preparation be sound and true, if in his difficulties he has learned to go to the Word of the Lord, and to rely upon its teachings, if he have tasted of the delights of wisdom given him in the Lord's own revelation. Then the child of yesterday will truly be the man of today.     

     Few of our young people love to read the Writings of the Church. The activities of life leave little time, they will explain, their states yield little inclination. Familiar with the generals of their faith they are likely to rest content with them, forgetting that these generals must be infilled with particulars to eternity, and that these particulars come in daily application of spiritual truths to the ever-varying vicissitudes of life. And do they realize how little effort it requires to form the habit of reading as a means of governing and elevating and thus purifying their thoughts, and how great the reward of the practice? There are those who have been taught to do this, and who pursue it faith fully both from conscience and the delight itself of intellectual, moral and spiritual improvement. Those who have not learned it can repent. Their past is gone, but the present is immediately before them, and the father cannot now repent for the child. It must be an individual effort, and from a multitude of these efforts the quality of the future Church will arise.

     It will not be denied that education in early life is the best and surest means of implanting the habit of reading the Writings. It is one of the habits of external worship enjoined in the Doctrine of Charity (114-121), and while fidelity in the internal life of charity as the essential of internal worship is of first importance, can this be long maintained without its ultimate basis and support in a fidelity to the things of external worship? Attending the services of the Church, individual reading and prayer, thought and meditation on spiritual and Divine things, reflection upon ones state of life, these, and other habits of piety and devotion belonging to the externals of worship, must have their spring and fountain in the internal life of charity, and are of no spiritual value if separated from it, but when neglected altogether is there not reason to fear that the supposed life of charity as manifested in fidelity to the uses of one's calling will become the life of self and the world?

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It has been the endeavor in the Academy from the beginning to implant with the young a love of the Church which will lead them to enter spontaneously into the life of charity, and to assume with delight the external duties of the life of the Church. With those who have not been so educated it has been our principle to trust to the teaching and exhortation of the ministry. It has been realized that an internal and spontaneous love can only come by individual effort. And it is largely for this reason that we have discarded the custom which is prevalent in the Old Church and in some parts of the New Church, of having organizations of our young people. Of late, however, we have formed Social Clubs in some of our societies, having for their object social gatherings and co-operation with the pastor to further the general social uses of life. In some cases the Club Meeting is preceded by doctrinal instruction from the pastor. Further than this our young people have not established organizations having a religious object. But if we look beyond our borders we will find such organizations, and it will be well to enquire into their methods and measures of success in promoting the good of the Church.

     In the General Convention, for instance, there has been, during the past few years, what has been considered a revival of interest in the things of the Church among the young people. An American League of New-Church Young People's Societies has been formed with an extensive list of Officers and Committees. They have, among others, a Committee on Missions, a Reading Circle Committee, and a Committee on Evidence Work, and the reports of the various Committees occupy a large part of their quarterly Journal. The Reading Circles are furnished a calendar providing for seriatim reading of the Writings, and in the individual societies meetings are held periodically, sometimes under a minister, we understand, who leads in the reading and instruction. There is also an annual gathering of the League held during Convention, and this year the business, and the reading and discussion of papers by members of both sexes, occupied three sessions of their meeting.

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     We are led to ask, therefore, whether the activity of the League of Young People's Societies is evidence of a revival and growth of an internal and lasting love of the Church, and whether we would gain by adopting similar methods in our body. From the opinions expressed in their Journal it seems that some of their own members feel doubtful about it. Among the societies of the League there are doubtless some which are earnest in their devotion to what should be the true end and aim of any organization of our young people, namely, to encourage consociation among its members, and to foster a love for the truths of the Church. But when so much is made of those works of charity and of religious duty, which are classed in the Writings among the "benefactions of charity outside one's calling," when so much is made of the need of doing missionary work outside the Church, and of gathering evidence of the supposed reception and recognition of the works of Swedenborg in the world, and this in the face of a confessed difficulty in getting the members themselves interested in reading the Writings, it is greatly to be feared that the internal effort is largely lacking, and that the methods of the League will not accomplish much if anything of a deep and lasting character. Young people throughout the Church need just what the League in its Reading Circle is striving for, but will an external effort accomplish the internal thing? Will our young people gain anything by setting up an organization in which they will be endeavoring to do for others that which each one ought first to do for himself, and what the parent and teacher may have failed to do, namely, to implant a genuine interest in the Doctrines of the Church? Experience confirms our belief that the method of the Academy is the best, and that if we persist in the endeavor to implant with our children a love for the Church as something distinct and new, a love for its life, its truths, and its uses, they Will have a spontaneous delight in reading the Writings, and in hearing the instruction of the priesthood when they become young men and women. And besides this they will have that quiet and silent effort to improve spiritually, each one in himself, and the state of life which surely follows such an effort, bringing with it a love for the Church and its external life and duties, to fulfill which will require little external strain.

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     While we cannot set ourselves up to judge of our present internal states, nor of the states of those who have adopted different measures, we must be faithful to the principles which we believe to be true, and it has been one of our foremost teachings that organization should be the outgrowth of a use, and that no use can be hatched from any mere organization. No internal thing is ever created except from an internal beginning. The centre is not created by the expanse but the expanse by the centre. And so no organization among men will ever live long or accomplish much of lasting value, unless it have its origin first of all in some genuine activity and love which creates and sustains it. Without this an organization is a form without a substance, a matrix without its gem, or a fruit without seeds. Men know this fact from common sense and experience, and it is as true of any spiritual undertaking as of any natural one. It is vain for the members of the New Church to be wasting time over any merely external effort to build up the Church, and until the ministers, teachers and parents of the New Church succeed in implanting with the young in early age a love for the Church and its Heavenly Doctrines, history will but go on repeating itself, and there will be spasmodic revivals among those who have been denied their birthright,--an education in the distinctive truth and love of the New Revelation, and in all the good things of natural life for the sake of the Church and eternal life. When their elders fail to impress upon the young the value of their birthright, and fail to store up in tender years a love which will last forever, it is no wonder that they grow up only "to sell their birthright for a mess of pottage," only to forsake the New Jerusalem and seek a home among 'the sons and daughters of the nations." And even when the young do endeavor to "repair the breach" for themselves, and to become self-made men and women of the Church, are they not in danger of falling into the self-conceit and self-approbation which so often result from such a course, and which make them sources of infestation rather than helps in the work and life of the Church? This is the danger that the father must avert for his child.

     Nothing is more apparent than the need for a higher education of the young men and women of the Church, an education which will open up and develop rationality, both masculine and feminine, giving to those who are to become the future members of the Church an intellectual enlightenment in the truths of both natural and spiritual life.

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How else can a deep affection and appreciation of spiritual things be given them? How else are they to be saved from the fallacious appearances of the senses, and brought to see the real state of the world about them? How else are they to be led to an honest perception of their own evils, which must be fought for a life time by every man and woman who would become a citizen of the heavenly New Jerusalem. The young people of the Church will take an interest in the truths of the Writings, and will take delight not only in reading them, but also in talking of them, if a taste be cultivated with them for so doing. We talk of the things we love, and if we have a love and a taste for spiritual things we will want to talk about them. The tongue is given us that we may taste and also talk, and if we have a taste for wisdom we will delight to talk of the things of wisdom. Sapor, taste, and sapientia, wisdom, in Latin come from the same root, and this because spiritual taste is the perception and affection of knowing, understanding and becoming wise. A man has a taste for those bodily foods which he habitually eats, and he will have appetite, desire and affection for those spiritual foods, which are the truths and goods of the Word, if he habitually reads, thinks about and practices them.

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SECOND ANNUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM IN GREAT BRITAIN 1903

SECOND ANNUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM IN GREAT BRITAIN              1903

     THE Assembly was held at Mr. Gill's studio, Head street, Colchester, from Saturday, August 1st, to Sunday, August 2d. The meeting was called to order on Saturday evening. The Rev. Andrew Czerny presided, and after opening the meeting with prayer and reading from the Word, delivered his annual address.

     After enumerating the doctrines laid down by the Rev. E. C. Bostock in his address to the First Annual Assembly, on "The Reasons for the Existence of the General Church of the New Jerusalem," as being doctrines to which other general bodies of the New Church hold a negative attitude,-namely, the Divine Authority of the Writings, the Distinctiveness of the New Church, Conjugial Love, New Church Education, and the Priesthood,-Mr. Czerny took up the first of these doctrines. After pointing out that at the end of a Church, the Lord comes again in His Divine Truth by a new revelation of His Word in a form adapted to the remains of the former church, the address continued: "The Word then newly revealed is the Lord's Advent. At the end of the Christian Church the Lord made His Second Advent in a Revelation of the internal Sense of the Word; and as this Revelation comprises all the things contained in the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, therefore the words: "The Advent of the Lord were written upon all these Writings, in the Spiritual World: and by command, upon two copies in this world." (Eccl. Hist. 8.) The work upon which these words were written by command in this world, is entitled Summary Exposition of the Doctrines of the New Church and, as a summary involves all of which it is a brief exposition, it is evident, that the writing on these two copies covers all the rest.

     Reference was then made to the necessity of a revelation concerning the true state of the Christian Church in order that men may not be deceived by external appearances and that a New Church may be established entirely separate and distinct from the former Church. Such a church to be genuine could never have been established upon a revelation from spirits or even from angels; it could come only from the Lord who alone knew the means by which the church is to be established, and the falses and evils that obstruct it removed. Swedenborg, therefore, had received nothing from any spirit or angel, but all that he wrote was the Divine Truth from the Lord alone. (A. E. 1183, De Verbo, 13.)

     Thus it is the Lord Himself, who speaks to us in the Writings, as He speaks to us in the Books of Moses, or the Prophets, or the Evangelists; for He alone knows what teaching His Church requires. He knows the states of men, what they are, and what they will be in all future time.

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A Church would be impossible if its Doctrines were not accommodated to those for whom it is intended. This is especially the case with the New Church, which is to be the Last and Crowning Church. Its Doctrines could therefore be given by none, but Him who knows the states of all who are, and all who will be of His Church in all future time.

     The Address then quoted several passages from the Writings to show that this Divine Revelation must be studied in an affirmative attitude. "It is allowable to investigate Divine Truths rationally; but not from a negative state of mind, for the mind cannot be illustrated while in that state." In other words the Writings must be read not in the spirit of investigating whether their teachings be true or false (A. 3428, 3057). The men of the New Church ought to be in an affirmative attitude, which is, to believe a thins because the Lord has declared it in His Word; thus to have faith in the Lord (A. 2588). His mind is then opened for the influx of light, and the truth is seen to be truth. (A. 2584, E. 759.)

     By the Word was meant all Divine Truth, or whatever the Lord was pleased to reveal to man, thus not only the Letter of the Word but also the spiritual sense which is the "Interior Word" (E. 948), and consists of all the doctrines which the spiritual or internal sense of the Letter teaches, besides innumerable arcana of heaven. It is in the light of this Word that every teaching in the Church must be investigated; afterwards they must be confirmed by rational and scientific things, but not the reverse. When they are viewed from scientific things in the first place "nothing of truth and good appears, because man does not look to the Word for instruction, but reasons about doctrine from the things in his own mind, and if this preconceived ideas are opposed they will prevent his seeing in the light of truth."

     The Address concluded with a reference to the position of the General Church. That Body believed the Writings to be the Lord in His Second Coming, and that to doubt the Divinity of a single one of the teachings revealed in them is to doubt, if not deny, the Divinity of all. "And as this is done in the general bodies of the New Church, the General Church must go on proclaiming the Gospel of the Second Coming of the Lord in the Writings of the Church."

     Mr. APPLETON (Colchester), discussing the Annual Address, noted the necessity of building up the Church from within, that is, upon the Divine Authority of the Lord in the first instance, and of the Writings because they are from Him. In the world there is a doubt as to the Lord Himself, and in the New Church a doubt as to the Writings; it was therefore the duty of the General Church to keep these Doctrines to the from. The speaker concluded by referring to the importance, in this connection, of holding general assemblies of the Church.

     MR. DENNEY (London) spoke of the prime importance of having a clear idea of God. "If we in the New Church do not know who our God is, or when He speaks to us, we are in no better position than many who are outside. The same doubts now expressed about the Writings, were uttered many centuries ago about the Lord Himself.

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Is He God or man? was the question,--and this, despite His wonderful works. Referring to the method of the Writings, Mr. Denny spoke of the many repetitions that occur, and connected this fact with the teaching that heresy comes from the over magnifying of a single doctrine, "it is necessary to be constantly reminded of all points of doctrine, or we shall always Ire making blunders."

     MR. BALL (London), after expressing his pleasure in the meeting, said that it sometimes seemed to him that "we are a little bit harsh in our expressions respecting others," and thought a retrospection of the growth of our own views during the past years would tend to minimize this.

     After some further remarks on the subject of the Address, the Assembly decided, by vote, to hear a paper by Mr. McQueen on "Our Church Social Life."*
     * This paper appears on another page of this issue of the Life.

     MR. BEDWELL (Colchester) opened the discussion of the paper, by a few remarks on the usefulness of cultivating the social sphere.

     MR. BALL Said that the London members were thinking a good deal about this matter. Good sermons and reading meetings were necessary for the prosperity of a Society, but even with these there may be a lack of animation in the body. "Let them have more social meetings."

     MR. MORRIS (London) agreed with the previous speaker, and spoke of the difficulties connected with social meetings in London. He confessed that it was difficult for him to find social life at the Church meetings; but he thought this difficulty would be obviated if good socials could be arranged.

     REV. A. CZERNY here pointed out that there would be no difficulty in the matter if the internal aim was one. He agreed with the writer of the paper that our socials were not to be looked upon as mere entertainments.

     MR. GILL (Colchester) spoke of the success attending the fortnightly socials at Colchester, where after articles from the Life had been read and conversed upon, light refreshments followed, and the meeting indulged in games of cards. He thought that, with persistence, external difficulties might be overcome.

     MR. COOPER (Colchester) pointed out that we must all take with us a certain internal state; according to the individual affection we have for the Doctrines, so will be the sphere at our socials.

     MR. MCQUEEN (London) pointed out that in saying we should not put external pressure upon anyone to get them to socials, he referred to the temptation to persuade people almost against their will. The main point he wished to make was, that if the internal aim was right, the particular form which a social might take was a matter of secondary importance. The mere fact that a Church Social was announced should be sufficient.

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Nevertheless it is useful to consider the form sometimes, with a view to improvement in all directions.

     The discussion was then adjourned until the following day, and a Social Meeting followed.

     Sunday morning, August 2d, Divine Worship was held in the Meeting House, Priory street. The Rev. Andrew Czerny preached and administered the Holy Supper to twenty-nine communicants.

     In the evening the Assembly met at 7 o'clock when a paper was read by Mr. Appleton, on the subject of "The Relation of the Laity to the Church and its Priesthood."

     MR. BEDWELL thought all would agree with the idea taught in the paper that we need to esteem more highly the priesthood and its uses, and to be more prepared to co-operate with those uses.

     MR. GILL spoke of willingness to be led by the Lord as the essential thing of our church life. The Lord does not lead us directly but indirectly--in childhood by our parents, and in adult life, as to spiritual things, by our priests. It is, of course, for every man to choose his religion. He thought we would not go far wrong if we showed a greater willingness to be led by our priests so far as we see they are placed over us by the Lord. The speaker concluded by referring to the priests of the General Church as a splendid body of men loyally studying the Word and teaching it to the Church.

     MR. COOPER read from Apocalypse Revealed 935, as to the distinction between natural and spiritual good. He thought that our friends of Conference and Convention, by only partially accepting the Lord in His Second Coming, so far deprived themselves of the opportunity to receive spiritual good inasmuch as they so far failed to see that the Christian Church, as a spiritual church, is no more. They were seeking to build up a spiritual church, more or less by natural good and spurious charity, a policy which could end only in disaster and death; and, in his opinion, it was only a question of time when both Conference and Convention would be absorbed in the Old Church. With these bodies he compared the General Church as being capable of indefinite growth and extension because it placed itself under the leading of the Lord in the Writings.

     MR. FROST (Colchester) thought the expressions of the last speaker were "a little bit too strong," for while recognizing that Conference did not use the orderly means adopted by the General Church, still they did recognize the foundation stone of belief in the Lord as the one God of heaven and earth.

     MR. BALL was not "quite sure that the Old Church is going to swallow up Conference." He could not conceive of a Newchurchman being swallowed up by falsity.

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It was only a question, on our part, of having patience. He was one of those persons who delighted to meet any member of the New Church, and he would not dream of first asking them what section of the Church they belonged to. He felt sure that as we "stepped down," and members of Conference "stepped up," we should, in another ten years, come to view our points of dispute in a calm and reasonable way.

     MR. BEDWELL was moved by these remarks to say that the members of the General Church having taken a certain doctrinal position, held that position to be the only one on which a spiritual church could be built.

     MR. MCQUEEN thought it would be a woeful thing for us if we talked of "stepping down." There was no need to do any such thing. His own experience, gained in the many opportunities afforded him of meeting members of Conference, was that the more firmly we stood to our own position the more would we be respected by those who do not see with us. Again, the idea of "stepping down" involved the conceit that we think ourselves superior to others, and that we can benefit them accordingly. It is the truth alone that can benefit a man, and this cannot "step down." As to our Conference friends we should leave personalities and come to the principles involved. Mr. Appleton's paper had shown that there can be no spiritual good where there is no spiritual truth, and that because the Writings alone reveal the latter, it is only by the reception of these that the New Church can be established as a spiritual church. As to the acknowledgment, by Conference, of the Lord as the One God, referred to by one of the speakers, Mr. McQueen noted that the Christian Church, in its beginning, had made the same acknowledgment, but that did not constitute it a spiritual church in the genuine sense. For this, there must be a genuine understanding of the Word; it was that a spiritual church might be established that the New Revelation of the Word had been given; and it was on this Revelation that the New Church must be founded. It was this doctrinal position which, at this time, distinguished the General Church from all other organizations of the New Church.

     MR. BALL explained that he had not meant that me should sacrifice our position for the sake of any person. He had referred to mistaken views that had been held, and which made us see that fallacies were not confined altogether to others. He referred to views respecting the priesthood.

     MR. FROST said that he accepted as fully as Mr. McQueen, the Divine Authority of the Writings, but he would plead for more charity in regard to members of the New Church who were not in agreement with us. He had read somewhere in the Writings that even in the first Christian Church there was some degree of spirituality.

     Mr. CZERNY noted that the paper under discussion dealt with the fact that the reception of spiritual good was dependent on the understanding of the Word as a Divine revelation and the reception therefrom of spiritual truth. It was well known from the periodicals of the Church, that those outside the General Church did not look upon the Writings as the Word of the Lord.

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They were followers of a man and not of the Lord.

     MR. DENNEY Said that the question seemed to be, whether it is possible to have spiritual good without belonging to the General Church. He agreed pretty well with all that had been said, but he thought that the phrase "in so far," so often used in the Writings, had been lost sight of in the discussion. Every man who looks to the Divine Being is, from that very fact, "so far" in a state of spiritual good, the only difference being that some have more than others It was not right to make the positive statement that there is no spiritual good with any of the sects, or even with the heathen.

     MR. CZERNY thought that the last remarks involved some confounding of the Church Universal with the Church Specific. All over the world, in every religion, were men who could be saved; but they are not saved, that is, received into heaven, until they have been initiated into the genuine truths of heaven. Before this, their good is natural good, and this does not save unless spiritual good is insinuated into it by means of spiritual truth. Such men constitute the Church Universal. But the Church Specific consists of those who have the genuine truths of faith, and by obedience to them, prepare themselves, even on earth, for the reception of spiritual good.

     MR. APPLETON thought that it had been lost sight of that the subject for discussion was the establishment of the New Church heaven. It was clearly taught that this heaven--in this world and in the other--is to be established upon new truths; those who cannot receive those truths cannot be in that heaven but must be in the external heaven. Of course, in this world, we can judge only as to doctrine.

     MR. DENNEY thought that this was the crux of the whole question: "Does the New Jerusalem Church consist of the few hundred members of the General Church? Are they the basis on which the New Heaven, established a hundred years ago, rests?"

     MR. CZERNY:--Thinking of persons and numbers while discussing principles obscures the mind. Let us endeavor to understand the teaching on the subject. The Church on earth is the basis of the Church in the heavens. And the Church is where the Word is, and the Lord is acknowledged in His Second Coming; and all those acknowledge the Lord in His Second Coming, wherever they may be, who accept the Writings as a Divine Revelation from Him. The Church is a Church from its reception of the Word; and this again is according to its understanding of the same. It is the understanding of the Word, and a life according to it, which make the Church, and those who receive the Church, so understood, form the basis upon which the New Heaven rests. Those outside the Church, if in the good of life, are also connected with heaven, but not directly; for natural good does not connect man directly with heaven. If the teaching is clear, that the Church is a Church according to its understanding of the Word, then it must be equally clear, that those who have not the Word are not of the Church; nor can those be, who have the Word, but do not understand it, or accept its teachings.

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Neither the former, nor the latter can, therefore, be said to be of that Church, which is the basis of the New Heaven.

     After a few further remarks by MR. FROST and MR. MORRIS, who expressed themselves as well pleased with the explanation given by the president, MR. CZERNY concluded the discussion by pointing out that there was still a tendency to consider persons and organizations instead of principles.

     MR. MCQUEEN read the letter recently issued to the members of the General Church by the Treasurer, Rev. C. E. Doering, and made some remarks as to the importance of ultimating our individual membership, by individual subscriptions, however small.

     A brief discussion followed and helped to make clear the point that the subscriptions to the General Church had no connection with the local funds of societies.

     Rev. Andrew Czerny then read a paper entitled "The Writings of the New Church are the Word of the Lord."*
     * This paper will be found on another page of this issue of the Life.

     As the time was advanced no prolonged discussion could take place, but appreciative remarks were made by a few speakers, and the Assembly adjourned for another year.

     SOCIAL FEATURES.

     In spite of the difficulties connected with Social Life, referred to at the Assembly, there seemed to be no lack of genuine social life during the meetings in Colchester.

     On Saturday evening the meeting concluded with a social hour, when toasts were drunk to "The Church," "Our departed friend, Mr. Bostock," "The Bishop of the General Church," "Mr. Czerny" and "The Academy."

     On Monday about forty friends enjoyed a delightful drive through what is known as Constable County. Tea was provided at Dedham after the friends had explored this old time village. Then followed the drive home to Colchester.

     Gathering in Mr. Gill's studio Mr. Morris on behalf of the London friends expressed appreciation of the manner in which the Colchester Society had entertained the Assembly.

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This was heartily applauded, and Mr. Gill expressed the pleasure it had given them in Colchester to welcome the Assembly among them.

     The meeting then wished Rev. A. Czerny a happy time during his visit to America, and requested him to convey to Bishop Pendleton their appreciation of the sentiments contained in his letter, which had been read to them.

     Mr. Czerny was also asked to convey the appreciation of the readers of "New Church Life" to the editors in America, wishing them success in their work, and long life to the Journal, the absence of which would be a serious thing for the Church.

     Mr. Czerny said he would be pleased to convey all these messages, and the meeting concluded by singing " Vivat Nov Ecclesia" and "Auld Lang Syne."
Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     WE would be thankful to any one of our readers who could give us the reference to a passage in the Writings where, as has been asserted, the Epistles of Paul are designated as "the Apostolic Word."



     In their recent work on "The Mummified Fauna of Ancient Egypt," Messrs. Lortet and Gaillard, two French zoologists, clearly demonstrated that the Egyptian animals have not in the least varied during the period of seven thousand years, but they do not regard this as in any way invalidating the theory of evolution, inasmuch as, according to that doctrine, species do not change unless their environments are modified. And they "prove" their contention by the case of a species of long-horned cattle which at one time was domesticated in Egypt, but long ago died out. Then, after some thousands of years, individuals of the ancient race were discovered in the wilds of Soudan, and installed anew in the valley of the Nile, but the change of environment had produced no change in the species. Ergo, the species change according to their environment! (See Literary Digest, August 15.)



     The Academy's Journal of Education for 1903 has just been issued under the editorship of the Rev. Enoch S. Price, the dean of the Academy Schools. Beside the usual Prospectus and Catalogue of the Schools, this issue contains an address by Bishop Pendleton on "Stages in Religious Education," a paper on the study of "Anatomy," by Dr. George M. Cooper; suggestions on "Teaching the Letter of the Word," by Bishop Pendleton; an address on "Modern Education," by the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt, together with reports of the various departments of the Academy Schools and of the last annual meeting of the Teachers' Institute of the General Church,--the whole making perhaps the fullest and most interesting collection of educational documents that has ever been published in the New Church.

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We miss the catalogues of the local or parish schools of the General Church, and it would be useful, also, to have annual reports from these schools. The Journal of Education can be obtained from the Academy Book Room free on application.



     The Monatblatter for August quotes from Las Cases' Memorial de St. Helene the words of the exiled Napoleon: "My exemplars were the great conquerors such as Cyrus, Alexander, Caesar, and others; like them I sought to conquer the world by force,--a perishable dominion! But there came one from heaven to conquer the hearts of men, not by force but by love, and His dominion endures to eternity. He conquered the throne of heaven. Believe me. Christ was no man: I know men. And Mr. Gorwitz adds this note: "Le Boys des Guays, the excellent translator of Swedenborg's Writings into French, stated that during a series of many years he received annually from an unknown person who signed himself simply "Dieu donne," a substantial contribution for the publication of his translations. Later on he discovered that these contributions came from the son of the same Count Las Cases, who was Napoleon's biographer and companion on St. Helena, and he concluded that Las Cases himself had received and appreciated Swedenborg's Writings.



     The hopelessness of the struggle that is being made by the old orthody against the victorious onslaughts of the "new theology" was strikingly illustrated at a recent general pastoral conference of the Lutheran State Church held in Saxe-Meiningen, Germany. The two "schools" of thought, professedly irreconcilable, formulated their positions in separate statements. The radical party declared, among other things, that "the traditional theory of inspiration has no foundation in the Scriptures, and is not in harmony with the spirit of the Gospel." To which the "orthodox" conservatives replied that "We cling to the inspiration of the Scriptures, but maintain that neither the whole Church as such, nor any individual in the Church, is bound by any particular theory as to the manner and philosophy of inspiration. The theory of mechanical [i. e., verbal] inspiration has never been adopted by any of the confessions, nor has it ever received churchly sanction, and the positive theology of today does not accept it."

     It will thus be seen that there is no essential difference between the "old" and the "new" schools of theology as to their denial of the absolute Divinity of the Word of God, and it seems that the New Church is, indeed, the only Church in existence that believes in the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures according to the Lord's own teaching that "till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled." (Matth. 5: 18.) Verily, "the foundations are overturned" in the vastated Christian Church, and "the poor, what shall he do," but to flee to the mountain of the New Jerusalem, where alone Faith remains on earth!

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     Surely the Unitarian Sphere of Harvard, infesting the New Church, has inspired the following passage taken from a sermon by a graduate of the Convention School at Cambridge! Referring to the Lord's temptations, the sermon says: "If the Lord had decided the other way--and the possibility of doing so must have existed, otherwise there would have been no temptation, surely, His name would now stand on the pages of history with that of Alexander and Caesar." We almost hesitate to print such a blasphemous thought. The young writer may not have been sufficiently acquainted with the doctrines to see the enormity of what he says--but, surely, there is no excuse for teachers whose graduated pupil could be so ignorant of the Lord's Divine Nature as to think for a moment of the "possibility" of the Divine falling; or to contemplate, even in the remotest degree, a similarity between the Lord and any human being. The Lord, even on earth, was Divine and Infinite. He came, not only in order to be tempted, but in order to conquer the hells; that their assaults produced temptations even to despair, does not take away the fact that it was the Infinite Divine from which the Human fought and conquered.

     The quotation which we have given is but a specimen of the Unitarian thought which permeates the sermon. And yet it is published by a New Church paper (Morning Light), and appears before its readers as a New Church sermon with an editorial notice that is practically a commendation.



     Mr. A. L. Kip whose airy conjectures as to the correspondence of the nations of the world have already been noticed in the Life, essays in the September number of The New Church Magazine to bring the powers of his imagination to the exposition of "The Symbolism of the Flowers." The teachings of the poets on this subject are characterized as being, for the most part "palpable guesswork, and therefore unworthy of serious attention"--an unexpected criticism from such a past-master in "guesswork" as Mr. Kip has shown himself to be. Nor does he fail to sustain the character; for after thus summarily dismissing the poets, he takes up the "guesses"--they are worthy of no better name--made by his preceptor, Rev. John Worcester, and proceeds to consider them as though they were really worthy of "serious attention." Mr. Worcester puts it forth that violets represent "a gentle goodness, self-depreciating, but loving to make life sweeter to others;" while their more showy relatives, the pansies, "represent a bright, open-faced candor, perhaps a little demonstrative." Mr. Kip accepts the modesty of the violet, but insists that the pansy also represents a form of modesty "more intellectual than emotional." In a similar way he takes up others of Mr. Worcester's "correspondences," and with much originality substitutes his own guess for the other. Thus Mr. Worcester's lilies represent "maiden modesty" and his poppies "images of bright fancy;" but Mr. Kip substitutes "grief" for "modesty" and "sloth and indolence" for "bright fancy." Magno conatu magnas nugas.

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     THE "CATHOLICITY" OF URBANA UNIVERSITY.

     Professor Hite's address on "Urbana University and Higher Education," which was delivered at Urbana, O., on June 18th, 1903, has been published by the Massachusetts New Church Union in a pamphlet of twenty-seven pages. In it the author grants the existence of "a few New Church schools, which aim to inculcate the principles of the Church." "But Urbana University stands above in combining catholicity with distinctiveness; namely, in its appreciation of a high academic standard, in its sympathetic relation to the common life and to the needs of the community in which it is placed, and in the character of its religious instruction." "It imposes no restriction, academic or sectarian, upon those who enter. It offers to all alike every department of its instruction, but leaves the applicant free to accept and to choose. It accords full and complete freedom of private religious opinion and profession. It recognizes the efficacy of all personal and sectarian life which is true to its religious convictions. Pupils of all sects, denominations, and religions would find a sympathetic and appreciative home in the spiritual atmosphere and common life of the school. Nevertheless, there is no compromise of its distinctive religious position."

     The New Church is to be thankful if the Urbana University stands alone among New Church schools in this kind of "catholicity." A spiritual atmosphere in which the followers of all sects, denominations and religions can find a sympathetic and appreciative home; an atmosphere which recognizes the efficacy, that is, saving power, of all religious convictions, no matter how false and destructive those convictions may be,--such an atmosphere certainly cannot be the distinctive atmosphere of the New Church. For in the "distinctive religious position" of the New Church there is this fundamental principle, that "the Faith of the New Church cannot possibly be together with the Faith of the former Church, and that if they are together there will arise such a collision and conflict that everything of the Church must perish with the man.

     The reason is that the two do not agree with one another in one-third, no, not even in one-tenth part. The Faith of the former Church is described by the 'Dragon' in the Apocalypse, but the Faith of the New Church is described by 'the Woman encompassed with the Sun.' These two cannot be together in one city, much less in one house, and thus they cannot be together in one mind. And if they should be together, it must needs he that the Woman would be continually exposed to the rage and insanity of the Dragon." B. E. 103

     And in the same number we read this further warning, which should come with especial force to a school of the New Church: "The Faith of the former Church is a Faith of the night, but the Faith of the New Church is a Faith of the light, and these two can no more be together than an owl and a dove in one nest.

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For then the owl would lay her eggs, and the dove her's; and when, after sitting, the young of both are hatched, the owl would tear in pieces the young of the dove, and give them to her own young for food."

     "THE KING WITH TWO FACES."

     At rare intervals the reader of modern fiction comes across references to Swedenborg, some of them betraying a vast amount of ignorance of the subject, while others are evidently the well meant efforts at missionary work by crypto-Newchurchmen.

     Miss M. E. Coleridge, in her highly interesting novel, The King with Two Faces, (New York, John Lane. The Bodley Head, 1898), exhibits a very intimate acquaintance with the history of Gustavus III. of Sweden, the two-faced king, the liberal despot, who reigned just after the death of Emanuel Swedenborg, and who at one time was exceedingly favorable to the circle of aristocratic "Swedenborgians" at his court, but afterwards persecuted them when his brother and heir-apparent, the duke of Sodermannia, (Charles XIII.), became prominently associated with the Exegetic-Philanthropic Society.

     The references to Swedenborg, in the novel under notice, are few, but rather curious. We were startled, when reading, on p. 59, that the hero of the book, a young nobleman who happened to stand staring after the duke of Sodermannia, heard a mysterious voice saying "It is never permitted to any one in heaven to stand behind another and to look at the back of his head. It stays the influx from the Lord."

     This statement naturally excited our expectation for more of the kind, but nothing unusual occurs until, near the end of the book, the heroine, long separated from her lover and tired of the endless intrigues of the court, expresses to the poet Adlerbeth her ardent desire to "be away from it all."

     "'Why should you say that!' asked Adlerbeth softly. 'You can never be away from it all. If you would study the works of our great master, Swedenborg,'--he made a short reverential pause,--'you would give up living for the flesh, and live, as we are humbly seeking to live, for the world of spirits alone.

     "'Where can I get them? I will read them at once,' said Tala, moved by the quiet earnestness of his manner.

     "'Ask the Duke to lend you Conjugial Love,' said Adlerbeth.

     "The Duke was pleased to find that she took an interest in his favorite hobby, and presented her with a copy of the work.

     "The fascination of the mind of the great mystic,--who had died seventeen years before when she was only a little child,--laid hold of her like some living, clinging presence. She did not understand one quarter of what she read, but she read night and day. The sound of his magnificent phrases was music, she asked nothing more: she had heard nothing but noises for so long.

560


She forgot the cackle of laughter all around, and heard only singing.

     "'Man in his perfect form is heaven.'

     "'In heaven the angels are advancing continually to the spring of their youth, so that the oldest angel appears the youngest.'

     "She learnt it by heart; she slept with it, and woke to it; and more and more she longed for Adolph, that she might instruct him also in this new learning." (Pp. 260, 261.)

     There are a few more references to Swedenborg, equally peculiar, but the writer commits a grave historical error when she connects the Swedenborgians with the assassins of Gustavus III. Not one of the conspirators was associated with the Exegetic-Philanthropic Society.
NEW CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA 1903

NEW CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA       RICHARD MORSE       1903

EDITORS New Church Life:

     Your Australian news in the April issue is apt to convey an erroneous impression concerning the New Church in Australia. Our Articles of Association, the last Minutes of Conference and a copy of The New Age,--the Conference monthly,--which I send you by same mail, will do as much to convey a correct idea of the Church's position as anything I could write. They will show that the Church is usefully established in Australia as in other progressive parts of the world.

     But apart from the Church in its normal state of usefulness, it will probably interest readers of the Life to know that, in Sydney, during last May, the Rev. Percy Billings, who studied for several years at the Academy, gave a special and excellent course of New Church teaching, similar to that which he has been accustomed to give in connection with his own Society in Adelaide, S. A. Indeed, it was Mr. Billings's work in Adelaide that caused 'the Sydney Society to resolve to spend from (480 dollars) in the work. Thirty thousand neat cards were distributed in the city and suburbs, conveying particulars as to subjects, dates and place. Mr. Billings more than fulfilled our expectation. Besides possessing an accurate knowledge of the Writings. he has remarkable facility in adapting it to the various states in which men are. Different languages in their essence are one, for they proceed from love by means of thought. It doesn't matter, therefore, what words are used to express similar ideas, so long as the ideas themselves are known. Mr. Billings holds that true teaching is inseparable from a full appreciation of this fact. For many years he has studied the most suitable means by which the ideas of the religiously receptive minds of the people can be brought into harmony with the distinctive teaching of the Lord's New Church. People are groping in the dark for the "Way, the Truth and the Life" by means of many kinds of crude devices.

561


Mr. Billings comes down to the plane of their thought-life, and without compromising the majesty and distinctiveness of the Heavenly Doctrines, endeavors to raise their conceptions into the higher spiritual atmosphere of revealed truth. This he does in an exceptionally lucid and interesting way, making the world of music and art and parable contribute its due share in the teaching. His physiology course was particularly instructive. By means of the physical body and the blackboard he taught the beautiful lessons of the Gorand Man.

     One of the greatest needs in Australia today, says Mr. Billings, is full spiritual-rational education, or thorough and systematic New Church education, for the industrial or 'working' classes--that is, for the great majority of the population. And to be able successfully to impart such education, a thorough knowledge of the life, thought, conditions and needs of the working classes is required.

     The month's work advertised on the cards comprised twenty-one lectures. Besides these, Mr. Billings gave three excellent sermons of a high spiritual quality, and three extra lectures. His concluding lecture of the course, "Emanuel Swedenborg and His Mission," was an able and eloquent exposition of the distinctive view held by the General Church on the subject.

     And yet Mr. Billings repudiates the claim made for him of teacher. He expressed himself thus on the programme of addresses: "He who creates the human mind is alone able to properly teach it. The Father-Creator is the One Great Teacher; the best of earth's teachers can only be assistants under Him, teaching His Teachings and using His Methods. 'Be not yet called Master; for One is your Master, the Christ; and all ye are brethren.'" Sincerely, Sydney, N. S. W., July 27, 1903.
RICHARD MORSE.

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Church News 1903

Church News       Various       1903

     Bryn Athyn, Pa. After a quiet summer things are beginning to liven up again. Most of those who spent their vacation away from our charming village, have now returned, and all are preparing for a busy year.

     During August we had a delightful, though short, visit from the Rev. A. Czerny, who is engaged in preaching and teaching, in England. His reports of the work, there, were interesting and favorable; and he returned laden with our good wishes for the growth of the Church there. The Rev. J. E. Rosenquist, who has been doing pastoral work In Sweden for the past five years, has returned to America and settled in Philadelphia. His address is 2208 McClennan St.

     Mr. Alfred Stroh has returned from Sweden and is now engaged as a teacher in the Schools of the Academy.

     On Tuesday, September 15th, the Schools of the Academy opened their twenty-seventh school year with forty-eight pupils in attendance. The parish school opened on the same day with fifty-seven pupils, the same number as last year, notwithstanding that it graduated a class in the spring, which has now entered the College and Seminary. It was inspiring to see the long lines of happy faces, eagerly listening to the headmaster's words of welcome, and to his remarks on "beginnings" entering into all the states following. "Therefore," he said, "we begin by thinking of the Lord, who is the beginning of all things."

     The President of the Academy, in opening the Academy Schools, read a report for the Normal Class of last year. This report showed the valuable instruction given in that department, such as can be obtained nowhere else; and pointed out the necessity of permanently establishing a Normal Class. Although, properly speaking, there is no Normal Class this year, still there are four special students who have obtained a choice curriculum.

     On Tuesday evening a reception was given in the Gymnasium, at which there was much pleasant conversation and some dancing.

     On Saturday evening, September 12th, a reception was given at Cairnwood in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Alex. Moir, who had just returned from Berlin, Canada, where they were married on the 9th.

     The Bryn Athyn Social Club opened its season an Wednesday evening, the 16th.

     Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Schoenberger, of Pittsburg, with Miss Helen Schoenberger, are visiting their daughter, Mrs. W. E. Brickman. They have just returned from a European trip.

     Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Caldwell, also of Pittsburg, are among our recent visitors. F. E. G.

     Baltimore. A review of the past year's work here gives every encouragement to our members. Services have been held every month with an average attendance of over sixteen, and Sunday School every Sunday. Except when we receive our monthly ministerial visits, the Sunday School is held in private houses. We feel very much encouraged at the progress made in the School, especially in the infant class, where ten little children are under the excellent and efficient care of Mrs. Coffin.

     We consider ourselves fortunate in being so near to Bryn Athyn, as this has made it possible for us to receive during the past twelve months, visits from nearly every minister at the centre. Mr. Caldwell visited us regularly for several months, the last visit being in February.

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We highly appreciate the good work he did among us, and the best wishes of our circle go with him in his new field of work. Rev. W. Brickman was appointed to take Mr. Caldwell's place, and has made several visits. In October we enjoyed the presence of Bishop Bostock, who established the Baltimore Circle of the General Church, and presided over its first annual meeting. On December 31st Mr. Caldwell conducted a watch meeting, and at his suggestion, the word "ready" was adopted as the watchword for 1903, meaning, being ever ready to accept the truth. Mr. Synnestvedt visited us in April, and on his return to Bryn Athyn delivered messages of condolence from the Circle to Mrs. Bostock and Mrs. Asplundh. Mr. Acton visited us on June 21st, and Mr. Waelchli on the following Sunday, while in August Mr. Price preached for us for the first time.

     Parkdale, Ont. A social reception was held on July 7th, in honor of the newly wedded pair, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Potts, who have made their home in our midst. The church was most tastefully decorated for the occasion, at which Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Bellinger acted as host and hostess. An address of welcome, by the pastor, was followed by a number of toasts and speeches, and the rest of the evening was occupied with music and recitations.

     On August 5th another very successful social was given in honor of some visitors, among whom were Miss Centennia Bellinger, of Berlin, and the Misses Potts, Miss Ruth Kicks, and Miss Freda Pendleton, of Bryn Athyn. This was followed by a Young Folk's Dance on August 11th, in honor of Miss Evelyn Frankish, of Ontario, Can., who has been visiting us on her way to Bryn Athyn.

     Numerous picnics have been held, and on the whole a very gay summer has been spent, owing to the large number of visitors it has been our pleasure to entertain

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. Herbert C. Small has resigned the pastorate of the Society in Olney, Ill., in order to take charge of the Society in Bridgewater, Mass. Mr. Clyde W. Bromell, a recent graduate of the Convention's Theological School, has accepted the call of the Society in Buffalo, N. Y.

     The Hon. Charles C. Bonney died at Chicago on August 23d. Mr. Bonney was a member of the Chicago Society of the New Church, and became well-known in all religions circles as the chief promoter of the "Parliament of Religions" during the World's Fair in 1893.

     A Swedish-American New Church Association, with about twenty members, was organized in Chicago on July 19th, "for the purpose, by means of the Writings, preaching, lectures, and literature, of disseminating the Doctrines of the New Church among the Scandinavians and their descendants in America." Dr. C. V. Urbom is president of the Association, Mr. John Headsten, secretary, and Mr. Eric Hawkinson, treasurer.

     GREAT BRITAIN. In connection with the discussion about Conference which is printed in our account of the Colchester Assembly, the recent action taken by the Wretham Road Church, Birmingham--one of the leading Conference Societies--in seeking practical union with the Old Church, is significant. On Sunday, August 2d, the Society united for worship with a Baptist congregation, the services being held at the Baptist church in the morning and at the Wretham Road church in the evening. Both services were conducted jointly by the Baptist and New Church minister (Rev. R. R. Rodgers), who preached in each other's pulpits. It seems that a similar united service was held some time ago, on the occasion of the death of Queen Victoria, but we learn that the present is the first occasion on which these congregations "have united for regular Sunday worship."

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PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1903

PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY              1903


ANNOUNCEMENTS.



     Special Notices.

     The Philadelphia District Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn on October 16th, 17th, and 18th. The program includes meetings on Friday and Saturday evenings, an educational meeting on Saturday afternoon at 4 P. M, services on Sunday morning, and the administration of the Holy Supper on Sunday afternoon. Entertainment will be provided for visiting members and friends, who will communicate with REV. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT, Secretary.
PITTSBURG DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1903

PITTSBURG DISTRICT ASSEMBLY              1903

     The Pittsburg District Assembly will be held at Pittsburg on October 23d to 25th. The Pittsburg

     Society extends a cordial invitation to all who may desire to attend these meetings. All such will please communicate with REV. N. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON. Secretary. 632 South Negley Ave., Pittsburg, Pa.
CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1903

CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       DAVID H. KLEIN       1903

     The Chicago District Assembly of the General Church will be held at Chicago, October 30th to November 2d. All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. The Sharon Church will provide for the entertainment of visitors, who are kindly requested to send notice of their coming to Mr. L. V. Riefstahl, 19 Ashland Boulevard, Chicago, Ills.
DAVID H. KLEIN, Secretary, pro tem.
For Sale 1903

For Sale              1903

     Residence, situated upon one of the choicest lots in Bryn Athyn. Terms to suit purchaser. Address Rev. Homer Synnestvedt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

565


EMANUEL SWEDENBORG AS AN ANATOMIST AND PHYSIOLOGIST 1903

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG AS AN ANATOMIST AND PHYSIOLOGIST              1903

     
     NOVEMBER, 1903. No. 11.
     The opening address* at the Congress of Anatomists, delivered at Heidelberg, May 29, 1903, by the president, PROF. DR. GUSTAF RETZIUS.
     * Emanuel Swedenborg als Anatom und Physiolog auf dem Gebiete der Gehirnkunde. Eroffnungsrede des Vorsitzenden Prof. Dr. Gustaf Retzius an dem Anatomenkongresse in Heidelberg d. 29: Mai 1903.
     Abdruck aus den Verhandlungen der Anatomischen Gesellschaft auf der siehzehnten Versammlung in Heidelberg vom 29. Mai bis I. Juni 1903. Verlag von Gustav Fischer in Jena. Translated into English by C. Th. Odhner.

     It has been customary in our association for the president to open the meetings with an address on a theme of general interest elucidated by means of new facts. It was my intention to bring before you a subject of such a nature from the field of Morphology, and I had gone so far in the preparation of it that most of the address was ready in manuscript. But at this point it became plain that it was impossible to treat the problem in question within the time suitable for such an address.

     For this reason I concluded to treat of quite a different theme on this occasion, a theme which belongs, indeed, to a long past period of our science, but which nevertheless in a remarkable manner presents points of connection with modern investigations.

     There are, indeed, instances showing that presidents of' these meetings have taken up the history of times long past in order to lay before the assembled members the labors of famous predecessors. I especially call to mind the meeting in Basel, at which Privy Councillor Merkel dedicated his opening speech to the memory of the great Vesalius.

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This was praiseworthy in a double respect, since Vesalius had labored in Basel, where that beautiful monument to his memory, the Vesaiianum, has been erected, in which his spirit still lives and labors.

     On the present occasion I should have preferred to devote my address of those departed heroes of anatomical science to one of those departed heroes of anatomical science who have labored at this University, to a Friedrich Tiedemann or a Friedrich Amold; but as I lacked the special studies in the archives necessary for such an object, I would not have been able to present a sufficiently accurate picture of these men.

     I therefore hope that you will pardon me if I bring forward into light an overshadowed figure from my native land, a name which for a long time has remained in a darkness that to a certain extent still veils it, but which nevertheless is gradually being placed in a clearer light. Moreover, I shall perform a duty by bringing out of the ruins of the past the contents and significance of the scientific literary remains of that Swedish investigator of nature, Emanuel Swedenborg, inasmuch as I have been asked to do so by request from abroad, and, in fact, through the Ministry of foreign affairs.

     A number Of thorough students of Swedenborg, and most especially the Englishman James John Garth Wilkinson, the German F. Immanuel Tafel and the German-American Rudolf L. Tafel, have with great enthusiasm and energy called attention to and published a series of very remarkable statements and views, especially concerning the anatomy and physiology of the Brain, contained in the extensive manuscripts of our author, which are preserved in the Library of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Rudolf L. Tafel especially has emphasized the fact that many of Swedenborg's discoveries have been wonderfully confirmed by modern investigations. This subject brought anew before the scientific world in 1901 by Dr. Max Neuburger, of Vienna, in a spirited address entitled "Swedenborg's Beziehung-en zur Gehimphysiologie," delivered at the assembly of German scientists and physicians held at Hamburg, in the pear 1901.

     As Rudolf L. Tafel, in 1882, had done in his great work, containing some of Swedenborg's manuscripts on the Brain, so Dr. Neuburger now calls attention to the fact that Swedenborg had made a series of Important discoveries, particularly in respect to the motion of the Brain, the seat of the psychical phenomena and the localization of the motor centres.

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Dr. Neuburger further addressed himself in a communication to the Swedish-Norwegian legation in Vienna, in which he expressed his regret that an extensive manuscript by Swedenborg on the Brain, which is preserved at Stockholm, had not yet been published. Last spring I received from the Ministry of foreign affairs at Stockholm a communication referring to this subject. It is therefore in a certain measure my duty to report what I have done in this respect.*
     * Swedenborg's works were not quite unknown to me. I knew that my father, the anatomist Anders Retzius, in his History of Anatomy in the Scandinavian North, which was laid before the Swedish Academy of Sciences as long ago as 1845, and which was published by me last year, had estimated Swedenborg very highly. I will here present some of the expressions made by my father on the subject in question: Swedenborg's Regnum Animale has reappeared, and it is indeed a marvellous work. There are ideas in it which belong to the most recent times, a scope, induction, and tendency, which can only be compared with those of Aristotle. He adds, "It may be supposed that several decades will still have to elapse before the merits of this work will be properly estimated."
     By my own studies in the works of Swedenborg I became convinced, more than thirty years ago, that he was a very learned anatomist, and, above all, a man who had properly consulted the literature on the subject; but I did not then have the time to thoroughly examine his voluminous works. It was through the work On the Brain, published by Rud. L. Tafel in the year 1882, which the physiologist Prof. Christian Loven submitted to our Academy of Sciences, and through his references to the wonderful proofs of the author, that we in Sweden received a better understanding of the significance of the works by Swedenborg on this subject.
     As, nevertheless, the subject had again been laid aside and to a certain extent had lapsed into oblivion, the above-mentioned call of Dr. Neuburger and his application to the legation were very timely and noteworthy.
     As a result of this stimulating influence I at once attempted to enter into the study of Swedenborg's extensive manuscripts in the Library of the Academy. But I soon found that this study would demand an exceedingly long time and much painstaking labor, on which account I saw myself compelled to abstain from it for the time being.
     In the following autumn, October, 1902, I learned that an American student of Swedenborg, Mr. Alfred Stroh, who is also especially interested in the scientific works of Swedenborg, had arrived m Stockholm. I placed myself in connection with him and he immediately promised me his assistance in the deciphering of the manuscripts, which, after long training he had learned to read and understand quite well.
     It was now possible to approach nearer to the problem. In December, 1902, the Academy on my motion appointed a committee of five members, namely, the Physiologist Prof. Christian Loven, the Paleontologist and Geologist Prof. A. G. Nathorst, the medical authority and Investigator of the Brain, Prof. S. E. Henschen, the Physicist Prof. Sv. Arrhenius, and myself, which committee, with the kind support of Mr. Stroh, was charged to examine all the manuscripts of Swedenborg and to present a report thereon to the Academy, stating whether, and to what extent, they ought to be published. In April of the present year this committee, of which I am the chairman, moved that the Academy begin printing a selection of not only the unprinted writings of Swedenborg but also of such as Swedenborg himself had published, but which now are out of print, of physical, chemical and geological-pal eontological contents, and afterwards to undertake the printing of a selection of his anatomical writings.
     The Academy expressed its approval of this motion, upon which the printing was commenced.
     I have communicated these facts here because recently and repeatedly I have noticed, the surprise of foreigners that so little has been done in Sweden to bring to light the scientific merits of Swedenborg. It is, in fact, mostly foreign savants that have devoted themselves to this problem. This is partly attributable to the difficulty which the deciphering of the manuscripts presents, but also partly to a certain difficulty In understanding their contents. It is necessary to enter rather deeply into the theorizing manner of observation and expression, which obtained in times long past and which today often appears peculiar, almost naive, in order to arrive at a correct conception of the significance of the statements. A further explanation of the fact that the Swedish investigators have taken a less prominent part in this direction may be found in this that a proper distinction has not been made between Swedenborg the theosophist and Swedenborg the student of nature. He was exclusively a student of nature until his fifty-fifth year, when he passed on to the field of Theosophy. In his scientific writings the theorizing method, which was customary at that time but which often seems strange and naive to us, is, indeed, apparent, but the later mysticism is never manifested. In the writings of his theosophical period he still holds fast to his early scientific views; but there they are mingled with the mystical ones.

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     For a just appreciation of Swedenborg's work and service in the fields of Anatomy and Physiology, it is necessary to have a knowledge of his other works and of the history of his mental development. We must be allowed, therefore, to glance briefly at this subject:

     Swedenborg, the son of the famous poet; and philologist, Bishop Jesper Swedberg, was born at Stockholm, in the year 1688, and was carefully educated, especially in classical languages and literature.

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His own inclinations, however, led him to the study of Mathematics and Physics, and to these he devoted himself more and more. After extensive scientific journeys in various countries, he returned to Sweden, a learned young man, in the year 171'4 King Charles XII., himself mathematically inclined, recognized the great talents of Swedenborg, and appointed him Assessor in the College of Mines. From now on Swedenborg devoted himself to Physics, Mineralogy and Metallurgy, made mechanical inventions, and, together with the famous Polhem, founded the Daedalus Hyperboreus, the first Swedish journal devoted to natural sciences. Swedenborg declined the professorship of Mathematics in Upsala, which had been offered to him, and devoted himself exclusively to his practical and scientific works. And now he began to publish his great scientific writings. In the first volume of his Opera Philosophica et Mineralia he explained among other things his new theory of cosmogony, a nebular theory, in which--long before Kant and Laplace--he represented in word and illustration the formation of the planets in the solar system. Laplace himself informs us that he had received his first ideas on this subject from Buffon, and Buffon, as is known, had Swedenborg's work in his library.

     Later on Swedenborg created a theory of light, which he based on the acceptation of the undulation and pressure of the ether. At the same time he presents a kind of molecular theory of the Universe, which is a wonderful forerunner of the stereo-chemical theory which in our own times has been developed in so magnificent a manner.

     Even before this he had made discoveries in the fields of Geology and Paleontology and had expressed opinions which were far ahead of his own times: he had, for instance, recognized petrified plants, and pointed out that the middle part of Sweden in a former period had been deep under water, and that certain whale-bones, (the Balaena Swedenborgii of Lilljeborg), as well as numerous accumulations of marine remains, such as heaps of mussel-shells high up on land, dated from this period.

     It would take us too far to enumerate here further examples of his services in this line. What has been adduced will suffice to enable us to recognize his unusual, penetration and his profound insight into the workshop of Nature.

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     Having occupied himself during many years with the earnest study of the inorganic world, he now gradually passed over to the organic. He was evidently possessed of a deep, unconquerable desire for a knowledge of the whole of Creation, and this desire led him ever higher. After eager studies in Anatomy during his journeys in Italy, he now devoted himself more and more, and finally exclusively, to the study of this subject.

     It was in his great anatomical-physiological work, the (OEconomia Regni Animalis, (published in the year 1740-41), that he first presented his experiences and views, and in the years 1744-45 he published another great work, the Regnum Animale. Beside this he wrote a series of minor treatises on diverse anatomical questions, as well as some large volumes on the Brain and other parts of the nervous system, but these have as yet been made known only in parts by Wilkinson and by Immanuel and Rudolph L. Tafel.

     These writings bear witness of great learning, and, on the whole, of logical deductions, although the lack of accessible facts may sometimes have misled him. But Swedenborg was evidently an acute and close observer and at the same time a penetrating thinker. In respect to his observations one can only lament that he did not place sufficient value upon his own investigations and discoveries, and that he did not thoroughly describe them, especially by the way of illustrations and charts, which would have made it easier to understand his writings.

     It is quite evident that in all his endeavors he sought for the Truth, and for it alone, and not for honor or fame. He wished to solve the riddle of the universe, and above all to find the fountain of life the seat and the nature of the soul. It was for this purpose that he devoted so many years of earnest work to study of the Brain.

     He attempted to apply his theory of the motion of the molecule to the structure and the functions of the Brain. He believed that he hall traced the mystery, and during the course of these his investigations he succeeded, in fact, in penetrating deeper in several fundamental fields than the rest of his contemporaries.

     With the year 1745 Swedenborg began to enter still further upon the study of the mystery of the soul.

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From now on began his theosophical period, and with this he ended his activity in the field of natural science.

     After this brief review of his life and work I return to the particular object of the present address, that is, the facts which justify me in making a communication to you on the subject of this wonderful investigator.

     I will therefore put before you the most important of the facts which are contained in the anatomical works of Swedenborg, particularly in respect to the general Anatomy and Physiology of the Brain, and I will do this in connection with the presentations of Rudolph Tafel and Max Neuburger, as well as on the basis of the studies which I myself have made, with the assistance of Mr. Alfred Stroh.

     Depending upon the works of the most prominent anatomists of his own and of the preceding period, Swedenborg gives thorough descriptions of the structure of the Brain, its meninges and vessels, and adds here and there his own theorizing thoughts and views, many of which may, indeed, seem strange and peculiar to us in the present age. But in order to be able to judge of the process of Swedenborg's reasoning, one must remember that he was at the beginning a mathematician, chemist and physicist in a wide sense, and that he developed his method of reasoning according to the manner of such a discipline. Again and again he indicates, as the supreme end of investigation, the creation of a mathematical philosophy, which was to arrange and embrace all sciences according to one uniform plan and to explain all the various phenomena. He sought to connect the Infinite with the finite; he believed that he had found a connecting point for this purpose, and that he was on the track of such an explanation. This connecting point is, in fact, his "Point," and the explanation is to be found in the motion, the Tremulation, a vibrating and undulating motion of the finest particles. Even in one of his earliest writings, printed in 1718, he reduces the nature of life to such tremulations.

     When he now passed on to extensive studies of the psychical phenomena, he endeavored to find a confirmation of his theory in the structure of the Brain. It is evident from his writings that he himself had been eagerly occupied in examinations and experiments with the Brain, as also that he had very thoroughly studied the literature on the subject.

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As early as the year 1734 he had come to the decided conviction that the phenomena of the soul, the Psyche, have their seat in the gray substance, and most especially in the cortical substance of the cerebrum. This thought may be traced like a scarlet thread throughout all his writings on the Nervous System.

     This thing is to be most especially emphasized, because the anatomists of the highest order, not only before him, but also for a long time after him, had placed the seat of the Psyche elsewhere, sometimes in the medullary substance and the walls of the ventricle, sometimes even in the fluids of the latter.

     In harmony with Malpighi and the best anatomists of his time, and following the direction of Hippocrates, he accepted the idea that the cortical substance is to be regarded as a kind of glandular substance, and consequently that the Brain itself is a kind of gland of the highest degree, which prepares the animal spirit and at the same time performs all the psychic functions.

     According to Swedenborg's view the gray or cortical substance consists of a mass of innumerable and most minute particles of an oval form, which he sometimes designates as glandules, sometimes as spherules, organnules or cerebellula. These little particles, which he conceives to be a kind of most minute laboratories or organs, are separated from one another by another substance, which covers them and also holds them together in ever larger groups, thus constructing the greater organs of the Brain. Each spherule is furnished with a minute arterial branch, and terminates in a fine fibre which passes on to the medullary substance beneath it, and here becomes somewhat grosser and medullary, in order afterwards to pass on through the crura cerebri to the medulla oblongata and spinalis, and through these onward with the peripheric nerves to the various organs of the body, the glands, the muscles, and the skin, there to find their peripheric ends. All these nerve-fibres are on the way furnished with coverings, which combine them into ever larger bundles; and the nerve-stems themselves receive on their departure from the Brain and the medullas their own special sheaths, which are a continuation of the three coverings of the Brain and the spinal marrow. The nerve-fibres in this way conduct into all parts of the body the finest or spirituous fluid, which had originated in the spherules of the gray substance, and which is actuated and moved through a kind of "animation" of the Brain.

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     The cortical substance, which contains an incalculable mass of the above-mentioned finest arterial branches, produces an abundant lymph, which also finds its way through the medullary fibres, and which through the nerves is carried about into the whole body. This circulation of the lymph is effected through the motions of the Brain. While the anatomist of Swedenborg's time either denied the motion of the Brain or else regarded it as synchronous and connected with the pulsation of the arteries, or arising from the contractions of the dura mater, Swedenborg on the other hand brought forth sure proofs to show that the motion of the Brain not only exists and constantly presents itself in living conditions, but is also synchronous and closely connected with the motion of the lungs, the respiratory motion. Moreover, Swedenborg is to my knowledge the very first who pointed out the real nature of the cerebro-spinal fluid; the former anatomists present concerning it only very vague and hesitating accounts: they speak of vapors and moistures, etc. But Swedenborg, in fact, recognized not only its existence but also its distribution and its great importance, and this long before Cotugno, [d. 1822], who is generally referred to as the discoverer of this fluid. He has also followed its motion in the great ventricles of the Brain, and out of these through the fourth ventricule in the subarachnoidal space, and he speaks in connection with it of the central channel of the spinal marrow, which commences at the calamus scriptorius, and which to my knowledge was until then unknown.

     Finally, he has also described at length the discharge of the cerebro-spinal fluid forward by means of the fila olfactoria into the mucous membrane of the nose; he is, therefore, to be designated as the forerunner of G. Schwalbe, as well as of Key and of myself.

     On the whole, Swedenborg has devoted great attention to the lymphatic apparatus of the Brain and of the whole nervous system, and I cannot but deplore that I and Key were not acquainted with these works and accounts of our great countryman, when, in the years 1875-76, we gave an historical presentation of these questions in our monographic work.

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     While these discoveries and views of Swedenborg are very remarkable when compared with those of his contemporaries, there remains to be mentioned another fact, which is to be described as nothing less than wonderful.

     For he arrived at the firm conviction that there is a localization in the cortical substance, and, indeed, of motor centres. The cortex, says Swedenborg, is the seat of the voluntary activity of the muscles.

     "Ut cerebrum ex suo cortice, ut a metus principio, possit quas velit, fibras, nerves, et musculos excitare."

     The Brain has the power and liberty to influence all the nerve fibres or bundles of nerves, and consequently all the nerves and muscles of the body, and to excite them to activity. Different regions of the cortical substance rule over different motor regions of the body.

     Swedenborg divided the Brain differently from the way it is done in our days, and differently also from the way of his own contemporaries. He did, indeed, accept three Lobes, but he described these as an upper lobe, stretching along the marginal convolution, a middle lobe, beneath this, and a lowest lobe. And now he came to the astonishing conclusion that the muscles of the lower part of the body, i. e., the lower extremities, have their centres in the upper lobe, while the muscles of the abdomen and thorax, (respectively the upper extremities), have their centres in the middle lobe, and the muscles of the head and the face theirs in the lowest or third lobe, for, he adds, the groups of muscles and the lobes of the Brain show that they "correspond to one another in an inverse ratio." I here take the liberty, on account of the importance of the subject, to quote his own words:

     Ita etiam dispositus videtur ordo, quod id efficiant corpora striata, quae cerebrum determinat, et mens rationalis jubet, imo ita ut a supremis immediatius dependeant musculi ct actiones, quae in ultimis corporis sunt, seu in plantis; a lobo medio musculi qu;e sunt abdominis et thoracis, et a lobo tertio, qui sunt faciei et capitis: nam videntur ordine inverse sibi correspondere. (From the manuscript of Codex 58, p. 217, written in the year 1744; Comp. Rud. L. Tafel's The Brain, Vol. I., pp. 58-59, 68).

     Swedenborg, therefore, has not only predicted the localization of the motor centres of the cortical substance, in harmony with the views gained from pathological and physiological experiences during the latter half of the past century, but he has even on the whole correctly pointed out the seat of these centres!

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     Whether he arrived at this conception through his own physiological or pathological discoveries, cannot be definitely determined from the accounts in such of his voluminous printed or unprinted works as have hitherto been examined. In any case it is significant that he refers to experiments with animals, in order to determine with certitude which gyres correspond to the various groups of muscles.

     "Experientiae est et temporis," says he in his OEconomia Regni Animalis of the year 1741, "ut evestigetur qui gyrus ct qui serpens tumulus in cerebro hune aut illum musculum ut correspondentem suum in corpore respiciat."

     Dr. Neuburger, who in general strongly emphasizes Swedenborg's predictions in regard to the localization of the motor centres, although he does not refer to Swedenborg's accounts of their special and inverse arrangement, refers both to the expression cited above and also to another which is equally remarkable, and which reads as follows:

     Ergo inquirendnm venit, qui tori corticei his ant illis musculius in corpore correspondent; quod fieri non Detest nisi per experientiam in vivis animalibus, per punctiones, sectiones et compressiones plurlum, perque inde in corporis musculis redundantes effectus.

     It is with justice that these expressions have been described as "wonderful."

     In respect to the Sensorium, also, there is a series of statements which command a decided interest. He follows the nerves of the various organs of sense, the smell, the sight, the hearing and the touch, to the base of the Brain, the medulia oblongata, and the Brain itself, and, indeed, through the crura cerebri, into the medullary substance of the Brain; after the nerve-fibres have entered here, they go forth each one to its special spherule in the cortical substance. Their terminal stations, therefore, are also in the cortex. But here he describes no special centres of the sensories, but emphasizes the internal connection of the various impressions of the senses.

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There is, he says, one only and common sensory,--a sensorium commune--in the cortex:

     Ergo nulla cerebri pars individua organo cuidam sensorio corporis correspondet, sed est substantia corticis in communi, quae nullius non grtadus modificationes secundum seriem, in guam disposita estt recipit, ad judicem animam convenienter refert; quae percipit, intelliglt, sapit quam eunque mutationem ex cujuscunclue generis, speciei, gradus tactu suo systemati ejusque nexibus.... Haec confirmantur, in apoplecticis, epilepticis, catalepticis, maniacis...catulis, etc.

     Swedenborg, therefore, assumes a, the source, i. e., the terminations of the nerve-fibres of the organs of sense certain definite places in the cortical substance; but he emphasizes the fact that there exists so internal a conjunction between the innumerable higher perceptive sensory elements of the cortex, that they act conjointly in the highest psychic activities: hence the unity of the cerebral functions.

     The difference between Swedenborg's views and those of modern science is, in fact, not great. If I open a modern textbook on the Physiology of Man, I find, for instance, the following sentence as introduction to the concluding recapitulation in the chapter on the physiology of the cerebrum: "In the complicated spiritual functions all the centres of association and sense work together, since they are connected with one another by innumerable nerve-fibres, whence results the unity of the cerebral functions." (Lehrbuch der Physiologie des Menschen, by Robert Tigerstedt.)

     Swedenborg, of course, was not aware of the fact that the central terminal organs of the nerves of the various organs of sense lie more or less collected each in their own regions of the cortex; he was not acquainted with the localization of the various sense-centres, which has become known only through the intense investigations of the past few decennia. We need not wonder at this. On the contrary, it is wonderful, that he, from the point of view of the science of his age, was able to penetrate so far into the mysteries of the construction of the Brain, as has been indicated above.

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     His views on these subjects were no passing fancies, no evanescing ideas. They return again and again in his works, in various places, and: seem to have been gained by long years of study and thought. Divested of notions and views which in many respects are somewhat fantastic or naive, but which are in harmony with the ideas of his age, there nevertheless remains a series of conceptions which have been recognized and found correct only in our own age,-the age of natural sciences mightily extended and becoming ever more profound.

     Emanuel Swedenborg, therefore, according to the standpoint of his time, not only had a thorough knowledge of the construction of the brain, but had also gone far ahead of his contemporaries in fundamental questions.

     The question arises: how was all this possible? The answer can hardly be other than this: Swedenborg was not only a learned anatomist and a sharp-sighted observer, but also in many respects an unprejudiced, acute and deep anatomical thinker.

     He towers in the history of the study of' the Brain as a unique, wonderful, phenomenal spirit, as an ideal seeker for truth, who advances step by step to ever higher problems. One may more easily understand his life and labors, as was pointed out above, when- one places his achievements in Anatomy and Physiology in juxtaposition with those in Geology, Mechanics, Cosmogony and Physics. With this as a background, his whole endeavor becomes somewhat more intelligible. He sought to find the one principle of the universe and of life in the whole. He thought that he had found this original principle in the motion, the tremulation of the finest particles. This fundamental view of things led him always further to an almost all-sided investigation and to a view of the fabric of Creation, wonderfully deep for his time. With this view as a guide he gained knowledge and created theories which could be acknowledged and appreciated only in our own age.

578


Title Unspecified 1903

Title Unspecified              1903

     "He who knows how to interpret allegorically, will see that the inner sense excels the simplicity of the letter, as apples do leaves." (Beda Venerabilis.)

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LAW OF RETALIATION 1903

LAW OF RETALIATION       Rev. E. J. STEBBING       1903

     THE Spiritual world, no less than the Natural, is governed by laws, which are called laws of Order. Laws are as necessary in the one world as in the other, for Order is maintained by laws, and without Order nothing can exist and subsist. Spiritual laws are the laws by which angels and devils are governed; and natural laws are the laws by which men are governed. These latter, however, are made or formulated by men, and therefore may be, and sometimes are, unjust; but spiritual laws never, for they are from the Lord Himself. Laws made by men are so far just as they contain in themselves, true spiritual principles; so far as a law violates a spiritual principle, so far is it unjust, and, therefore, inevitably a cause of disorder. Hence the necessity of those responsible for the making of our laws, being "skilled in the laws, wise and fearing God." (H. D. 323)

     The law of retaliation, which is a universal law of the Spiritual world, was taught by the Lord when He said: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." These words express a spiritual law in natural language. Notice the language! "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." This may be very selfish, literally understood and obeyed, but the angels do not so understand and act. It is the joy of their life to give to others, and the law is, that as they give so shall they receive.

     A still lower adaptation of the law is given in the words "Thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." (Ex. xxi, 23-25.) The law was given to the Jews in this form, because they could understand nothing higher; for they were external men, and therefore they were not in charity, or mercy, or patience. It is this Jewish law of retaliation which rules in the hells.

     Since the law of retaliation expresses a spiritual law, and since man is an inhabitant of the spiritual world while he is yet in the natural world, it follows that the law has application to the spirit of man while he is yet in the body.

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It is therefore a matter of importance that a man should understand it, in order that he may guard against its violation. For any violation of it brings him under the infernal law of retaliation; and an observation of it brings him within the operation of the same law as it is in heaven. In hell, it is the law of retaliation; in heaven it is the Golden Rule.

     Obedience to the Golden Rule demands that we should do to others as we would wish them to do to us; and since every one wishes that good may be done to him, this also is required of us. To love the neighbor is to will good to him. He who loves another cannot but will good to him, and to will good to any one is to intend use to him. This is the test which should be applied by the man of the Church, to his thoughts, intentions, and acts concerning his neighbor. Nothing is allowable which does not regard use to the neighbor. If it is not of use, it is evil and injurious use to him. Knowing our hereditary disposition we map begin with the admission, that the greater part of the discussion of neighbor is from no intention of use to him, but merely to ventilate our feelings and opinions. And knowing this weakness what great care is required of us, if we really desire to refrain from injuring our neighbor in thought, word, or deed! Hatred of the neighbor prevails at the present day, and yet how great a part of our conversation is gossip concerning our neighbor. Take away this fruitful source of conversation and many would have nothing to say. It is better to appear dull in the eyes of the world than to be entertaining at the expense of the neighbor. "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mate out of thy brother's eye." (Matt. vii, 5.) When we indulge in talk on our neighbor's evils and shortcomings are we doing to him what we desire that he should do to us?

     All thought is from affection. He who thinks well of his neighbor, wills well to him and dwells on his good qualities and his affection for the things of the Church, but he who dwells on his neighbor's evils cannot will well to him. He who loves his neighbor, not only wills well to him, but also defends him against his enemies. Therefore, it is not sufficient that we should refrain from injuring our neighbor in thought, word or deed, but we must not lend a willing ear to what is said to his injury; for by doing this we lend encouragement and thus contribute to his hurt.

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As we wish to be defended, so let us defend.

     What are the results of the observance or non-observance of the law of retaliation. As may be supposed, they are opposite. He who does good to another from the heart, receives like good; and he who does evil to another from the heart, receives like evil; for good from the heart is conjoined with its reward, and evil from the heart is conjoined with its punishment. With him who does good from the heart good from heaven flows in from all sides into his heart and soul, and, at the same time, the affection of love for the neighbor is increased, and with that affection its delight. Good increases according to the exercise of it. So does evil. With him who from the heart does evil to another, evil from hell flows in from all sides into his heart, and excites it; in this way the affection of self-love is increased, and with it the delight of hatred and revenge against those who do not submit themselves.

     While man lives in the world the effect upon the evil, of the law of retaliation, is that they confirm themselves in their evils, and thus sink themselves deeper into the hells. When man comes into the other life, however, the evil which he seeks to bring upon another falls back on himself in a very real and evident way, for other evil spirits are allowed to do to him what he intended to do to another; so that, not only does evil punish itself, but it is evil spirits who punish evil spirits. A practical instance of the effect of this law of retaliation, as seen in the Spiritual world, is given by Swedenborg in the Spiritual Diary (2913). He says: "It was often granted me to tell spirits on whom evil was inflicted, that they are the cause of the evil; that the fault or evil contains this in itself; that is, that in an evil man, there is such a nature that it is reflected back on him in a wonderful manner; which also is the law of retaliation. For example: Certain ones wished to trouble me in sleep and to take away all my sleep; wherefore there were others who troubled them all night, and I slept. Thus they were the cause of the evil that befell them, which was reflected back on them, as the evil of retaliation."

     The Lord says: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth;' but I say unto you, 'Resist not evil;' ye have heard that it hath been said, 'Thou shall love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy;' but I say unto you, 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to those hating you, that ye may be the sons of your Father in the heavens.'"

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By these words, the Lord did not repeal the law of retaliation given to the Israelites, but explained it. He taught that they who are in heavenly love ought not to have delight in retaliation or revenge, but in doing good; and that the very law of order, which protects good, namely the law of retaliation, does this of itself, by means of the evil (A. C. 8223). For civil wrongs, man has the civil law and must avail himself of it, but for any spiritual violation of the law of charity, resulting in apparent injury to himself, he may very well trust to the Lord who defends him from all evil.

     In the above, we have dealt mainly with that violation of the Golden Rule, which consists in speaking to the injury of another. But, of course, it is not enough to cease from doing this. Man must cease to think evil of his neighbor, and in order to do this, he must cease to will evil to him; for only then does he obey the Divine Command. "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." But the further application of what has been said, to the thought and will, will be apparent to the thoughtful reader. Yet these applications can never be made actual until evil speech against the neighbor is shunned. This is the ultimate in which and on which evil thought will rest.
OUR CHURCH SOCIAL LIFE 1903

OUR CHURCH SOCIAL LIFE       GEORGE A. MCQUEEN       1903

(A paper read before the District Assembly of the General Church, held in Colchester, England, August 1st, 1903.)

     THERE are various kinds of social life. It might be said that all life among civilized communities is social life. The tendency seems more and more to specialize even the social life, by the holding of social functions in connection with business, political and philanthropical associations.

     We see this operating with Church and State. Wherever a number of people are found having a common object in view, we find them meeting together in social intercourse for the purpose of strengthening each other in the attainment of the end sought after.

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     The quality of social meetings is of course decided by the duality of the use. If it is merely for the gratification of the senses, as much of present-day social life is, it is of course on the lowest plane, but it is possible so to use these external delights that the highest things may be promoted thereby, and this is why the Church has always found it useful to hold all kinds of meetings more or less of a social character.

     The New Church is a Spiritual Church, and its social life must originate from a spiritual internal. Unless it is so, it cannot properly be called Church Social Life. If mere entertainment or external enjoyment is desired, it can be found anywhere, and in a more perfect form externally, than in the Church.

     The delights of social life in the early Christian Church must have been mostly associated with very simple externals, and so it has been in the history of the New Church, and more recently in the life of the Academy and the General Church.

     There are many reasons why the social life of our Church should be developed, and it may be useful here to recapitulate some of the reasons which have been given to us in the past, and which apply with daily increasing force, surrounded as we are by steadily growing temptations to be led away by the strong social spheres of the world.

     We have been taught much concerning the importance of distinctive social life, and the dangers to be guarded against in encouraging social intercourse with those outside the Church.

     We are taught among other things that the insidious nature of the sphere of the world is apt to destroy in us the perception of the difference between the New and the Old; that since the New and the Old doctrines cannot be together, neither can the recipients of those doctrines; that in the primitive Christian Church there where social gatherings of those who called themselves brothers in Christ, which were gatherings of Charity, because they were a spiritual brotherhood; that in the New Church, being both internal and external, there must be an internal in its social life, which must be gatherings of charity, and must regard use as their end--the use of recreating the soul; that where this state exists, it is almost impossible for a Newchurchman to enter the sphere of Old Church social life without injury to himself mainly because there is such a strong sphere of external enjoyment that it is very difficult to perceive the true nature of such gatherings,-- gatherings in which there is no end in view except the mere external enjoyment; that while we are in the world, the Lord does not desire that we be removed from the world and its enjoyments, but that we be kept from its evils, and that we can be kept from these only by looking to the Lord, and shunning evils as sins against Him; that business requirements and the duties of civil life necessitate the formation of external friendship which would otherwise be Undesirable; that the end or use in all such cases must determine what ought to be done: that if children were properly instructed by their parents, there would be little difficulty in keeping them at home, where the social sphere ought always to centre.

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     These are a few out of many of the teachings which have been placed before the members of the General Church during the past few years, all of which we thoroughly believe to be based upon the Doctrines of our Church. They are teachings which cannot be ignored, if we would see real progress in our social life, whether in the home or the meetings of the Church.

     The external form is, after all, a matter of secondary importance. What is needed is a genuine affection for the things of the Church, and the recognition that social intercourse is a necessary external means of keeping alive this affection, and increasing its growth.

     It is gratifying to know that there is an increasing recognition of this need, and that many happy results have followed from efforts already put forth to ultimate it in societies of the General Church.

     We will conclude this brief paper with a few suggestions as to the various means which may be used to promote the end in view.

     We have a varied choice of forms, ranging from the old style tea meeting, with bountiful Supply of bread and butter and cake, supplied at a charge of 6d per head, to the modern elegant luncheon, with wines of various kinds to give zest to the appetite, and to produce a convivial sphere.

     Parties for the children, both indoors and out of doors, dances, etc., can all be brought into operation to bring together members of our societies.

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     It seems, however, that in our small body as at present existing in this part of the world, the evening supper party is the most practicable, and as these are mostly in evidence, we will refer chiefly to them.

     First, then, we must clearly understand that we meet as members of the Church, as members of a family, where each is free to unburden his thoughts to the others on spiritual subjects. There should be no external pressure brought to bear upon anyone to attend a social meeting. Unless they freely come, their presence is apt to spoil the sphere, and bring no pleasure to themselves.

     For this reason it is desirable to have a clearly defined object in view when arranging a social, so that members may know the character of the intended meeting.

     We have this in our New Church Day meeting, our Swedenborg's Birthday meeting, and the meetings of the District Assemblies.

     It seems to me that a very profitable time could be spent, if, after eating and drinking together, members could introduce items of news, and special statements of doctrine, which had come to their notice in the periodicals of the Church. This plan would afford an endless supply of subject matter for conversation, and at the same time widen our view of the New Church as it exists in its various organizations. What would be thought of the man, who, in these days of newspapers, was found ignorant of current events in the world, and yet how very limited is the knowledge of many in the Church as to the doings of their brethren in the various societies of this and other countries. Such ignorance was excusable at one time, but the printing press has made it inexcusable.

     We have no doubt but that many subjects can be found suitable to talk about in this sociable manner, and these subjects would suggest toasts, which could be offered spontaneously and responded to by speeches, and by singing a verse of some well known Church song. A selection of simple verses, suitable for such purposes, should be learned by heart, so as to avoid the necessity of books, and in the beginning it might be useful for a member to sing the verse as a solo, after which all present could easily repeat it.

     We have yet to learn the benefits to be derived from this singing together. The world appreciates it at its socials, although it cannot explain the reason, but surely with our doctrines concerning choirs and spheres we should not be lacking in this respect.

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     The drinking of Toasts is becoming more and more familiar to us in our social life, but at present there is a lack of ease in our movements, as if we were afraid to let ourselves go,--a kind of restraint, a want of freedom.

     It may be interesting here to remind ourselves that this toast-drinking is no new thing in the New Church.

     In the report of the London Conference in the year 1813, we read: "The Revd. Joseph Proud repeated the Lord's Prayer, and the meeting adjourned until after dinner. The company assembled again to dinner, after which the following sentiments and toasts were drank: 'Great success to the cause of the New Church at Brightlingsea and neighborhood,' 'Success to the New Church in General,' 'The Revd. Mr. Proud and ministers of the Church.'"

     Let us once and for all remember that a Church Social is not an entertainment, where those who sing or assist in any way are to be looked upon as performers, and subject to criticism, as when we pay for admission to a concert. We cannot expect the Church to enter into competition with the world in this respect, nor do we wish it to do so.

     For the satisfactory carrying out of a social meeting, it hardly need be said that its arrangements should be in the hands of a capable president,--either the Pastor, or some one appointed by him, to perform the necessary duties.

     We might here remember the fact that a distinction should be made between socials for children and those for adults, and those adapted for all.

     As our members are not drawn from the leisured classes, and meetings cannot be held wry early, the virtue of punctuality should not be considered less important than when we meet at Doctrinal classes or Sunday Worship.

     The foregoing remarks do not offer anything new, but if they serve the purpose of reminding us of our duties with regard to our social life, and stimulate us to increased efforts in the right direction, our object will be attained.

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RICHARD DE CHARMS 1903

RICHARD DE CHARMS       C. TH. ODHNER       1903

     A BIOGRAPHY

     VI. HIS LAST YEARS.

(For the preceding installments of this biographical sketch, see New Church Life for January and March, 1902, and February, May, and July, 1903.)

     1850-1864.

     IN the spring of the year 1850, Mr. De Charms returned to his native city, Philadelphia, but now found himself debarred from any direct or active work in the ministry of the Church. The reason for this condition may be found partly in the mental peculiarities and eccentricities which he now began to exhibit, and partly in the almost universal opposition which he had aroused in the Church through his fearless printed utterances.

     In order, therefore, to find some means of support, he established in Philadelphia a printing office under the name of "The New Jerusalem Press," but found but little patronage for this enterprise, which, indeed, does not appear to have been conducted according to any generally accepted "business principles." Gradually falling into great destitution, he issued one appeal after another to his friends in the Church, asking, not for charity, but for work to do. But his propositions were so unpracticable that even his best friends could not encourage him in this cause. He therefore found it necessary to eke out a precarious living by work as proofreader and compositor, while still, now and then, preaching for the various New Church societies in and about Philadelphia and elsewhere, when his services were required.

     Thus, in the summer of 1852, he was invited to preach for three months to the New York Society, which at this time had withdrawn from connection with the General Convention. This society had for several years been in a very unsatisfactory condition. During the pastorate of the Rev. Charles D. Doughty, the first pastor, it had been permeated with the destructive notions of the "Conjugial" heresy, from which the pastor, but not the society, had been rescued through the efforts of Mr. De Charms.

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     Then came the Rev. B. F. Barrett, who, while very effective in his missionary efforts, sowed the seeds of extreme radicalism in the society, involving it in opposition to the distinctiveness of the New Church, denial of the priesthood and the established order of the Church, etc. About the same time modern Spiritualism made its appearance, and was hailed by many influential members of the New Church in New York as convincing evidence of the truthfulness of Swedenborg's claims and as the harbinger of a new, celestial era of open intercourse with Heaven.

     Then Professor George Bush united with the New Church in New York. A man of undoubted talents and learning, and of international fame as a Hebraist and Biblical commentator, his conversion created great excitement in the theological world and was greeted with boundless enthusiasm by the New Church, where he was looked upon as a "pivotal man," who was to become a very Paul of Swedenborgianism. But it was soon found that in coming over to the New Church he brought with him all sorts of impossible notions from the Old, and, besides, added new fuel to the fire of Spiritualism that had crept into the New York Society.

     Mr. De Charms, on being invited to preach in this nest of unsoundness, utilized his opportunity by delivering a series of powerful sermons on the subject of "Pseudo-Spiritualism," which, as might be imagined, did not add to his popularity in that quarter. But he afterwards printed a part of the series, under the title Introduction, to Sermons on Pseudo-Spiritualism, presenting Reasons for their delivery in New York (Philadelphia, 1853, pp. 84), and thereby not only laid bare a very sad chapter in the history of the New Church in New York, but also did great service to the Church at large by counteracting the pernicious influence of T. L. Harris and other "celestialists" who now began to infest the Church.

     On October 23d, 1852, we find Mr. De Charms present in Philadelphia at the final meeting of the Central Convention, which now, after several years of lingering decline, wound up its affairs and declared itself dissolved. Its use, which at the best had only been one of protest against arbitrary government, had been accomplished. The Church in New England had been forced to disclaim any responsibility for the "Conjugial" heresy of Thomas Worcester and his followers, and the General Convention had seen the necessity of rescinding the "squeezing rule" of 1837.

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A sounder and more liberal state seemed to prevail in the convention, while those who were not deceived by fair appearances were so few as to be unable to maintain an independent general body. But Mr. De Charms never rejoined the General Convention.

     During this year Mr. De Charms published his work on The importance and Necessity of an External Church (Philadelphia, pp. 168), which is one of his very best theological productions,--quite a text-book, in fact, on the subject of the distinctiveness of the New Church, and in January, 1853, he resumed the publication of The Newchurchman, this time as an occasional publication under the title The Newchurchman Redivivus, which appeared in six "half-numbers," between 1853 and 1856, containing various historical articles, biographical sketches, and comments on the current affairs of the Church, discussed with the utmost freedom, and in the usual brilliant style of the author.

     On October 27, 1854. Mr. De Charms presided at a meeting of those who supported the Rev. William H. Benade in his conflict with the majority of the Philadelphia First Society. The issue in this very important crisis in the history of the New Church in Philadelphia was apparently a rather trivial one. The society was erecting a new temple, at the corner of Broad and Brandywine streets; the ruling committee, against the protests of the pastor, Mr. Benade, had decided to place the corner-stone in the northwest corner, instead of the south-east, but beneath this apparent issue was the whole platform of spiritual principles for which Mr. De Charms and Mr. Benade had stood for many years, and for which the Academy and the General Church stand at this day, i. e., the authority of the Heavenly Doctrines, the Distinctiveness of the New Church, and Order in the Church.

     At the meeting referred to, those who sympathized with Mr. Benade in this issue decided to withdraw from the Philadelphia First Society, and to organize a new association, to be known as "The Philadelphia Society,"--a name chosen not from any spirit of arrogance, but because of its spiritual significance, as involving that the New Church is to be founded not merely for the sake of the uses of evangelization and worship, but for the sake of the cultivation of internal brotherly 1ove, based on the common performance of an active, daily use of charity, and the use chosen or this new association was that of New Church Education.

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For this purpose a lot was procured, and a building erected at the corner of Cherry and Clermont streets, and here a New Church day-school was established, and a society was organized, which became the matrix in which, subsequently, the Academy of the New Church assumed chrystallic form. It may thus be seen that Mr. De Charms was connected with the Academy movement, not only theoretically or theologically, but also historically and organically.

     In 1951 Mr. De Charms issued a publication in three parts, entitled A Defense of Homaeopathy against her New Church Assailants, in which he inveighed by scientific and theological arguments against the published utterances of such well-known (but in his opinion unsound) homoeopaths as Dr. Wm. H. Holcombe, the Rev. Thomas Wilks, Dr. Bush, and even the Rev. W. H. Benade, who, often, in after years, expressed his surprise at being classed in the category of the New Church assailants upon Homoeopathy. As to the issue involved in the controversy, it would be presumptuous for a mere layman to express his opinion where "doctors disagree," but there can be no doubt as to Mr. De Charms' services in stimulating in the New Church an interest and faith in the principles of "similia similibus." For the benefit of the physicians in the New Church it may be mentioned that a complete collection of Mr. De Charms' publications on the subject of Homoeopathy is preserved in the Library of the Academy of the New Church.

     The last of Mr. De Charms' publications were entitled Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver, or the true Rule of Spiritual Exegesies, and the only infallible Guide to the true understanding of the Word of God (a sermon, Philadelphia, 1856, pp. 32); the Nature and Need of Faith (a sermon, Philadelphia, 1857, pp. 32); and, General Epistles for Pastoral Instruction in the New Jerusalem (Philadelphia, 1860, five issues).

     The themes discussed in the last named publication were as follows: 1. "The distinctive characteristics of God's Scriptures and the Apostolic Writings;" 2. "The most prominent feature of a consummated age;" 3. "The true nature of the Christian life in the business world;" 4. "How an avaricious conflicts with true Christian life in the various business operations or in civil and political relations, of this world," and, 5. "The Incompatibility of the Christian Life with the spirit of the present age."

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     After this the busy pen of Mr. De Charms rested during the brief remainder of his earthly life. Broken by disease and numerous afflictions he spent his last years in a somewhat beclouded condition, but not long before his death the encompassing shadows seemed to clear away, and he departed peacefully and rejoicingly, on March 3d, 1864.

     During his troubled life, his voice was like that of one crying in the wilderness, crying, not to the outer world, but to the men of the New Church, to beware of the evils and falses that were closing in upon them from every side. His main Gospel was that of Repentance,-repentance of externalism, worldliness, and unfaithfulness to the Heavenly Doctrines as a true watchman on the walls of the New Jerusalem, he cried out in the night, when seeing the enemy coming against the Holy City. To us he appears as one associated with the great angelic host which is called "Michael" and to whom is given the sublime function of defending among men the integrity of the Word and of the Heavenly Doctrine, which is the Divine Human of the Lord. To this holy warfare he devoted his brilliant talents and his entire life, sacrificing all worldly prospects, undismayed at the universal and unrelenting condemnation and hatred which was aroused,--not so much against him as against the interior truths and goods for which he stood as almost the only spokesman in the time of his own generation. And though his message was then generally rejected, a few, received it; the sacred fire which had been kindled within his breast, and that inner, deeper light of spiritual illustration which glowed within his mind, these gifts of Heaven to the New Church were not extinguished by his natural death, for others had caught the spirit, and carried it forward to a coming generation, that was to usher in a new state in the New Church.

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Editorial Department 1903

Editorial Department       Editor       1903

     SOME REASONS FOR SEPARATING FROM THE OLD CHURCH.

     1. Separation is a universal law of Divine order, for the mingling of good and evil, truth and falsity, the new and the old, produces a state of profanation, attended with deadly perils to the soul. "Good and evil mutually shun each other; and by the law of order, each separates itself from the other; for good is of heaven, and evil and falsity are of hell; therefore as heaven and hell are separate, so also all and single things thence derived, separate themselves." (A. C. 6724)

     2. Separation is one of the two essentials of the Divine work of Redemption. "The first of Redemption is the complete subjugation of the hells, and the second is the separation of the evil from the good, and the casting down of the evil into hell, and the elevation of the good into heaven." (Cor. xxv.) For Redemption means the setting free of the good from the dominion of the evil who have formed imaginary heavens in the world of spirits. By the work of Redemption these imaginary heavens are formed into a new Hell, while those who are redeemed are formed into a new Heaven.

     3. From this new Heaven the Lord then derives and establishes a new Church on the earth, by revealing to men a new Word, given by inspiration from His own mouth. (Cor. iii.) Those who receive this new Divine Revelation are by the very reception of it separated from those who do not receive it, and are thus formed into a new Church or congregation. This has been the case in every one of the four preceding Churches. It is a universal law, and must therefore apply also to the Church of the New Jerusalem. For a new Church which is not separated from the former, "is a religion without any coherence or restoration." (A. E. 654)

     4. It was thus in the days of Noah, when a small remnant from the Most Ancient Church received the new revelation which is called the Ancient Word. This revelation was that Ark into which Noah and his family entered and by which they were separated and thus saved from the universal flood of evils and falses which overwhelmed the corrupt descendants of the first Church. It was a plenary separation, not only as to internal things, but also as to externals. It resulted in new worship, new life, and new nations, while the Antidiluvians were being destroyed even bodily, by their own evils.

     5. It was thus also in the days when the Lord revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush, commanding him to separate the children of Israel from the people of the devastated Ancient Church in the land of Egypt. A new Divine Revelation was about to be given, the Word of the Old Testament, in which the Lord would be present anew with men on earth.

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"For wherein shall it be known that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not that Thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." (Exodus 33:16.) There was no question, here, about a merely internal separation without external division, but it involved a bodily flight out of Egypt into the wilderness.

     6. And it was thus, again, in the days of primitive Christianity, when the Lord Himself separated His disciples from the observance of the Mosaic law. He did not revive or restore the Jewish Church amongst them, but instituted an entirely New Church, with new sacraments and rites and a new priesthood. There were, indeed, at first, many Judaizing Christians, but it was soon recognized that men could not consistently be Christians internally while remaining Jews externally. It was found that the separation must be complete in order to be genuine.

     7. And after the Jews had fully rejected the new Word, the Word of the Gospels, and the Christian Church had begun to be established among the gentiles of the Creek and Roman nations, the separation and distinctiveness of the Church was equally complete. The Christian Church was not established suddenly or imperceptibly by any immediate influx of truth into the minds of pagan priests and philosophers, but in the midst of indiscribable persecution it grew slowly and organically by open teaching and by the most distinct and exclusive separation from the people of all other religions. The Christians were separated and distinctive in all things, in their worship, in their social life, in marriage and in education.

     8. It must be thus also in the Church of the New Jerusalem to which the Lord has revealed Himself in the new Word which is Himself in His Second Advent. For the very purpose of the Second Advent is to effect a separation of the Old from the New Church. "The Second Advent of the Lord takes place in order that the evil may be separated from the good, and that those may be saved who believe in the Lord, and that a new angelic Heaven may be formed from them, and a New Church on earth, and without this no flesh could he saved." (T. C. R. 772)

     9. The New Church, we are taught, is to be established at first "among a few," in the same manner that all preceding Churches have been established. This very fact, which is abundantly verified by experience, shows that the New Church must be established separate from the Old Church, for if it could he established by any immediate influx of truth in the Christian world at large, or by any general permeation, without external separation, it would be quickly established among many, and the Writings of the New Church would then be false in their testimony and prophecy.

     10. In the New Church "all things" are to be "made new." The newness necessarily involves separation, for that which is not separate and distinct from the old, cannot he called new; it is one with the old by reason of continuity. What is new is discreet from the old, discreet and distinct in every sense of these terms.

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And if the New Church is to be new in "all" things, it must he discreet, distinct, and separate in all things, in externals as well as in internals. It must have a distinct Church organization, distinct ministry, sacraments and worship, a distinct religious, conjugial and social life.
Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     THE September number of The American Medical Monthly, of Baltimore, publishes as its leading article a brief but highly interesting paper on "Swedenborg upon the Brain, the Heart, and the Lungs," by Dr. C. S. Mack, of Laporte, Ind. Copies may be obtained from the editor, Dr. Henry Chandlee, at 704 West North avenue, Baltimore.



     The late Mr. Bonney is described in Unity as "a lawyer with religion; a man of affairs who believed in ideas. His own faith was that of the Swedenborgian Church, which he held with enthusiasm and urged with skill. In this communion he was a lay reader widely honored,--one of the unfrocked bishops of the movement."

     We did not know that Mr. Bonney had been either "frocked' or "unfrocked" by his New Church brethren.



     Dr. Cyrus Teed, or "Koresh," as he styles himself, maintains in his organ, The Flaming Sword, that Swedenborg's mission was exclusively for the benefit of the spiritual world. This statement is challenged by the Rev. L. G. Landenberger. Dr. Teed also claims that he is the re-incarnation of Swedenborg, who was the re-incarnation of Jesus Christ, who was the re-incarnation of Cyrus, king of Persia, whose name, in Hebrew, is "Koresh." Quid ultra.



     From Dr. Max Neuburger, of Vienna, we have received a brochure of eight pages, entitled "Swedenborg's Stellung zur Lehre von der Vita Propria, (Swedenborg's position in respect to the Doctrine of the "Vita Propria")." An English translation, by Mr. Ashworth Barnes, appears in the October issue of the New Church Magazine. We hope, before long, to present a more extended notice of this contribution to the increasing literature of "Swedenborgiana" in the scientific world.



     Special attention is called to the news from Indianapolis, published in the news columns of this month's issue of the Life. The fact concerning the resignation of the Rev. W. L. Gladish from the pastorate of the Indianapolis Society, together with the resolution adopted by that Society on the occasion, were published in the New Church Messenger; but the statement which Mr. Gladish presented, setting forth his reasons for withdrawing from the General Convention and uniting with the General Church of the New Jerusalem, was suppressed by the editor of the Messenger, though offered to him for publication by the Secretary of the Indianapolis Society.

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     Under the heading "A Welcome Pronouncement" the New Christianity for September quotes at great length from a pamphlet, entitled A Resolution and Report adopted by the Ministers of the Convention, June, 1903, (pp. 13) The pamphlet, which, we understand, is being freely circulated among persons not connected with the General Convention, bears on the cover the legend "Printed for Private Circulation." The New Christianity, however, announces that the editors 'have sought and obtained consent to reprint the most of it," and consequently proceeds to make public property of the whole "private" affair. Both the "Resolution" and the "Report" deal with the subject of "Fornication and Concubinage."



     "I say the little flower is blue; and what does that sentence mean? It is not blue abstractly from the seer, but blue because my eye so perceives it. If I were color blind, and if no eye but mine ever saw its dainty petals, it would never be a 'blue' flower at all. It is what it is, because I am what I am." Thus writes Mr. E. Green Dodge in a sermon published in the Messenger for September 23d. The statement may serve as an example of a very ancient and common misunderstanding which makes all phenomena entirely dependent upon the sensories of each individual. Things are what they are not because they are so in themselves, or because God so made them, but because a man so perceives them. The violet is blue because "my eye has painted it" with that color. Is there not, then, any such thing as Truth, independent of man's conception? Did not the sun shine in the heavens, ere human eyes were opened? Did not God exist from eternity, before there was a man to acknowledge and worship Him?



     The Open Court for October publishes the funeral address on "Charles Carroll Bonney," by L. P. Mercer, who speaks very openly of Mr. Bonney's study of Swedenborg's Writings, and of his connection with the New Church. The address is exceedingly well written, but the author is rather disposed to exaggerate the importance of the "Parliament of Religions" which was held at Chicago in 1903, and of which the late Mr. Bonney was the leading spirit. To speak of it as "that supreme achievement of organization and reconciliation known in history" seems a rather strong expression, in view of the fact that nothing permanent was effected by it either in the way of organization or reconciliation. Nay, if we are to believe the editor of the Messenger (Sept. 23d), the effect of the Parliament has been anything but healthful "for the simple reason that since the Chicago Congresses the Churches are jealous and mistrustful of the influence of liberal bodies generally, and of the spiritual enlightenment of the New Church in particular."

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(This, by the way, is a comforting view to take of the lonesomeness of the New Church; to us the universal silence on the part of the Old Church seems to indicate ignorance and oblivion as to the very existence of the New Church, rather than jealousy and mistrust of its spiritual enlightenment.)



     Mr. C. W. Morse, of North Waratah, Australia, writing in The New Age for August, vigorously contends for the authority of written Revelation, versus the atheistic tendencies which are at work both within and without the nominal New Church. He quotes the following from The New Christianity: "The New Church, if it would not follow the course of the former Christian Church, downward into the shades of spiritual death, or if it would ascend out of these shades, must guard against the old tendency to believe that the standard of Divine Truth which the Lord reveals, is, as declared by Mr. Klein, [in New Church Life for February], fixed and unchangeable, established for all time, today, tomorrow, forever. It is a distinctive belief of the new and living Church, that the Divine Truth which the Lord in His Second Coming reveals to His every humble disciple, is a fluid, spiritual, luminous, and living thing, and that the standard of its genuineness is the life-love from which it proceeds as flame from heat such is spiritual truth. It comes not from any writing, and 'fix' it by any writing to the extent of making that writing a standard, rather than a subservient and suggestive help, destroys its fluid and living quality. Swedenborg called himself but a servant of the Lord, and his writings cannot properly be more. They cannot be lord of the Church without destroying it."

     Upon which Mr. Morse makes this terse observation "Here are ashes in place of silver. Let those who will, wallow in its empty verbiage."



     From Adalbert Jantschowitsch, of Budapest, we have received a pamphlet of 92 pages, entitled Abwehr des falschen Zeugnisses eines neukirchlichen General-Pastors gegen die christliche Neu Theosophie (Defense against the false testimony of a General Pastor of the New Church in respect to the Christian New Philosphy). The "General Pastor" thus incriminated is our respected friend, the Rev. Fedor Goerwitz, who, in his monthly journal, the Monatblatter, had the temerity to call attention to the and destructive nature of a series of articles by Herr Jantschowitsch, published in the Bote der Neuen Kirche, the organ of the German members of the New Church as the author of some very silly and unhealthy stories and plays in which the names of Swedenborg and the New Church are freely disported, and which, therefore, were swallowed indiscriminately as "New Church" literature. He acted also, at various times, as unauthorized preacher to the New Church societies in Herisau, Vienna, and Budapest, and was more or less mixed up with the spiritistic movement of Albert Artope, whose cause was so warmly espoused by the Rev. Adolph Roeder in the Bote, to the great detriment of the New Church among our German-speaking brethren.

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Now he has taken up with a new spiritistic movement in Germany, styling itself "the Christian New Theosophy," which is fathered by a medium named Lorber, who claims to receive revelations directly from the Lord Himself, the communications being delivered in first person and signed by "your Jesus-father." Swedenborg is claimed as the fore-runner, the John the Baptist, of this movement, and New Church terms and expressions are freely mingled with inane twaddle and sickening profanations of the usual spiritistic sort. Herr Jantschowitsch's pamphlet is chiefly of philological interest, as exhibiting the range of abusive expressions in the German tongue, all of which are poured out in mad fury against the faithful representative of the New Church in Continental Europe.



     The Literary Digest for August 15 describes a recently discovered astronomical papyrus table, which sheds unexpected light upon the long-disputed date of the birth of the Lord in Bethlehem. It is universally conceded that the Roman abbot, Dionysius Exiguus, who in the seventh century introduced the Christian chronology. miscalculated the date of the Lord's birth, placing this event from four to six years later than when it really occurred. But now, in this Egyptian papyrus, which has recently been brought to Berlin, there is a list of the positions of the planets from the year 17 B. C. to 10 A. D., and it records the fact that on the 26th of December, in the year 6 B. C., there was an unusual conjunction of the planet Jupiter with the planet Saturn, the two making a marvellously brilliant constellation, which is regarded as actually the "Star in the East," the star that "stood" over Bethlehem. "This fact explains why the primitive Church appointed December as the Christmas month; not because this or that Roman or Greek divinity had been celebrated on that day and his service was adopted by the Christian Church, but because the early Christians knew that Christ was born in December."



     It will be remembered that Swedenborg, in describing the spirits from the Moon, states that "the inhabitants of the Moon do not speak so much from the lungs, as do the inhabitants of other earths, but from the abdomen, and thus from a certain quantity of air collected there; and this for the reason that the moon is not surrounded with a like atmosphere to that of other earths." (A. C. 9235; E. U. 111.) And in another place he adds, "They were not like others, because they do not have such an atmosphere about them; but what kind of an atmosphere they have I do not know." S. D. 3244.

     Time was when these statements were ridiculed by the votaries of Science who were fully persuaded that the moon was an extinct volcano, void of life because having no atmosphere about it, or one so slight as not to count. Recent observations have resulted in a decided modification of the old theory, though all agree with Swedenborg that the moon is not surrounded with the same kind of an atmosphere as that of the earth.

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We now learn from the Literary Digest that M. de Fonville, in Science Illustree, states that by means of lunar photography, "we approach, slowly but surely, the time when we can discern clearly any object situated on the lunar surface, and discuss its nature scientifically. We have already reached the point where it may be affirmed definitely that there are on the Moon's surface none of the cities which Schrolter, that ingenious and sympathetic savant, placed there. But what we may perhaps discover in the near future,--and this may be the starting-point of lunar natural history,--is the presence of changes of tint produced by the development of a peculiar species of vegetation. This is the form under which the presence of life on our satellite would begin to show itself, and, in fact, this manifestation would appear to have already taken place. In fact, if we are to believe Mr. E. Pickering, he has been able to demonstrate several changes of this kind, with the specially powerful instrument that he is using at Arequita, Peru, near the equator."

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NORMAL CLASS 1903

NORMAL CLASS       W. F. PENDLETON       1903

     A SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT.

     For reasons that appear to be sufficient and necessary, it has been decided to suspend the work of the Normal Class, and not complete the two years' course that was originally planned. Because of this, and also because the Report of the Superintendent, as printed in the Journal of Education, was not complete, on account of pressure of other work, and therefore the Normal Class was passed over with brief mention, it seems well to improve this occasion to make a fuller report and statement of the work done in that class during the past year, and to add some general considerations on the use of a Normal department in the Schools of the Academy.

     The studies covered by the class during the year included Hebrew, the Letter of the Word, Doctrinal Instruction, Textile Work, Swedenborg's Science, the History of Pedagogy, and the Principles of New Church Education. It will be seen from this list, that we were not able to provide a complete course for the preparation of Teachers, and that certain instrumental branches were left out, preparation in which is necessary for teachers, but which we felt compelled to omit, trusting to the ability of our young teachers to provide these things for themselves in some other way.

     The ability of our instructors in the branches mentioned to do their work thoroughly and well is fully recognized, and all that is needed is sufficient time and strength to do a work in the preparation of teachers for New Church Schools that will lead to remarkable results whenever such time and strength shall be given us in the Providence of the Lord.

     The various branches mentioned were in charge of the following teachers: Mr. Price, Hebrew; Mr. Acton, Doctrinal Instruction; the Superintendent, the Letter of the Word; Mr. Odhner, the Doctrine of the Word, and the Correspondences of the Land of Canaan; Miss Grant, Textile Work; Miss Beekman, Swedenborg's Science; Mr. Synnestvedt, the History of Pedagogy; and Mr. Bostock, the Principles of New Church Education. These were given for the most part without interruption during the entire year; and the fruits were good in the work done, and in the affectionate interest manifested by the pupils of the Class.

     The suspension of the work of the Normal Class, however, does not mean that we expect to find ourselves unable to do any work of this character, nor does it involve any conviction on our part that there is no need for such a department in the educational work of the Academy.

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     We have, from the beginning, been able to assist those who wished to teach in New Church Schools; existing classes have been open to them, and some preparation by practical work has always been at hand; these means are still available, and we are pleased to note that two members of the class are to continue with us, for the coming year on this basis; and that the opportunity will be afforded them for valuable experience in the work of the Local School.

     As to the need of a Normal Department in our work, I think there can be no question. The only question would be as to whether the time is ripe to make a beginning, and whether the attempt at a beginning has not been premature, on account of the lack of the facilities to perform the work without injury to the work already established. A need may exist, or be seen for a period of time, before the actual conditions are ripe for carrying it into ultimate effect. This is perhaps the condition we are in now. The need is apparent, but the ways and means to a full fruition have not yet been provided.

     The need exists in the fact that New Church Schools are in existence, and teachers needed for them, and in the additional fact that certain lines of preparation to teach in New Church Schools are necessary, and which can only be obtained here. We have already mentioned Hebrew, the Letter of the Word, Doctrinal Instruction, the Science of Swedenborg, and the principles of New Church Education.

     Some instruction in Hebrew we have considered necessary for all ages in our Schools. The Writings are explicit as to the exalted use of the Hebrew as the most complete ultimate containant of Divine Revelation, because of its consociating power; celestial angels are in it by influx and correspondence; spirits of the simple good in the World of Spirits, who are associated with children, take delight in it when it is read; and the delight of children in it is well known from our experience, a delight they feel from the good in the other world who love the ultimates of the Word. We are justified, therefore, in giving the place we do to the Hebrew language in our New Church Schools. And it may be remarked here that those in the New Church, who exalt only the letter of the Word, have not rounded out their position until they have also made much of the use of a study of the Hebrew Language, especially for the young. To magnify the use of the letter of the Word, and to minify the use of the Hebrew Language, which is its chief vehicle and embodiment, does not square with a rational understanding of the doctrine of the literal sense of the Word.

     A fully prepared teacher in New Church Schools should know Hebrew, and it is not taught in the Normal Schools and Teachers' Colleges of the land. In this we find a substantial reason for the ultimate establishment of a Normal Department in the Schools of the Academy. Not only is Hebrew taught here, but it is well done by our Professor of Hebrew, Mr. Price; and the teacher is able to receive efficient preparation for the use this language is to perform in the Schools of the Church.

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     It is necessary that the New Church teacher should have a thorough knowledge of the scientifics of the letter of the Word, and be trained to adapt it to the minds of children. Lady teachers in particular are well suited for this use, to take it up where the mothers leave it, and they should be made efficient instruments for the performance of it. In a New Church Normal School alone can this be done, and is itself a sufficient justification for such a School. The work done in this line for the Normal Class during the past year has been in part set forth in our Journal of Education.

     The Word is not understood without Doctrine, and it is necessary not only that the general doctrines of the Church should be known to those who teach the letter of the Word, but the teachings of the Writings concerning the Literal Sense itself should be given. This was done during the past year by Mr. Odhner, in a manner that was systematic and complete. In addition to this, Mr. Odhner also took up the subjects of the geography, history, and manners and customs of what is known as the Bible lands and nations; he also gave the correspondences of these various lands and nations; all of which was much appreciated by the class. Such a necessary work for teaching can be done only in a New Church Normal School.

     It is plain that the mind of a New Church teacher should be formed and ordered by the Doctrines of the Church, in order to appreciate the spirit and purpose of New Church education. and as a guide in the efficient performance of the teaching use. Of prime importance to the teacher is a knowledge of the facts of the Spiritual World, or the Memorabilia of the other life--of prime importance, especially in the teaching of the letter of the Word to children. This important branch is taught in our School by Mr. Acton, who has given several years of study to the subject, and the Normal Class during the past year had the benefit of his instruction, which was received with affirmative and affectionate appreciation. It goes without saying that such a subject, together with a systematic teaching of the Doctrines in general, can only be given to teachers in a New Church Normal School.

     And now comes the science of Swedenborg, a science unique among the sciences; and, I might add, a science, formative of all the sciences, for in the science of Swedenborg we find doctrines by which all science is given form and system, and by which all nature is interpreted.

     To understand this science, to see its meaning and import, to grasp its length and breadth, to bring modern science to its service, and to expound it as it has never been expounded before, is the privilege of Miss Beekman; and the members of the Normal Class are to be congratulated on the opportunity which they have had during the past year, of receiving such instruction; an opportunity warmly appreciated by them.

     The science of Swedenborg is not as yet understood in the New Church at large, and its existence is scarcely known in the world; and yet it is so grand as to be above the wisdom of the wise, and so simple that it may be made known to children.

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The knowledges of this science should be in the mind of every teacher in New Church Schools, and the impartation of these knowledges to teachers must be provided for in a Normal School of the New Church; for nowhere else can such knowledge be given.

     Modern education has made great strides in the past thirty or forty years. Natural truth, even though it be separated from a true idea of God, is abroad among men, and is multiplying in the uses of natural education. Some of our teachers have gone forth to glean from this field; notably Miss Alice Grant, and Mr. Synnestvedt. The Normal Class last year had the benefit of the knowledge acquired by them, especially in the Textile Work from Miss Grant, and in the History and Principles of Paedagogy from Mr. Synnestvedt.

     Textile Work involves a great deal more than the name implies, for it brings with it the very atmosphere of the primitive races and nations of mankind, and their manners and customs; thus involving an association with spirits in the other world who are in simple good, with whom children delight to dwell, and by means of whom early remains are implanted that will be of essential use in after years; and it is a cause of thankfulness that this thing has been introduced into our education, and that the Normal Class has received the benefit of Miss Grant's instruction and training in this important branch of the new education. This we borrow and similar things from other sources, but to which a high rate of interest is added in the use performed in rearing the young in the Church.

     The History of Paedagogy to those preparing to be teachers is of immense importance, for it is really a history of the development of the principles of education among men for over two thousand years; and the Normal pupil comes in contact with what leading minds have thought and taught, as well as being given a view, as in a panorama, of the educational practices of the past. The mental environment thus established, to say nothing of the environment brought about in the other world, goes far towards forming a rational state of thought concerning the use which is the subject of study and preparation. And how much more is this true, when the principles presented are viewed in the light of the spiritual law of the Divine Word, and examined, weighed, tested, and set forth in the same light as given in the Heavenly Doctrine; a work which Mr. Synnestvedt is so well furnished to do, and which must be done that New Church education may be worthy of the name, and which Normal pupils must receive to properly qualify them for the work of a New Church teacher.

     The Rev. E. C. Bostock passed into the spiritual world during the year. Previous to his departure, and the decline in health that preceded it, he gave invaluable instruction to the Normal Class, on the Principles of Education as taught in the Writings, and his instruction was sadly missed after his removal from our midst. The work, such as he was doing it, would constitute the center of Normal School work in the New Church; and it would of course be impossible to obtain such instruction elsewhere.

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And we have in this the strongest reason why a Normal Department should be added to our work, and why it will be added, when the Providence of the Lord opens the way for it, by providing the means for its permanent establishment.

     There are therefore certain studies in preparation for school work, that can only be taught here, and which are essential to the full preparation of a New Church teacher; and there are studies that may be acquired elsewhere, but can be more intelligently taught in the light of the Doctrines, and which can be done here; and there are certain studies that can at the present time be more thoroughly acquired elsewhere.

     We may foresee and expect the time, when every branch of human learning, necessary for the preparation of teachers, may be taught among us more thoroughly, as well as imbibed more rationally, than anywhere else in the world. But at the present time we are in a state of dependence, or of partial dependence; and let us believe,--and believe it because it is true,--that whatever condition exists, is that which is best at the time in the Divine Providence of the Lord.     W. F. PENDLETON.

     P. S.--Since the above report was delivered, a partial course of instruction and practice has been provided for the Normal pupils now with us.

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Church News 1903

Church News       Various       1903

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     Bryn Athyn, Pa. There is something going on here all the time, but a mere record of dates and events, though of historical value, might become tiresome to the readers of the Life. It may be of more general interest to afford some insight into the important work which is being done here for the whole

     Church by the Academy Schools, in its various departments. This may serve to keep our friends in touch with it and to stimulate their cooperation in the great use of Education that is being performed by the Academy.

     As may be well-known to all, the College and the Girls' Seminary are distinct, with their own corps of teachers. But both unite in the morning worship, and also in the first hour every Monday morning, when a lecture is given to the whole school. Mr. Alfred Stroh has filled this hour during the past month, and is delivering a very interesting and instructive course of lectures on the life of Swedenborg. While in Sweden, Mr. Stroh collected many new and valuable data concerning Swedenborg, and brought back with him many fine photographs of paintings of Swedenborg and his contemporaries, and also some very valuable manuscripts and books. Thus far the lectures have been about Swedenborg's childhood, student life, and travels.

     Prof. Odhner's lectures to the three oldest classes in the College, on the History of Greek Literature, are very instructive; especially so, since they are given in the light of the science of Correspondences. It is wonderful how much this science entered into the old Greek Classics, especially in the works of Homer and Hesiod. We know from the Writings, that the Ancient Greeks knew something of the science of Correspondences, and that much of what has come down to us was derived from the Ancient Word and treats concerning the Ancient Church.

     The work of the Parish School is very interesting, indeed, and especially certain branches, such as the Nature study and Textile work. One class of little ones, eight to ten years old, are studying in the fields the various animals, birds, trees and flowers as they appear in the different seasons. Just now they are studying the seeds: how they are carried away from the tree that bore them. and how they are protected during the winter. Another class, a little older, is learning how the rain and wind and temperature reduce the hard, massive rocks to fine soil: how this soil is continually enriched by decaying animal and vegetable matter, etc. Particular study is being made of minerals and stones.

     On Wednesday, September 23d, a social was given by the Bryn Athyn Social Club at Mrs. Hicks'.

     On September 30th the Rev. Willis L. Gladish and family arrived. Mr. Gladish, formerly a minister in the General Convention and pastor of the society in Indianapolis, has entered the Theological School of the Academy. He has as classmate the Rev. Walter E. Brickman, another ex-Convention minister.

     The Friday suppers started on October 2d, the first one being followed by the annual business meeting of the society. Doctrinal classes began one week later. Bishop Pendleton is continuing the consideration of the subject started last year, namely, the book of Revelation, as unfolded in the Apocalypse Explained.

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     On October 12th Mr. A. L. Hagar, of Boston, gave a talk to the schools on salmon fishing. He described the varieties of salmon, where they are to be found, and how they are caught, besides many other interesting things about their habits. He also showed us a collection, prepared for the St. Louis Exposition, which shows the development of the salmon in the egg, to the hatching of the fish one hundred and twenty days after the egg is deposited. On Tuesday evening, October 13th, Mr. Hagar gave the same lecture to the society.

     Among the visitors during the past month have been: Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Kagar, of Boston; Mrs. N. D. Pendleton and Miss Nellie Faulkner, of Pittsburg; Miss Hilda Hagar, of Denver, and Dr. O. V. Heilman and his son, Marlin, of Leechburg.

     The readers of the Life will hear with regret of the illness of the Rev. Alfred Acton, who has been confined to his bed for the past month by a severe attack of pneumonia. He is recovering, but very slowly. His absence has been greatly felt in the College and Theological School, although many of his classes have been taken by the other professors. F. E. G.

     Philadelphia. On Sunday, September 13th, the Advent Society resumed services at Glenn's Hall, No. 555 North 17th street, the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt, of Bryn Athyn, officiating. The society being without pastor, the Rev. Joseph E. Rosenqvist was invited to preach the following Sunday, when the invitation was renewed for the Sunday following, and on Thursday, October 1st, at a meeting of the society, Mr. Rosenqvist was unanimously invited to serve as pastor pro tem., pending the final choice of a permanent pastor in November next.

     Mr. Rosenqvist accepted the invitation and entered upon his duties as pastor at once.

     At the Doctrinal Class conducted by the pastor every Wednesday evening at 8 o'clock the work on Heaven and Hell is being studied. On Sunday evenings at 8 o'clock a Young Folks' Class is held, when the work on The Divine Providence is used as text book. At the meetings of this class some singing practice is also indulged in, and in connection with the Adults' Class on Wednesday evenings a business meeting is held once a month.

     On Sunday, October 25th, a Sunday School for young children will be started by the pastor.

     Miss Emily Schneider has kindly consented to act as organist at the services of the society, and arrangements are being made to have singing practice twice a month under her able leadership.

     In order to be near the members of his society, Mr. Rosenqvist has changed residence, and his address is now 3001 Girard avenue. Private entrance.

     On Sunday, October 11th, after morning services, the society was invited to attend the meetings of the Philadelphia District Assembly, to be held October 16-18th, at Bryn Athyn. By a unanimous vote it was decided that the society accept the invitation as a whole, and therefore suspend services in town on Sunday, October 18th, thus also enabling their pastor to accept the bishop's invitation to preach at Bryn Athyn on that day.     J. E. R.

     Pittsburg. Our local School opened on September I with twelve pupils, and Miss Esther Boggess, a pupil of the Academy Normal School, as teacher. For the benefit of those who do not attend the Day School Mr. Pendleton has inaugurated a Sunday School, which averages an attendance of about twenty.

     We would make mention here of the Wednesday evening Doctrinal classes which our pastor is conducting, and which were resumed for the winter on the third week in September.

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The large and regular attendance testifies louder than words of the interest taken in these classes. He counts himself unfortunate who has to be absent from a single one. Mr. Pendleton has been considering principally the ten laws of Divine Providence contained in the Apocalypse Explained. There seems to be an abundance of truths in these numbers, which are of most practical application to life, and of the sort that are apt to make us do some thinking outside of class. There is small prospect of the interest subsiding. We can't afford to let it,--that's all.

     It has been found expedient to limit the Wednesday suppers this year to one a month, but the doctrinal and singing classes are held weekly.

     The Philosophy Club has also resumed its regular meetings with good attendances. It is the purpose this year to intersperse the regular reading from the Animal Kingdom with papers on various subjects by different members.

     Glenview, Ill. During the summer we have had no formal social gatherings; but visits from a number of the friends from other centres have brought us together on several delightful occasions. The latest of these informal receptions was in honor of the Rev. W. L. Gladish and his wife, who stopped here on their way to Bryn Athyn to be welcomed and initiated into the sphere of the General Church.

     On September 25th the first Friday supper of the season was followed by our annual business meeting, at which we heard a number of reports indicating that we are more prosperous than we had dared to expect.

     One sign of prosperity is the great artistic revival which this summer has seen. Almost every house in the "Park" has been painted and decorated inside and out. The trees and shrubs have caught the contagion and are putting on brighter colors than ever before. Even our famous "club house" has been renovated and remodelled, so that the accommodations for both Church and School are much improved.

     In fact, the "Park" with all its mansions has never looked better, and its inhabitants may be seen strolling through its walks with expressions of supreme content on their healthy faces.

     The departure of seven of our young folks for Bryn Athyn has made quite a gap in the great "family," and the mail man has become more popular than ever. It has been suggested that the athletic department of the Academy be asked to telegraph the list of injured after each foot ball game, so as to lessen anxiety on the part of parents and relatives of the combatants. L. E. G.

     [Bulletin I.--Friday, October 16th, Alec P. Lindsay fractured collar-bone; doing well. Glenview boys all alive.-A. A. C.]

     Toronto. With the departure of the summer, and our visitors, we have entered upon our winter's work.

     On September 16th the Parish School was reopened with a religious service, an address on Education being delivered by our pastor.

     The school consists of twelve pupils. Mr. Cronlund teaches religious instruction, while Mrs. Hyatt has charge of the other departments. She is being assisted by Miss Mary Somerville, and Miss Ella Roy, who are taking all the little ones in kindergarten work.

     The Wednesday suppers have recommenced and are bringing out a full attendance; after the Doctrinal Class, a course of lectures is being delivered by Dr. Richardson on "Anatomy."

     The Young Peoples' Class has also commenced and is being well attended.

     While here on a visit we had the pleasure of having the Rev. Reginald Brown preach to us.

     Berlin, Ont. The School of the Carmel Church opened on the 1st of September, with 42 pupils.

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At the opening exercises addresses were made by the head-master and the pastor, and by the Messrs. Jacob Stroh and Richard Roschman.

     On the 3d of September the Friday Suppers were resumed. The supper is followed by a doctrinal class, reading The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine.

     The wedding of Mr. Alexander Moir, of Bryn Athyn, and Miss Martha Glebe, of Berlin, which took place September 9th, was a very happy occasion in our Society. The marriage took place in the chapel, which was beautifully decorated. The bride was attended by eight little girls, all dressed in white. After the ceremony, a reception was held at the house of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Glebe. On the following day the couple departed for their home in Bryn Athyn.

     The Annual Meeting of the Society this rear occupied three sessions. At the first of these, on September 13th, the pastor delivered his annual address, the subject being "The Uses of Our Society, and the Duty of Each Member in Co-Operating in the Same." An interesting and useful discussion followed.

     The first Social of the season was held on Friday evening, September 25th.

     The Young Folks' Doctrinal Classes were resumed on October 1st. Conjugial Love is being read.

     The class for the young ladies is held from 7:30 to 8:30, and for the young men from 8:30 to 9:30.

     On Saturday evening, October 3d, the Society gathered, on invitation, at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Schierholtz for the celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of their wedding day, and a most delightful time was spent. Dancing, for which an orchestra supplied the music, was the order of the evening. At the conclusion of the first half of the programme, refreshments were served, and toasts were drunk to the Church and to Mr. and Mrs. Schierholtz. Our Singing Practice is held this year on Sunday afternoon, instead of, as formerly, on Friday evening after class. One reason for this change is to enable the school children to be present. It is believed that if the children are well drilled in the Church music, our singing at worship will not only be greatly improved for the present, but will also be far better than it would otherwise be in the future, when these children are grown. W.

     From the Missionary Field.

     August 30th was passed at a quaint old farm house, near Burford, Ont., where visits have been made occasionally during the past twenty-three years, with the Henderson family. They are people of great simplicity and sincerity, and the missionary is always welcome in their home.

     In London, Ont., the few New Church people were called on, and several useful conversations were held on the Doctrines. In that city I met the four children of a New Church family, three girls and a boy, the eldest fifteen years old, who escaped from the flood that destroyed most of the town of Heppner, Ore., on June 14th last. Both of the parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. Marcus Gunn, were among those drowned at the time. Mr. Gunn was a native of London, and when quite a young man had become a believer in the Doctrines. The conversation with the aged mother, and the instruction given on the subject of the future life, was a great comfort to her. During the talk her face lighted up, and she exclaimed to her daughter: "He has explained to me the subject of the other world, and he has such a delightful idea about the change that has come to Marcus and Libbie by their removal to the spirit world."

     At Mull, Ont., on Sunday evening, September 6th, we held a meeting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Woofenden.

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The family and some neighbors made a gathering of about twenty-five people. An infant was baptized, and a missionary discourse was given on the New Jerusalem. It seemed to make an impression on the minds of some, but it was principally intended to be for the instruction of the members of the Woofenden family themselves.

     In conversation with the people of the Church, it was remarked by some one that there was now only one Convention minister regularly employed in Ontario, while there are three General Church ministers, who are active in the Province,--although one of them is engaged in the use of teaching, as the Master of the Berlin New Church School. Opponents of the Academy, some years ago, imagined that the institution would soon die out, and its work come to naught. But what has been done, in the passing of the years, has proven otherwise. The state of the Church, as the state of the individual human mind, is either progressive or retrogressive. And the facts, as to the state of the Church in the two general bodies, respectively, in Ontario, to those who have the intelligence to know and appreciate them, speak plainly for themselves. JOHN E. BOWERS.

FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. A weekly class for the study of "Education" is being conducted by the Rev. W. H. Alden, at his home, 52 East Price avenue. Lansdowne, Philadelphia.

     The Rev. John Ragatz died at Benton Harbor, Mich., on September 17th. Mr. Ragatz was an ordained minister of the New Church, and labored for many years among the German New Church people in Chicago.

     The Council of Ministers of the Illinois Association met at Steinway Hall, Chicago, on September 15th. The Rev. David H. Klein, and the Rev. W. B. Caldwell were present by special invitation. A paper on "The Significance of the Tribes" was read by the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, and a discourse on "Cursing From Mt. Ebal and Blessing From Mt. Gerizim" was presented by the Rev. E. D. Daniels.

     Mr. Schreck has accepted a unanimous call to the pastorate of the Englewood Church, and has also been engaged to minister to the North Side congregation. His present address is 6949 Eggleston avenue, Chicago.

     Indianapolis, Ind. The Rev. Willis L. Gladish ended his pastorate here on Sunday, September 20th, as he had withdrawn from the General Convention in order to unite with the General Church of the New Jerusalem. At a meeting of the Indianapolis Society on the 19th of June he had told his people that he would take this step, giving his reasons for it at some length. And on this last Sunday, at a meeting called after the morning service, to take notice of the severance of relations between pastor and people, he read the following short statement of his reasons for making the change:

     "With this service my work as your pastor ends. I have come to believe that the New Church can be permanently established on no other foundation but the acknowledgment of the Writings as the Word of God. To have no Divine Authority in the New Church, but the Letter of the Word, is like making John the Baptist the sole authority after the Lord has come.

     "The Writings are either Divine or human. If Divine they cannot be less Divine than the Sacred Scripture. Think of anything being Divine, but not so Divine as something else! or Infinite, but not so Infinite but that something else is more so!

     "The General Church of the New Jerusalem stands for the Divinity of the Writings. Her faith and life, her organization and manner of work are built upon it.

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It has seemed to me but right that I should work with those who believe as I do on so vital a point, and where I can accomplish most for the faith I hold. So doing I shall leave those, who do not believe this, in greater freedom and shall be in greater freedom myself. I shall never forget your many great kindnesses, your love of the Church and of the Christian life, and I pray that the Divine blessing may rest upon all the activities of this Society,"

     On motion this statement was accepted and ordered spread upon the records of the Society and the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:

     "Whereas, The removal of the Rev. Willis L. Gladish to another field of activity renders necessary a dissolution of the relations of minister and congregation which have existed for ten years past between him and the members of the First New Church Society of Indianapolis; therefore, be it

     "Resolved, That the said members desire to place upon record their grateful appreciation of the devoted and zealous work done by Mr. Gladish for the upbuilding and unifying of the Society, their recognition of his vigorous and logical exposition of the doctrines of the New Church and their testimony to his absolute singleness of purpose and unswerving loyalty in declaring the truth as he saw it.

     "Resolved, further, That the said members cordially reciprocate the kindly solicitude for their personal welfare, temporal and eternal, ever manifested by both Mr. and Mrs. Gladish, and that their affectionate good wishes go with these dear friends into the new relations they have chosen.

     "Resolved, finally, That copies of these resolutions be spread upon the records of the Society and be furnished Mr. Gladish and the Church and city periodicals."

     Mr. Gladish is followed in Indianapolis and in the mission work of the Ohio Association by the Rev. Harry C. Vrooman, who comes from the Congregational Church, and was baptized into the New Church at the last meeting of Convention in Chicago.

     The New Church Summer School at Almont, Mich., opened this year's session on August 10th and closed August 23d. The class instruction was given by the Rev. John Whitehead and the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, assisted by Miss Edith Whitehead. There were present at the classes twenty-one children, twenty young people, and nineteen adults. Most of these were in attendance throughout the entire session. There were also twenty-four visitors, besides a large attendance at the Sunday services.

     Sunday the 23d was the culminating period of the work, the attendance being about 100. The services consisted of the regular service and singing, with two short addresses, one on Redemption. by Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, and the other on the Glorification of the Lord, by Rev. J. Whitehead, followed by the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper. A special feature of the service was the singing by the children and young people, its beauty and influence being a tribute to the efficiency of the two weeks' training in the school.

     The children's dinner was served under a tent on the lawn. About seventy-five young people and adults sat down to dinner in the cottage, this dinner being in the nature of an annual reunion. As all sat around the four tables arranged in the form of a hollow square, the following sentiments or toasts were proposed. the responses being given by the gentlemen named:

     1. The Second Coming of the Lord. Rev. J. Whitehead.

     2. The New Church. Rev. E. J. E. Schreck.

     3. The Summer School. James R. Hamilton.

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     4. The Young People, the Hope of the Church. Wm. F. Wunsch.

     5. The Workers for the Summer School. Dr. Wm. B. Hamilton.

     6. Our Annual Feast. Henry Wunsch, Esq.

     Each address was received with warm enthusiasm; the sphere was one of exaltation and encouragement, renewing the life of love and devotion for the Church and its spiritual uses. All felt that here was a work of great spiritual benefit to the New Church in Michigan.

     The school this year showed a steady increase in interest and attendance, the latter being twenty-five per cent. greater than last year. Many kind friends assisted by their encouraging words and generous gifts; and those in charge look forward to the next year's work with expectations of increased usefulness for the school. The little band of workers have made a number of improvements during this season just closed. The cottage has been enlarged at a cost of $150. Fifty dollars of this is yet to be raised to clear off the debt, and any donations from friends of the school will be gratefully appreciated. Such donations may be sent to Rev. John Whitehead, 581 Cass avenue, Detroit, Mich.

     CANADA. The fortieth annual meeting of the Canada Association (of the General Convention) was held at Toronto. September 12th and 13th. The Toronto Society reported an increase of eleven members since the last meeting of the association. The Society is contemplating the erection of a church building, in the near future, on a lot purchased sometime ago on College street and Euclid avenue.

     The Rev. James Taylor still continues to preach to the First Society in Berlin, and has also conducted services to the little society in Wellesley, Ont.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The Rev. J. T. Freeth concluded his pastorate at Bolton on September 20th, in order to take up work as missionary minister in the London district.

     Prof. G. W. Baynham has retired from the leadership of the Islington Society, and has accepted an invitation to become the leader of the Bristol Society.

     The Rev. Mark Rowse on September 16th bade farewell to the Society at Leeds, where he has ministered for eleven years.

     GERMANY. The patriarch of the New Church in Berlin, Herr August Schmidt, died on September 7th, at the age of ninety-one years. As superintendent of the Royal Botanical Garden in Berlin, he had accumulated a small fortune, the most of which he devoted, during his lifetime, to the cause of the New Church. Having received the Heavenly Doctrines in the year 1848, he became associated with Prof. Immanuel Tafel, Prof. Pfirsch, Theodor Mullensiefen, Lady von Struve, and other prominent New Church people in Germany. About ten years ago, after the death of his wife and his only son, Herr Schmidt donated sums of one thousand marks each to the New Church societies in Vienna, Budapest, Stockholm, Copenhagen, the Swiss New Church Union, and the German New Church in America. To the "Swedenborg Verein" in Stuttgart he presented three thousand marks, and placed a fund of twenty-four thousand marks in the hands of the General Conference in England, to be held in trust for the New Church in Berlin.

     The Rev. Fedor Goerwitz on September 4th visited the Berlin Society, preaching and administering the Sacraments.

     A new receiver of the Doctrines, Herr Brecht, has lately been delivering a series of well-attended public lectures on "Materialism, Religion, and Swedenborgianism."

     SWITZERLAND. The twenty-ninth General Assembly of the Swiss Union of the New Church was held at Zurich on August 23d, fifty-two persons being present.

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The Rev. Fedor Goerwitz reported the number of communicants in Zurich as 57; in Herisau, 18; in Bern, 9; in Netzlau, 8; total, in Switzerland, 92, besides 18 in Berlin. The meeting adopted resolution expressing strong approval of the stand taken by Mr. Goerwitz in the Monatblatter, against the spiritualistic and theosophistic perversions of the Heavenly Doctrines published by Adalbert Jantschowitsch in the Bote der Neuen Kirche.

     SOUTH AFRICA. From Durban we learn that the Rev. James F. Buss has improved wonderfully in health since his arrival there, and is now preaching twice every Sunday to good congregations. The South African Sport refers to him in the following enthusiastic terms: "A great preacher is among us. I refer to the Rev. Mr. Buss, of the New Jerusalem Church, opposite the Gum Tree Store, and of course every one knows where that is. He is one of the foremost theological lights of the Old Country, and is on visit to resuscitate his health. 'Tis a thousand pities there are not more of his stamp abroad,--men who would give a deeper and wider meaning to life. The breach between the Church and the people is apparent to every one, into the reasons of which this is no place to enter, yet they are deeply interesting to students as characteristic of modern progress and national life. It is a fact that the Roman Catholic, the Jew, the Mohammedan, and the followers of Buddha, invest the great festivals and formula of their faith with a far deeper significance and realism than that of our colder Protestantism. One who listens to the Rev. Mr. Buss becomes conscious of his vast scholarship and profound learning, and I give him a hearty welcome."

     AUSTRALIA. The Society at Adelaide, S. A., on July 23d held a very interesting and enthusiastic anniversary meeting, at which it was decided to continue the work undertaken by the Rev. Percy Billings. Sufficient material support was guaranteed by the members, among whom there were many new friends who have recently united With the Church, and Mr. Billings has promised to remain in charge of the promising work in Adelaide, at least until the end of the year 1904.

     From Sydney we learn that Mr. Hellberg has "started teaching on similar lines to those adopted by Mr. Billings in his physiological lectures. He claims that the scientific writings of Swedenborg are as infallible as those written after his illumination, and gives definite teaching based on that assumption." We doubt that Mr. Billings has adopted any such lines of teachings. The Sydney correspondent to The New Age for August continues with this well-grounded observation, "It seems manifestly as unwise to regard Swedenborg's scientific writings on a level with the revealed Writings. as to regard the scaffolding about the building equal to the building for which it was erected. They were but "stepping stones to higher things.'"

     MAURITIUS. At the July monthly meeting of the Port Louis Society, it was decided that the Society's funds should be invested, as there was no early prospect of obtaining a minister.

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STORY OF CREATION IN THE ANCIENT MYTHOLOGIES 1903

STORY OF CREATION IN THE ANCIENT MYTHOLOGIES       C. TH. ODHNER       1903


     Announcements.





     
DECEMBER, 1903 No. 12.
     It will be of use and interest, in these days of "Higher Criticism," to collect together and compare the various legends of the ancient world concerning the Creation of the world, the Paradise, the Fall, the Antediluvians, and the Flood,--stories that have been the common property of all the ages and all the different branches of our race.

     The members of the New Church know, from the Revelation given to them, that all these legends are derived from that part of the Ancient Word which was copied by Moses with such exactness "that not even one little word is wanting," (S. S. 103; De Verbo 15), a Statement which we believe to be true, but which, nevertheless, is not really seen and understood until it has been confirmed by natural facts.

     A comparison of the various legends will show that while they differ more or less from each other in form, there are essential features common to all of them, and that all of these essential features are to be found in the Hebrew text, and in it alone. This fact, when proved, will show that the Hebrew text, as found in the first seven chapters of Genesis, is the original document from which the other legends are derived, and that, consequently, there is no foundation for the claim of the higher critics, that the story in Genesis presents a distorted and vitiated version of the Assyrian or some other ancient code.

     But, beside the important use of proving the integrity and authenticity of this part of the Letter of the Word, a comparison of these legends with each other, and with the sacred text, will shed an unexpected light upon the ancient mythologies, the internal harmony of which can be seen only when viewed in their relation to the Word of God.

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And the key which opens the Letter of the Word, will unlock also the rusty portals of myth and fable.

     Let us consider, first, the stories of Creation, as found in the most ancient documents which have as yet been discovered or preserved.

     THE ASSYRIAN LEGEND.

     The fragments of the epic which are here copied were found by George Smith at Kouyunjik, near ancient Nineveh. The text dates from the time of Assurbanipal, and is a translation of a far more ancient Chaldean account. In preparing an English translation, I have followed Dr. Schrader's German version, the words within brackets being supplemented from Sayces' rendering in the Records of the Past, vol. I, p. 122.

     The first tablet reads as follows:

     When, above, heaven did not announce,
     Nor the earth, beneath, record a name,--
     For the [unopened] abyss was their generator,

     Mummu Tiamat was the mother of them all;
     Then their waters embraced and united.
     The darkness was not yet removed,
     A germ had not yet sprouted,
     When none of the gods had yet come forth.
     A name they named not yet,
     The destiny not yet they fixed.
     Then were the great gods created.
     Lakhmu and Lakhamu came forth.
     Then were the gods Shar and Kishar created.
     The days prolonged themselves;
     The gods Bel, [and Anu and Ea],
     The god Shar [Save them birth].

     Compare with the fragments of this, the most ancient collateral text as yet discovered, these words in Genesis: "In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth. And the earth was empty and void, and thick darkness upon the faces of the abyss; and the spirit of God moved itself upon the faces of the waters."

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     The two texts record the state of the men who were first created,--the as yet unformed character of the Pre-Adamites,-as well as the state of every man before he has entered upon the life of regeneration. There is with him a heaven, the internal man, and an earth, the external man. But the heaven above does not yet "announce,"--there is no revelation as yet from God out of the internal man; and the earth beneath is "empty and void," and does not "record a name,"--there is as yet neither good nor truth in the external man, and it has not yet any truly human quality.

     For there is "thick darkness upon the faces of the abyss;" nothing but spiritual stupor and gross ignorance reign in the abyss of sensual lusts with the natural man. "The unopened abyss was their generator" and "Mummu Tiamat was the mother of them all."

     "Mummu" is the Assyrian word for the Hebrew "Mayim," waters, and "Tiamat" is the same as the Hebrew "Tehom," the abyss. An abyss of sensual appearances and fallacies, such is the intellectual of man before regeneration. There is no discrimination as yet between truth and falsity. God has not yet "divided the waters from the waters," but: they "embrace and unite;" darkness reigns supreme, and "none of the gods," none of the fundamental truths of Heaven, have as yet shone forth in the lifeless earth of the sensual man.

     The first act of spiritual creation is the revelation of Truth. "And God said, Let there be Light, and there was Light," or, as the Assyrians expressed it, "Then were the great gods created." Lakhmu and Lakhamu now came forth. It is not known what these names mean, or if they have been correctly deciphered, but it may be that they signify Day and Night. But "Shar and Kishar," according to Sayce, signify "the upper and the lower firmaments," which remind us of the biblical firmament which "divided the waters that were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament. And "the days prolonged themselves" is a sentence which re-echoes the words "and there was evening, and there was morning, the second day."

     The second tablet of the Assyrian epic has not yet been found. The third tablet describes the approach of Merodach, the god of light, to battle against the giant-woman Tiamat, the abyss, and the fourth tablet tells of the victory of Merodach over the giantess, who is termed "the old dragon."

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He stripped her of her skin like a fish, according to his plan.
He described her likeness, and with it overshadowed the heaven.
He stretched out the skin; he kept watch.
He lit up the sky; the sanctuary rejoiced;
He presented himself before the deep, the seat of Ea.
Then the Lord measured the offspring of the deep;
The chief prophet made of her image the house of the firmament.

     This tablet reminds us of the division of the waters of the abyss, as described in Genesis, and undoubtedly refers to the first great battle between truth and falsity in the beginning of the regenerate life. Merodach, the god of light, the "hero" and "preserver." signifies the Divine Truth, which "strips off" the skin of external appearances and exhibits to man the hideous nature of his proprium. When this comes to man, then the sky of his understanding is "lit up," and the man is enabled to "measure" the depth of the evil within him.

     The story continues in the fifth tablet:

He established gloriously the [twin] mansions of the great god.
He fixed the stars, [even the twin stars-to correspond with them].
He ordained the year, established decades for it;
For each of the twelve months he appointed three stars.
[He founded the mansion of the Sun god, the god of the ferry-boat, that they might know their bonds,
That they might not err, nor So astray in any way.]
He let the moon-god shine forth; he ruled over the night.

     This tablet corresponds very closely with the account in Genesis: "And God said, Let there be light in the firmament of the Heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars also." All of which, in the Assyrian as well as in the Hebrew account, describe the birth of charity and faith in the regenerating man.

     The sixth tablet has not been recovered, but the seventh reads thus:

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At that time the gods in their assembly created:
They made perfect the mighty monsters.
They caused the living creatures [of the field] to come forth;
The cattle of the field, the [wild] beasts of the field; and the creeping things of the field.
They fixed the habitations for the living creatures of the field;
They distributed in their dwelling-places the cattle and the creeping things of the city.

     They made strong the multitude of the creeping things; all the offspring of the earth.

     The rest of the tablet is lost, but it contained, probably, an account of the creation of man, which, in another fragment, (Delitsch, 2, A. 80; F. 15-17) is thus referred to:

In order to save them, He created mankind,
The Merciful One, with whom is the calling into life.
May He establish, and may never His word be forgotten
In the mouth of the black-headed race whom His hands created.

     The "black-headed race" was the national designation of the Sumero-Akkadians, the earliest inhabitants of the Euphrates valley. This tablet is, unfortunately, too mutilated to be deciphered as a whole, but there is not the least doubt as to the meaning of the part which is preserved. "Ana padishunu ibuu avilutu," "in order to save them [or, to set free, or, redeem them], He created mankind." The learned Dr. Schrader, who is venerated as "the father of Assyrioloby," admits that "it is not clear how the sentence order to save them' is to be understood in connection with the rest," ("Wie das, 'um sie zu losen, in dem Zusammenhange zu verstchen sei, is nicht klar ersichtlich"), but to a Newchurcllman this sentence presents so noble a conception of the Lord's end in the creation of mankind, that he is startled to find it in a "heathen" legend. "In order to save them, He created mankind," that is, He created them for no other purpose than to bless them with eternal salvation. Who would have thought to find amidst the dust-heaps of ancient Nineveh, this precious pearl of spiritual truth, this glorious ray of light from the vanished sun of the Ancient Word!

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     The following account dates from the time of Alexander the Great, when a Chaldean priest, named Berosus, translated into Greek the history and sacred traditions of his native country, Babylonia. His work as a whole has been lost, but fragments were copied by two subsequent writers, Polyhistor and Apolledorus, and have been collected by Cory in his Ancient Fragments.

     There was a time when nothing existed but darkness, and an abyss of waters wherein most hideous beings resided.

     The person who presided over them was a woman named Omorka, which, in the Chaldean language, is Thalatth, in Greek. Thalassa, the sea.

     All things being in this [chaotic] condition, the god Belus came and cut the woman asunder.

     And of one half of her he formed the earth, and of the other half the heavens, and at the same time he destroyed the animals within her.

     The whole universe consisting of moisture, and animals being continually generated therein, Belus took off his own head; upon which the other gods mixed the blood, as it gushed out, with the earth; and from thence were formed men.

     On this account it is that they are rational, and partake of Divine knowledge.

     This Belus, by whom is signified Jupiter, divided the darkness, and separated the heavens from the earth, and reduced the universe to order.

     Belus also formed the stars, and the sun, and the five planets.

     The Chaldean legend, as will be seen, closely resembles the Assyrian account. The abyss-woman, Omorka, is the female dragon, Mumlnu Tiamat, the Hebrew Tehom, the unregenerate nature of the sensual man; and the hideous animals within her are the lusts and persuasions of the old proprium. The Chaldean account is unique in describing the creation of man as resulting from the creator "taking off his own head," the signification of which is obscure. But there is no obscurity as to the meaning of the "blood" of the God, the Divine Truth, whence men "are rational and partake of Divine Knowledge." Compare the words in Genesis ii:4, 7: "And there went up a mist from the earth and watered all the faces of the ground. And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives; and man became a living soul."

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     THE EGYPTIAN LEGEND.

     The following account of the ancient Egyptian conception of the creation of the world is compiled from the papyri by Dr. Brugsch in his Religion uad Mythologle der Alten Aegypter,

     In the beginning there was neither Heaven nor earth. Encompassed with thick darkness, a boundless ocean filled the all, concealing in its bosom the germ of the future world.

     The Divine Spirit, feeling the impulse to creative activity, by His word called the world into life, according to the prototype which from eternity had existed within His own mind. Corresponding to this prototype, or 'the Truth,' the world was made as to its body, forms, and color.

     The first beginning of creation was the production of an egg from the primeval ocean, and out of it broke forth the "Light of Day," (Ra), and this was the immediate cause of life upon the earth.

     The creative word itself is called by the name of Ptah, the "opener," the 'God of Truth.'
                    
     In the Book of the Dead Ptah is said to have created the primeval ocean by means of his thoughts.

     The Nile poured forth its waters at the command of Ptah. The light, following upon it, beautified the region of Seb. Yet this region was still a waste. No trace of thinking beings could be found.

     Afterwards "the Most Holy," brought forth the green things of the earth, and the trees which every year produce all kinds of fruits and refreshing drinks.

     In another papyrus we find the following allusions to the creation of man, and the institution of the Sabbath:

     A song of praise to the Builder, who made the world for me, for a home of man, the image of the Creator.

     Mine is the government, mine who am the Prince, who hath commanded the stated festivals of the Most Holy; mine, who am he that ordered the year of the sun, who commanded the celebration of the seventh day of the week, the celebration of the new moon at On. (Fisher, Heidenthum und Offenbarung, p. 321.)

     This account is almost Johannine in its doctrine of the Logos, the creative Word, and contains many features resembling the Hebrew narrative. As it is known to Newchurchmen that Moses "copied" the first seven chapters of Genesis from the Ancient Word, it may be presumed that he had before him a document then existing in Egypt.

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     THE ARYAN LEGEND.

     In the Rig Veda, the most ancient sacred code belonging to that original stock whence sprang all the Indo-European races, the creation of the world is thus described:

     There was at that time neither the non-existing, nor the existing. Space was not, nor Heaven by the side of space. What was it that so powerfully concealed all? Where was the water, the unfathomable, the deep?

     Death was not then, nor immortality. There was no sign of day or of night. Moved by no wind, there was breathing alone, activity, in the Divine Essence. Besides this there was absolutely nothing.

     Darkness was. All was in the beginning an indistinguishable ocean, hidden by the Darkness. The great thing which was closed up by the Nothing, this was born from the might of the Tapa.

     Kama came first into existence. He was the first-born seed of the Spirit.

     Who knoweth it, in truth? Who is able to announce it here, whence was this creation. Hither the gods have come through this sending; but who knoweth whence He Himself hath come? (Quoted by Fisher, p. 70.)

     By the "Kama," in the Sanscrit, is meant the Logos, the Word, whence is all the Light of Truth. With the words "moved by no wind, there was breathing alone, activity in the Divine Essence," compare the Sacred Text: "And the Spirit of God moved upon the faces of the waters,"(Gen. i:2), by which is signified the Divine Mercy, by gentle and continual activity calling into life the remains or seeds of good and truth which during infancy were concealed and treasured up within every man. (A. C. 19.)

     THE GREEK LEGEND.

     From the Revelation given to the New Church it is known that "the science of correspondences was cultivated in many kingdoms of Asia, and especially in the land of Canaan, Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea, Syria, Arabia, and in Tyre, Sidon, and Nineveh; also, that it was carried thence from the maritime districts into Greece; but there it was turned into fables, as is evident from the writings of the earliest authors there. (S. S. 21.)

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     Among these "earliest authors" were Homer and Hesiod, who, according to various estimates, lived anywhere between 1000 and 700 B. C. Of Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, we know that he composed his immortal epics in a correspondential or representative style, as is shown in the Arcana Caelestia, 2762, where the correspondence of the Trojan horse is given. But it is especially Hesiod, who, in his Theogony, relates the origin of gods and men, and who describes the creation of the world as follows:

First Chaos was; next ample-bosomed earth,
The seat eternal and immovable
Of deathless gods, who still th' Olympian heights
Snow-topt inhabit. Third, in hollow depth
Of the vast ground, expanded wide above
The gloomy Tartarus. Love then arose,
Most beauteous of immortals--
From Chaos, Erebus and sable Nyx [were born].
From Nyx arose the ether and the Day,
Whom she, with dark embrace of Erebus,
Commingling bore.
     Her first-born Earth produced,
Of like immensity, the starry Heaven;
That He might sheltering compass her around
On every side, and be for evermore
To the blest gods a mansion unremoved.

     (From C. A. Elton's translation.

     Hesiod quickly passes over the story of creation, and proceeds immediately to the description of the birth of the Titanic race, of whom Chronos, or Saturn, was the youngest. But in the few lines quoted above we may still trace the leading features of the Biblical account of creation, or of the establishment of the Most Ancient Church. "Chaos" is the mixed state of man before regeneration, before he has begun to discriminate between good and evil. "Gloomy Tartarus" is the "abyss" of the Bible, the "Tiamat" of the Assyrian legend, the "Omorka" of Berosus, the lusts of the unregenerate man. "Love," or "Eros," would seem to correspond to "the Spirit of God moving upon the waters."

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"Erebus," (which signifies "evening"), and "sable Night," answer to the "thick darkness upon the faces of the abyss."

     Then follow "Ether and the Day," which clearly stand for the "Light" which was the "beginning of the working of God," and finally there comes forth "Heaven," or the god Uranos, who signifies the Celestial Church of the Golden Age. But these things stand forth more clearly in the Metamorphoses of Ovid.

     THE LATIN LEGEND.

     The statement in the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture, n. 21, as to the correspondential style of the Greek fables, is thus stated and amplified in the little work On the Word, (De Verbo), No. 7: "Similar were the rest of the things which are termed fables, which were composed by the most ancient writers in Greece, and which were collected together and described by Ovid in his Metamorphoses.

     Of all the ancient legends of creation the one presented by Ovid in his first two "fables" is certainly the most systematic. Though it is based on the brief account given by Hesiod, it is clear that the author has consulted other documents, now unknown, in the compilation of his noble collection. The first Fable reads as follows, in the translation of Henry T. Riley:

     At first the sea, the earth, and heaven which covers all things, were the only face of nature throughout the whole universe, which men have named Chaos; a rude and undigested mass, and nothing more than an inert weight, and the discordant atoms of things not harmonizing, heaped together in the same spot.

     No Sun as yet gave light to the world; nor did the Moon by increasing, recover her horns anew. The earth did not as yet hang in the surrounding air, balanced by its own weight, nor had Amphitrite, [the goddess of the ocean], stretched out her arms along the lengthened margin of the coasts.

     Wherever, too, was the land, there also was the sea and the air; and thus was the earth without firmness, the sea unnavigable, the air void of light; in no one of them did its present form exist.

     And one was ever obstructing the other; because in the same body the cold was striving with the hot, the moist with the dry, the soft with the hard, things having weight with those devoid of weight.

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     Thus far the Fable has described the primeval condition of the earth, while it was empty, void and dark. Now follow the separation of the waters and the firmament, and the coming forth of Light.

     To this discord God and bounteous Nature put an end; for he separated the earth from the heavens, and the waters from the earth, and distinguished the clear heavens, [the ether], from the gross atmosphere.

     And after he had unravelled these elements, and released them from that confused heap, he combined them, thus disjoined, in harmonious unison, each in its proper place.

     The element of the vaulted heaven, fiery and without weight, shone forth, and selected a place for itself in the highest region; next after it, both in lightness and in place, was the air; the Earth was more weighty than these, and drew with it the more ponderous atoms, and was pressed together by its own gravity.

     The encircling waters sank to the lowermost place, and surrounded the solid globe.

     One cannot avoid a feeling of astonishment at the knowledge of natural law possessed by Ovid, the knowledge of the law of gravitation, for instance, of the different atmospheres, and of the rotundity of the earth,--facts "discovered" a thousand and more years later by Galileo, Corpernicus, and Newton! Whence did he possess this knowledge? Does it not point to a very advanced state of science in ancient times, a science derived not so much from external observation, as from a knowledge of correspondences and from deductive reasoning, a priori, it is true, but still arriving at correct conclusions?

     In the second Fable the author speaks with amazing scientific accuracy of the conformation of the globe and of the Zones, and refers briefly to the creation of the planets, the heavenly lights, and the animals, very much in the order presented in the first chapter of Genesis.

     When thus He, whoever of the gods He was, had divided the mass so separated, and reduced it, so divided, into distinct members; in the first place, that it might not he unequal on and side, He gathered it up into the form of a vast globe; then he commanded the sea to be poured around it, and to grow boisterous with the raging winds, and to surround the shores of the earth, encompassed by it....

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     He commanded the plains, also, to be extended, the valleys to sink down, the woods to be clothed with green leaves, the craggy mountains to arise; and, as on the right-hand side, two Zones intersect the heavens, and as many on the left, and as there is a fifth hotter than these, so did the care of the Deity distinguish this enclosed mass of the Earth by the same number, and as many climates are marked out upon the Earth.

     Of these, that which is the middle one, is not habitable on account of the heat; deep snow covers two of them. Between either these He placed as many more, and gave them a temperate climate, heat being mingled with cold.

     ....Scarcely had He separated all these by fixed limits, when the stars, which had long lain hid, concealed beneath the mass of Chaos, began to glow through the range of the heavens.

     And that no region might be destitute of its own peculiar animated beings, the stars and the forms of the Gods, [the Sun and the Moon, Apollo and Diana], possess the tract of heaven; the waters fell to be inhabited by the smooth fishes; the Earth received the wild beasts, and the yielding air the birds.

     The cosmogonic Fable concludes with a sublime account of the creation of man, in which are clearly visible the influences of the Chaldean and Egyptian traditions, if not, indeed, also some more direct acquaintance with the Word of the Ancient Church.

     But an animated being, more holy than these, more fitted to receive higher faculties, and which could rule over the rest, was still wanting.

     Then Man was formed. Whether it was that the Artificer of all things, the original of the world in its improved state, framed him from Divine elements; or whether the Earth, being newly made, and but lately divided from the lofty ether, still retained some atoms of its kindred heaven, which, tempered with the waters of the stream, the son of lapetus, [Prometheus], fashioned after the image of the gods, who rule over all things.

     And, whereas other animals bend their looks downwards upon the earth, to man He gave a countenance to look on high and to behold the heavens, and to raise his face erect to the stars.

     Thus, that which had been lately rude earth, and without any regular shape, being changed, assumed the form of Man, till then unknown.

     Then, in the next Fable, follows the famous story of the Four Ages, as, in the Word, the story of creation is followed by the history of the Ancient Churches,--Adam, Noah, and Israel,--and these by the Christian Church.

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     THE SCANDINAVIAN LEGEND.

     Of all the ancient legends of the Creation, there is none more beautiful and grand than the one contained in the Elder Eddo, the Icelandic epic, in which are preserved the religious traditions of the common ancestors of the Scandinavian and the Anglo-Saxon races.

     The Vala, or inspired prophetess who is represented as singing her song at the command of Odin, thus begins her mysterious lay, the "Voluspa," which we here present in a new version:

     Hearken now, all ye
     Heaven-born races,
     Children of Heimdal,
     Everywhere.
     Valfather's wonderful
     Works I will tell you,
     Tales of most ancient
     Times that I know.

     Many ages, before the earth had been made, two worlds existed; Niflheim, the world of darkness, cold, and nebulous clouds, far to the north; and Muspelheim, the bright world of fire and flame far to the south. Between these two there was nought but a yawning abyss, called Ginungagap. The two worlds clearly correspond to the "heaven and earth" of Genesis, Muspelheim being the internal man, in which the Lord with His infinite Love dwells with man, and Niflheim, the external man, the selfhood, the abode of darkness and spiritual death. Ginungagap is the "abyss,' the "chaos," which is common to all the legends.

     The Edda continues:

     T'was the morning of ages,
     When Ymer builded.
     Sand was not seen, nor
     Billowing sea.
     The earth had not risen,
     Nor heaven above it;
     Ginungagap was,
     But grass grew not.

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     "Ymer," whose name strangely resembles that of "Omorka," was a "frost-giant," an evil being who came into existence when, in the midst of Ginungagap, the sparks of fire from Muspelheim met the venomous vapor exhaling from Niflheim. In Ymer we may recognize the sensual man, the first state and degree of our conscious life, which has life only from the Lord in the internal man, but individual existence and form only from our hereditary proprium. But the life of regeneration is about to begin:

     Then the mighty ones
     Moved to the judgment,
     The gods all-holy
     Their council held.
     To night and sunset
     Names they rendered;
     Morning from mid-day
     They set npart,--
     Twilight and evening
     To tell the years.

     This calls to mind the first day of creation, when "God called the light, day, and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

     The sons of Bure
     The lands now builded;
     From out of the ocean
     Fair Midgard formed.
     The Sun shone southward
     On stones and earth-walls;
     Then in the ground
     Grew herbage green.

     "Midgard" is the "dry land," the inhabitable earth, which appeared in the midst of the waters. The "sons of Bure" were the three creative divinities, Odin, Vile and Ve, the last two of whom are also called Hoener and Lodur. They may be compared to the "Elohim" of the Scriptures, a "plural of majesty."

     These three slew the giant Ymer, as Bel slew Omorka, or as Merodach slew Tiamat, and the creation of all things on earth was then accomplished in the following manner:

635




     Of Ymer's hulk
     The earth was shapened.
     His blood made billows,
     His bones made bergs.

     The hair formed bushes
     And heaven high
     From his skull was made.
     Next, from his eyebrows
     The mighty powers
     Midgard made
     For the sons of men.
     But of his brains
     Were made the baleful
     And gloomy clouds
     Of the threatening sky.

     There is preserved here, a precious relic of the ancient "anthropomorphic" idea of the "Maximus Home," the idea that the whole universe, the macrocosm, is stamped with the human form. The details may be difficult of interpretation, but the last lines, describing the creation of the clouds, suggest the thought that all doubts arise from the sensual understanding of the proprium, the brains of Ymer.

     We come finally to the creation of man:

     And, last, three Asar,
     Blithesome and mighty,
     From the gods went forward
     To Midgard's house.
     'There on the ground
     They found the helpless
     Ask and Embla
     Without a use.
     No spirit had they,
     No understanding,
     No blood, or motion,
     Or blooming hue.
     Odin gave spirit,
     Hoener gave reason,
     Lodur gave blood
     And blooming hue.

     "Ask" and "Embla" were two trees, the Ash and the Elm, from which were created the first man and the first woman, Adam and Eve.

636


The reader is reminded, here, of Swedenborg's description, in the Worship and Love of God, of the creation of the first pair, on trees in the paradise. It is possible that this idea was suggested to him by the legends of his northern ancestors. Whether we look upon this as a scientific fact or as an allegory, the spiritual meaning of the legend unfolds itself when we know that a tree signifies perception; that the Lord created the first men with the faculty of natural perception; and that these men became celestial as their perception became that celestial perception which constitutes the highest of all human faculties.
"MY DOCTRINE IS NOT MINE." 1903

"MY DOCTRINE IS NOT MINE."       Rev. JOSEPH E. ROSENQVIST       1903

     "--My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent me.
     "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."--John v:16, 17.

     The Jews were about to celebrate the feast of tabernacles. This feast was held for the purpose of celebrating the ingathering of the fruit of the earth, which, spiritually understood, signifies the production of good, thus regeneration.

     Therefore, this feast, like the other feasts celebrated by the Jews, signified, in the spiritual sense, worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of regeneration. At this feast the Jews expected to see Jesus present, whom they hated and were willing to kill should an opportunity offer itself. We read: "Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him; for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people." We learned from these words that there was a difference of opinion about Jesus among these Jews; some thought he was a good man, and others that he was a deceiver, thus an evil man. Can we wonder, then, at the fact that there is the same difference of opinion about Christ at the present day?

637


No, for the same cause obtains today as then. Men were external and unwilling to become internal.

     There are people at this day who recognize the Lord Jesus Christ, the historic Christ, as a good man, as an ideal man, and others who believe him to have been a clever deceiver of the people. But at best He is only recognized as a man, thus His Divinity is denied except among a few. Some of the Jews hated the Lord so much that they sought to kill him. And so it was not popular to speak about Jesus, to let it be known that any interest in His sayings or doings was taken, whether you believed that He was a good or an evil man. We read: "Howbeit, no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews." I think history repeats itself here also. How is it with us of the New Church, who know from revelation who the Lord Jesus really is? Are we always ready to speak openly of our faith in the Lord and His Divinity, when such opportunities offer themselves that our conscience tells us that we ought to speak? Or do also we, who ought to be members of the internal Church, shrink from speaking openly of our Lord for fear of the Jews, for fear of losing friends and benefactors among those who only acknowledge Him as a man or who are even willing to kill Him?

     As the true Doctrine is from the Lord and is the Lord, in the same manner as the light of the sun is the sun: and as the truth of the literal sense of the Word shines in its light, and conjunction with the Lord is caused by the reception of the same in understanding and will; so the false doctrine, which is a perversion of the true doctrine, causes separation between the Lord and man and throws the shadow of stupidity, doubt and denial over the sacred pages of the Word.

     The sensual and natural man simply denies the possibility of knowing whether there be a God, a life after death and a heaven or a hell. He tells you that it cannot be known, and therefore he denies at heart the revealed Doctrine of the Word. If you say that it has been revealed that there is a God, and that that God is the Lord Jesus Christ, he will at best answer you with a smile which speaks plainer than words that he pities your childishness and ignorance.

638




     And how is it with yourself? Has the thought never come to you that it is a question if there be any God, and life after death, any heaven or any hell? Have you never felt uncertain about your belief and said within yourself: How do I know that the Doctrine of the New Church is true? What, then, will you answer yourself and what ought you to answer others, who put the question to you: Now can I know if this Doctrine of the New Church is true or not? It does not suffice to say either to yourself or to others that the Doctrine is true because you think so, or because others honest and God-fearing man, who, consequently could not have been a deceiver. Such answers may quiet you and others for the time being, but the question is sure to come up again, and the demand for a more satisfactory answer will be louder than before. What you and others want is to put the Doctrine to a practical test. You say you cannot prove beyond a doubt that anything spiritual exists: you cannot evince by any testimony or argument which will cover all points that there is a God, a life after death or a heaven and hell. Quite true; no man can do that. Those who deal in precious metals are never satisfied with the mere statement that a certain article is pure gold or silver; they do not want to argue the question. And why? Because they have recognized methods of testing whether the metal be genuine or nor. The test settles the matter, no arguments are necessary.

     So it is also with the Doctrine of the Church. You can teach that Doctrine, you can explain it and help others to understand it, but you can never prove it beyond a doubt to be true, were you to use all the arguments in the world, were you to speak with the desires to know if the Doctrine be true, is to test it. It is therefore of great importance to know how to test the Doctrine of the Word.

     To us as to the Jews of old the Lord says: "My doctrine is not mine but His that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the Doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." Here we have a teaching from the Lord's own mouth on the subject before us. The only test to which we can put the Doctrine of the Church in order to become internally convinced of its genuineness as the Lord's own truth, is to do the Lord's will, to communication of the Lord's will to us.

639




     When the Lord saps, "My doctrine is not mine but His that sent me." it seems as if He spoke of another person different from Himself. Those who believe that the Father is the first person, the Son the second person, and the Holy Spirit the third person in the Godhead, use this passage as one of the most convincing proofs of the truth of that belief. And it does look as if the Lord taught that He and the Father were different persons. But we know from other parts of the letter of the Word and from the Doctrine of the Church that the Lord did not mean to teach anything of the kind. And it is easy to understand why He spoke as He did and not otherwise. The Jews knew the Lord only as a man and a very lowly man at that; they were even surprised that he knew how to read and teach; they said: "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned"' The Lord spoke to them in accommodation to this their state. He wanted to teach them that His Doctrine was not human but Divine, and so He spoke of Him who had sent Him as the author of that Doctrine. That is, He taught that His Doctrine did not originate in His human, derived from the mother, but was wholly Divine, because from the Divine in Himself.

     In the Writings of the New Church we have the same teaching, viz.: that the Doctrine contained in them is by no means Swedenborg's, but His who sent him to write and publish it. And if any man wil1 do the Lord's will; if he will live according to the Lord's teachings in His Second Coming; if he will shun his evils as sins against the Lord: he shall know beyond a doubt that the Doctrine of the New Church is of God.

     In the prologue to the little work called Canons of the New Church we read: "At this day nothing but the self-evidencing reason of love can establish the Church." The wrong interpretation of this passage is that the Church can be established only by means of so-called charitable forbearance with the false teachings of the Old Church; that it would further the growth of the New Church if the members of the latter would mix freely with those of the former: this idea is, as we all know, not only taught but practised in the nominal New Church. This practice is old enough to have shown to all who can see that it has served to retard the establishment of the Church.

640


As the practice of a truth will convince anyone, who is willing to be convinced, of its Genuineness, so a falsity, when practiced, may, by sad experience, convince those, who are willing to be convinced, of its false nature. But the trouble is that those who are in falsities are very often not willing to be convinced, even when the evidence is unmistakably clear.

     The passage quoted is one of the most beautiful in the Writings and teaches the very same thing as the words of our text: "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or not." The Church can be established in us only so far as we have that internal acknowledgment of its Doctrine which is true faith. This internal acknowledgment cannot be given in any other war than by 1oving the Doctrine and to love the Doctrine is to live the truths of Doctrine in our daily life. This is the self-evidencing reason of love. It is as plain as can be. When we do the truth, it becomes self-evident that it is genuine, and when we are thus internally convinced of the genuineness of Doctrine as being Divine, then we are truly in the Church and the Church is established in us. The self-evidencing reason of love has established the within us.

     We do not know who are and who are not in this internal acknowledgment of truth which comes by living it. The Lord alone knows that. We do not even know if we ourselves are in the true internal acknowledgment of the truth which is saving faith. What we know is that we must acquire it, if the New Church is to be firmly established in us. Before this self-evident reason of love has furnished us with convincing proofs of the Divinity of the Word in letter and spirit, we live with only the natural degree opened in us. We cannot see very much of the spiritual beauties of the New Jerusalem, the spiritual and celestial degrees being as yet closed. But the Lord wants to open these degrees in us, and the opening of them will make an immense change in our whole being.

     When we are satisfied to remain in the natural degree only, we are like the man who wishes to see a beautiful garden, and goes in the darkness of the night to visit it, carrying a lantern to enable him to see. How much can he of the beauties of the garden? Will he, when he leaves it, have any true idea of its aspect?

641


We know he will not. And so it is with us, so long as we remain only in the natural degree. We call have no true idea of the beauty and glory of the New Jerusalem.

     Again, the man who has both the natural and the spiritual degrees opened in him, but not as yet the celestial, may be compared to a man who goes to sec the same garden in moon-light. What a difference! It is now beautiful, indeed, compared with the view he had of it in the light of the lantern. But still you would say, that not even the moon can furnish the light best adapted to give the man a true idea of what the garden really is like.

     But the man with whom both the natural, spiritual and celestial degrees are opened, may be compared to man who views the garden in the bright light of the sun. Only in that light is the real nature of the garden revealed to the delighted visitor. What he now beholds is a thousand times more beautiful than what he could discern in the pale light of the moon.

     And so it is with man and the garden of God. The lantern is mere natural lumen; the moon is the spiritual light of faith, and the bright and shining sun is the celestial glory and refulgence of love. Why should not we strive to have the two higher degrees opened in us? If we are willing to have them opened, the Lord is ready to open them. He has taught us in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, that in so far as we live and act well, only from a sense of equity and justice, in so far we have only the natural degree opened in us. If we wish the Lord to open the spiritual degree, we must live and act well because of the teachings of the Word in letter and spirit; and if we desire to have the celestial degree opened we must live and act well, prompted not by the justice of our actions, and not because of the fact that we are commanded to act so, but from love to the Lord and thence from charity toward our neighbor.

     The practical application of the important lesson which the Lord gives us in the words of our text may now be summed up as follows:

     There is nothing human, nothing man-made, nothing imperfect or incomplete in the Word in letter and spirit, but it is wholly Divine and therefore perfection and completeness itself, and it is consequently of the highest importance to know and acknowledge this. "My doctrine is not mine but His that sent me."

642


This is the first point. The second is, that no man can internally acknowledge this important truth from himself, this internal acknowledgment must be given him from above, and man cannot be gifted with it without earnest co-operation with the Lord, and this co-operation consists in nothing else than in the doing of the Lord's will: "if any man will do His will, he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." Thus speaks the Lord in the Word of His First Advent; let us also hear what He says on this subject in the Evangel of His Second Coming, for there we shall find what is really meant by doing His will:

     The teaching will be found in the Doctrine of Faith under the heading, "Faith is an Internal Acknowledgment of Truth." After showing that the faith of the present day is no faith but only persuasive thought that a thing is true because the Church teaches it, and because it is not manifest to the understanding, the work goes on to show that true faith is nothing else than the acknowledgment that a thing is so, because it is true.

     Having treated of these and other points connected with the subject, the chapter concludes with these words: "And does any one think within himself or say to another, Who can have that internal acknowledgment of truth which is faith? I cannot. I will tell him how he call: Shun evils as sins, and go to the Lord, and you will have as much as you desire" (n. 12).

     Can we be taught in a clearer, more unmistakable language than this? Is there any excuse for us, if we continue in the mere external acknowledgment of the truth which is a thing of the memory only? The Lord has told us both in the Letter and in the Spirit of His Word what to do in order that we may know if the Doctrine be of God or of man; in the Letter of the Word He tells us to do His will, and in the Writings of the Church He counsels us to shun evils as sins, and go to the Lord.

     May each one of us suffer himself to be led by the Lord to do His will by shunning his evils as sins against God, for thus we shall be blessed with that internal acknowledgment of truth, which is faith indeed: thus we shall rejoice in the knowledge that the Doctrine of the Church of the New Jerusalem Is from the Lord yea, is the Lord Himself revealed to us in His Second Coming through His Servant, Emanuel Swedenborg. Amen.

643


DISCRETE DEGREES AND INFLUX 1903

DISCRETE DEGREES AND INFLUX       ALFRED H. STROH       1903

(A thesis, delivered on graduating from the Theological School of the Academy of the New Church, June 3d, 1902.)

     The importance of comprehending what discrete degrees are is emphasized in the Writings as follows:

     There are continuous degrees and there are discrete degrees. Both of these are in every form in the spiritual world as well as in the natural world. All know continuous degrees, but few know discrete degrees, and those who do not know these grope as it were in the darkness when they investigate the causes of things.*
     * Divine Love, n XI.

     He who has not a distinct notion of degrees, cannot have a distinct notion of interior and exterior goods, nor how the case is with man's soul, or with his spirit and body, nor how the case is with the heavens in the other life.*
     * Arcana Caelestia, n. 3691

     He who does not procure to himself a perception of these degrees can know nothing whatever of the differences between the heavens, and between the interior and exterior faculties of man, thus neither the difference between the soul and the body; he is also utterly unable to grasp what the internal sense of the Word is, and its difference from the external sense; yea, neither the difference between the spiritual world and the natural world; neither can he understand what and whence correspondences and representations are, and scarcely what influx is. Sensual men do not grasp these differences, for they make increase and decrease according to these degrees continuous, thus they make these degrees similar to the degrees of length and breadth, wherefore also they stand outside, far from intelligence.*
     * Arcana Caelestia, n. 10181.

     A knowledge of degrees is like a key for opening the causes of things and entering into them. Without this knowledge scarcely anything of cause can be known. * * * Interiors which are not open to view can in no way be discovered unless degrees are known, for exteriors pass to interiors and through these to inmosts, not by continuous, but by discrete degrees.*
     * Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 184.

     Without a knowledge of these degrees, nothing can be known about the differences between the three heavens, nor about the differences between the lore and wisdom of the angels there, nor about the differences between the heat and light in which they are, nor about the differences between the atmospheres which surround and contain [them].

644


Further, without a knowledge of these degrees nothing can be known about the differences between (he interior faculties of the mind in men, thus nothing about their state as to reformation and regeneration: nor about the differences between the exterior faculties, which are of the body, with both angels and men, and altogether nothing about the difference between the spiritual and he natural, and hence nothing about correspondence; real nothing about any difference of life between men and beasts, nor about the difference between the more perfect and imperfect beasts; nor about the differences between the forms of the vegetable kingdom and the matters of the mineral kingdom. From which it can he seen that they who are ignorant of these degrees cannot see causes from any judgment; they see only effects, and judge causes from them, which is done for the most part by an induction which is continuous with effects, when nevertheless causes do not produce effects by what is continuous, but by what is discrete, for the cause is one thing and the effect is another; the difference is as that between what is prior and posterior, or what forms and is formed.*
     * Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 185.

     In view of these clear and explicit teachings the most rational course for everyone who does not wish to remain immersed in the fallacies of the senses would seem to be to procure at once some knowledge concerning degrees. This would be true whether the object were to understand the interiors of nature, of the spiritual world, or of the Divine; it applies with equal force to the scientist, philosopher and theologian.

     What, then, are continuous and discrete degrees, and where may examples of these degrees be found? A few of the numerous statements in the Writings on this subject are the following:

     [The doctrine of degrees applies to the heavens, to heat and light, to the atmospheres, to the human body and the kingdoms of nature.] But this doctrine is of wider extension; Its extension is not only to natural things but also to civil, moral and spiritual things, and to all and single things of them. There are two causes why the doctrine of degrees extends also to such things. First, in every thing, of which anything can be predicated, there is a trine of end, cause and effect, and these three are related to one another according to degrees of height. And secondly, things civil, moral and spiritual are not something abstract from substance, but are substances. For as love and wisdom are not abstract things, but substance (as was shown above, nos. 40-43), so in like manner are all things which are called civil, moral and spiritual.

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These may indeed be thought of abstractly from substances, yet in themselves they are not abstract. As for example, affection and thought, charity and faith, will and understanding, for it is similar with these as with love and wisdom, namely, in that they are not possible outside of subjects which are substances, but are states of subjects, that is, substances. That they are changes of these, presenting variations, will be seen in what follows. By substance is also meant form, for substance without form is not possible.*
     * Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 209.

     Since these degrees stand out conspicuously in the spiritual world, for the whole of that world from highest to lowest is distinctly discreted into them, from that world the knowledge of these degrees can be drawn; and afterwards conclusions, may he drawn therefrom respecting the perfections of the forces and forms which are in like degrees in the natural world.*
     * Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 201.

     There are two kinds of degrees, there are continuous degrees, and there are degrees not continuous. Continuous degrees are circumstanced as are the degrees of the decrease of light from flame even to obscurity, or as the degrees of the decrease of sight from those things which are in light to those which are in shade, or as the degrees of the purity of the atmosphere from the bottom of it to the top; distances determine these degrees. Whereas degrees not continuous, but discrete, are discriminated as are the prior and the posterior, as the cause and the effect, and as the thing producing and the thing produced. He who explores will see that in all and single things in the whole world, whatsoever they may be, there are such degrees of production and composition, namely, from one thing [there is formed] a second, and from the second a third, and so on.*
     * Heaven and Hell, n. 38.

     That there are continuous and discrete degrees in all created things, both great and small, the angels confirm by the truth that:

     Infinite things in God the Creator, Who is the Lord from eternity, are distinctly one; and that there are infinite things in His infinites; and that in things infinitely infinite there are degrees of both kinds, which also in Him are distinctly one; and because these things are in Him, and all things are created by Him, and things created resemble in a certain image the things which are in Him, it follows that there cannot be the least finite in which there are not such degrees. That those degrees equally in leasts and in greatests, is because the Divine is the same greatests and leasts.*
     * Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 223.

     The inmost degree in any form is also the highest. When a series of degrees is viewed from what is higher to what is lower the order is called successive, but when all the degrees of the series are viewed as one within another, residing in an ultimate, the order is called simultaneous.

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Thus "in successive order the first degree makes the highest and the third the lowest, but in simultaneous order the first degree makes the inmost and the third the outmost."* Successive and simultaneous order may be illustrated by a telescope of three parts. When it is extended, part above part, successive order, as just defined, is represented; but when closed, part above part, simultaneous order is represented.
     * Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 205.

     When the importance of the doctrine of discrete degrees is once grasped and a general knowledge and understanding of its universality of scope is obtained all things in heaven and on earth will, on investigation, be found to contain wonderful series of degrees of order and use. The human body thus viewed is seen to be a temple of marvelous symmetry, beauty and order, designed universe is seen to consist of degrees of substances in series to contain the degrees of the mind, and the soul. The natural above another and within another. If this is true of the natural universe and the human body, how eminently true will it be of the spiritual universe and the Gorand Man! The doctrine of the Word, and all that is said of degrees of Divine Truth in the Writings, becomes quite plain and easy to understand. Finally, the doctrine of influx is incomprehensible without a companion doctrine of discrete degrees: for, as is taught in the Writings, "the nature of communication by influx is not comprehended, unless the nature of degrees of height is known, and what the difference is between these degrees and the degrees of length and breadth." From the statements in the numbers quoted above, that there are degrees in all things both great and small, and from the numerous examples given of interior things which can not be understood without a doctrine of degrees, it will readily be seen that a thorough development of even one or two branches would fill volumes. What arcana there are in the illustration so frequently used in the Writings, that the Lord is present throughout the universe just as the sun is omnipresent by means of its heat and light! What does an interior understanding of this truth? It involves an understanding of the nature of light, of the heat which is within light, of the degree of atmospheres and their component particles, which transmit the influx of heat and light from the sun to the earth, and finally, it involves an understanding of the solar centre itself and a host of universal truths, the mere enumeration of which would fill pages!

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Where can all these things be found? In the Writings, where there are many more particulars than a cursory examination would discover, and in Swedenborg's great work, the Principia, where these things are extensively elaborated. Knowing that the human body is the "microcosm of the macrocosm," that it contains in itself all the degrees of substances in the circumambient universe, disposed by life into the human organic form, reflect a moment on what must be the arcana contained in the interior laboratories of this most perfect work of creation. On first examination all manner of membranes present themselves to view, first of all the most general one called the skin. It is also found that there is universally present a fluid called the blood. Thus the skin is always a general containant and the blood, the universal, which is contained. There are discrete degrees of both membranes and bloods, the lower ones visible, the higher ones far beyond the ken of any sight but that of reason. The leasts of the membranous structures are fibres, those of the bloods are corpuscles or globules. What an illustration of the relation of generals and particulars, universals and singulars, to each other! The universal is present throughout the membranes as a whole and singularly in all the degrees of fibres, and conversely the membranes, in general and in particular, contain the blood as a whole and also its least forms. Much of this is taught in the Writings, and thousands of pages are devoted to the elaboration of these principles in the Economy of the Animal Kingdom and related works
     * Heaven and Hell, n. 211. [Footnote is not marked in text.]

     By correspondence, what is true of the natural universe and the human body is true of the spiritual universe and the Gorand Man. When we understand what the blood is to the body, we will in some measure comprehend what the Divine Life is to the Gorand Man, for the Lord is the blood of the Gorand Man.

     The whole subject of education and the development of the degrees of the mind is capable of indefinite extension by the application of the doctrine of discrete degrees as taught in the Writings and in the scientific and philosophical works of Swedenborg.

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We will learn how to educate when we know what to teach, what the degrees of the mind and their needs really are. What a field for the educator in New Church schools and universities!

     Even as a philosopher Swedenborg saw the importance of a doctrine of degrees and series, as w witness the following:

     By the doctrine of series and degrees we mean that doctrine which teaches the mode observed by nature in the subordination and co-ordination of things, and which in acting she has prescribed for herself. Series are what successively and simultaneously comprise things subordinate and co-ordinate. But degrees distinct progressions, such as when we find one thing is subordinated under another, and when one thing is co-ordinated in juxtaposition with another: in this sense there are degrees of determination and degrees of composition. In the mundane system there are several series proper and essential to itself, while each of these again contains series of its own; so that there is nothing in the visible world, which is not a series, and in a series. Consequently, the science of natural things depends on a distinct notion of series and degrees, and of their subordination and co-ordination.*
     * Economy of the Animal Kingdom, Part I, n. 580.

     In many places Swedenborg emphasizes the importance of studying and applying those universal laws of order, series, degrees, influx, correspondence and others, by which he arrived at such wonderful results in the investigation of nature and the human form. Witness the following statement from the Worship and Love of God where in treating of the evolution of wisdom he says:

     In order that one thing may come forth from another, and we may view it distinctly, it is necessary that we view it from what is prior, or from light itself, whether inspired or revealed, and thus by that order which is treated of in this article.*** But what the nature of that order is, and what the nature of influx according to that order, must be drawn from the doctrines of order and of degrees, also from the doctrines of influxes which ought to be cultivated.*
     * Worship and Love of God, n. 66, note h.

     He even distinguishes accurately between successive and simultaneous order, and in many places he teaches concealing that wonderful law of end, cause and effect, in which the terms of a series of three degrees are viewed in their relations as the prior, posterior and pastrami, or the first, middle and last.

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Not only did he see that there are degrees of both kinds in all things, that there are three discrete degrees in all things, but also that in the greatest series of all, ends are in the Divine, causes in the spiritual world and effects in the natural world, and that the knowledge of them is in general defined by the realms of theology, philosophy, and science.

     Since there are three discrete degrees of end, cause and effect in all things, the natural universe is divided into such a series, the spiritual universe into a similar one corresponding to it, and since they are in both worlds must they not also be in the Divine Itself, but as infinite and uncreate discrete degrees?

     The Divine Love and Wisdom teaches us concerning this most interior truth as follows:

     That in man there are these three degrees can be seen from the elevation of his mind even to the degrees of love and wisdom in which are the angels of the second and third heaven; for all angels were born men, and man as to the interiors which are of his mind is a heaven in least form, therefore there are in man by creation as many degrees of height as there are heavens. Man is also an image and likeness of God, wherefore these three degrees are inscribed upon man because they are in God-Man; that is, in the Lord. That in the Lord these degrees are infinite and uncreate, and in man finite and created, can be seen from what was shown in Part First, as from these things, that the Lord is Love and Wisdom in Himself and that man is a recipient of Love and Wisdom from the Lord; also, that of the Lord nothing but what is infinite can be predicted, and of man nothing but what is finite.*
     * Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 231.

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     What a vista of truth, love and life this opens to the New Church! These universal laws of theology, philosophy and science, which are really the same laws on discrete planes, open the eye to the wonderful things by which we are surrounded on all hands in nature, they develop the reason so that it sees interior causes in all things, they cultivate the affections for spiritual and Divine things! These universals will produce a New Church university where there will be a great light of truth because of the heat of love for interior things which will rule there; and from such a centre will proceed rays of light and heat which will produce a new civilization, involving the reconstruction of the sciences into an orderly form, the resurrection of philosophy, the formulation of a synthetic theology, which will view all things from ends, investigate them from causes, and see them in effects!

     The direct road to this result is the study of the laws of the creation and preservation of the universe and the human body as presented in the Writings of the Church and in the scientific and philosophical works of Swedenborg. Following this road we will see that all these truths are in the Letter of the Word itself and finally arrive at that Angelic Idea of the Creation of the universe by the Lord, namely, that He, the Divine Man, by means of the Spiritual Sun in which He dwells, by means of planes of finite substances created from His Infinite Substance, produced the universe even to ultimates, which are minerals and rocks; and then by the influx of life produced the organic forms of the vegetable and animal kingdoms and finally man, who completes the chain and circle of uses from the Creator to the Creator, by Whom all things are animated and sustained by the universal influx of spiritual heat and light from the spiritual Sun throughout the universe; thus God-Man is Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent. To preserve the order of the creation and the end in it, which is the conjunction by influx of the Divine with a heaven from the Human Race, the Lord performed Redemption, We conquered the hells and restored the order which had been inverted, He made permanent the work of Redemption by the Glorification of His Human.

     This is taught in the Word where Jacob's ladder is treated of for "by 'ascending and descending on the ladder,' is signified, in the supreme sense, infinite and external communication and consequent conjunction." "The Divine things of the Lord descend even to the ultimates of nature and from the ultimates of nature ascend to Him and represent the Divine Communication and thence conjunction which in the supreme sense is signified by the angels ascending and descending on the ladder set on the earth whose head reached unto heaven and above which Jehovah stood."*
     * Arcana Caelestia, n. 3702, in exposition of Genesis xxviii, 12.

     Jacob "dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of Gob ascending and descending upon it.

     "And, behold, Jehovah stood above it."

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SPECULATION 1903

SPECULATION       ROBERT B. CALDWELL       1903

     A spirit of speculation permeates the business world at the present time.

     Andrew Carnegie in his book, entitled "The Empire of Business," states that, when he was a telegraph operator in Pittsburg, he knew from the messages sent over the wires who the speculators were, and that they were not citizens of first repute, and he had lived to see every one of them ruined, bankrupt in money and in character.

     The inference to be drawn from what Mr. Carnegie states is, that all speculators become ruined and bankrupt, and that they die poor and disgraced; but we find that this is not the case, for we know that the impious are raised to honors and become great men in the world, and abound in riches, and live in delicacies and magnificence.

     It is true that many of those who speculate do come to a sad and disgraceful end. We have had numerous suicides quite recently which are traceable to speculation, and we have had many disastrous failures, also due to this, but let us not judge from these things that there are no men who have succeeded by speculation and are now living in worldly ease and comfort. A great many do succeed, and with this fact before us, as well as the fact that a great many do not succeed, let us see what light we can get upon the subject, viewing it from a Newchurch standpoint.

     We are taught that the Lord never leads man away from seeking honors and acquiring wealth; but that He leads him away from the desire of seeking these for the sake of himself, and when He leads him away from these, He introduces him into the love of uses (D. P. 183).

     In endeavoring to arrive at a solution of the question of the right or the wrong in a business transaction, we see from this doctrine that the success or failure of it from a money point of view does not in itself enable us to pronounce a just judgment. Each one must determine for himself whether the end he has in view in the transaction is in accordance with the Divine law which commands him not to have, in the first place, gain for the sake of gain, but in all he does to have the love of use; and this brings us to the question whether a man can speculate from the love of use.

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     Speculation may be defined as a means of obtaining money without having regard to giving an equivalent, and a speculator, one who makes use of this means to the desired end. Now, if those definitions are correct, it would seem impossible to engage in speculation from the love of use, for one who is not in the desire to give an equivalent for what he seeks can hardly be said to be in the love of use. What we should ask ourselves, then, is, whether in dealing in shares on the stock exchange, or in commodities in the other exchanges, we are actuated by a desire to be useful to our neighbor, or by the desire to take advantage of a rise or fall in quotations for our own personal benefit; for it is this desire that determines to each one the right or the wrong of the transaction.

     It has been said that all business is more or less of a speculation, but this statement may be misleading. If we say that all men who engage in business and have for end gain for the sake of gain, whether they engage in so-called legitimate trade or so-called speculation, are not actuated by a love of use, a more definite idea is obtained.

     Whatever similarity there may be between legitimate trade and speculation in the minds of the ordinary men of the world, there should be no obscurity on this point to a Newchurchman, for to him the laws of Divine order are, that he should be engaged in some employment wherein by his work he would be useful to his neighbor; but in a transaction where a ten per cent. margin is put up, with the hope of gaining something for self, it can hardly be said that he is carrying out this law. In other words, it is difficult to see that a man demonstrates love for his neighbor in a transaction of this kind. He risks the smallest amount the broker will agree to, he enters the deal with the hope that a change in quotation will put money in his pocket; when he wills he takes money without rendering any service, or giving value therefor, and when he loses, his fellow speculator takes it in the same way.

     This does not appear like doing something for the sake of others, but, upon this point, the only judgment of any practical use, is the judgment each one has the right to pass upon himself.

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No one can judge the ends in another to any practical purpose--each must perform this office for himself--and his judgment, to be of use to himself, should be made under the guidance of the
Divine law.

     We are taught in No. 8717 of the Arcana Caelestia that riches are given to those who will not be harmed by them and are withheld from those who would be harmed. To the ordinary man of the world this idea will appear as foolish in the extreme, for he attributes his good fortune to his own shrewdness, foresight and good judgment; to him, therefore, teaching that places such things in the hands of a Divine Providence would be absurd indeed, but to the Newchurchman the doctrine that money is wholly under the control of the Divine and that its distribution is completely in accordance with Divine oversight, follows as part of his belief in the laws of Providence. The Newchurchman, therefore, who is inclined to speculate, should weigh well the possibility of there being a denial of the laws of Providence in his efforts to get wealth in this way. We are taught in No. 6481 of the Arcana Caelestia that eminence generally begets self-love, and opulence the love of the world, and that these things, eminence and opulence, are given to the good if they do not disagree with and withdraw them from heaven. There, again, it is made clear that worldly goods are distributed under the regulations and in accordance with the laws of Providence. The man who speculates would do well to inquire whether this act on his part is not a practical denial of the law of Providence. One thing which all can be certain of is, that he who engages in a transaction purely for the sake of gain is indulging a love which is antagonistic to the above teaching, and he is consociating himself with those in the other world as well as in this world, who are in opposition to the law of Divine Providence.

     That the confirmed speculator gets into strange company will appear from common usage. In the exchanges he is known as a "bull" or a "bear," and if he gets the worst of it in his deals he is called a "shorn lamb" whom the "wolves" have bitten. We are taught that things which come to be of common usage in the world correspond to things in the world of spirits, and these names used in the stock exchanges by common consent may be of this class.

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     The Newchurchman should place the question of speculation before himself in a rational way. He must ask himself, Am I acting from a desire to be of use in endeavoring to get riches in this way. He may reply to this, that if he succeeds he will have money to give to the Church, but just here he is confronted with the doctrine, that riches go to those who will not be harmed by them and are withheld from those who would be harmed. So, even in speculation, he may see that it is a question of the laws of Divine Providence whether he wins or loses, and even in so commendable an object as his desire to gain money to give to the Church it may be in the interests of his regeneration for him to lose. Thus it may be seen that a desire to gain money to give to the Church will not insure a man from losing in a speculative venture. And, further, the man must bear in mind that it is possible, (however much he may believe in his own sincerity), that he would not give the Church one cent of his winnings in a speculation. As already intimated, the speculator joins in association with those who are engaging in transactions from a love of gain for the sake of gain. If he wins, he confirms himself in his belief in human prudence and against a belief in the Divine Providence. His love of money for its own sake is strengthened. His ideas of the value of money become warped and abnormal. He puts his trust in money and miser-like clutches it with a tighter grip, fearing it will slip from him as easily as it came. It came without asking any service; why may it not take its flight on the same terms. So the speculator may find that he has gained money but lost the peace of mind that trust in Providence gives, and which no amount of money can restore when once lost.

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Editorial Department 1903

Editorial Department       Editor       1903

     THE WRITINGS AS "THE KEY" TO THE WORD.

     A correspondent writes: "I cannot see that the Writings of the New Church are the Word, much less that the dogma that they are the Word is the essential doctrine of the Church, or that it is even one of the Doctrines of the Church. I cannot understand how the key to the Word call be the Word."

     As to the general doctrine that the Revelation given to the New Church is the Word of the Lord in His Second Advent, we must refer our correspondent to the articles and editorials on this subject, that have appeared in New Church Life for the past two years. Before studying these things, however, let him free his mind of the unjust notion that this doctrine is a "dogma," a word which has acquired a repulsive and sinister signification, as meaning an arbitrary dictum by some church council, representing the external authority of the will of a body of men, without regard to the internal evidence of truth. Such external authority attaches to the negative teaching that the Writings are not the Word. That is the dogma of the General Convention, but the positive teaching that the Writings are the Word, rests purely upon internal evidence.

     But in regard to the difficulty which our correspondent experiences in understanding "how the key to the Word can be the Word," we beg him to consider the meaning of a key. The key to a problem means nothing else than the problem itself, solved. The key to a house means the house itself, opened. The key to the Word means the Word itself, opened, disclosed, unveiled. The Writings are the Word opened. The Word that is opened is still the Word, even as the house that is opened is still the house.

     THE "APOSTOLIC WORD."

     In response to our request, in the October Life, for "reference to a passage in the Writings where, as has been asserted, the Epistles of Paul are designated as 'the Apostolic Word,'" a number of correspondents have kindly furnished us with references to passages, which to them, seem to confer such a designation upon the Epistles in general.

     The only reference to the term "the Apostolic Word," that call be found in the Concordance or in Beyer's Index Initialis, is to the statement in A. R. 490: "That this is so, the whole Word teaches, both the Old Prophetic one, and the New Apostolic," but nothing is said here about the Epistles being part of this New Apostolic Word.

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     In Coronis n. I, it is stated "That these three,--the consummation of the Age, the Advent of the Lord, and the New Church,--are treated of in the Prophetic Word of the Old Testament, was made manifest to me when it was granted to explain it by means of the spiritual sense; similarly also the prophetical book of the New Testament, which is called the Apocalypse. That it is also treated of in the Evangelic and Apostolic Word, will be manifest from what follows." A distinction seems to be made here between the "Evangelic" and the "Apostolic" Word, but the evidence is not conclusive, since two of the Evangelists,--Matthew and John,-were also Apostles.

     The same applies to the statement in Coronis 59: "On this account the Advent of the Lord is foretold so many times in the Old Prophetic Word, and for the same reason the Lord was preached and His Second Advent foretold in the New Evangelic and Apostolic Word."

     One of our correspondents refers to T. C. R. 137, where an angel, addressing a company of Old Church clergymen, says: "I will read to you some things from the Holy Word," and then quotes I John 5:20, Col. 2:9, Acts 20:21, and Matth. 28:18. But it is evident that the angel here spoke in accommodation to his hearers, who looked upon the Epistles as being part of the Word of God.

     Another correspondent writes: "The claim that Swedenborg styles the Epistles 'the Apostolic Word,' appears to be an inference from the Doctrine of Charity, n. 16, where Swedenborg quotes a number of passages from Paul, and then says: 'The same may be seen in other parts of the Word,' implying that the passages quoted were parts of the Word, thus the Apostolic Word." And the correspondent adds the question, "Does the Latin justify the inference from the passage quoted?"

     The Latin text is "De hoc ita Paulus, quod amare proximum sit implere legem,-in duobus locis; et alibi ex Verbo."

     "On this subject Paul says, that to love the neighbor is to fulfill the law,--in two passages; and elsewhere from the Word."

     The meaning of the last clause becomes evident, and in harmony with the general doctrine, by the insertion of a comma: "And elsewhere, from the Word."

     It is well known that Swedenborg often quotes from the Epistles, and at the same time from the canonical books of the Word itself, in order to show that the Doctrines of the New Church are in harmony with the Doctrines of the early Christian Church. But, as far as is known, there is no place in the Writings where Swedenborg teaches that the Epistles are the "Apostolic Word" or justifies the claim, recently made, that they are a kind of Divine Revelation. (See New Church Life, 1903, p. 483 on the "planes of revelation in the Bible itself," etc.)

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     THE RECOGNITION OF SWEDENBORG IN THE LEARNED WORLD.

     The recent wave of enthusiasm in the learned world, on the subject of Swedenborg's anatomical works, still shows no signs of subsiding. Eventful developments are rapidly succeeding each other, and the whole movement forms a most interesting side-chapter in the history of the New Church.

     Dr. Max Neuburger's as it were accidental discovery of Swedenborg's OEconomia Regni Animalis in the University library in Vienna, was followed by his address on "Swedenborg's Contributions to the Physiology of the Brain," delivered before the Assembly of German Naturalists and Physicians, in Hamburg, 1901. His subsequent request, through diplomatic channels, for information concerning Swedenborg's scientific MSS. in Stockholm, was placed in the hands of Dr. Retzius, who, after meeting Mr. Alfred Stroh in Stockholm, was led to set on foot, in the Academy of Sciences, the movement to publish these MSS. and other documents in the original Latin or Swedish. This undertaking was brought to the attention of the daily newspapers, and the story of Swedenborg's scientific greatness has been passed around, from journal to journal, in the Swedish, Danish, German, and Austrian press, and is now beginning to be noticed also in American papers. Then, in May, 1903, came the remarkable opening address to the Congress of Anatomists in Heidelberg, by that high-priest of physiological science, Dr. Retzius, which was reproduced in the last issue of New Church Life, and this has been followed up by a series of recent articles and scientific tracts on the same subject, from the pen of Dr. Neuburger.

     And now, as the latest tribute to Swedenborg's genius and scientific achievements, there comes a lengthy account in Svenska Danbladet, a Stockholm daily, for October 15th, of a lecture delivered before the Medical Society of Stockholm, by Professor C. G. Santeson, on the subject of "Swedenborg as an Anatomist and Physiologist." While the description of Swedenborg's marvelous anticipations of modern scientific "discoveries" is to a great extent similar to that given by Dr. Retzius and Dr. Neuburger, Professor Santeson goes further than these in his recognition of the real object for which Swedenborg labored.

     He states that Swedenborg, even as a youth, "was profoundly convinced of the unity of the Godhead, and took a decided stand against the trinitarian dogma, . . . and that he could not possibly accept the doctrine of a vicarious atonement." He recognizes that Swedenborg was never satisfied with merely scientific studies, "but used these as means by which to arrive at 'the spiritual reality,' a knowledge of the soul and its relation to the body, and to a knowledge of the spiritual world." He compares him to Goethe's Faust, who had "studied all possible things," but finds that Swedenborg differs from Faust in that the studies of the latter had resulted only in a pessimistic and melancholy mysticism, "while Swedenborg ever maintains his interest in theology, with a joyous faith proceeding on his way onward to the transcendental."

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     Having, described some of Swedenborg's astonishing anticipations in cerebral physiology, Professor Santeson observes that "the brilliant talents, the penetration and versatility, which characterized Swedenborg during his scientific career, remained unimpaired even after he had sunk,--or risen,--to his most mystical period, and this to such an extent that he was able to present a financial memorial to the Diet of such importance that it was characterized by Count von Hopken as the most able that had been presented to the Diet of that year."

     The lecturer concludes: "Why is it, then, that Swedenborg has not received the recognition which he so well merits? It is difficult to answer this question, but it is certain that his contemporaries either did not understand him, or else did not wish to understand him.... But it is to be hoped that the study of Swedenborg which just now seems to be in the ascendency, will gradually do full justice to this unique man, who was as noble in character and simple in demeanor, as he was great as an investigator; he was one of those thorough and solid personalities, of whom we must acknowledge in wonder and admiration, that they possess qualities far beyond the measure vouchsafed to common mortals, and who, with the limited means at their hands, are able to achieve results which to us common persons seem well-nigh impossible of attainment."

     In the various recent tributes to Swedenborg the scientist, there is a note of regret, of tardy but manly repentance, which must be gratifying to the members of the New Church, who have long deplored the fact that Swedenborg, the illumined prophet of a rational science, should have remained so long without honor in his own country,--by which we mean, not Sweden, but the whole world of natural learning. But though Swedenborg, the anatomist, may at last be said to have been "discovered' by modern anatomists, it is quite evident that they have not yet gained sight of Swedenborg, the psychologist and philosopher, for not a word has been said by them, thus far, in recognition of that which alone is truly and permanently valuable in Swedenborg's earlier works,--the universal scientific and philosophical principles and doctrines which he formulated, by a Divinely given intuition a prior, and by careful scientific induction a posteriori,--the doctrines concerning discrete degrees, atmospheres, series, forms, correspondences, etc., the principle that nature is like unto itself in things least as in things greatest, the principle that all power and life resides in ultimates, the thousand and one flashes of interior illumination which shed a harmonious light over all things of the universe.

     It is gratifying to witness honest scientists acknowledging that Swedenborg had anticipated, by nearly two hundred years, this, that and the other discovery of various natural facts. Our learned friends stand aghast at the gigantic figure of Swedenborg, the man. But they are as yet only at the threshold of their recognition. They are like children admiring a few brilliant shells on the beach. What would be their astonishment if they were to enter upon a serious study of Swedenborg's philosophical works?

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If they were to discover the universal principles which, under Divine direction, assumed scientific shape in his rational mind? And what, if by such study, they were led to see that these things, again, are but as things seen "through a glass, darkly," when compared with the Infinite and Eternal Truths which were revealed to him, after he had acknowledged his inability to discover them!
SOME REASONS FOR SEPARATING FROM THE OLD CHURCH 1903

SOME REASONS FOR SEPARATING FROM THE OLD CHURCH              1903

     11. "And I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth, for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away." The Old Church is dead, not only in the spiritual world, but in the natural world also. Being dead, it is our duty to bury it and leave it, and remain no longer in the tomb where the Lord is not. To "bury the dead" is to "emerge from night and be made alive, for when an Old Church is dead or has expired and it becomes night, then a New Church is raised up elsewhere in the place of the Old." (A. C. 2955.)

     12. We are taught that "the Old Church has altogether turned itself away from the Lord, and consequently Heaven has removed itself from them, and the Lord was left then and has come to the New Church, and when they are left by the Lord, they become as pagans who have no religion." (A. C. 4423, 4535; A. R. 750.) If the Lord has left the Old Church, is it then safe for His disciples to remain behind, or are they to follow the Lord whithersoever He goeth?

     13. It is foretold in Zecharias xii:2, 3, that in the day of the Second Coming of the Lord "there will be nothing of Doctrine left in the Old Church, and that therefore people will flee from it." (A. R. 707) For those who have received the Lord in His coming, it is not safe to remain in the Old Church in order to fight its evils and falses, for by nature we incline towards these very things. The Lord alone can do the fighting. For us there is safety only in Right, lest we be seduced by the overpowering sphere of the dead Church. In the days of the abomination of desolation, let those who are in Judea flee unto the mountains, to the city of the New Jerusalem.

     14. "When the Lord is no longer acknowledged; when there is no longer any love of the Lord and faith in Him; when there is no longer any charity to the neighbor or any faith of good and truth: when this is the case in the Church, or, rather, in the region, where the Word is,--that is, when men are such in the thoughts of the heart, although not in the doctrine of the mouth, then there is that abomination of desolation which is foretold by Daniel the prophet and by the Lord in Matthew xxiv." (A. C. 3552.) Such was the state of the Christian world at the time of the Last Judgment, and such it is still, for the Last Judgment still continues in this world.

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     15. "The Old Church is the abomination of desolation, because there does not remain in it a grain of truth. There is no knowledge of God, but what is erroneous, false, or altogether none; there is so knowledge of the Lord; no knowledge of the Divine Human; no knowledge of the Holy Spirit or of the Divine Trinity; no knowledge of the Holiness of the Word; no knowledge of Kedemption except a false one; no knowledge of faith, or of charity, of the free will, of Repentance, Reformation and Regeneration; no knowledge of Heaven and Hell; no knowledge of the state of man after death, and thus no knowledge of salvation and eternal life." (Abom. 2-17)

     16. Nor is this abomination of desolation confined only to the internal things of faith and doctrine in the Old Church, but the mortification has spread also to its externals and ultimates. For "there is no knowledge of Baptism and the Holy Supper, which have become hardly anything but ceremonies; no knowledge of the Law; no knowledge of the Gospel; the Catechism is nothing; the whole Word is nothing. Whence it follows that Religion, the Church, Worship, and the Ministry are nothing." (Abom. 18-24; A. R. 675)

     17. The Old Church is dead and judged and can never be resurrected by an "influx of truth" from the New Heaven into its clergy. "For the New Heaven has no influence over the Clergy of the Old Church, who deem themselves too learned in the doctrine of justification by faith alone." (Doc. ii:261.) They are the ones whom above others, "it is difficult to convince, because they have been confirmed in their dogmas at the universities; for all confirmations in matters of theology are as it were glued fast in the brain and can with difficulty be removed, and as long as they are there, genuine truths can have no place." (Doc. ii:250.) And "those who have confirmed with themselves the faith of the Old Church, cannot, except with great danger to their spiritual life, embrace the faith of the New Church, unless they have first narrowly examined and rejected one by one, the dogmas of the former faith, and thus have extirpated it." (B. E. 103, 104.)

     18. It is vain to hope for any such repentance from the Old Church as a body, for it is foretold in the Writings of the New Church, and thus by the Lord who alone knows the future, that "there will continue to be divided churches as before, and their doctrines will be taught as before," (L. J. 73); and that the Old Church "will remain in its external worship, as the Jews do in theirs." (A. C. 1850) Are we to deny this prophecy of the Lord?

     19. The real reason why the Old Church will not repent and receive the Lord in His Second Coming, is that "their deeds are evil" and will continually grow worse. For "falsities and evils grow continually in a church once perverted and dead." (A. C. 4503) "The reason for this night in the Church is because evils increase every day, and so far as they increase, so far one person infects another like a contagion, especially parents their children, for hereditary evils are successively concentrated and thus transmitted." (A. C. 10134.)

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     20. For a Newchurchman to remain in communion with a church from which Heaven has removed itself and which the Lord has left;--a Church in which there is not left one stone upon another that has not been thrown down;--a Church in which there are no longer any sacraments, worship, or ministry;--a Church which is no longer a Religion, but is dead within and putrifying without;--to remain in such a Church is to remain in communion with death and with hell.
TRANSLATION OF THE WORD 1903

TRANSLATION OF THE WORD       W. F. P       1903

     The question of a new translation of the Word has occupied the minds of Newchurchmen from the beginning. It has been seen that the common version, used by all Protestant denominations in the English speaking world, is in a number of respects not satisfactory, and that a translation should be made in the light of the Heavenly Doctrine, looking to the internal sense, for the use of the New Church,--for its worship and instruction, and for private reading and study.

     Some efforts have been made in this direction in the past; the Academy has contributed something in this line, and the General Convention is now actively engaged in such a work. A portion of the Psalms has been translated and put into print, copies of which have been received; and it has occurred to me that this affords an indication for taking up the subject for consideration on this occasion; that we may by discussion give expression to whatever views we may hold, even if we do nothing more at this time.

     It would appear that our position on this question has undergone a degree of modification; and that some of us at least do not now hold the same views we held some years ago, as to the manner of translating the Word.

     The translation which we made of the first fifty Psalms, which Mr. Whittington put to music, as well as other work done, looking to a new translation, was of great value to us as a matter of experience; and it led to the change of view or policy to which reference has been made.

     The first translation made of these Psalms was rigidly literal; but before the final publication of the Psalmody in its present form, there came a modification of ideas on the subject of translation, and some revision was made, but it could not be carried very far, because it would require too
great a change in the music.

     The position held, or the policy followed in our translations, was that, for the sake of the spiritual sense, it was necessary to make the translation of each individual word as literal as possible. We were fortified in this position by the fact that Swedenborg's translations from Hebrew into Latin are usually of this character, as is also the translation of Schmidius, which Swedenborg valued so highly and of which he made such a liberal use.

     The first principle we followed was loyalty to the Writings, since Swedenborg was in the light of the internal sense, and knew better than we the proper words to use to give expression to that sense.

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But Swedenborg did not translate the entire literal sense, and so, next to him in authority, came Schmidius, and after Schmidius a literal translation of the Hebrew with the Hebrew Lexicons as a guide, then the authorized version of the Scripture, and finally other translations into English. But Swedenborg was the one guide and authority. We followed him literally, using for the most part the corresponding English derivative from the Latin word used by Swedenborg.

     It is important, in any change of view, not to yield or forget that which is really valuable and true ill the position formerly held, this causes us to avoid what is called going to the other extreme; true rationality requires a balance between extremes. If a New Church translator of the Word should lay aside Swedenborg's translations entirely, he would take a position that cannot be justified. Swedenborg's faithfulness to the original is a sufficient reason to give his translations a most important place; to say nothing of the fact that he translated in the light of the spiritual truth of the Word, which gives to his translation a value to the Newchurchman greater than any that has ever been made.

     And I am fully convinced that there ought to be a translation of the Word into English, which follows literally Swedenborg's rendering of the original, for the use of students and readers of the Writings. In such a translation the demands of loyalty to the Writings, or to Swedenborg as a translator, will be fully met; and the needs and requirements for doctrinal study and research fully satisfied. But it finally became clear to us, that such a translation is not suited to the needs of worship; that at least two translations ought to be made, distinct from each other, with a distinct purpose in view; and that the effort to combine these two purposes in one translation will fail, and will always be a failure, because not suited to either end.

     The Old Church has recognized the value and need of two such distinct translations; and hence we have on the one hand the Authorized Version, and on the other such literal translations as that of Young, and the various interlinears that are in existence. In the New Church, also, this need has been recognized in the Tafel Interlinear.

     The King James version, notwithstanding numerous errors, is certainly adapted in style and language to the needs of worship; but no one I think, would claim that such a translation as that of Young, or an Interlinear, should be made use of in worship, even though they are admittedly of great use to the student. And so I hold that, while there should be a literal rendering of the original into English, with a faithful following of Swedenborg as a guide, such a translation is not suited to the needs of our worship.

     Swedenborg did not translate with a view to worship; this was left for the Church itself to accomplish. He had always before him the doctrine of the Church, the understanding of doctrine, the confirmation of doctrine, and the study of doctrine.

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A minister, in the exposition of the Word, has a similar end in view, and he should therefore study his text in the original, or in a literal translation, that he may see more clearly the basis and foundation upon which doctrine rests. But such a rigidly literal translation is not suited to the service which precedes the sermon, and prepares for it; the prime use of which is not the understanding of doctrine, but the stirring of affection, exciting a holy sphere, thus making a plane for the instruction which is to follow.

     It might be said that such a two-fold translation is not possible, or not needed; that the Word is one and is capable of being rendered into one translation adapted to all the needs of a religious life. But a little reflection will I think show, that a full rendering of the original into one translation is not possible. The meaning of many words, of very many words, of the Hebrew and Greek, cannot be expressed by a single word in English. Three or four English words, or more, are sometimes necessary, to a full understanding of the original word: a fact necessary for a minister to have constantly in view in his study and exposition of a text. The translator therefore has a freedom of choice in the words he is to use, according to the end he has in view, whether it be the expounding of doctrine or adaptation to the needs of worship. A student of the Latin of the Writings knows that Swedenborg himself exercised this freedom of choice, even though doctrine was always in view with him; for while there is a general uniformity in his translation, he does not follow this plan throughout, and we find at times a considerable variation from his general rule. This shows that even where doctrine is in view as the end in translation, there may be variety of expression in any translation. And a committee of translators with a common end in view, will often find it difficult to agree upon the suitable English word to express the meaning of the original.

     This is a point that should be clearly seen, namely, that the original is capable of various renderings, with application to a given end is view; so wide and extended is the meaning of the original, extending, as we are told, from opposite to opposite. And it should be added that the English language is also capable of wide extension. We are so rich in words that the same idea can be expressed in a wholly different set of words, according to the object in view. The Sacred Scripture may be translated into words mostly of Anglo-Saxon, or Teutonic origin, or into words very largely of a Latin origin; both conveying the sense of the original, but adapted to different needs and conditions of religious life. The former translation would be more affectional in character, and thus better adapted to the uses of worship; the latter would be of a more intellectual caste, and hence better suited to the needs of study,--especially in the New Church on account of the rendering of the Word into the Latin of the Writings.

     A translation of the Scriptures, in which words of Anglo-Saxon origin largely predominate, is more adapted to worship, because the Anglo-Saxon is our mother tongue, constituting the language of our every day intercourse; we learn it in childhood, and retain it through life, and many never learn any other. It is the language of our affections, and is instinctive to us; and we are taught that the angels flow into man by his affections into his mother tongue, exciting the speech that is nearest to his affections.

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The Word, translated into such a language, will tend more to inspire affection, and is therefore the language that should predominate in ritual and worship.

     If, therefore, we admit that the original is capable of more than one rendering, much is gained in respect to the use which the letter of the Word is to accomplish in any modern tongue. Its use is extended into a wider field, and the freedom of the translator is thereby much expanded and enlarged.

     It is well known that the entire spirit and meaning of any composition cannot be reproduced into another language; and that there is a loss in the transfer of the masterpieces of literature ancient and modern. This is still more true of the languages in which Revelation has been written. And he who would see the spirit and beauty and full meaning of that which is written must go to the fountain or source in the language of its composition. But the very large majority cannot do this, and therefore translations are needed and must be made. And the point in these remarks is, that so full is the meaning of the original, and so wide is the field of mental activity and reception, so extended is the sphere of human needs; so great the variety in the conditions of human life, that no one translation will meet them all, or transfer a full measure of the spirit of the original to all.

     Our first need is a translation of the letter of the Word for use in worship; no other element should enter into such a translation. And as the need of worship which is largely from the letter of the Word, is the exciting of that affection of truth which is at first most general, in which a holy sphere descends from heaven into ultimates, therefore, in a translation for such a use, words of Anglo-Saxon origin should be used as far as possible; and where human composition enters, as in prayers, confessions, and hymns, the language should be similar,--reducing the didactic element to a minimum. For in language of a Latin origin the didactic style prevails, whether in a translation of the Word, or in pieces of human composition. The didactic style belongs to the sermon and to prose composition. But in the language of actual worship the didactic should occupy a minor position, and the poetic element should predominate; because such worship is from and in the sphere of the letter of the Word, which is poetry itself. The worshiper, too, should then speak from the heart more than from the understanding, from the affection more than from the memory, using his native mother tongue, the language of his affections.

     The conclusion seems evident, therefore, that a translation of the Word in the New Church, intended for use in worship, public or private, but made wholly or partially from the standpoint of the scholar, the critic, or the student, will fail of its use, and will perhaps meet the fate of the late Revised Version of the Scriptures--to be laid on the shelf and used only by students and future translators.

     It seems hardly probable that a New Church translation of the Word, suited to the actual needs of worship, can be made at the present time; the conditions do not seem to be favorable.

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It requires the theologian and the priest as well as the scholar. It requires a larger and fuller sympathy with the needs of worship than appears now to exist. Until such a translation can be made, it would be better to keep to the' Common Version than to use a didactic translation in worship, even though such a translation followed literally Swedenborg's renderings.

     The ability to make a New Church translation of the Word, fully adapted to the needs of our worship, will require time and experience. It cannot be accomplished in one generation.

     The writer of this address is fully convinced, that all that is possible, and perhaps all that is needed now, is a general revision of the King James version, correcting manifest errors, in some cases making the meaning or general sense of the original more clear, and occasionally improving the English, but always preserving the simple English style of the version. Let us do one thing at a time. W. F. P.
Monthly Review 1903

Monthly Review              1903

     The Academy Book Room has just issued a pamphlet entitled Outlines of the Chronology of the Christian Church, compiled by Prof. C. Th. Odhner. The publication is intended primarily for use in the Academy Schools, but may be of value to any one interested in the study of Church History. Price, ten cents.



     The New Church Board of Publication has published a new work by the Rev. George Henry Dole, entitled Divine Selection, or, The Survival of the Useful, being "a Prologue to a system of philosophy from the standpoint of the theist." We earnestly recommend to our readers this delightful little volume, which is the best thing hitherto published in the New Church, in refutation of the false and absurd claims of the Darwinian Evolution and of the Higher Criticism.



     After long delay, the extensive Index to the Annals of the New Church, vol. I, is at last ready for the printer. The editor will esteem it a great favor if the readers of the Annals will communicate with him in regard to any errors in the work, in order that the list of corrections may be made as complete as possible. The Index will also contain a key to the references and abbreviations, and a list of the illustrations.



     We often meet friends in the Church who make a special point of pronouncing the name "Swedenborg," in what they suppose to be the correct and orthodox Swedish fashion. They pronounce it "Swadenborg,' with the accent on the first syllable, and a hard "g."

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But they don't quite get it. It should be pronounced more like "Sva-den-borie," with accent on each syllable, but even this does not quite represent the original. Why not pronounce it, in England and America, in the way that is natural to our tongue?



     From Dr. Max Neuburger we have received another scientific tract, entitled "Was lehrte Swedenborg uber die Funktionen der Vierhugel?" (what did Swedenborg teach in respect to the functions of the corpora quadragemina?) The author calls attention to the teaching in Swedenborg's work On the Brain, p. 346, that these bodies, (Nates and Testes), "regulate the spontaneous motions of the eyes," and he observes that this anticipation by Swedenborg "must be a surprise to the historian as well as to the neurologist,--to the first in view; of the erroneous notions of the old authors, and to the latter on account of the recent date of the modern discovery of this fact."



     The Journal of the General Convention for 1903 has been published. As usual the increase in the bulk of this annual document is in direct ratio to the decrease in the membership of the body. In 1890, the membership counted 6,511. Afterwards it gradually decreased, until, in 1899, it amounted to 6,274. Then, in 1900, by the addition of the "German Synod," it rose to 6,926, but since then, year by year, it has again been steadily decreasing, until now, in 1903, it registers 6,709. There can be but small comfort in these statistics to those friends who believe that the kind of missionary work to which the Convention is devoted, is the best method of working for the growth of the New Church.



     The publication of the first volume of the Spiritual Diary in the German tongue is an event of the greatest interest to all our German-speaking brethren, in America as well as on the Continent. The translation is from the pen of the late Prof. William Pfirsch, and has been further improved by the recent revision of such able scholars as the Rev. L. H. Tafel and the Rev. W. H. Schliffer. From a cursory examination, the translation appears to be far superior to the present English version, and is, moreover, free from the burden of the multiple parentheses which disfigure both the Latin and the English editions. As the speedy appearance of the future volumes will depend in great measure upon the sale of the first volume, it is important that all interested in this great undertaking should procure copies as soon as possible. Orders may be sent to the German New Church Missionary Union, or through the Academy Book Room.



     "We but little realize how much external things have to do with our choices in life, with the determining of the things which we conceive to be orderly or disorderly, right or wrong. What public opinion or private interest demand, seems right; what dame Grundy frowns upon seems wrong.

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     "The test as to whether we are living the life of regeneration is not, therefore, that we are living the good life of the community about us. It comes in an experience where, in order to obey the Word of the Lord, we are obliged to act contrary to our worldly welfare or self-interest. When the Word of the Lord unmistakably points out a course which conflicts with the opinions of those about us, then, if we obey, we may know that we are obeying and following God rather than men.

     "Up to a certain point the will of God and the order of good society will go hand in hand. But there must come to every one who can be regenerated, times when they part company, when we must decide whether we will serve God or mammon." (The Helper, November 11, 1993)



     The following from the Spiritual Diary is of interest in connection with the "Manchurian question:" "On the inhabitants of Tartary, near China. There were some from that country with me. They said that their land was populous, and that they knew nothing about war. They knew about Siberia and China.... They call the Chinese their friends, because they are of their nation. They fear Siberia somewhat; but say that they have nothing, and that they would at once give themselves up to them, [the Russians], if they were to come, but that still all would go away with their goods, unknown to them." (S. D. 6077)

     In a parallel passage, in the posthumous work On the Last Judgment, 133, it is stated that these people "dwelt outside of the Chinese wall, and that they were of a calm and peaceful disposition." All of which evidently refers to Manchuria and also Korea, "the land of the morning calm." That they know nothing about war, has been abundantly verified in our own days, and that "they would at once give themselves up" to the feared invaders from Siberia, "if these were to come," may be regarded as a prophecy now fulfilled. But what will be the surprise of the Russians, when these folks "fold their tents, and silently steal away?"



     The Rev. Edward C. Mitchell, in his recent volume on The Parables of the Old Testament Explained, (Philadelphia, W. H. Alden, 1903, pp 437), has made a valuable contribution to the expository literature of the New Church. To the ministers in search of collateral interpretations of difficult texts, the volume will be found full of helpful suggestions, and with the general reader it cannot but stimulate the love of the Word in its internal sense. But, while we do not expect any "direful heresies" from this enlightened and well-meaning author, we deeply regret that in this volume, as in the one on the Parables of the New Testament, he has not adduced references to those passages in the Writings from which, as we presume, he has derived his interpretations. If he had done this, the work would have been of permanent and authoritative value. As it is, how is the reader, except by severe analysis, to distinguish between that which is truly of the spiritual sense of the Word, and that which may be only the products of a vivid imagination?

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In his preface, the author makes the general acknowledgment that "the system of interpretation here employed, is that known as the 'Science of Correspondences,' made known to the Church through Emanuel Swedenborg." This, however, is insufficient as a credential to the faith of Newchurchmen, for not only do they know that the Internal Sense of the Word cannot be evolved by a mere knowledge of correspondences, however correct that knowledge may be, (see S. S. 96; De Verbo 21), but they know also that "man can do violence to the spiritual sense by the knowledge of correspondences, for by some correspondences known to him, he can pervert it." (S. S. 26.) And, as has been shown again and again in the Life, such violation of the Internal Sense has been only too frequent in the recent history of the New Church.
PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1903

PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1903

     The Third Philadelphia District Assembly was opened at Bryn Athyn, on Friday evening, October 16th, by a supper, at which the Bishop read a paper on the subject of the translation of the Word. He stated that his experience had led him to see the need of two distinct translations,--one as literal as possible for the use of students, and the other following nearly the Authorized Version, with its more affectional style, for use in worship.

     Mr. Price followed with some notes upon the sample pages of the new translation of the Psalms, which is being prepared by the committee of the General Convention. This led to a general discussion of the subject, in which we were reminded of the difficulties caused by attempts to be too literal in our translations, which sometimes rather obscured the sense and disturbed the sphere of worship with some. It was thought that a good beginning would be to correct a few of the most glaring mistakes in the King James Version, as that is about the best ever made into any language. In this connection it was pointed out that the standard edition it self is constantly being trimmed and altered in successive generations, to make it more intelligible to the people, and that a careful record is kept of all such changes.

     The Educational meeting announced for Saturday afternoon devoted to a paper by Mr. Synnestvedt upon the subject of "The Ideal Discipline for New Church Schools." The old idea of discipline contrasted with the prevailing modern ideas, and an effort was made to show just what was good and useful in each, and what it was that had brought on such a reaction, subjecting both sides to the judgment of the Truth as revealed in the Writings. It was shown that discipline must be maintained, and obedience to authority, both by fear of punishment and hope of reward, but that there was a vast difference in the quality of the discipline, as it was just as likely to spring from evil as from good.

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     On Saturday evening the Bishop invited Mr. Alfred Stroh to tell us about the work being done in Sweden. The rest of the evening was very profitably spent in listening to Mr. Stroh's very interesting account, and inspecting the portraits and the specimens of the phototyping of the priceless manuscripts.

     On Sunday morning the worship was conducted by Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist, the city society joining with us. In the afternoon the Holy Supper was administered.

     As there were several visitors with us from Baltimore, Allentown, and Brooklyn, it was felt that we needed an opportunity to meet them socially, and accordingly Sunday evening was devoted to an informal reception. The whole sphere of the meetings was quiet, but all seemed to enjoy them, and feel that the common bond of brotherly love had been distinctly broadened and strengthened in our District. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT, Secretary.

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Church News 1903

Church News       Various       1903

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     Bryn Athyn. An account of the district assembly recently held here, is given on another place of this journal.

     On Hallowe'en three parties were given here, one for the children, at Mr. and Mrs. C. S. Smith's; another for the college and seminary, given in the Gymnasium; and a third for the young folks of the society, at Cairnwood All three were characterized by fancy and comical costumes. At the one given in the Gymnasium, original "stunts" were acted during the evening, bringing forth much laughter and applause.

     During Bishop Pendleton's absence, on his annual visit to Pittsburg and Chicago, the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt conducted the services and doctrinal classes.

     The Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist, pastor of the Philadelphia society, has preached twice at Bryn Athyn, during the past month; first on October 18th, and again on November 15th.

     The Rev. Alfred Acton, we much rejoice to report, is now rapidly recovering from his very serious illness, but will not be able to take up his regular work before the new year.

     Though the following may not be "Church news," strictly considered, still the reporter believes that the young people of the Church will be interested to hear of the athletics which are rapidly developing among the college boys here, and of the foot ball team which has, so far, made a fairly good record.

     Being handicapped by having no scrub team to practice against, and there being so few men to pick from, it has been very difficult to drill the team in defensive work. But during his visit, here, in October, Mr. A. L. Hagar, of Boston, formerly captain of the foot ball team of the Northwestern University, Evanston, gave us invaluable instruction and drill, especially in defensive work. He impressed on us that a team perfect in defensive play will never be beaten. Mr. Hagar was with us only three days, but during that time he increased the strength of our team at least two hundred per cent.

     We have no coach, but our Captain, Charles Pendleton, deserves mention for his thorough and conscientious training and drilling of the team.

     We started the foot ball season with a schedule of seven games. Five have been played and two canceled.

     On the 2d of October we played the Swarthmore Preparatory School, and were defeated by the score of 23-0.

     On October 9th we were to have Flayed Chestnut Hill Academy, but the game was called off on account of the heavy rainstorm which had been raging for two days.

     On the 16th of October, we met the Cheltenham Military Academy, and after a desperate and closely-fought battle, left the gridiron with the score of 12-11 against us. In the first half of the game we completely outplayed our opponents, scoring two touchdowns inside of five minutes of play. But one of our best players having broken his collar bone, and having, no substitutes with whom to re-inforce our tired team, the tide turned against us.

     On the 30th of October, we completely defeated the Union Business College, of Philadelphia, by the score of 17-0.

     One week later, we won another victory, this time defeating the Philadelphia Business College by the score of 11-0.

     On the 13th of November we were to have played our annual game with the Abington Friends' School.

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For the past three years they have uniformly defeated us, last year by the close score of 6-5. This year we were confident of winning, but our opponents, fearful of defeat, refused to play, openly avowing that they were afraid of us.

     On November 20th, we closed our season by defeating the Brown Preparatory School by the score of 6-0. It was the hardest and most closely contested game of the year, and, as we were outweighed twenty-five pounds to the man, it may be seen that it is not mere flesh and brute force that counts in foot ball.

     The line-up of the foot ball team is as follows:

Alex. P. Lindsay, left end.
     (F. E. Gyllenhaal.)
Robert Faulkner, left tackle.
     (Ariel P. Burnham.)
Walter A. Cranch, left guard.
Gerald S. Glenn, centre.
Will Junge, right guard.
     (Nelson Glebe.)
Raymond Pitcairn, right tackle.
Randolph W. Childs, right end.
C. R. Pendleton, Jr., Capt., quarter back.
Harvey Lechner, right half back.
Hubert N. Hicks, left half back.
Ed. C. Bostock, full back.

     About twenty little boys of the parish school may be seen every day playing foot ball. They are sturdy youngsters and will, when they enter College, make a championship team.

     The young ladies of the Seminary have four basket ball teams, which practice on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The teams are distinguished by different colors. F. E. G.

     Philadelphia. On Sunday, October 25th, the pastor began a course of instruction for the children of the Society. Sunday-school will be held every Sunday from 3 to 4 o'clock P. M. in the commodious sitting-room of Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Walker. N. College Ave., 2439. As yet only seven pupils attend. Mrs. Herbert Walker has kindly offered to instruct the children in singing.

     On Sunday, November 1st, the Holy Supper was administered to twenty-four communicants.

     At the singing practice for adults, under Fraulein Schneider's leadership, the Psalms in the New Psalmody are being practiced, and we may therefore hope to be able to use the Psalmody more frequently in our Sunday worship than has hitherto been the case. There is really no lack of good voices in the Advent Church, the only thing necessary is to bring them out.

     It is gratifying to note that the attendance at Church seems to be gradually increasing; not less than forty-nine persons were listening to the sermon preached on November 8th.

     Some of the ladies of the Society on Tuesday, November 10, formed a "Ladies Aid" society.

     The desire was expressed that the pastor be present at these meetings, and on his suggestion it was decided that selections from the Life be read and discussed on these occasions.

     On Sunday, November 15th, the members of the Advent Church unanimously elected the Rev. Joseph E. Rosenqvist permanent pastor of the Advent Church. Mr. Rosenqvist, who on that day preached in Bryn Athyn, has accepted the call.

     Pittsburg. The event of the past month here was the Third Annual Meeting of the Pittsburg District Assembly.

     There were only two sessions of the Assembly itself, but there was also the quarterly meeting of the Executive Committee of the General Church, which held its sessions in this city on Friday, October 23d, and at which some of the members of the local Council were also present. In the evening of the same day there was a Supper at the Church, which was a very happy affair and very fully attended.

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The Bishop delivered his address, taking as a text the words "Behold I make all things new. Mr. Odhner followed with a speech on the importance of membership in the General Church for all those who are in sympathy with it. Mr. Pitcairn gave a resume of the day's proceedings in the Executive Committee, reporting that progress had been made on the question of organization, which, together with the question of the support of the General Church uses, had been the main subject of deliberation. At his request Mr. Doering read a report on the financial condition of the General Church, which clearly brought to light the necessity for prompt action on the part of the sixty odd per cent. of members who contribute nothing towards the support of the General Church. After the tables were removed, dancing was indulged in.

     On Saturday afternoon and evening the regular business sessions of the Assembly were held; but a full report of these will be published in next month's Life. On Sunday morning service was conducted by Rev. C. Th. Odhner, whose sermon dwelt on the need of acknowledgment of Divine Revelation, and on the evil effects of remaining in the mere acknowledgment.

     On Sunday afternoon the Holy Supper was administered by the Bishop to about one hundred communicants.

     On Monday afternoon the ladies were all invited to the house of Mrs. Louis Schoenberger. In the evening there was a Men's Meeting at Mr. Jacob Schoenberger's house, at which there was some very interesting and useful doctrinal discussion.

     On the whole, this year's meeting was the best district Assembly we have had here so far. There were a number of visitors from points within this District, and having the Executive Committee meet here at the same time, bringing, as it did, several of its members from distant places, all combined to produce a strong, active sphere, which was necessarily beneficial to all present.

     On October 22d Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay gave an informal reception at their home in honor of Miss Vera Pitcairn, who was visiting in Pittsburg.

     A very enjoyable dance social was given at the School House on Hallowe'en. C. H. E.

     Berlin, Ont. On Thanksgiving Day, October 15th, (the day is celebrated earlier here than in the United States), services appropriate to the occasion were held in the morning in the hall of worship of the Carmel Church. In the evening a social was held in the school-room. The room was beautifully decorated with fruits, grains, and vegetables, many of which had cards attached to them, on which were written extracts from the Writings referring to the object. In the course of the evening addresses were made by members of the Society on the following subjects: Fruit, Grapes, Grain, Pulse, and Herbs.

     On October 31st, the Rev. and Mrs. E. J. Stebbing gave a Hallowe'en Party to the young folks, which was very much enjoyed by all.

     The boys of the two highest classes of our School are now receiving a course in Manual Training, and the girls of the same classes a course in Domestic Science. The Public Schools of Berlin have established a school for these branches, under the charge of teachers especially trained for the work, and the school authorities have kindly offered the use of this school and the services of the teachers free of charge to the Carmel Church School for one afternoon of each meek. This is done in recognition of the school taxes paid by members of our Society. W.

     Toronto, Ont. In June our pastor, Mr. Cronlund, instituted a Sabbath School to precede the Sunday morning service. This has been greatly appreciated, as it affords to the older children, nor attending the school, regular instruction in the Doctrines.

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     The day school is in a flourishing condition under the direction of the pastor and Mrs. Hyatt, a new feature in connection with it being a Kindergarten for the very wee ones, conducted by Miss Mary Summerville.

     The attendance at the Wednesday suppers has been steadily increasing, and last week we felt we had scored a triumph when fifty assembled around the board.

     Owing to the kindness of Dr. E. K. Richardson, we now have, following the Wednesday evening Doctrinal Class, a lecture on Anatomy. The realization of the spiritual importance of this science, renders us deeply grateful to the Doctor, for the great use which he has undertaken.

     Our Young People's Club meetings, resumed at the beginning of the reason, are proving a source of great enjoyment to the members. After the usual reading from the Doctrines, a program is provided, composed of essays, debates, and anything which the talents of the members can produce.

     October and November appear to be the favorite natal months with us. On October 26th the Young People assembled at the home of Mr. C. Brown, upon the occasion of Miss Emma Roschmann's birthday. A jolly evening was spent, an amusing feature being a hat trimming contest by the young gentlemen. Needless to say the creations of these artists were supremely Parisian, and well calculated to enhance the charms of the fair ones for whom they were intended.

     On November 3d, a dance was given in honor of the birthdays of four of our young people. A dainty supper was served, during which toasts were proposed and responded to by the young men, in a manner which did credit to those who have been their teachers.

     Preceding the sermon on Sunday, November 8th, the Rite of Coming of Age was solemnized, when Mr. Chas. E. Bellinger, one of our young members, publicly assumed the responsibilities of manhood. The service as conducted by the pastor was most impressive. M. G. S.

     Missionary Work. I entered the State of Michigan on September 7th, at Detroit, and called on several people in that city. To describe the talks, and the earnest words spoken there concerning the Church, would require too much space. But it may be mentioned that there is at least one member of the Detroit society, who expresses himself in an emphatic manner, as being in sympathy with the doctrinal position of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. There may be others. But the member referred to is Mr. Arthur H. Hill, who is an interested reader of New Church Life. It is not the spirit of the General Church to seek to make proselytes, but to teach the truth and leave people in freedom to choose their associations, as seems best to them.

     Two days were passed in Gorand Rapids. It makes one feel sad to think that in a growing city such as it is, where for many years a New Church Society existed, and the building in which Divine Worship was conducted standing in a prominent location, there should non be found so very few persons who have an affection for the Heavenly Doctrines.

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But the few who are of the Church appreciate the occasional visits of the missionary. Among these few are Mrs. E. N. Grigg, who has for some months been in feeble health, but who is comforted by reading the Writings also Mrs. Shoemaker, who is now past eighty-eight years of age, and although weak as to the body, is as young as ever as to her mental faculties.

     Two days were spent with Mr. Charles Rice and family, near Moline. It is a pleasant home to visit, and, as usual, we had much useful conversation on the Doctrines. Sunday, September 13th, we had our little meeting in Kalamazoo. My steadfast friends there are the venerable Judge William W. Peck, and Mr. Brant C. Henyan. They are intelligent and firm believers in the Writings. At Pine Grove, Monday evening, September 14th, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Wise,--who are not professedly of the New Church,--a discourse was given on the Doctrine of the Lord, to about fifteen persons. This was followed by a friendly discussion of several points. The teacher of the village school, Mr. Charles Boughton, who stated that he had read The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, expressed himself as in favor of my sermon. And he contributed to the success of the meeting, which lasted nearly three hours, by the intelligent manner in which he put questions, explanations of which were given. There had been no religious services held in Pine Grove the past few years; and my going there to hold a meeting was of Providence.

     The next day, after a visit of several hours with Mr. and Mrs. Valleua at Gobleville, I took the night boat from South Haven for Chicago. In that city my usual stopping-place is with our kind friends, Mr. Nels Johnson and family. And there, on the evening of September 16th, I had the pleasure of meeting the Rev. William R. Caldwell, the zealous young pastor of Sharon Church.

     On my arrival at Rockford, Ill., on the evening of September 17th, Dr. C. V. Urbom met me at the train, and conveyed me to my temporary home far a week, at the house of Mr. and Mrs. John Gustafson. They, and all the rest of the members of the New Church Circle in Rockford, Save me a hearty welcome. No meetings were held in Skandia Hall, at which missionary sermons were delivered to small audiences. The subjects had been advertised in one of the papers, and our friends were disappointed that so few came to hear. The Rockford Circle, however, is gradually increasing Since my former visit, Mr. and Mrs. Otto Hamilton have become very earnestly interested in the Doctrines; and it is hoped that others in the community will he led to a knowledge of the truth. Several books were sold to new hearers of the preaching in the Hall. Sunday morning, September 20th, a meeting was held at the home of the Gustafsons; and after the sermon the Holy Supper was administered to nine persons. The visit was much appreciated by the members. And as they continue to hold their reading meetings on Sundays, they will no doubt keep gaining in spiritual intelligence, so that they and their children may be of the Lord's New Church, not only in name, but in spirit and in truth. Dr. Urbom has been successful in his medical practice, into which he had but recently entered; and his presence will help to strengthen the Rockford Circle.

     Returning to Chicago, on September 24th, I went to Glenview to remain over night, with the Leonards and their interesting family of children. Had a visit with our venerable friend, father Nelson, who, as to his mind, seems rather to be growing younger than older,--which is as it ought to be, the case of a Newchurchman. I also called on the Rev. David H. Klein, under whose faithful ministrations the Immanuel Church is in a state of spiritual peace and prosperity. JOHN E. BOWERS.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The sixty-seventh annual meeting of the Maine Association was held at Fryeburg, Me., August 29-30. The Association consists of three societies, those at Portland, Bath, and Fryeburg, all of which reported that they were in "about the same condition as in former years. At the Saturday evening conference, the subject of "The Relation of the Writings of Swedenborg to the Bible" was discussed.

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The Rev. J. B. Speirs stated that "as a matter of fact, we had to accept the authority of the New Church Doctrines for the intrinsic proof as to which books constitute the Word of the Old as well as the New Testament. We could not decide for ourselves as to which books had a spiritual sense. Only the Lord could open the Word, which He had done in the Writings of Swedenborg. The Writings of Swedenborg were a Divine Revelation. The thought in them was the Lord's thought, therefore the Divine Wisdom. The Lord's thought was the Word."

     The Massachusetts Association for the first time held its meeting in Springfield, Mass., where the New Church Society, after some years of lingering existence, now appears to be reviving. The Missionary Board of the Association reported that it had lost the efficient services of its missionary, the Rev. Albinus F. Frost, and a resolution of sympathy with him in his illness was unanimously adopted.

     The will of the late Miss Mary Putnam Ropes, of Salem, Mass., provides that, after the death of her sister who has a life-claim on the estate, about a million dollars will be divided for the benefit of various educational, philanthropic and religious uses. Several of the institutions connected with the General Convention have been remembered in the will.

     The American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society, of New York City, has resolved to commence the publication of an entirely new edition of the Writings of Swedenborg, freshly translated. The first volume of this edition will be The Four Doctrines, translated by the Rev. J. F. Potts, who has also been engaged to undertake a thorough revision of the Arcana Caelestia.

     The Rev. S. S. Seward, in the Messenger of November 4th, appeals for assistance for the Society in Paterson, N. J., whose place of worship has been badly damaged by 3 recent disastrous flood. The water rose four feet in the auditorium and the Sunday-school room, and everything was water-soaked and ruined, with the sole exception of the society's copy of the Word. The table, upon which this rested, must have floated and thus have lifted the Word above the raging waters. This is the third great disaster that has over-taken Paterson within the last two years; first the great fire and then two floods.

     The Michigan Association met at Detroit, October 2-4. The Rev. L. P. Mercer, on Friday evening, October 2d, delivered an inspiring address on the duties and responsibilities of the New Church layman. "The address was one of the most masterly and eloquent efforts we have ever heard from a New Church pulpit. A large audience heard his inspiring words, which at times were full of rebuke at the lukewarmness of many so-called New Church people."

     Despite of this, the attendance at the business session on Saturday "was smaller than usual," but the reports of the Detroit and Almont societies showed a steady increase of interest. On Saturday evening the Detroit society entertained its visiting guests at a banquet, at which several times were brought out, among others one to the General Convention. What will our total-abstinence friends say to this?

     The congregation attending the memorial services in the old temple of the Cincinnati Society, on the occasion of the removal of the society to its new quarters, is said to have been the largest within the recollection of the oldest members. 'The interesting program arranged for the week following the memorial service, included the sessions of the Ohio Association, and closed with the dedication of the fine new temple, on Sunday, November 1st.

     At the annual meeting of the "Iowa General Society" of the New Church, at Lenox, Ia., Mr. W. M. Martin was ordained into the Ministry of the New Church by the president, Rev. J. B. Parmelee, two laymen having been appointed to act as "assistants on the part of the General Society in the ordination service."

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This performance, we understand, is not in harmony with the laws of the General Convention, Mr. Parmelee not being an ordaining minister. At the close of the session it was decided to discontinue the publication of The Echo, the monthly organ of the Society.

     MAURITIUS. At a meeting of the New Church Society in this island, "it was decided to thank the General Conference of the New Church in Great Britain for the copy of the Minutes of the last Conference just received, and at the same time to inquire why the application of the Society for application to the Conference, was not dealt with."
ONTARIO ASSEMBLY 1903

ONTARIO ASSEMBLY              1903


     Announcements.




     SPECIAL NOTICE.

     The Fourth Ontario Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in the place of worship of the Parkdale (Toronto) Society on Thursday, December 31st, 1903, and Friday, January 1st, 1904. All members and friends of the General Church are invited to attend.

     Visitors will be entertained by members of the Parkdale Society Address committee through Mr. P. Bellinger, 226 Dunn Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada. F. E. WAELCHLI, Secretary.